The 25 Best True Crime Documentaries and Series of 2024
We at MC are serious about true crime. There's a certain thrill in turning to the latest and greatest true crime books, podcasts, and TV shows, to analyze how filmmakers tell these jaw-dropping stories. Thankfully, plenty of new titles are slated for release in 2024 to fill the gaping hole in our watchlists left by 2023's best true-crime documentaries and series. Prepare your streamer accounts and put on your detective hats: These are the best new true crime documentaries and series to catch in 2024.
'Bitconned'
Premieres: Streaming now on Netflix
In the early days of the crypto boom, three guys from South Florida founded Centra Tech with nothing but Photoshop skills and dreams of a lavish lifestyle. This documentary covers the rise and fall of the three scammers, who raised millions of fundraising dollars before they were outed by a New York Times investigation.
'The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks'
Premieres: Streaming now on Max
Last year, Investigation Discovery released an in-depth docuseries on Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian girl adopted and then abandoned by an Indiana couple after they alleged she was a grown woman. This latest follow-up allows Natalia to give her side of the story. While it's captivating to see the subject push back on the claims of her adoptive family, viewers shouldn't expect to walk away from the series with all the answers.
'Daughters of the Cult'
Premieres: Streaming now on Hulu
This new cult documentary traces the story of the Mormon polygamist cult Ervil LeBaron (known as the "Mormon Manson" due to his control over his followers). Several former members of the cult, including Ervil's daughters, recount their strange upbringing, as well as their father's penchant for blood atonement and ordering hits on his opponents.
'The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard'
Premieres: Out now on Lifetime
Even those who aren't true-crime buffs know the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who suffered years of emotional and physical abuse from her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, and who was eventually sentenced for her role in Dee Dee's murder. For this docuseries filmed in the lead-up to her early release from prison, Gypsy Rose shares details of her life in her own words.
'American Nightmare'
Premieres: Streaming now on Netflix
In 2015, Denise Huskins was accused of faking her own kidnapping, with both law enforcement and the media referring to her alleged hoax as the "Gone Girl case." The three-part docuseries American Nightmare tells the true story of Huskins' traumatizing ordeal, and how the case was more a story of police misconduct than a ripped-from-fiction hoax.
'Griselda'
Premieres: Streaming now on Netflix
This fictionalized series from the team behind Narcos tells the real story of Griselda Blanco (played by Sofía Vergara), the "Godmother of Cocaine" who ruled the Miami drug scene in the late 1970s and 1980s. The six-episode show starts with Blanco's arrival in the U.S., as a single mom hoping to support her three sons, and ends with the brutal killer facing the consequences of her decades of crime.
'They Called Him Mostly Harmless'
Premieres: Streaming now on Max
This doc, based on a series of Wired articles, centers on an emaciated male hiker found dead in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, who was carrying food and money, but no phone or identification. The film focuses on two sides investigating the hiker: local law enforcement who quickly reach a standstill, and amateur detectives in a Facebook group devoted to solving the case.
'Lover, Stalker, Killer'
Premieres: Streaming now on Netflix
In 2012, Dave Kroupa, a 35-year-old auto mechanic, dipped his toe into online dating and made connections with two women; by the end of the love triangle, one of their houses had burned down. This twisty 90-minute doc from Netflix covers the unpredictable story, which proves that online dating could be a dumpster fire long before 2024.
'The Truth About Jim'
Premieres: Streaming now on Max
This Investigation Discovery docuseries follows Sierra Barter, a young woman trying to understand the trauma left by her abusive stepfather, Jim Mordecai, who she suspects may have been behind some notorious unsolved crimes. While the second half veers into conjecture attempting to link Mordecai to legendary serial killers, the doc is also filled with emotional interviews where Barter's extended family reckons with the aftermath of one man's manipulation and destruction.
'Crime Nation'
Premieres: Now streaming on The CW
The CW premiered its first-ever true crime show this year, a 10-part series that will dive into high-profile investigations from the past few years, and "explore the relationship between the public narrative and official investigations for each case.” Some of the cases on the list so far include the Delphi murders, the Lori Vallow Daybell case, and the Gilgo Beach murders.
'The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping'
Premieres: Now streaming on Netflix
When she was a teenager, filmmaker Katherine Kubler was sent to one of the militaristic, unregulated boarding schools that make up the "troubled teen" industry. Kubler returns to the now-abandoned campus with several other alums to expose the abuses they endured, in this powerful survivor-led docuseries.
'The Truth vs. Alex Jones'
Premieres: Streaming now on Max
This HBO original series chronicles the court case between the families of Sandy Hook victims and Alex Jones, the conservative InfoWars host who accused them of staging the tragic school shooting. The doc on the defamation trials shows the troubling effects that Jones' outrage-led business model can have manipulating millions of viewers and destroying lives.
'Manhunt'
Premieres: Streaming now on Apple TV+
This scripted miniseries from Apple covers the aftermath of one of America's historic crimes: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Based on James L. Swanson’s 2006 book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, the seven-episode drama chronicles the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, immediately after the incident at Ford's Theater.
'Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV'
Premieres: Streaming now on Max
Nickelodeon produced many millennials' most-beloved childhood shows (The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, and iCarly, to name a few), but the behind-the-scenes process was more harrowing than any young fan could know. In this ID docuseries, several former crew members and stars of those shows speak out on the dangerous and predatory culture allegedly fostered by series creator Dan Schneider.
'What Jennifer Did'
Premieres: Streaming now on Netflix
Based on the 2015 article Jennifer Pan's Revenge, this film follows the stranger-than-fiction story of Jennifer Pan, a young Vietnamese-Canadian woman who lived near Toronto with her parents. After her parents were fatally wounded in a violent 2010 home invasion, authorities began to suspect that Jennifer arranged the whole thing. (This doc has also sparked controversy, with outlets alleging that it included images manipulated by AI.)
'Under the Bridge'
Premieres: Streaming now on Hulu
In 1997 in Victoria, British Columbia, 14-year-old Reena Virk was brutally beaten to death by a group of her peers. Based on the late Rebecca Godfrey’s book of the same name, this scripted series follows the emotional aftermath of the homicide, while putting Reena's (played in the miniseries by Vritika Gupta) humanity and the motivations behind teen bullying at its center as journalist Rebecca (Riley Keough) and cop Cam (Lily Gladstone) investigate the crime.
'The Jinx: Part Two'
Premieres: Now streaming on Max
This year, HBO finally released a sequel season to its hit 2015 docuseries, which investigated the crimes of Robert Durst and ended with his shocking hot mic confession. In the eight years since, the team behind the series discovered "more hidden material," as well as Durst’s prison calls and new interviews, Variety reports.
'Hollywood Con Queen'
Premieres: Now streaming on Apple TV+
Throughout the 2010s, a scammer dubbed the "Con Queen" impersonated several female and male Hollywood executives to "hire" industry contractors for a gig in Jakarta, Indonesia, conning the workers out of thousands of dollars each. Based on Scott Johnson's book Hollywood Con Queen: The Hunt for an Evil Genius, this docuseries chronicles the investigation behind the scams and the eventual reveal of the notorious swindler's identity.
'Pillowcase Murders'
Premieres: Now streaming on Paramount+
Between 2016 and 2018, multiple female residents at Dallas-area retirement communities were found dead, with some of their jewelry having gone missing. Though the deaths were initially blamed on natural causes, this docuseries chronicles the victims' children and grandchildren's efforts to have the cases further investigated.
'Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal'
Premieres: Now streaming on Netflix
Ashley Madison, the infamous dating site for married people in search of an affair, received the Netflix true-crime treatment in this docuseries. It features interviews with former employees and notable figures caught up in the 2015 hack that exposed over 40 million users' personal information.
'Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult'
Premieres: May 29 on Netflix
In early 2022, the family of TikTok dancer Miranda Derrick shocked social media when they claimed that her church-affiliated management company, 7M Films, was controlling her. This docuseries dives into the so-called "TikTok cult," unraveling a history of allegations against 7M Films owner and Shekinah Church pastor Robert Shinn that goes far beyond the dance community.
'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'
Premieres: TBA on Netflix
The scripted anthology follow-up to 2022's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story will cover the infamous (and much-chronicled) case of the Menendez brothers, who were sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents in August 1989. The pair, who have spoken out in documentaries over the years, have long maintained that their father was allegedly physically abusive, and their mother an enabler.
'An Update on Our Family'
Premieres: TBA
This highly-anticipated docuseries, which makes its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City this June, covers the rise and fall of family vloggers Myka and James Stauffer. After building a YouTube empire, helped by the adoption of a young Chinese boy named Huxley, their highly-publicized fall exposed the "hidden-in-plain-sight, unregulated family vlogging industry," per the film's description.
'Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer'
Premieres: TBA on Hulu
Dr. Ann Burgess, the esteemed criminal profiler and architect of the FBI's "mindhunter" method, will finally get the docuseries treatment in this project executive produced by Dakota and Elle Fanning. Based in part on Burgess's 2021 book A Killer By Design, the series will document the profiler's six-decade career investigating the country's most infamous true-crime cases, as well as her involvement in the anti-rape movement.
'Black Box Diaries'
Premieres: TBD
In this doc, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival to acclaim, journalist Shiori Itō explores her quest for justice in the wake of surviving a sexual assault committed by a high-powered media figure with ties to Japan's prime minister. The powerful doc dives into Japan's archaic laws around sexual violence and how political and cultural systems work to keep victims silent, while also showing Itō's day-to-day ordeals as a survivor facing intense scrutiny.
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