17 True Crime Shows and Movies On Netflix That Are Total Hidden Gems

This four-part docuseries presents a new angle on the infamous Son of Sam killings in the ‘70s, for which David Berkowitz was arrested and pled guilty to. For decades, journalist Maury Terry tried to prove that Berkowitz didn’t act alone and was part of a Satanic cult that was behind the murders. The Sons of Sam is both an examination of Terry’s web of conspiracy theories about the case and a cautionary tale about the dangers of true crime obsessions taken too far. —Sadie Gennis

A mix of interviews and recreations tell the story of Janet Moses in Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses. Moses was 22 years old living in New Zealand when she was accidentally killed by family members during an attempted exorcism, which prompted nationwide discussion about religion and consent. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Each episode of Netflix's I Am A Killer tells the story of a death row inmate convicted of murder. Stories range from the infuriating to the heartbreaking. What makes this series stand out is that, unlike other true crime shows, I Am A Killer starts with the guilty party. There's not really a mystery to be solved, but a system to be examined. What led these men to kill? What fueled their legal battles? And should there even be a death row at all? —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

This 2019 Netflix docuseries follows the disappearance of a British three-year-old girl who went missing while her family was at a Portuguese resort in May 2007. Although McCann was never found and no one was ever convicted, several theories were put forth by various investigators, some of which are detailed in the series. —Rebecca Patton

One of the most infamous murder cases in Iceland is re-visited in Out of Thin Air. The disappearance of two men in 1974 led to the vilification of a group of young people, two of whom had been involved in a previous embezzling scheme. They confessed and were sent to jail, only for those confessions to come under scrutiny years later. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Erin Lee Carr's latest docuseries, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, documents chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan as they tampered with evidence while working at two different drug testing labs in Massachusetts. As a result of their misconduct, over 47,000 court rulings were overturned. —Rebecca Patton

You'd be forgiven if you thought Murder Mountain was a documentary about mountaintop killings, but it's actually about the weed business. The marijuana business in Humbolt County, California, has been booming, but along with it has come a record number of missing people. The documentary focuses on Garret Rodriguez a 29-year-old who went to Humbolt to make money and never came back, and a local sheriff's office that doesn't seem all that motivated to solve the case. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

The Devil Next Door examines John Demjanjuk, who was suspected of being Ivan The Terrible — a notorious Nazi guard stationed at the Treblinka concentration camp during World War II. Though he always maintained his innocence, Demjanjuk was eventually sentenced to five years in prison on 28,060 counts of being an accessory to murder. —Rebecca Patton

Convicted murderer Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, opens up about his crimes in Interview with a Serial Killer. If your favorite part of Mindhunter was the interviews, you’ll want to add this to your queue. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Chris Watts is currently serving five life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann Cathryn Watts, and daughters, Bella and Celeste, in 2018. In this chilling documentary, the story of this tragic crime is told entirely through found footage and social media posts. It’s a grimly compelling documentary that keeps its focus firmly on the victims, and feels unnervingly close to home. —Sadie Gennis

The Investigator: A British Crime Story is a Making a Murderer-esque investigation into a 1985 missing persons-turned-murder case. If you love true crime stories that don't have a clear explanation or end, then The Investigator is a perfect next stream. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

In 2003, a man with a bomb strapped to his neck attempted to rob a bank and died. Known as the pizza bomber heist, the story became a media sensation. First believed to be a case in which the pizza delivery man was forced to commit the crime, the story changed into something else entirely once the investigation got going, leading to an alleged conspiracy and a so-called "evil genius" mastermind, Majorie Diehl-Armstrong. The four-episode series is full of so many twists and turns, you'll think it was fiction. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Natascha Kampusch was 10 years old when she was abducted by Wolfgang Priklopil, a 44-year-old man in 1998 Vienna. She was held prisoner for over eight years before she managed to escape. In this documentary, Kampusch reveals how she survived this horrifying ordeal. —Olivia Truffaut-Wong

This documentary takes viewers on a deep dive into the assassination of Malcolm X, presenting new evidence that suggests two of the three men convicted for the crime are innocent. Following the film’s release, in February 2020 the Manhattan district attorney’s office revealed they were reinvestigating the case, per CNN. —Sadie Gennis

In 2009, Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while she was studying abroad in Italy in 2007. However, their original convictions were overturned in 2011 and they were both acquitted in 2015. In this documentary, Knox shares her side of the story, discussing what it was like to be wrongfully convicted. —Rebecca Patton

There’s a reason The X-Files did an episode inspired by the case at the center of this docuseries; the story takes that many unbelievable turns. Across three episodes, Murder Among the Mormons dives into the three 1985 bombings in Salt Lake City that killed antiques dealers Steven Christensen and Gary Sheets, and the crime’s ties to an elaborate forgery grift targeting the Mormon church. It’s a story of skilled manipulation and the dangers of blind faith — though it left the clear parallels between the central con artist and the Mormon church frustratingly unexamined. But with such a strong hook and fascinating figures driving the narrative, it’s still well worth watching.—Sadie Gennis

Like Curb Your Enthusiasm, baseball, and true crime? Long Shot is for you. Netflix's documentary chronicles the bizarre 2004 case in which Juan Catalan, a man accused of murder, was able to clear his name, partly thanks to footage captured by Curb Your Enthusiasm, which was filming the crowd of a Los Angeles Dodgers' game Catalan attended on the day of the crime. Of course, there's more to the story, as detailed in the doc, but you'll have to watch it to find out. — Olivia Truffaut-Wong