Investigation Discovery to Premiere FATAL ENCOUNTERS, 4/9

Investigation Discovery's new series FATAL ENCOUNTERS recounts the ill-fated relationship between killer and victim as their paths intertwine. Chance meetings, everyday decisions, and random acts of violence send ordinary people down a deadly collision course toward their own mortality. Each episode begins with the introduction of the victim and the killer as they go about their normal business, unaware of what's about to transpire. While an on-screen clock counts down the victim's final hours, days, or even years, viewers track the decisions and actions that bring the victim closer to their killer's fatal trap, not knowing until the last moment which person will fall prey and who will have blood on their hands. Following the success of FATAL ENCOUNTERS' pilot in January 2012, Investigation Discovery has commissioned a 13-episode first season, debuting with new episodes on Monday, April 9 at 10 PM E/P.

"Investigation Discovery often revisits stories of victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but none goes so far as to tackle the 'what if' in these homicide cases - what if she hadn't answered the door? What if he had gone to the movies instead of to the bar?" said Henry Schleiff, president and general manager of Investigation Discovery. "The haunting decisions that fuel each episode of FATAL ENCOUNTERS will leave viewers wondering how their own seemingly insignificant decisions could change a life's course forever."

In the premiere episode, Miami housewife Kelley Branham spontaneously joins her husband, Jake, a charter boat captain, on one of his trips in 2007. Despite being terrified of deep ocean water, Kelley faces her fear to spend quality time with Jake, whose frequent trips have begun straining their marriage. It is supposed to be a simple excursion for the young couple looking to reconnect. Jake and his crew have been hired by well-heeled businessman Kirby Logan Archer and his partner, Guillermo Zarabozo, to ferry the pair one-way from Miami Beach to Bimini Island. But as they cast off, Kelley gets a strange feeling about their mysterious customers. Captain Jake should have checked their passports and looked inside their luggage, but it isn't until they are halfway across the Gulf Stream that Kelley and Jake realize that these two men are not at who they say they are. In the end, two of the six people aboard make it out alive, but are they crew members or passengers?