Cold Case Episode 6.02 True Calling

Rush reopens Laura McKinney's 1991 murder case when a former student of hers (now a teacher) brings in a set of car keys he found in an old desk at the inner-city school where she taught. Laura was an idealistic teacher who joined the Teach for America program right after college. She thought she could make a difference, but she ended up finding resistance at every turn. The students were difficult, but so were her fellow teachers. The initial theory was that she was the victim of a carjacking gone wrong, but since she left her car keys in the car, it seems unlikely that's where she was going. She had difficulties with a fellow teacher, Margaret Rawls, whom our detectives discover illegally bought the gun that killed Laura.

Margaret says the gun was stolen before Laura's murder and she never reported it because it was illegal. She points the finger at a troubled student, Reynaldo, who gave Laura a difficult time. Reynaldo didn't kill Laura, but provides the key to solving the crime. Laura caught him with drugs and discovered he was buying them and delivering them to one of the teachers at the school. When she confronts the teacher, he ends up shooting her to protect himself.