History Main / ExtremelyColdCase

* In ''Literature/TheDaughterOfTime'', Creator/JosephineTey's fourth novel featuring Inspector Alan Grant, he is laid up in hospital with a broken leg and passes the time re-investigating a murder from the 15th century. Famous because, rather than have him investigate a fictional case, Tey used the real incident of UsefulNotes/RichardIII and the Princes in the Tower. The investigation includes examining the primary historical sources on the case and realizing the political biases of either their writers or the sources which these writers used.

** Bizarrely averted in "World's End", which deals with a murder committed during Creator/OrsonWelles's broadcast of ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' in 1938, yet it is treated like every other episode and everyone involved is alive. Critics point that the doer should be way over 100 in the present day, but this never comes up, and that either the script [[{{fanon}} must have been rewritten]] from another set 20 years later or WritersCannotDoMath.

** Bizarrely averted in "World's End", which deals with a murder committed during Creator/OrsonWelles's broadcast of ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' in 1938, yet it is treated like every other episode and everyone involved is alive. Critics point that the doer should be way over 100 in the present day, but this never comes up, and that either the episode [[{{fanon}} must have been rewritten]] from another set 20 years later or WritersCannotDoMath.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The people of Chin Village hate the Avatar for Avatar Kyoshi (supposedly) killing their leader Chin 370 years ago, and imprison Aang as the new incarnation of the Avatar. Sokka and Katara seek to clear Aang's (or really Kyoshi's) name and visit a museum on Kyoshi island were they find relatively conclusive evidence Kyoshi has to be innocent (a temple in which Kyoshi supposedly was in was only built later, a footprint attributed to her is much to small, and on the very day she killed Chin she also "founded" an island). In Aangs trial, [[spoiler:however, Kyoshi manifests and confesses that she indeed did kill Chin: he was an invading warlord, so to pretect her home country, she split it off of the mainland (thus founding Kyoshi island), and Chin, who was refusing to back down from the cliff, eventually fell down, leaving the footprint.]] Hearing the explanation, the case is solved after 370 years, and Chin Village grudingly stops hating the Avatar.

* ''Film/RaiseTheTitanic'': The {{McGuffin}} is a load of {{Unobtanium}} ("Byzanium") aboard the RMS ''Titanic''. Investigating its whereabouts, the main character interviews a surviving crewman played by Creator/AlecGuinness, who claims that the passenger who loaded the cargo forced him to take him back to it at gunpoint. [[spoiler:They raise the ''Titanic'' to get hold of the Byzanium, only to discover that it had been buried in England and never made it into the ship.]]

* ''Film/RaiseTheTitanic'': The {{McGuffin}} is a load of {{Unobtanium}} ("Byzanium") aboard the RMS ''Titanic''. Investigating its whereabouts, the main character interviews a surviving crewman played by Creator/AlecGuinness, who claims that the passenger who loaded the cargo forced him to take him back to it at gunpoint. [[spoiler:They raise the ''Titanic'' to get hold of the Byzanium, only to discoer that it had been buried in England and never made it into the ship.]]

* ''Film/RaiseTheTitanic'': The {{McGuffin}} is a load of {{Inobtanium}} ("Byzanium") aboard the RMS ''Titanic''. Investigating its whereabouts, the main character interviews a surviving crewman played by Creator/AlecGuinness, who claims that the passenger who loaded the cargo forced him to take him back to it at gunpoint. [[spoiler:They raise the ''Titanic'' to get hold of the Byzanium, only to discoer that it had been buried in England and never made it into the ship.]]

* ''Series/HawaiiFive0'': In "Ho'onani Makuakane"[[note]]"Honor Your Father"[[/note]], the team investigates the murder of a prisoner at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honouliuli_Internment_Camp Honouliuli Internment Camp]] after the victim's son accuses a guard of killing him and stealing his family's samurai sword. Every other person involved in the case at the time is dead.

Often appears as the premise of a FormulaBreakingEpisode for an established detective.

A professional detective applies their crime-solving skills to an old historical mystery. Either the mystery has remained unsolved in the interim, or the detective has found reason to suspect that the original solution was flawed.

* The oldest entry in [[https://charleyproject.org/ The Charley Project]] missing person database is Dorothy Arnold, who disappeared in New York City in 1910.

* The Saskatoon Police Department accepts tips leading to the identity of an unidentified woman nicknamed "[[http://www.sacp.ca/missing/details.php?id=138 The Lady of the Well]]", even though her murder has been dated to the 1910s according to the items found with her. The body was found in 2006.

* In "The Fall of the House of Voticky" by Creator/KarelCapek, a historian turns to a police investigator to try making sense of a 15th century noble family drama.

* Used as a quick gag on an episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'': while playing undercover as a security guard of a museum and pondering the clues of the murder of the week, Adrian randomly points out to Stottlemeyer that a Neanderthal skeleton that is on a nearby exhibit shows signs of having been murdered, rather than the natural causes the exhibit says were the cause of death (and that none of the anthropologists or analysts or other people who have seen it in the many years since being unburied noticed).

* Invoked in the title of Creator/TheHistoryChannel doumentary series ''Crime Scene: Antiquity''. The segments revisit either bodies found at archaeological sites (like Ötzi the Iceman) or murders described in ancient chronicles.

Often appears as the premise of a SomethingCompletelyDifferent episode for an established detective.

* Invoked in the title of Creator/TheHistoryChannel doumentary series ''Crime Scene: Antiquity''. The segments revisit either bodies found at archaeological sites (like Ötzi the Ice Man) or murders described in ancient chronicles.

Differs from a usual situation of RevisitingTheColdCase because everybody involved in the original incidents is dead. This means the detective has no opportunity to re-interview witnesses or suspects and is forced to rely on what physical and documentary evidence remains. It also affects the framing of a successful outcome, since it's too late to make things right for the original victims (although in some cases there may be a living relative whose situation will be affected).

* Invoked in the title of Creator/TheHistoryChannel doumentary series ''Crime Scene: Antiquity''. Segments are based on either murdered people found at archaeological sites (like Ötzi the Ice Man) or murders loosely described in ancient chronicles.

* Creator/{{BBC}} daytime documentary series ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'', where two present day lawyers are asked by the family of the person convicted of a murder (and in most cases executed) to reinvestigate the case, and to hopefully clear their ancestors name. Most the cases were from the first half of the 20th century - [[RevisitingTheColdCase the most recent case they investigated was from 1962]]. However, some were even earlier than that, with one case they investigated being from '''1825''', and another one from '''1839'''.

* Creator/{{BBC}} daytime documentary series ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'', where two present day lawyers are asked by the family of the person convicted of a murder (and in most cases executed) to reinvestigate the case, and to hopefully clear their ancestors name. Most the cases were from the first half of the 20th century - the most recent case they investigated was from 1962. However, some were from the Victorian Era, with one case they investigated being from '''1825''', and another one from '''1839'''.

* Creator/{{BBC}} daytime documentary series ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'', where two present day lawyers are asked by the family of the person convicted of a murder (and in most cases executed) to reinvestigate the case, and to hopefully clear their ancestors name. Most the cases were from the first half of the 20th century - the most recent case they investigated was from 1962. However, some were from the Victorian Era, with one case they investigated being from ''1825'', and another one from ''1839''.

* Creator/{{BBC}} daytime documentary series ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'', where two present day lawyers are asked by the family of the person convicted of a murder (and in most cases executed) to reinvestigate the case, and to hopefully clear their ancestors name. Most the cases were from the first half of the 20th century: the most recent case they investigated was from 1962. However, some were from the Victorian Era, with one case they investigated being from 1825, and another one from 1839.

* Creator/{{BBC}} daytime documentary series ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'', where two present day lawyers are asked by the family of the person convicted of murder (and in most cases executed) to reinvestigate the case, and to hopefully clear their ancestors name. Most the cases were from the first half of the 20th century: the most recent case they investigated was from 1962. However, some were from the Victorian Era, with one case they investigated being from 1825, and another one from 1839.