Tracker season 2 episode 1 recap: A decade-old disappearance haunts Colter Shaw’s latest case

CBS’s Tracker returns for Season 2 with a bang—literally and emotionally—as Colter Shaw dives headfirst into a new missing persons case that quickly spirals into a federal manhunt. But the case-of-the-week isn’t the only mystery simmering—Colter’s long-standing obsession with Gina Pickett’s disappearance also creeps back into the fold. The premiere episode, titled Out of the Past, doesn’t waste a second getting gritty, twisting personal stakes into a professional pursuit.

While the new storyline delivers the usual adrenaline-pumping pace, it also reveals just how tightly Colter has been gripping the past. The sudden reappearance of Gina’s name and her sister Camille's arrival bring a much more intimate lens to the loner tracker. And just in case viewers needed a reminder of how layered Colter’s life is—Bobby is missing from action (more on that later), Teddi is off the grid, and Reenie is building a private practice with an appropriately sassier fee.

Still, it’s the Arkansas wilderness that takes center stage this time, where a family has gone missing, and things take a very dark turn when federal marshals enter the fray. What starts as a $35,000 recovery mission escalates into a cat-and-mouse chase involving a vengeful ex-husband, a bloodthirsty cartel family, and a mother trying to outlive her past.

A witness protection gone wrong—and a killer in disguise on Tracker

Colter’s search leads him to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where a seemingly simple missing-persons case involving a lottery-winning family morphs into something far more dangerous. What initially looks like a kidnapping tied to gambling debts reveals itself to be a hit job targeting Connie—the family’s matriarch—who’s been hiding in witness protection. Connie had testified against her ex-husband’s powerful criminal family years ago, but a feel-good photo op after the lottery win put her back on their radar. In this episode, even the smallest clues (a tablet, a bag of dirt, a Jeep that won’t start) become life-or-death puzzle pieces.

The real shocker lands late in the episode when Colter realizes that U.S. Marshal Jeremy Boyd isn’t who he says he is. The man helping with the investigation is actually Kirk Gardner—Connie’s ex and the son of the crime boss she helped put away. In a chilling twist, Colter uncovers the real Boyd’s body in the woods, making it clear just how close the threat has been the entire time. It’s this moment—when the hunter becomes the hunted—that elevates Tracker Season 2 Episode 1 from a standard procedural to a psychological powder keg.

Gina Pickett’s cold case resurfaces on Tracker—and Colter won’t let go

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Just when you think the chaos has settled, Colter circles back to the unresolved ghost that’s been haunting him for ten years: Gina Pickett. His visit to her sister Camille reignites old tensions and unearths new theories, including a suspicious bag of dirt found in the freezer of Colter’s prime suspect, Frank. Camille and Colter share a moment of intimacy—perhaps born out of shared grief, perhaps just emotional exhaustion—but it’s clear Gina’s disappearance isn’t just a cold case. It’s the case Colter can't shake.

This episode subtly suggests that Gina’s mystery could become the slow-burn arc of the season. From handwriting samples to cryptic notes to Colter’s late-night obsession with old posters, Tracker is planting breadcrumbs. And knowing Colter Shaw? He’s not the kind of guy who follows them blindly—he’ll dig up the whole trail until he finds the truth.

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