“Cold Justice” season 2, episode 6: “Ambush (Malvern, AR)” airs tonight.
On this episode, Bud and Litina Matlock were young, in love, married, and living happily together in the town of Malvern, Arkansas. Bud coached youth basketball at the local Boys & Girls Club, and was trying to be a great father and husband. His wife Litina was a sweet and loving partner who was focused on caring for their children and creating a good home. On the early evening of November 18 , 2002, Bud had just finished up a meeting at the Boys & Girls Club.
While he was still out, intruders came inside their house where they found Litina cooking dinner and folding clothes. They forced her to her knees and shot her once behind the ear, killing her instantly. Soon after, Bud, unaware of what was happening, pulled into his driveway with their 2 year-old-son Latron in a car seat in the back. As he opened his car door bullets rained down on him from his own porch. Bud managed to get out of the car and get a running start down the road, but he didn’t make it very far before he was shot in the back of the head – he died right there on the street. Mercifully, all the bullets missed baby, Latron, and he was unharmed, but orphaned.
There were many suspects, as the rumors around town began swirling that evening. Although one of the more complex cases the CJ team has ever seen, Chief Donnie Taber and Assistant Chief Jim Bailey and the entire Malvern PD have never given up finding Bud and Litina’s killers, and bringing them to justice.
“Cold Justice” is based on the idea that in small towns across America, cases involving violent crimes can often go cold because of a lack of funding, resources and state-of-the-art forensic technology. With the right resources though, it is possible that many of these cold cases can be re-opened and solved, bringing dangerous criminals to justice and providing closure for the families of their victims.
In TNT’s “Cold Justice,” Kelly Siegler, a former Texas prosecutor for 21 years who has successfully tried 68 murder cases, and Yolanda McClary, a former crime scene investigator who worked more than 7,000 cases in her 26 years on the Las Vegas Police Department, are putting their vast knowledge and experience to work helping local law-enforcement officers and families of violent-crime victims get to the truth. With a fresh set of eyes on old evidence, superior interrogation skills and access to advanced DNA technology and lab testing, Siegler and McClary are determined to bring about legal and emotional resolutions. Taking on a different unsolved crime each week, they will carefully re-examine evidence, question suspects and witnesses, and chase down leads in an attempt to solve cases that would have otherwise remained cold indefinitely.
“Cold Justice” season 2, episode 6: “Ambush (Malvern, AR)” airs Feb 21, at 8 pm EST on TNT.
