In Tulsa, detectives have little to go on when they find the naked body of an unknown homeless woman who was raped, strangled to death, and thrown into a dumpster.
A young woman is found dead behind an abandoned building in Mobile, AL and detectives need her boyfriend to help solve the case; A young father's murder case sends Atlanta detectives to the Pocono Mountains in search of his killers.
In Atlanta, a young man comes home for lunch and winds up murdered when he catches a brazen thief in the act. Then, in Tulsa, an ongoing feud between two gang members leads to a fateful encounter.
The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.