Sensing Murder (Discovery Channel)

When brutal homicides are left unsolved, families and police are sometimes willing to try unusual methods to bring them closer to the truth. In SENSING MURDER, practiced psychics Pam Coronado and Laurie Campbell help investigators gather new leads and gain fresh perspectives on cold cases. Through interviews with family members and police -- along with some dramatized events -- viewers learn about cases that often involve extreme violence and lots of unanswered questions.

Due to the show's graphic images and descriptions of real crime scenes (including blood spatter) and the re-enactments of brutal attacks (including scenes alluding to rape), sensitive viewers and young folks should stay away. One episode, for example, investigates the death of a young college student who was beaten with a baseball bat and then transported by her attacker to an alley. She was eventually found there by police, only to die later in the hospital. The Boulder, Colorado, police call Coronado and Campbell in at the urging of the victim's family. Working separately (so as not to influence each other), Campbell -- a self-professed medium who says she communicates with members of the "other side -- and Coronado, a psychic who claims to see visual postcards of past events, aid police to help solve the crime.

While the pair's observations don't amount to a major breakthrough in the case, their ideas do help police see the crime through fresh eyes. Whether or not viewers believe in psychics (and certainly, much of what Campbell and Coronado recount seems pulled from general suspect-profiling information), it's fascinating to watch them work -- and see how each woman comes up with remarkably similar stories without knowing any details about the case.