"Murder at the Motel" explores murder cases set in motels and the pursuit to bring justice to the victims. The personal stories of the victims and of how the investigations unfolded are told from the perspective of family members and law enforcement.
Police respond to a call from a witness who hears a gunshot at the Surf Motel in Sacramento. There they find the body of a woman who has sustained a single "execution style" gunshot to the head.
In 2015, Abigail "Abby" Cozad was found dead in a Colorado motel room. Years earlier, Abby had suffered a traumatic brain injury in a drunk-driving crash, leaving her vulnerable and overly trusting.
In 2016, Bensalem police and firefighters were called to the Lincoln Inn Motel, where a room was engulfed in flames. As crews battled the blaze, they made a horrifying discovery-a body burned beyond recognition lying in the wreckage.
In 2012, 24-year-old Military reservist Alvin Bulaoro was reported missing by his family. Two long weeks later, his body is discovered having sustained gruesome injuries, inside a sleeping bag in the backseat of his car in a parking lot in Fallbrook, CA.
On April 23, 2018, the battered body of Aileen Seiden was discovered off a highway on Florida's Forgotten Coast. Investigators traced the crime to Room 15 of the Sportsman's Lodge Motel, where blood evidence and a palm print revealed a violent struggle.
On April 9, 2021, Tina Strader, a housekeeping manager at the Rodeway Inn in Venice, Florida was viciously beaten, with a towel forced down her throat. Using surveillance footage, investigators worked to identify her killer and bring him to justice.
On July 7, 2017, cleaning staff at America's Best Value Inn in Michigan discovered a horrifying scene: 43-year-old Christina Daughenbaugh's body, wrapped in bed sheets, surrounded by blood with a knife lying nearby.
On a cold November evening in 2011, the stillness of a motel in Utica, New York, was shattered by a brutal crime. Police responding to a call at The Davis Motel uncovered the lifeless body of the owner with a belt tied around her neck.
