Karga Seven Pictures has been commissioned by Travel Channel to produce new unscripted series Mission Declassified.
Fronted by journalist Christof Putzel, who previously worked on Al Jazeera America, the nine one-hour episodes premiere on March 24, 2019.
Mission Declassified features cases including a 1962 escape from Alcatraz, the hunt for D.B. Cooper and the Lindbergh kidnapping.
The series is executive produced by Karga Seven Pictures’ Kelly McPherson, Emre Sahin, Sarah Wetherbee, Jason Wolf and Chris Bray; and for Travel Channel, the executive producer is Christine Shuler.
Christof Putzel said: “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity in this series to show our audience how investigations work and why so many of history’s biggest headlines remain a mystery. While it can be a frustrating, sometimes daunting, adventure with no guarantee of success, it can also unveil new knowledge and that will bring us closer to the truth.”
“For a seasoned investigator, new information is the lifeblood of any quest,” added Jane Latman, general manager, Travel Channel. “We’re excited to go on this fascinating journey with Christof every week, and we know whatever he uncovers will help separate fact from fiction.”
For almost 20 years, award-winning investigative reporter Christof Putzel has traveled the world uncovering some of the most hard-hitting stories of our time. He has exposed neo-Nazi attacks against immigrants in Russia, illegal American weapons sales to Mexican drug cartels, the tobacco industry’s exploitation of children in Asia and children used to mine gold in deadly labor camps in the Congo. He has used declassified government documents and key sources to bring these shocking stories to light. Now, in Mission Declassified, Putzel uses the same tools to explore history’s most legendary and notorious mysteries. By decoding recently declassified documents, Putzel discovers new, or simply missed, clues and connections that could finally unlock decades-long mysteries surrounding legendary cold cases.
In each episode, Putzel reveals new information from an unsolved case that takes him on a surprising and circuitous adventure into the past. Upcoming episodes include:
“Escape from Alcatraz” – Premieres Sunday, March 24 at 10 pm ET/PT
The premiere episode begins in San Francisco, where in 1962, three prisoners escaped from Alcatraz. Officially, they died in the surrounding waters. But FBI files say otherwise. Christof Putzel braves those same waters, hunts down inside information and goes on a manhunt across two continents to track down the whereabouts of the missing men.
“The Hunt for D.B. Cooper” – Premieres Sunday, March 31 at 10 pm ET/PT
Christof Putzel jumps from a plane and digs up rare FBI files in pursuit of shocking new leads that take him from the Pacific Northwest to Las Vegas and Utah in his quest to find the real identity of hijacker DB Cooper.
“The Lindbergh Kidnapping” – Premieres Sunday, April 7 at 10 pm ET/PT
Christof Putzel investigates “The Crime of the Century,” the kidnapping and killing of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby in 1932. Putzel’s grandfather broke that story and followed it until the execution of the convicted kidnapper, Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Now, using his grandfather’s notes and declassified FBI files, he tracks surprising new leads to Germany and the Nazi Party.