History YMMV / ColdCase

** Plenty of victims in the show are popular for a wide variety of reasons, but some inspire a special amount of protective feelings for an adorable combination of vulnerable moments, occasional excitement, and good intentions through their episodes, such as brave, idealistic, friend-seeking {{Lovable Nerd}}s Rita Baxter from "The Sleepover" and Danny Finch from "One Small Step", GoodBadGirl Carrie Swett from "That Woman", dog-loving BenevolentBoss and single parent Frank [=DiCenzio=] from "Frank's Best", the close-knit and initially optimistic five Bubley brothers (only one of whom survives) from "Saving Patrick Bubley", DeafComposer and ClassClown Andy Rierdan from "Andy in C Minor", and DefectorFromCommieLand singer Nadia Koslov from "Triple Threat".

** Fan-favorites among the various friends and loved ones of the murder victims include {{Neighbourhood Friendly Gangster|s}} Kiki Solano from "Discretion", the victims' daughter Kara and her ParentalSubstitute Daryl from "Who's Your Daddy?", WifeBasherBasher Art Baldacci from "A Perfect Day", WheelchairWoobie Vicky from "Bad Night", JerkWithAHeartOfGold boss Anil and TheCutie Abby from "A Dollar, A Dream", CoolOldGuy Augustine from "Wunderkind", Seth from "One Small Step" for being a BadassAdorable kid in the flashbacks and a tragic {{Cloudcuckoolander}} in the present, BenevolentBoss Monty from "Pin-Up Girl", BrokenAce Juan de la Cruz from "Stealing Home", LittleMissSnarker Hillary from "November 22nd", fatherly circus clown Sheldon from "Metamorphosis", and Army recruit Bobby Kerns from "The Good Soldier".

** NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Kiki Solano from "Discretion," the victims' daughter Kara and her ParentalSubstitute Daryl from "Who's Your Daddy?", WifeBasherBasher Art Baldacci from "A Perfect Day," WheelchairWoobie Vicky from "Bad Night," JerkWithAHeartOfGold boss Anil and Abby TheCutie from "A Dollar, a Dream," CoolOldGuy Augustine from "Wunderkind," Seth from "One Small Step" (for being a BadassAdorable kid in the flashbacks and a tragic {{Cloudcuckoolander}} in the present), BenevolentBoss Monty from "Pin-Up Girl," BrokenAce Juan de la Cruz from "Stealing Home," LittleMissSnarker Hillary from "November 22nd", fatherly circus clown Sheldon from "Metamorphosis," and Army recruit Bobby Kerns from "The Good Soldier" are fan favorites among the various friends and loved ones of the murder victims.
** The dog from the end of "Ravaged" that lunges at a former FiendishFraternity pervert during the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue has a lot of fans despite only being onscreen for a few seconds.

* AssPull: Lt. Stillman's relationship with FBI Agent Yates. Over the show's history, of all the police personnel, he was the least likely to be involved in any impropriety on or off the job (so much to the point that his first marriage ended [[MarriedToTheJob due to how dedicated he was to it.]]) Yet, her introduction retconned this, with the new reason being that an affair they had ruined Stillman's marriage. Granted, it must be difficult to form/keep relationships in their business (Lilly's many abortive romances throughout the series are an example of this), but it really hurt the Lieutenant's reputation as a straight and narrow ByTheBookCop and undermined how tough he was on even the more sympathetic murderers (in addition to the fact that Yates [[{{Jerkass}} isn't exactly the definition of a moral center herself...]])

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Mike [=McShane=] ("Glory Days"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Bingo Zohar ("Devil Music"), Billy Sanders ("Soul"), Mia Romanov ("Metamorphosis"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Bingo Zohar ("Devil Music"), Billy Sanders ("Soul"), Mia Romanov ("Metamorphosis"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

* JerkassWoobie: Many suspects, victims, and killers.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Regardless of whether an episode has a SympatheticMurderer or a less likable character who did the killing, many episodes have other characters who are prominent {{jerkass}}es who deserves more hatred, especially since it's rarer for them to receive any comeuppance:
** Doreen from "Disco Inferno" is an unpleasant, ManipulativeBitch who hurls racist slurs at her dance rival at the disco, seduces and pays off an impressionable kid to cripple said rival's partner, and indirectly caused the deaths of over 20 people in a fire. Yet, [[KarmaHoudini she isn't so much as charged with anything by the episode's ending or was even hurt by the blaze]].
** Dr. Thayer from "The Boy in the Box" (which features an AccidentalMurder by a remorseful killer) has zero remorse for using orphaned children as {{Unwitting Test Subject}}s in his radiation experiments (which sterilized some of them and may have contributed to the deaths of others).
** Brandi from "The Sleepover". Even with abusive parents and [[spoiler: her other friend, Ariel, committing the murder]], it barely excuses her inviting Rita over for a sleepover just to humiliate her, bullying her own friends then and in the present day, and feeling no remorse about any of it.
** The mill owner in "Kensington" never breaks any laws and [[AffablyEvil is quite polite while onscreen]], while most of his employees end up committing crimes or being bitter toward each other. However, the reason that the employees are acting that way is because their boss sold the mill rather than operate it at a lower profit and wait for better times, leaving the entire neighborhood in poverty while he lined his pockets. What really makes him infuriating is that he lied to his entire workforce about keeping the mill open after signing the paperwork to close the business, setting them all up for a devastating and unexpected fall.
** Carl from "The Key" is a self-indulgent swinger who dragged his reluctant and dutiful wife into his lifestyle, then got angry with her when she started to enjoy it herself. When she's murdered [[spoiler:by the teenage son of one of her partners after unintentionally leading him on]] and it remains unsolved for decades, any sympathies felt are for their bereaved daughter instead of him.
** The elder daughter, Natalie, from "A Dollar, A Dream". She wasn't the one who killed her mother, but she nonetheless constantly berates and blames her struggling, widowed mother for their homelessness and acts like a SpoiledBrat throughout the episode, even though at least one of their hardships (getting the car towed with her younger sister sleeping inside) was her own fault. After their mother's murder, she's convinced that she abandoned them, but when she later learns of her body being found, she still feels no empathy, believing that her mother took her own life to escape from taking care of her daughters.
** The teacher from "8:03 AM". She regularly embarrasses the one victim by having him read above his grade level and undermine his intelligence and when he's finally had enough of her viciousness and leaves her class, she yells at him further saying how he'll never amount to anything other than a drug dealer.
** Brie, the one-time babysitter from "Baby Blues", is at one point suspected of poisoning the baby to get her to sleep since she did it previously. Although that didn't kill her and [[spoiler:her mother of the infant killed her in a fit of postpartum psychosis]], Brie is still a loser and a terrible babysitting who in addition to neglecting the kids, also has her boyfriend over for sex and when caught by the previous sitter, threatens her into silence by citing her [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney parents' connections]] and implies that [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain she'll have the woman, who's Hispanic, deported]].
** Coach Watkins of "Glory Days" is a ruthless football coach who cares more about winning games than his players' physical or psychological well-being. When he's confronted by detectives for his curt and uncaring attitude, he defends himself by claiming that showing sympathy is considered "mollycoddling".
** Captain Hughes from "Wings" is a pilot who in spite of his arrogance and serial cheating on his wife, is nonetheless blindly adored by one of the stewardesses [[spoiler:who killed her coworker just to hold onto his "love" and become his wife.]] In the end, not only does it come out that he was stringing the woman along, in the present day he remains a jerkass even nearly ''50 years'' after the crime.
** The killer from "The Badlands" has a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds vibe and, despite committing some of the most shocking violence in the show, does it in more of a panicked CrimeAfterCrime way than a sadistic or cold-blooded fashion. Jamaal, from the same episode, beats both his girlfriend and another guy who flirted with her while also having no compunctions about cheating on ''her''.
** The killer from "The Dealer" may have a nasty ego, but Frank and Mickey spend most of their screentime bullying their subordinates, being disloyal to their employer, and ripping off low-income customers at their used car lot to infuriating degrees.
** Councilman Boone from "Street Money" hasn't done much to improve his struggling district (or at least certain neighborhoods of it) in multiple terms, is willing to use his influence to threaten the livelihoods of hardworking people who support his opponent, and cheated on his wife while she was dying. While he does admit to eventually seeing his opponent as a WorthyOpponent, and the guy told him that they could accomplish more working together, Stillman is highly skeptical about whether Boone would have kept that truce.
** In "Wishing", Leah's father is a SmugSnake with zero empathy seeing a dying woman left unable to care for her son after he gets the boy expelled. Also, Colin's father abandoned him for being neurodivergent, never paid child support, refused to take in his son while his mother was dying (which would likely leave him as a ward of the state) and, even long after Colin's death, coldly admits that his son never meant a thing to him alive or dead.
** "Stealing Home" and "Frank's Best" both have killers who are hardly unrepentant (although the latter one is a lot less creepy in general than the other) and likely inspire less contempt than the guest characters from those episodes who help desperate immigrants into America, but only when they think they can exploit them in one or way or another.
** Ronde, the record producer from "Soul", is less sympathetic than the ATragedyOfImpulsiveness killer, even under the most charitable reading of his character. He works his employees a lot harder than he has any right to, considering that he also underpays them, gives them little respect, steals Billy's glory after initially dismissing his ideas (although he has seemingly accomplished a lot on his own since parting ways with Billy), possibly sleeps with his secretaries (although he denies it and that may have been mere gossip) and repeatedly ruins Chandra's chances to work on the record due to feeling that attractiveness matters more than skill for female singers.
** The RedScare-embodying cops and bigoted principal in "Red Glare" spread pitiless misery with every second they are onscreen, while the killer at least started out with good intentions.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Even when episodes have a SympatheticMurderer a less likable character who did the killing, other characters manage to be {{jerkass}}es who deserves more hatred, especially since it's rarer for them to receive any comeuppance:

** Doreen from "Disco Inferno" is an unpleasant, ManipulativeBitch who hurls racist slurs at a dance rival at the disco, pays off an impressionable kid to cripple the rival's partner, and indirectly caused the deaths of over 20 people in a fire. Yet, [[KarmaHoudini she isn't so much as charged with anything by the episode's ending.]]
** Dr. Thayer from "The Boy in the Box" (which features an AccidentalMurder by a remorseful killer) has zero remorse for using orphaned children as {{Unwitting Test Subject}}s in his radiation experiments (which sterilized some of them and may have contributed to the deaths of others.

** The mill owner in "Kensington" never breaks any laws and is quite polite while onscreen, while most of his employees end up committing crimes or being bitter toward each other. However, the reason that the employees are acting that way is because their boss sold the mill rather than operate it at a lower profit and wait for better times, leaving the entire neighborhood in poverty while he lined his pockets. What really makes him infuriating is that he lied to his entire workforce about keeping the mill open after signing the paperwork to close the business, setting them all up for a devastating and unexpected fall.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: When episodes have a SympatheticMurderer a less likable character who did the killing, other characters in the episode manage to be an jerkass who deserves more hatred:

** Councilman Boone from "Street Money" hasn't done much to improve his struggling district (or at least certain neighborhoods of it) in multiple terms, is willing to use his influence to threaten the livelihoods of hardworking people who support his opponent and cheated on his wife while she was dying. While he does admit to eventually seeing his opponent as a WorthyOpponent, and the guy told him that they could accomplish more working together, Stillman is highly skeptical about whether Boone would have kept that truce.
** In "Wishing", Leah's father is a SmugSnake with zero empathy seeing a dying woman left unable to care for her son after he gets the boy expelled, while Colin's father abandoned him for being neurodivergent, never paid child support, refused to take in Colin while his mother was dying (which would likely leave him as a ward of the state) and, even long after Colin's death, coldly admits that his son never meant a thing to him alive or dead.

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Billy Sanders ("Soul"), Mia Romanov ("Metamorphosis"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Billy Sanders ("Soul"), Mia Romanov ("Metamorphosis") Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Watching the season three episode "Death Penalty: Final Appeal", the season four episode "Fireflies" and season five episode "Spiders" end up as this due to the actors in those episodes (Creator/MichaelJace playing a character who was ''innocent'' of the crime he was executed for, Dee Jay Daniels playing the lead suspect who was exonerated, and Johnny Lewis playing the younger version of the killer) committing murders in real life.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Many of the episodes do have a SympatheticMurderer or a less likable character who did the killing, other characters in the episode manage to be an jerkass who deserves more hatred:

** Carl from "The Key" is a self-indulgent swinger who dragged his reluctant and dutiful wife into his lifestyle and then got angry with her when she started to enjoy it herself. When she's murdered [[spoiler:by the teenage son of one of her partners after unintentionally leading him on]] and it remains unsolved for decades, any sympathies felt are for their bereaved daughter instead of him.
** The elder daughter, Natalie, from "A Dollar, A Dream". She wasn't the one who killed her mother, but she nonetheless constantly berates and blames her struggling, widowed mother for their homelessness and acts like a SpoiledBrat throughout the episode, even though at least one of their hardships (getting the car towed with her younger sister sleeping inside) was her own fault. After their mother's murder, she's convinced that she abandoned them, but when she later learns of her body being found, she feels no empathy, believing that she took her own life to get away from taking care of her daughters.

** Brie, the one-time babysitter from "Baby Blues", is at one point suspected of poisoning the baby to get her to sleep since she did it previously. Although that didn't kill her and [[spoiler:her mother of the infant killed her in a fit of postpartum psychosis]], Brie is still a loser and a terrible babysitting who in addition to neglecting the kids, also has her boyfriend over for sex and when caught by the previous sitter, threatens her into silence by citing her [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney parents' connections]] and implies that [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain she'll have the woman, who's Hispanic, deported.]]

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Mia Romanov ("Metamorphosis") Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Plenty of victims in the show are popular for a wide variety of reasons, but some inspire a special amount of protective feelings for an adorable combination of vulnerable moments, occasional excitement, and good intentions through their episodes, such as brave, idealistic, friend-seeking {{Lovable Nerd}}s Rita Baxter from "The Sleepover" and Danny Finch from "One Small Step", GoodBadGirl Carrie Swett from "That Woman", dog-loving BenevolentBoss and single parent Frank [=DiCenzio=] from "Frank's Best", DeafComposer and ClassClown Andy Rierdan from "Andy in C Minor", and DefectorFromCommieLand singer Nadia Koslov from "Triple Threat".

** "Family" can be seen as this. Yes, the killer and the kidnapper do end up being arrested for their crimes, but the fate of the mother and daughter is unlikely to end well; the girl is still [[BrokenBird damaged]] from her years of growing up without a father, her knowledge of mother abandoning her at birth, and being exposed to the harsh world of foster care (or it was in her case). The mother, meanwhile, lives hand-to-mouth in a group home, virtually has no skills to come by, and is seen as still [[NervousWreck emotionally wrecked]] by the end of the episode, even with the HopeSpot between the two women reuniting and all.

** Watching the season three episode "Death Penalty: Final Appeal", the season four episode "Fireflies" and season five episode "Spiders" ends up this due to the actors in the episode (Creator/MichaelJace playing a character who was ''innocent'' of the crime he was executed for, Dee Jay Daniels playing the lead suspect who was exonerated and Johnny Lewis playing the younger version of the killer) committing murders in real life.

** The main victim, Martha, in "Lonely Hearts". We're repeatedly told that she's extremely unattractive and has no chance with men, and even the detectives, in a surprising display of insensitivity, comment that her traditionally-handsome boyfriend "must've had some kind of fetish." In reality, while she's somewhat overweight and by no means supermodel-gorgeous, she comes across as an adorable ManicPixieDreamGirl type [[spoiler:apart from being an accomplice to a SerialKiller, that is]], and in the scene she first meets her lover, she has a flower in her hair and is fairly pretty.

** The (innocent) frenemy of the victim in "Factory Girls", depicted as pitifully jealous of her popularity at their workplace, as well as her happy marriage, to the point where she blatantly tries to interfere in the victim's relationship by making herself look like the better option. All because she's considered an OldMaid at only 22 (by the standards of when the episode is set) and regarded as a PlainJane when she is clearly no less attractive than any of the other women seen throughout the episode.
** The victim in "The Sleepover" is considered unattractive and nerdy by the other girls, who deem her unpopular at school. In reality, she's adorkable and quite cute. Then again, the [[AlphaBitch girls]]' opinions are clearly not meant to be taken at face value.
** Tina in "Rampage" is referred to as a {{butterface}} (as in everything is hot "but her face") by her [[SmugSnake meathead]] [[JerkJock ex-boyfriend]]. [[IAmNotPretty She even calls]] ''herself'' a "hit and run queen". Oh yeah, for those of you who haven't seen the episode [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115297/mediaviewer/rm2242182400 this]] is the aforementioned "butter face".

** Jill Shelby from "Look Again" behaves like a normal, excitable, level-headed teenager despite having an abusive father whose beatings hospitalized her at least twice by the time she was 15 and an abusive boyfriend who degrades her and is rumored to hit her, in addition to cheating on her with her best friend.

** Karen Watson in "The Good-Bye Room". She initially comes across as a violent and crass girl, having been expelled from her school for beating another girl with a rock. Throughout the episode, she repeatedly scoffs at her friend [[WideEyedIdealist Hilary]] for looking forward to giving birth to her child, which she personally saw as a nuisance. When Karen finally gave birth to a boy, however, she fell in love with him on sight and was heartbroken to have to give him up for adoption with only fifteen minutes to say goodbye. Hilary attempted to reassure her, hugging her and telling her that he was going to a wealthy lawyer's family and that he would be well taken care of, but Karen only repeated again and again that she "wanted him back in his bassinet". In the present, it's mentioned that she spent decades searching for her son, joining multiple adoption search groups. At the end, [[spoiler:she chased after Hilary when the latter tried to escape from the institution with her daughter, jealous that '''she''' got to keep her child, and then loses it so completely that she starts to think Hilary has ''her'' baby, and kills her to get "him" back. Back in the present, Rush arrests her for Hilary's murder, but also gives her a file with information about her son.]]

** Creator/JenniferLawrence appears as the present-day version of a teenage girl whose mother was the victim in "A Dollar, A Dream".

** Creator/SungKang plays the murder victim in "Who's Your Daddy?"

*** In the same episode, young Nick Vera was played by Daniel Vincent Gordh, who would later play William Darcy on the Emmy-winning ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'' web series.

** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' stars Creator/ChadwickBoseman and Creator/MichaelBJordan portrayed characters in season 6's "Street Money" and season 5's "Wunderkind", respectively: the former was the victim of the episode while [[HilariousInHindsight the latter was the killer.]]

** From that same episode there's a flashback to poor [[TheWoobie Sarah]] declaring that "if she died tomorrow, no one would notice" [[spoiler: and indeed nobody did! It was almost too easy for [[BitchInSheepsClothing Johanna]] to steal her identity.]]

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Jill SHelby ("Look Again)", Daniela ("Daniela"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Zeke Williams ("Strange Fruit"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Tamyra Borden ("Spiders"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Nash Simpson ("Hoodrats"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Carlos Espinosa ("Bombers"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Plenty of victims in the show are popular for a wide variety of reasons, but some inspire a special amount of protective feelings for an adorable combination of vulnerable moments and good intentions through their episodes, such as ScholarshipStudent Rita Baxter from "The Sleepover", GoodBadGirl Carrie Swett from "That Woman" and dog-loving BenevolentBoss and single parent Frank [=DiCenzio=] from "Frank's Best".

** Jill Shelby from "Look Again" behaves like a normal, excitable, level-headed teenager despite having an abusive father whose beatings hospitalized her at least twice by the time she was fifteen and a BastardBoyfriend who is rumored to hit her in addition to cheating on her with her best friend.
** Channary Dhiet from "Who's Your Daddy" is an opium-addicted war refugee who is stuck in an EthnicMenialLabor job and has a StalkerWithACrush, but is rarely seen without a smile, and is able to pretend that many of her problems don't exist.

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Andy Rierdan ("Andy in C Minor"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Colin Miller ("Wishing"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Many of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"), Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Ben Feldman ("Witness Protection"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** Quite of the one-off victims have noticeable fanbases of their own and sometimes even fans who wouldn't have minded seeing them star in a non-murder mystery story, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Roy W. Dunn ("The Brush Man"), Daniel Holtz ("A Time to Hate"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Eve Kendall ("Lovers Lane"), Tom and Della Lincoln ("Badlands"), Greg Vizcaino ("Discretion"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Sadie Douglas ("The Letter"), Joe Young ("Kensington"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Frank [=DiCenzio=] ("Frank's Best"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Terrance Carter ("Wunderkind"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Skill Jones and Madison Reed ("8:03 am"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Danny Finch, ("One Small Step"),Jane Everett ("Breaking News"), Ally Thurston ("Wings"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Pete Doyle, Sr. ("Bad Reputation"), Patrick "Rifle" Lennox ("November 22nd"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("WASP"), Mitchell Baye ("Churchgoing People"), Harry Denton ("The Runaway Bunny"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Dana Tucker ("The War at Home"), Nadia Koslov ("Triple Threat"), Donalyn Sullivan ("Read Between the Lines"), Ellie [=McCormick=] ("Revolution"), Laurie Dunne ("The Promise"), Sonny Sandoval ("Dead Heat"), Ed Dubinski ("Lotto Fever"), Billie Ducette and Rose Collins ("Best Friends"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), and Hank Dempsey ("The House") ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turning out to have survived their apparent murders]]).