I, Detective

Viewers follow real police investigations and are quizzed at pivotal moments about what the detectives should do next and why. They are given the opportunity to follow clues, find evidence and learn how this information is used to solve investigations. The answers are then revealed to the at-home contestants, who privately play along, and hopefully, provide insights into police methods.

The pilot puts viewers in the center of the investigation of the 1992 kidnapping of Exxon executive Sydney Reso from his New Jersey home. Reso's distraught wife and abandoned car (idling at the end of his driveway) seem to be surefire clues -- yet the program forces viewers to examine what criminologists must assume when first given these scenarios. The program features interviews with many of the key law enforcement officials assigned to the case. These individuals recount specific details of the investigation and discuss the many theories that were considered about Reso's kidnapping. In the end, detectives were able to identify disgruntled former Exxon security official Arthur Seale and wife Jackie as the kidnappers. The capture of the Seales two months after the kidnapping eventually led investigators to Reso, who had, in fact, died just five days after being abducted.