45 Best True-Crime Documentaries Streaming In 2024

True-crime documentaries are experiencing perhaps their biggest boom period –- especially due to the presence of streaming. The worlds of novels and podcasts have also been swimming in content dedicated to notorious figures, and streaming sites keep churning out the mysterious, creepy, real-life content. Being a true-crime fan has gone from being a small niche interest to a widespread hobby for many people, and there are plenty of true-crime docs available for consumption. Whether it's due to their editing, the shocking nature of the content, or their political relevance, these are some true-crime docs worth your time and attention.

Updated on April 1, 2024: The world of true crime is a fascinating one, and as long as people break the law, there will be documentaries telling these wild stories. So check back here monthly as we keep you up to date on the very best true-crime documentaries out there.

Having previously directed "Zion" and "Untold: Malice at the Palace," documentaries about a wrestler and an NBA arena skirmish respectively, documentarian Floyd Russ once again delves into a deep and fascinating story that begins with a sport. "American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing" is a meticulous, compelling, and moving documentary about the terrorist bombing at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Through first-hand interviews with witnesses, victims, and investigators, this documentary details how local and federal authorities were able to find and apprehend the responsible parties through digital media analysis and called-in tips. All the while, the documentary captures the remarkable "Boston Strong" moment, when the city willingly shut down and came together as one to allow law enforcement to catch the bombers.

• Director: Floyd Russ
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 175 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

The United States is in the midst of an opioid crisis, and "American Pain" seeks to figure out how and why that deadly prescription drug epidemic ever developed. It's the story of a pair of identical twin Florida bodybuilders, Christopher and Jeffrey George, who — after getting into steroids and committing various petty crimes (for which they received little punishment on account of their connected family) — exploited the many loopholes of state law to open a chain of pain treatment clinics. They quickly became wealthy through questionable and quasi-legal means, operating a series of facilities that pulled in a regional clientele by offering powerful painkillers with almost no questions asked. The Georges' brazen actions would eventually catch up to them, of course, but not after wrecking all kinds of business, medical, and personal havoc throughout Florida.

• Director: Darren Foster
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 106 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Born on the Something Awful forums of the 2010s, Slenderman quickly became a widespread symbol of homegrown internet horror. Sadly, his legacy will always be intertwined with the unfortunate story of Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser. The documentary details how the duo stabbed their friend Payton Leutner 19 times and left her for dead in the woods. In the latter half of the documentary it's shown how the two — despite their young age — were tried and convicted as adults for their actions. It's a fascinating and sobering look at not only the rise of the Slenderman mythos, but also at an unfortunate crime. 

• Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

"Capturing the Killer Nurse" is a true-crime documentary like many others — but what makes this story particularly unnerving is that it's about a criminal who committed their heinous acts in public, in a supposedly safe place. Between 1988 and 2003, Charles Cullen worked as a nurse in multiple New Jersey medical facilities, often in the intensive care unit. He confessed to a few dozen murders, but may have committed hundreds. As the police and investigators associated with the case attest in the documentary, it's tough to catch perpetrators of medical homicide, let alone prove what they did. Cullen nearly got away with his crimes — until he got caught in the act. Adding another complex level to this psychological profile is the fact that Cullen thought he was helping the dying and ill.

• Director: Tim Travers Hawkins
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 94 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%

"Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami" –- a six part Netflix documentary series –- tells the story of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon. The duo's actions are still regarded as one of Florida's most well known cocaine operations. The series showcases their reign as drug kingpins of Miami — from their rise to the top to their eventual fall. If you are a fan of "Narcos" or "Breaking Bad," this tightly edited true story is most definitely for you.

• Director: Billy Corben
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 6 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

A woman named Tonya Hughes is found dying on a roadside, ostensibly the victim of a hit-and-run accident. But when authorities conduct a standard investigation into foul play, they don't find any evidence of murder, but they do uncover a massive web of awful crimes and secrets that go back decades. "Girl in the Picture" unfolds slowly as it works backward, piecing together the complicated identity of Hughes and her disturbing relationship with her dangerous husband. And then there's the extra, alarming wrinkle of how the 2-year-old son of Hughes disappeared, along with his father, after that car accident.

• Director: Skye Borgman
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

"I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter" is a two part documentary focusing on the death of Conrad Roy. Split into two parts -– "The Prosecution" and "The Defense" -– the documentary goes into detail about how Michelle Carter's texts influenced Roy's suicide. The documentary doesn't choose to fully paint Michelle as a villain — never condoning her actions, but offering elaborations on her mental state. It's far from a pleasant watch, but it's still a riveting look at a tragic and complicated situation in which there were no true winners. Directed by Erin Lee Carr -– the same director behind "Mommy Dead and Dearest" –- the documentary pulls zero punches in discussing a very uncomfortable subject matter. 

• Director: Erin Lee Carr
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 143 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Real estate heir Robert Durst's attorneys kept him out of prison for years, despite overwhelming evidence and an admission of guilt that he committed multiple murders. Durst is cold and aloof as he recounts the disappearance of his wife, his close friend's murder (right before she planned to tell police Durst killed his wife), and the fact that he managed to escape justice — for a while, anyway. "The Jinx" is a fascinating, unsettling character study, made all the more unnerving when Durst basically incriminates himself.

• Director: Andrew Jarecki
• Year: 2015
• Runtime: 6 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Who killed Sister Cathy? That is the question that the Netflix documentary "The Keepers" asks over the course of its runtime. The seven episode documentary series takes a look at the murder of nun Catherine Cesnik back in the late 60s. The series, unfortunately, does not end with the reveal of Cathy's murderer, as they were never caught. It instead showcases the ripple effect it had on the people around Cathy. The documentary features interviews with friends, family, fellow students and key investigators who all elaborate on these multilayered events. 

• Director: Ryan White
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 7 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

LGBTQ+ people of the early 1990s found a safe haven in New York City's gay bars. But that feeling of community was violently stripped away when a great number of men started disappearing, followed by the emergence of their brutalized remains. Over four tense and compelling episodes, "Last Call" looks back on this dark and frightening time, with contributions from the people who lived through it, lost loved ones, and fought hard against a bigoted general population and authorities who didn't seem to care if the killer — clearly targeting gay men — was ever identified or apprehended.

• Director: Anthony Caronna
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 214 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

"Lost Women of Highway 20" recounts a horrific era in the history of deeply wooded central Oregon. Not many people live or travel through the Highway 20 area, making it shockingly easy for a serial killer to operate there. Little evidence was ever found of these heinous acts, and the police were both baffled by them and disinterested in investigating further. This ensured the disappearances, assaults, and murders of multiple young women continued on for 30 years. Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer produced and narrated this simultaneously haunting and maddening three-part documentary.

• Director: Arianna LaPenne
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 3 episodes
• Rating: TV-14

Not all true crime needs to focus on sickening murders. Sometimes uncovering deceit and financial theft is more than enough. Founded in 2012 by DeAnne Brady and her husband Mark Stidham, LuLaRoe is a multi-level marketing company that sells women's clothing. However, this documentary series released via Amazon Prime investigates the company's shady business practices and exposes it as a pyramid scheme. Despite the truth of their operation being exposes LuLaRoe is still very much an active business. The series talks with people inside LuLaRoe and people on the outside investigating it. The slick editing and great pacing it makes for a great watch. 

• Director: Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 4 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

"Making a Murderer" is one of the most noteworthy true-crime docuseries of the past few years. It's the story of Steve Avery, a Wisconsin man who falsely served 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen. It shows that a documentary series can be just as, if not more enthralling, than a fictional serialized drama, as long as the subject matter is captivating enough. Clocking in at two seasons, the series is a meticulously researched and tightly edited look at the failings of the justice system.

• Director: Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi
• Year: 2015
• Runtime: 20 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

In 1985, as HBO's six-part miniseries "Mind Over Murder" tells viewers, 68-year-old Helen Wilson was assaulted and murdered in the small town of Beatrice, Nebraska. Six people were subsequently implicated, tried, and imprisoned for the crime, with nearly all of them having confessed. What makes this a truly strange and compelling story is that they were all exonerated by DNA evidence in 2009 — none of the people who did time for the crime, despite their confessions and the authorities' insistence on their guilt — could have done it. 

"Mind Over Murder" follows the case from its beginnings, through the trials and into the present day, with the population of Beatrice still so fractured by the matter that it stages a documentary theater project to work out their feelings. It's a truly odd tale of true crime and also one about the mysteries of human psychology and criminology.

• Director: Nanfu Wang
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 6 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

In this four-part adaptation of the true-crime memoir "The Most Dangerous Animal of All," Gary L. Stewart attempts to identify and locate the biological parents who gave him up for adoption. In the course of his research, Stewart makes a horrific discovery: His father may have been the Zodiac Killer, the infamous murderer who terrorized Northern California and taunted police with cryptograms in the late 1960s. Stewart enlists the help of a true-crime author and a private investigator to not only find his father, but possibly also solve one of American law enforcement's longest-standing murder mysteries.

• Director: Kief Davidson
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 4 episodes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

In the mid-80s, Salt Lake City found itself rocked by a series of bombings carried by Mark Hofmann. He sent out three bombs to three separate people in the Salt Lake City area, resulting in two deaths — the third bomb going off by accident in Hofmann's own car. The documentary goes into detail about the various crimes that led to these bombings, including rampant counterfeiting and forgery. If you hadn't heard of these shocking events, then it would benefit you to give it a watch. Mark Hofmann doesn't get much mention alongside figures like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, but his story is still an immensely fascinating one.

• Director: Jared Hess and Tyler Measom
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 3 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

On November 24, 1971, a man who has become known as D.B. Cooper threatened the crew and passengers of a commercial flight, and then, with the fortune he demanded on his person, parachuted into the dark, chilly forest below, never to be seen again. "The Mystery of D.B. Cooper" doesn't explore the crime itself, so much as the legend of the hijacker. Built around interviews with people who think they once knew someone who very well could have been D.B. Cooper incognito, these stories are convincing and even credible.

• Director: John Dower
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

While working as a fringe investigative journalist in the 1990s, David Holthouse was privy to an odd and frightening night in the remote forests of Northern California. Someone wound up brutally murdered, and witnesses were convinced it was the work of Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, the forest monster of legend. In "Sasquatch," Holthouse tries to piece together the who, what, and why of the bizarre murder. In doing so, he delves into a secretive community in the area, where former hippies dropped out of society and illegally farmed marijuana. This created a violent and complicated culture and a drug war that raged for decades — one more enigmatic and brutal than even Sasquatch.

• Director: Joshua Rofé
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 3 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Before its Netflix release in 2018, "The Staircase" began life as French miniseries by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade released in 2004. The series looks at the trial of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen back in 2001. The title is based upon Michael's claim that a drunken Kathleen has fallen down the stairs resulting in her death. Lestrade, the director, was given the keys to the kingdom in terms of information and assets — being present for and allowed to film the entirety of the trial. If you have yet to hear the story of Kathleen Peterson's death, then this expertly crafted documentary will provide you with ample information.

• Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
• Year: 2004
• Runtime: 13 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

An unsettling and surprising look at the factors that lead to dangerous cults, "Stolen Youth" explores one that formed at prestigious Sarah Lawrence College. In 2010, an adult man named Larry Ray moved into his daughter's dorm. He insinuated himself into the lives of her friends as a spiritual guide and wise mentor. Within a year, he built a sizable following, and convinced his acolytes to break ties with loved ones. This was just the beginning. "Stolen Youth" examines the development of cult abuse, as well as Larry Ray's fall at the hands of law enforcement, which took nearly a decade.

• Director: Zach Heinzerling
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 3 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

Every day, countless people use Tinder to find romance. But one never really knows who they'll be spending an evening (or more) with, beyond what they offer up about themselves. That dangerous uncertainty is at the heart of "The Tinder Swindler," a serious documentary with a funny name about a con artist who found his marks via the world's most famous dating app. Tinder users like Cecilie Fjellhøy, one of his victims, matched up with a charming, good-looking, wealthy businessman. Of course, the titular swindler isn't really a rich power player — but by the time Fjellhøy (and the man's many other victims) figured that out, he'd stolen a lot of their money through a series of subtle and sophisticated deceptions.

• Director: Felicity Morris
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

This Peacock documentary looks at a shocking murder that remains as mysterious and unsolved nearly 20 years after the fact. In 2006, a man in Washington, D.C., called 911 to report a home invasion turned attack. When authorities and medics arrived, the homeowner's friend, a local attorney named Robert Wone, was dead by stabbing. "Who Killed Robert Wone?" tries to figure out the culprit and motive for the murder, which is a curious case on account of the reportedly overly calm witnesses who called in the crime, Wone's lack of defensive wounds, and Wone's associates blocking the investigation from proceeding. The documentary isn't only a riveting true-crime murder mystery but an examination of how the genre itself can skew the truth and public opinion.

• Director: Jared P. Scott
• Year: 2023
• Runtime: 2 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%