In Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder, Lt. Columbo’s investigation of a robbery-slaying case uncovers a family secret and a motive for premeditated homicide.

Spinster Ruth Lytton (Joyce Van Patten), curator of the financially troubled, family-owned Lytton Museum, blackmails security guard Milton Schaeffer (Peter S. Feibleman) into helping her carry out a plan to rob the museum for needed insurance money. But the clever woman, harbouring feelings of hostility toward her family, carries the plan out one step further to the surprise of Schaeffer and her brother, Edward (Tim O’Connor). Ruth offers an innocent facade while finalizing the plan – revenge against her sister, Phyllis (Celeste Holm), by implicating the latter’s daughter, Janie (Jeannie Berlin).

This episode originally aired in November 1976.