Forensic Files

A 12 year-old is the only witness to her mother's death and is unable to provide many details. Little did they know 12 years later, forensic evidence would lead the investigation right back to where it started.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

An investigation into threatening letters sent to a popular elementary school teacher.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

There was no apparent reason for the young, healthy college student to be dead. But when the medical examiner found the tiniest of clues during the autopsy, investigators were able to unravel the mystery of betrayal and revenge.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim was a self-made man who never minced words. Perhaps he was murdered by a disgruntled client or employee. Perhaps the racy photos in his safe held the clue to solving the crime. Or perhaps with the help of the IRS, investigators could follow the money and find the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim was brutally murdered. Police learn her fiance was having affairs with other women, and he becomes the prime suspect...that is until a man comes forward who not only believes he owns the murder weapon, he also knows who used it.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A serial killer was on the loose and police had to find him before he struck again. Their most promising lead was an unusual one: a bloody fingerprint on the body of one of the victims.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim was discovered in a landfill, stuffed into a suitcase. She resembled another woman, missing for 18 months. Sure they were dealing with a serial killer, police faced the daunting task of combing through 225,000 tons of trash to find her body.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The body of a young girl was discovered on isolated farm land near Delano, California. She had no ID, but police found mailbox and house keys in the pocket of her jeans. With no other clues, they checked the mailboxes of every apartment building in Delano... and their persistence paid off.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In little more than a month, two women who lived in the same apartment complex were brutally murdered. The similarities of the crime scenes led police to conclude they were dealing with a serial killer who harbored an intense hatred of women... and they had to find him before he struck again.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A mapmaker was surveying the grounds of a boy scout ranch when he came across a human skull.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Four young adults are brutally murdered in an affluent Texas neighborhood, and the crime scene yields little evidence. The next door neighbors see two young people dressed in black walking nearby, and their descriptions are used to create composite drawings which become a key element in solving the crime.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A couple is found dead in their Washington home and all signs point to a professional hit. A palm print and two distinct shoe impressions help police separate fantasy from reality and expose a fatal flaw in one state's inmate release procedures.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The woman hadn't shown up for work in two days, and her boss reported her missing. When her body was found, the evidence pointed to suspects who claimed they had nothing to do with the crime. The victim, herself, would help police to prove they were lying.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Hikers near Anchorage, Alaska discovered a body wrapped in sheets which were edged in orange stitching. Authorities hydrated the fingers and obtained a fingerprint, enabling them to identify the victim. Clinging to the sheet, they also discovered a tuft of red carpet fibers -- threads of evidence which led them straight to the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

For 18 years, a man who murdered his entire family eluded the FBI. Investigators used art and forensic science to find the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a teenaged girl goes missing, no one knows if she ran away or if she was the victim of foul play. Everyone's worst fears are confirmed when a body is found at the bottom of an isolated ravine. Police scour the crime scene, hoping to find enough evidence to identify the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A woman was ambushed in her driveway and shot to death. During their investigation, police learned that a co-worker half her age was in love with her, and that she'd spurned his advances. They now had to determine if love had turned into obsession... and a motive for murder.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A possible false confession forces investigators to reopen the case of a missing six year old. A decade later, a fresh look at new evidence leads them to someone hiding in plain sight.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The bodies of three women were found floating in Tampa Bay. The water washed away any evidence, but police hoped a handwritten note found in the victims' car would lead to the killer - so they posted huge copies of the note on five highway billboards.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death on the beach, just ten yards from the hotel where she was staying. A pair of men's tennis shoes was discovered near her body. Police were sure that if they found the man who fit the shoes, they would also find the man who committed the crime.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A mysterious computer crash pushes a thriving manufacturing company to the brink of collapse, jeopardizing the jobs of hundreds of employees. There is no apparent cause and no obvious clues. Forensic investigators must determine if the crash was the result of a computer defect, human error, or sabotage.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A woman who survived a deadly childhood fire sends police a letter charging her father killed her mother 30 years ago.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A federal agency ruled a fire that killed a child intentionally set, charging the mother with murder. Were government officials wrong?

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A young college student is found dead in her apartment. There are no obvious signs of foul play, but skin cells under her fingernails yield DNA of an unknown male suspect, and petechial hemorrhages in her eyes prove this is a homicide.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A 12-year-old's death shakes a suburban Minnesota town. Police have no leads until a string of burglaries months after the murder leads them to the victim's possessions, and to the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

After a day of fishing in a small village in Switzerland, a teenage boy did not return home as planned. His body was found in a cornfield, but investigators found microscopic one-cell organisms on him, which could only be found in water.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In 1993, worldwide attention focused on robberies which targeted tourists in Florida. Some vacationers were killed in thee attacks; some fought and survived, despite severe injuries. A bite mark is the key used to convict a suspect.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A pregnant woman is brutally attacked in her own home and her unborn child is killed. Was her husband wrongly convicted?

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The truck fell off the hydraulic jack, crushed the man working beneath it, and sparked a fire... or so it seemed. Investigators turned to forensic science to determine if they were dealing with a tragic accident or a carefully orchestrated murder.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A funeral director is murdered and his son, the sole beneficiary of his estate, is considered a likely suspect... until witnesses provide him with an ironclad alibi. When police find a mask near the crime scene, they hope it will lead to the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Orange fibers may link a van and a murdered girl's body.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Three homicides on two continents look like professional executions. Investigators on both sides of the Atlantic needed to find out if they were related and, if they were, who or what they had in common.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The woman was missing for a month. Police find her car but no evidence of foul play... only a fingerprint and a set of keys. There's a code on one of the keys, which they hope will unlock not only a door, but also the mystery of her disappearance.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

For six years, a serial killer prowled the streets of New York City. He wrote letters to police and "The New York Post," indicating he would kill twelve people, one for each astrological sign. Forensic astronomy, handwriting analysis, and DNA extracted from the flap of an envelope gave investigators a profile of the killer, and a stroke of luck enabled them to find him.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The woman could have lost control of her SUV on the icy road, and plunged down an embankment into a shallow creed, But there were footprints in the snow leading away from the vehicle and bloodstains on both the inside and the outside. Investigators were convinced this was the scene of a crime, not an accident.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a woman is found dead of a gunshot wound, forensic scientists proved once again that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A Modesto, California teenager went missing. There was no sign of a struggle in her home, and police suspected she'd simply run away... until her naked, bruised body was discovered in a ditch 20 miles away.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a gym teacher is found dead of what appears to be an accidental gunshot wound, his family is suspicious. When police find that the wife's previous husband died in questionable circumstances, they re-examine the crime scene.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

While in high school, Marie Robards suffered the devastating loss of her father to cardiac arrest but Marie had a secret.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

War criminals who moved to the United States are captured many years later thanks to forensic technology.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Now in its second season, Hell And Gone is a podcast from iHeartRadio and School of Humans that follows writer and private investigator Catherine Townsend as she investigates unsolved deaths in small-town Arkansas This season, she dives into the mysterious death of Janie Ward, a 16-year old high school student who died at a party in 1989 in Marshall, Arkansas. In the 30 years since her death, no one has been able to determine how she died even though there have been multiple investigations and her body has been autopsied three times. Season 1 investigated the cold-case murder of Rebekah Gould, a beautiful and popular college student who was killed in 2004.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A Canadian scam-artist, Albert J. Walker, assumes the identity of co-worker Ronald Platt as part of a money-laundering scheme. Platt later turns up dead and the only clues to his real identity are a Rolex watch and a maple leaf tattoo.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A brilliant young architect became ill and died just before she was to testify in a criminal trial. The autopsy revealed she'd been poisoned with arsenic; it was a slow and painful death, so suicide was unlikely. Investigators had to determine who among her family, friends and business associates had a motive for murder.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A murder mystery theater performance turns into a real life whodunit when a badly burned body is discovered after the performance.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The year was 1984, and a serial killer was on the loose in Florida. Eight women had been found dead. At each crime scene, investigators found tiny red fibers, fibers they hoped would lead them to the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A woman disappears without a trace; even though foul play is suspected, the leads don't pan out and the trail turns cold. Twenty years would pass before police are able to link a clump of hair discovered in an isolated area with the missing woman. Members of "NecroSearch," a group of volunteer forensic scientists, searched a remote area of Colorado a meter at a time, found the victim's body, and gave authorities the evidence they needed to bring the killer to justice.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Police find an abandoned car on a busy Philadelphia highway; later, strange marks on the driver's body lead police to her killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A young woman was killed in a senseless act of revenge. Could police identify the killer through a fingerprint on cloth?

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The huge amount of blood at the crime scene spoke of the violence of the attack; investigators describe it as "overkill," and it's usually an indication that the victim knew the attacker. Police hoped that, during the struggle, the killer had left some of his own blood - and his DNA - behind. Their challenge was to find it.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When hunters reported finding a skull in a Texas canyon, police immediately began an investigation. At the scene, they found bits of clothing, a woman's shoe, some small bones and a strand of hair. An anthropologist determined the victim was a Caucasian woman, and that she'd been stabbed repeatedly. A forensic artist reconstructed her face, and the image was released to media. Eventually, police learned who she was. Now all they had to do was find her killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

After the rape and murder of a popular high school student, authorities ask the males in her social circles to volunteer DNA. When a match is found, the community is stunned.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

While staying at a hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, a Louisiana woman drowns in a bathtub. Her husband claims it was an accident, but detectives are skeptical as they discover evidence of foul play.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The story of nurse Tanya Reid who may have murdered her own baby and was planning to murder her son.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A retired police officer is discovered dead in his bed. Examination of the evidence at the crime scene, the tape from a bank surveillance camera, and forensic textbooks found in the victim's home are used to solve the murder.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A fire erupted in the Kings Cross Underground Station in London, killing 31 people and injuring dozens more. Arson investigators were able to pinpoint the cause of the fire, but it would take state-of-the-art computer technology and experts in the field of fluid dynamics to explain why it became a deadly inferno.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim had ingested a massive amount of cyanide. An unlikely clue - a flaw on a mailing envelope -- exposed a murderer who was willing to kill innocent people to get the one person he wanted.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A series of murders near Sacramento, Calif., where prostitutes were gagged and molested, their clothes cut off in random patterns and their hair cut off.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A man confesses to killing his wife but forensic evidence may lead to another suspect.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When the body of a female prison guard shows up in a landfill, investigators suspect the prisoners in the facility where she worked. The medical examiner found an important clue, a "signature" element, which figured in two other murders.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When someone dies under mysterious circumstances, the spouse almost always is a suspect -- especially if they are in bed, sleeping beside the individual at the time of their death.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A 29-year-old pregnant wife is found dead in her home of a gunshot wound to the head. Blood spatter analysis led police to the truth.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A gas station employee was shot at point blank range. Police find the entire murder was caught on the station's security camera.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A man considered unstable by his neighbors is accused of killing his wife. But a medical detective holds a different view.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

It looked like sixty-two-year-old Phillip Rouss, Jr. had it all: family, friends, and a new business which was the culmination of a life-long dream. Then his health began to deteriorate. Doctors couldn't pinpoint the cause of the illness and Phil began to suspect his condition was no accident. Toxicologists and investigators identified the real problem just in time to save Phil's life.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When the once called America's most hated woman and her top two lieutenants disappeared, there was no shortage of suspects.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Murder in a Seattle homeless encampment known as The Jungle. Three teenage brothers were charged, but are they the real killers? Only The Jungle knows. Join former federal prosecutor David Payne and producer Jody Gottlieb as they investigate. Somebody Somewhere Season 2: The Jungle Murders premieres June 11, 2019.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Just weeks before a witness is to testify against the man accused of sexually assaulting her, she is murdered in the front yard of her own home. Investigators immediately suspect her attacker, but they don't have enough evidence to prove his guilt. It would take fifteen years, and the remarkable advances in forensic science and DNA testing which occurred during that time, to enable police to nail the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

An employee of a dry-cleaner was raped and murdered in the store, and investigators thought themselves fortunate to have two eyewitnesses. Their descriptions were similar but not identical, and the prime suspect didn't come close to resembling that person. So police turned to forensic science for the answers they needed.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a young fireman died from what appeared to be serious but undiagnosed heart disease, his family and friends were devastated but they had no proof of foul play. Then they learned that, six years earlier in a nearby town, a young police officer died in the same way. The men had one thing in common: At the time of their deaths, they were married to the same woman.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A 33-year old woman meets, falls in love with, and marries a successful young doctor, but an unusual amount of discomfort during her pregnancy arouses her suspicions, prompting a personal investigation that culminates in a startling revelation.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The murder of an eccentric millionaire was not entirely unexpected; he flaunted his wealth and cared little for personal security. The evidence at the crime seemed to indicate robbery, but investigators wondered if there was something more.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The body of a businessman was found in his rental car. Teeth and bone fragments were all that remained of the body; When the victim's wife filed a life insurance claim, investigators sought the help of a forensic anthropologist.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The victim was well liked and successful, which made the brutality of the crime even harder to understand. In the final moments of her life, she'd written a name on the wall - presumably that of the killer - in her own blood. But this wasn't an open and shut case and, in order to solve it, investigators would have to read between the lines.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

An elderly woman is murdered. Though investigators were able to lift prints from the scene, they failed to find a match and the crime went unsolved. Years later, advances in fingerprint science enable police to identify the print and the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A family vacation turns into a nightmare when the wife is found face-down in the lake. There are no witnesses and little conclusive evidence to help police determine if they're dealing with a suicide, an accident, or something more sinister... until a forensic pathologist uses a groundbreaking technique to discover the truth.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a young dancer who got involved with the wrong crowd disappeared, her family immediately suspected her new friends. When a young dancer who got involved with the wrong crowd disappeared, her family immediately suspected her new friends.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A brutal murder, lots of suspects, and conflicting evidence... but the forensics were clear on one thing: The killer knew his victim. And that alone gave investigators a head start.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A serial bomber was on the loose in Illinois. Two churches had been bombed and one person was killed. Investigators had to stop the perpetrator before he struck again... and they hoped to find him by following a thin copper wire.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In a tragic twist of fate, just days after the woman sold her home and moved to a modest trailer, a fire took both the trailer and her life. But the autopsy proved this was no accident. It was arson and murder. Investigators had to determine who wanted the woman dead... and why.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A woman does not return home and, despite pleas from her family, police insist on treating it as a routine missing person's case.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

An obstetrician returned home from the hospital and found his wife on the floor of the bathroom; she was covered with blood, not breathing. He tried unsuccessfully to revive her, staining his clothes with her blood in the process, and then he called 911. His version of events was not supported by the blood spatter evidence, and investigators had to determine why.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Police uncover a trail that reveals a husband's plot to kill his wife for insurance money.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Police uncover a trail that reveals a husband's plot to kill his wife for insurance money.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The killer was meticulous, washing everything at the scene, including the victim's body. The only definitive evidence was a single foreign hair. Three years later he struck again and, this time, what he left behind would prove he committed both crimes.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A college co-ed was abducted from a parking lot. Her body was found later that day. She'd been sexually assaulted and shot at point blank range. Eight years passed and then a pair of shoes and a cell phone breathed new life into a cold case.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a woman's husband was gunned down in his own garage by intruders, investigators worked tirelessly to find the assassins. But when they discovered that a wound sustained during the attack by the grieving widow may have been self-inflicted, they turned to science to help t hem unravel a twisted tale of lust, greed, and deception.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In 1995, police in San Diego, California are baffled by a pair of hands found in a dumpster. The case goes cold but about a year later, investigators receive an anonymous letter with information about the crime that had been withheld from the press - information only the killer (or someone close to the killer) would know. Laser technology helps to identify the state, city, street address, and even the office number from where the anonymous letter was mailed, which leads them to LDS (Mormon) Bishop Mark Davis. Davis cites the privilege between clergy and church member as a reason to not disclose the source of the information, but a judge rules that since Davis sent the letter, he must identify the source.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When the wife of a dentist is found dead, police are unsure who killed her. As the investigation progresses, a woman confesses. Two years pass before fibers and a study of the weather on the night of the murder break the case open.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In 1996 in Indiana, four women had been sexually assaulted and a suspect was soon convicted. But the story doesn't end there.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

For twelve years, the murder of a young woman went unsolved, but with the passage of time came the development of technology. Would a used tissue found at the crime scene give police the evidence they needed to crack the case and bring a killer to justice?

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Police exhume the body of a murdered woman to study bite wounds, which eventually lead to the killer.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Police arrive at a shooting, and discover the victim's husband is a homicide detective who says his wife shot herself. Investigators turn to a forensic scientist and ballistics expert to learn what really happened and who was responsible.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The assistant manager of the restaurant had been stabbed to death. Police knew why he'd been killed: $8,000 was missing from the safe. As to who was responsible, his family and friends couldn't even imagine who'd want to hurt him.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The woman was dead. The man had been shot four times but he survived. When the man's version of events was at variance with the evidence, investigators turned to forensic science, hoping to determine if this was a botched robbery, or cold-blooded murder.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A human skeleton was discovered in the North Carolina marshlands and, when investigators learned she'd been dead for 18 months, they knew it would be difficult to find out who she was, much less who killed her. A forensic anthropologist was able to determine the victim's race, age and height, but it would take an inventive computer consultant to give her a face and a name.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Eileen and Derrick Severs disappeared from their home in the small village of Hambleton in Great Britain, and police found evidence which suggested foul play.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

When a Massachusetts man dropped dead of an apparent heart attack, no one thought foul play was a possibility until police looked into his girlfriend's odd behavior in the days before his death.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Emelita Villa came to Arlington, Texas from the Philippines as a shy, impoverished, 18-year-old mail order bride for Jack Reeves, a man almost 30 years her senior. Six and a half years later, Emelita disappeared.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

A woman is found dead in a ravine near a jogging path. Crucial crime scene evidence had been washed away by severe thunderstorms. Then, almost 20 years later, two pieces of newly-discovered evidence brought the killer to justice.

To learn more about how HLN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy