Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. It’s why many true crime viewers are so drawn to the genre: It helps us better understand the world around us — as well as the parts that have been hidden in our blind spots. While true crime documentaries can send chills down your spine, they also reveal the unjust systems at play, spotlight the psychological extremes that humans are capable of, and, when done respectfully, give the victims and survivors the opportunity to speak for themselves.
As the genre grows, so does the selection of cases to choose from. Need a clue on where to start? Keep scrolling to discover our top true crime picks.
When #vanlife vlogger Gabby Petito went missing in 2021 during a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, the mysterious circumstances of her disappearance sparked national interest. Brian had returned home to Florida without Gabby, and when her parents suddenly stopped hearing from her, they began a desperate search for their daughter. In the days after the case went viral, online sleuths tried to piece together what had happened between Gabby and Brian during a stop in Wyoming, where she was last seen. This three-part docuseries chronicles Gabby’s disappearance and murder as her family and friends share her story, illustrated with real text messages, video footage, and excerpts from her personal journals.
When Laci Peterson went missing from her California home on Christmas Eve 2002, her family immediately launched a massive campaign to find her. Laci was eight months pregnant, and every moment she remained unaccounted for was difficult for her loved ones to bear. Her husband, Scott, appeared to be one of the last people to see Laci alive, but his behavior soon began to attract attention. As the search continued, increased scrutiny yielded even more shocking details about Scott, who had been leading a double life at the time Laci went missing. While the Petersons’ ordeal quickly became national news, American Murder: Laci Peterson reexamines the case and the media frenzy that surrounded it, providing a sobering, comprehensive look at the case.
Dubbed the “real-life Gone Girl,” the three-part series from The Tinder Swindler filmmakers Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins takes viewers on a journey through one couple’s harrowing experience with a home invader. On March 23, 2015, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, were awakened in the middle of the night by a stranger. Quinn called the police and explained what happened, saying the intruder had tied them up, drugged them, and taken Huskins for ransom. But no one — not even investigators and police — believed them.
In 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley was a recent college graduate who boarded a cruise headed for the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The 23-year-old woman was on vacation with her parents, Ron and Iva Bradley, as well as her younger brother, Brad. After spending an evening at the ship’s nightclub, she was last seen resting on the balcony of her cabin in the early hours of the morning. Soon after, she mysteriously vanished. This three-part documentary delves into her sudden disappearance and the decades-long investigative effort that followed., It includescomplete with interviews with her family members as well as FBI investigators and eyewitnesses from aboard the cruise ship.
This 2020 documentary follows the survivors of USA Gymnastics (USAG) doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse, as well as the team of investigative journalists from The Indianapolis Star who initially broke the story. Many gymnasts in the USAG were experiencing horrific acts behind closed doors. Through interviews with survivors and the journalists who brought the story to the world’s stage, Athlete A details how the USAG covered up Nassar’s abuse for years.
In the rapidly growing content-creator economy, people see an opportunity to build multi-million-dollar brands — but at what cost? Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing explores the shadowy and unregulated world of online child influencers. The three-part docuseries spotlights a group of former aspiring tween influencers known as “The Squad,” who grew up making viral content on social media with YouTube celebrity Piper Rockelle under the direction from her momager, Tiffany Smith. While their content appeared silly and fun from the outside, the former Squad members and their parents reveal a darker story of alleged exploitation and manipulation.
Sarma Melngailis was once regarded as the vegan queen of NYC. Melngailis’ restaurant, Manhattan’s Pure Food and Wine, served as a hot spot for vegans and celebrities alike. After meeting a mysterious man on the internet who promises to help grow her empire, Melngailis finds her life — and restaurant — veering off the rails.
The day after Christmas 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey awoke to discover that their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét, had gone missing. They found a rambling ransom note asking for $118,000 and immediately contacted the police. Later that day, while the authorities were already on the premises, John found JonBenét dead in the basement, having been brutally murdered hours earlier. In the burgeoning era of 24-hour news cycles, the story of what happened to JonBenét Ramsey quickly became a media sensation. Much was made of the fact that JonBenét had participated in child pageants, and before long, suspicion turned to the Ramseys themselves. Nearly 30 years later, however, the case remains unsolved. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? methodically works through various angles and leads to provide an in-depth look at how this investigation came crawling to a halt.
In 2008, a 32-year-old Irish widower named Jason Corbett created a profile on an au pair agency website seeking help raising his young kids, Jack and Sarah. He found and hired 24-year-old American Molly Martens, and the two eventually fell in love, marrying in 2011 and moving the whole family to North Carolina. But their seemingly idyllic love story took a dark turn in 2015, when Jason was brutally killed at home by Molly and her ex-FBI father, Thomas Martens, both claiming self-defense. A Deadly American Marriage explores the conflicting perspectives on what really happened through new interviews with Molly, Thomas, Jack, and Sarah, as well as Jason’s sister Tracey and her husband David.
When Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook, he probably never intended for his social network site to help solve a murder. After a disturbing online video involving abusing cats enraged online viewers, Facebook avengers attempted to track down the man in the video. To their surprise, they discovered that this person wasn’t just an animal torturer but also a sadistic killer.
A young woman is found dying on the side of a road from a hit-and-run, but investigators soon learn that it wasn’t a simple accident. After her death, she left behind an infant son and a much older husband — who mysteriously appeared in a photo with the victim as a child that, years later, was passed along to investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck. As he dug in, it became clear that the woman wasn’t who she said she was — and neither was her “husband.” It took more than 20 years to disentangle the web of lies to reveal the true, grim story of her real identity.
In 2010, law enforcement authorities began discovering human remains along a stretch of Ocean Parkway in Long Island’s Suffolk County. Many of the identifiable victims were sex workers, a particularly vulnerable and stigmatized population, which is one reason the investigation into their deaths took so long. Despite passionate family pleas for help, there was little movement in the case until July 2023, when investigators had collected enough evidence to arrest a suspect. This three-part docuseries tells the story of the search for the Long Island serial killer, using interviews with journalists, law enforcement officials, and friends and family of the victims and accused killer.
When Cathy Terkanian gave birth to a baby girl in 1974, she was only a teenager herself. Though she initially intended to raise the child on her own, family pressure resulted in her eventually giving the baby up for adoption. For decades, Terkanian maintained hope that one day her daughter would reach out to her, but instead she learned that in 1989, the girl went missing and was never seen again. Desperate for more information, Terkanian set up Facebook accounts hoping to connect with people who had known her daughter before she disappeared — and learned details that shocked her. Alexis (the name her daughter was given) had been adopted into an abusive home, and with each infuriating revelation, Terkanian became more determined than ever to seek justice for her daughter.
Who killed Sister Cathy? In 1969, the 26-year-old nun from suburban Baltimore was murdered. Her sudden death stunned the town, especially her students at Archbishop Keough High School. As investigators dug into this mystery, they learned that her death may not have been the only injustice. Was Sister Catherine Cesnik murdered to cover up sexual abuse by a school priest?
Warren Jeffs saw himself as the spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an extremist offshoot of mainstream Mormonism. In reality, he created a system of abuse and coercion, forcing members of his congregation — often underage — into marriage, blind obedience, and isolation. In this docuseries, former FLDS members and survivors come forward to share their stories. Using never-before-seen VCR footage from within the FLDS community, this series provides the well-known story with a deeply human and relatable face — told through current interviews with his wives and congregation.
As the title suggests, Lover, Stalker, Killer is a story of a romance gone wrong. In 2012, Dave Kroupa created an online dating profile after just coming out of a long-term relationship. It’s there that he meets a single mom named Liz Golyar. Soon after, he encounters another single mother, Cari Farver, while repairing her car at his auto shop. It’s an instant connection for Kroupa and Farver, but what would unfold is a twisted love triangle that leads to harassment, digital deception, and murder.
This three-part docuseries uncovers the gripping story of an intelligent, charming scammer named Jonathan Meijer who traveled around the world and donated his sperm to countless clinics as well as via private donations. The series shares the firsthand accounts of multiple families who were deceived by Meijer, who claimed he intended to donate sperm to just a handful of families. However, estimates suggest that he may have fathered as many as 3,000 children worldwide, with far-reaching implications.
In 1996, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents, Kitty and Jose, in what became one of the most highly publicized trials of the late 20th century. And in Alejandro Hartmann’s documentary, the brothers — for the first time in almost 30 years, and in their own words — revisit the case that shocked the nation. The Menendez Brothers offers a fresh look at the trial, with audio interviews with the brothers themselves, as well as interviews with their cousin Diane Vander Molen and the prosecutor in the Menendez case, Pamela Bozanich.
A tight-knit South Carolina community is ripped apart by a series of deadly crimes that all seem to involve one family: the Murdaughs. The two seasons of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal delve into how a prominent family used and abused their wealth and privilege to the extreme.
It’s every daughter’s nightmare: Your dad is suddenly arrested while on his lunch break, and that’s how you find out he’s actually one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Such was the case for Kerri Rawson. She learned in 2005 that her father, Dennis Rader, was the BTK Killer — he committed 10 gruesome murders between 1974 and 1991, earning the moniker BTK (bind, torture, kill) because of his gruesome methods. The documentary recounts Rader’s crimes through the eyes of his daughter, as she confronts the possibility of additional victims, faces the continued impact on her community, and reckons with childhood memories that may hold hidden traumas.
This documentary from Emmy Award–winning director Geeta Gandbhir interrogates the realities of the controversial yet widely common Stand Your Ground laws through the literal lens of police bodycam footage. It zooms in on a tight-knit community in Florida that’s experiencing relentless harassment by a neighbor whose hostility escalates into a fatal crime. The film, which honors Ajike Owens and her family, was given the Directing Award: US Documentary when it made its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
In the era of online dating, being catfished has become a more regular occurrence while looking for love — and in some situations it can be a nightmare. When Kirat Assi and Bobby first started talking on Facebook in 2010, their online friendship was innocent enough. Kirat recognized Bobby from their shared Sikh community in London, and they developed an online friendship and got to know each other. The pair exchanged thousands of messages for almost a decade and, over time, their friendship developed into a serious romantic relationship. But as time went on, and Kirat tried to meet Bobby in person, something would always get in the way — until one day, Kirat decided to find out what was really going on, once and for all. Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is full of unpredictable twists and turns, telling Kirat’s story through exclusive interviews with her and her family.
Simon Leviev (legal name: Shimon Hayut) lived a life of luxury, donning designer clothing and flying in private jets. To some women, he was an absolute catch. Little did they know that Leviev’s opulent lifestyle was funded by defrauding women through Tinder.
This three-part docuseries revisits the case of one of America’s most notorious serial killers from the perspective of a family who knew the suspect well. For nearly six decades, the identity of the Zodiac Killer has remained a deep well of questions, theories, and obsession. He was linked to at least five murders across Northern California starting in the late ’60s and became a household name nationwide, known for sending letters written in code to local newspapers. Law enforcement has only ever named one suspect in the case: Arthur Leigh Allen. This Is the Zodiac Speaking shares the chilling accounts of the Seawater family, who knew Allen well, with fresh evidence that may provide new answers in this still unsolved case.
Cue the iconic theme song. Those eerie keys paired with Robert Stack’s smoky voice and tightly cinched trench coat have been sending chills down viewers’ spines for years, and the series’ spooky legacy has been maintained in the rebooted version, which applies a documentary approach to cold cases, ghost stories, supernatural occurrences, and more. As ever, viewers are encouraged to take in each episode with a sharp eye — relevant tips and information from the public are encouraged and often leads to mysteries finally being solved. The latest volume of Unsolved Mysteries retells the ever-bewildering story of the mysterious events that went down in Roswell, New Mexico, one fateful night in 1947; in addition to delving into the strange world of cattle mutilations; the relationship between a paranormal researcher and an otherworldly entity; and a double homicide committed in broad daylight with no witnesses.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Ontario police received a 911 call from a young woman. Jennifer Pan told dispatchers that her family’s home had been broken into and both her parents had been shot and killed. But midway through the call, Jennifer’s father, Huei Hann, could be heard groaning in the background — he had survived the shooting and needed emergency medical attention. As more details emerged in the case, it became clear that there was more to the story than what Jennifer initially told investigators. What Jennifer Did tells the story of what really happened that night, using police interrogation room footage, as well as interviews with detectives and friends of the Pan family.
There’s nothing quite like moving into your dream apartment, only to have your life completely upended by a terrible new roommate. But the horror stories of dirty dishes, unchanged toilet paper rolls, and moldy food left in the fridge don’t begin to compare to the frightening stories of Worst Roommate Ever. From creators Cynthia Childs and Blumhouse Television, each episode of the documentary series tells the true story of a terrifying roommate with a sinister secret. You’ll learn about the woman who killed multiple tenants, the serial squatter who committed the ultimate con, and the landlord with a vicious dark side. You can also stream Worst Ex Ever, from the same creative team, for the stories of four romantic relationships that went terribly wrong.
What started in October 2020 as a few suspicious texts from an unknown number grew into one of the wildest true crime cases ever reported. By September 2021, 13-year-old Lauryn Licari and her then-boyfriend, Owen, found themselves bombarded with more and more messages — a barrage of taunting threats and vile insults that they received daily for the next 15 months. The scariest part about it all was that the texts contained deeply personal information, leading them to believe that the sender had to be someone surprisingly close. This documentary digs into the real-life cyberbullying case that rocked the small community of Beal City, Michigan.
Reporting by Erin Corbett, Roxanne Fequiere, Ashley Lee, and Phillipe Thao.
