Tracker airs tonight on CBS with an all-new Sunday, October 25, 2026, season 4 episode 4 called “Purification,” and we have your Tracker recap below.
In tonight’s Tracker episode as per the CBS synopsis, “When a woman disappears after helping a terrified teenage runaway, Colter uncovers a disturbing case of abuse and embarks on a desperate search to save them both”
Tonight’s episode is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our Tracker recap between 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET! While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our television recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!
Tonight’s Tracker recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s Tracker episode, Colter headed towards Danville, Utah tonight. He took the job of finding a missing young woman. Her name is Nicole Dunning. She’s a file clerk. She had been missing for sixteen hours by then and her father just knew something was wrong. He offered eight thousand for news of her whereabouts.
She was his only child. She missed his birthday dinner. It wasn’t like her. Nicole was very responsible. She called him earlier in the day to tell him she was running late. She would’ve apologized again when she showed because she was simply the type. Nicole was a good person who no one was truly looking for until her dad posted the reward.
The cops had dismissed the father’s concerns. They said Nicole was an adult. She could’ve taken a break from everyone. Her dad disagreed with their assumptions because he said Nicole would’ve talked to him.
The same with a boyfriend. If she didn’t bring up a guy, it had to mean it wasn’t serious enough. Colter went to Nicole’s apartment and he checked around. There was a guy. Nicole was dating someone until it ended recently. She found out he was married. He asked her not to blow up his life.
He was married with a kid. Stephen Jones was a finance bro. He had a road rage incident that proved he had a temper. Colter did worry at first that he hurt Nicole to cover up the affair and he had been wrong about that one.
Jones wasn’t connected to Nicole’s disappearance. Jones last saw her at a public park where he knew several assaults had been reported and he still left her alone to get to her car. Luckily, signs showed she made it to her car. She drove to the nearest gas station where she asked the clerk there for help because she had a younger person with her.
The clerk was knocked out by a man driving an old camper van. He drove it into Nicole’s car. It created a distraction and then once the clerk was knocked out – the guy abducted both victims. Nicole and this mystery person. Nicole was in her twenties. The clerk believed the young man with her was probably a teenager. A very scared teenager.
He hid when the camper van came into view. He knew exactly who was driving and his scars could’ve come from that person. Nicole hadn’t known the kid long before she tried to help him and so Colter did his best to help them both.
First, he tried to track down who the teen was. He left a hoodie in Nicole’s backseat. It was connected to a club. The club couldn’t reveal their member list though they did help Colter. They said they remembered a guy who drove a beat up old camper like the one he described. The driver had been kicked out of the club for being a creep. He was known to hang around the teens. He kept offering rides home that no one asked about. He was listed as Tate Montgomery. They still had his address on file.
Colter checked it out. The house had been abandoned in a frenzy. The person claiming to be Montgomery wasn’t him at all. The real guy was either killed or died naturally. His body was hidden at the house. There was also signs of someone being kept prisoner. Colter found the video recorder. The man pretending to be Montgomery was torturing a kid. He was using Montgomery as a cover as well as a bank because he was still cashing in the man’s social security checks. The kidnapper’s real name is Elias Williams. He was Montgomery’s stepson.
Randy had been right when he called Williams a predatory freak. The teenager he’s been torturing was Jason Williams. His son. He’s been feeding Jason bleach as a means of purifying him against the modern world. Williams used to be a preacher. He also wasn’t acting alone. Colter realized this when Williams’s partner and wife nearly ran him down. It turns out the couple were on the run because CPS were notified about the torture of their son. They had to take him to a hospital after the bleach ruined his stomach.
Everyone with eyes knew what they were doing to that boy was child abuse. It was just his parents who thought they were doing something more. Jason had managed to escape them when they allowed him a candle as a privilege. He started a fire. He used that to escape through a window. Jason made it to the park and he got Nicole to help him. Nicole kept helping him even as they were tied in the back of that camper. She undid her ropes. She caused the camper to crash by strangling Sheryl until she passed out.
Nicole and Jason had taken off by foot after the car crash. Williams pursued them. Colter caught up to all three. He knocked out Williams. He got the other two to a hospital. He saved the day. There was also further good news because Jason has an aunt that was completely cut off from her sister. She was willing to give Jason a fresh start where he could finally be a kid. Randy and Reenie had tracked down the aunt. They also finally got a new office space. Reenie signed a lease. Mel knew contractors to help fix the place up.
Their day ended on a high note when they don’t always get that, but Colter was reminded of his past the more he worked on his dad’s old car and that could be good for him or bring up things that Russell was trying to bury.
THE END!