True Crime Documentaries, a list by Jason Stypick

67

/240/

63

/32/

2.6

/12879/

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

60

?

5.8

/155/

71

/5/

52

/5/

Revisits the 2010 death of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who died while in custody at the border. When eye-witness video emerges, it sparks a far-reaching investigation from a border checkpoint to Washington D.C. CRITICAL INCIDENT chronicles journalists’, lawyers’, and family members’ efforts to explore the Border Patrol’s involvement in the incident, ultimately pointing to cover-ups, and uncovering the existence of a little-known unit inside the agency that had been involved in other border related incident.

65

43

6.5

/2410/

70

/151/

63

/18/

3.2

/6382/

age 14+

Monaco, 1999. One of the world's richest men dies in his penthouse. This documentary unpacks the mysterious murder of billionaire banker, Edmond Safra.

74

50

7.0

/680/

64

/10/

3.6

/7145/

93

/91/

71

/25/

In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.

70

39

6.6

/175/

61

/7/

70

/2/

3.2

/2212/

90

/67/

73

/20/

Against the backdrop of deserted spaces, a filmmaker explores his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary, delving into the true crime genre's inner workings at a saturation point.

?

Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor to death row inmates, travels to Oklahoma in September 2024 to petition against the forthcoming execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn and to guide him to his death, if the state chooses to kill him.

65

59

6.1

/3590/

68

/322/

65

/38/

3.3

/9743/

age 15+

Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.

56

?

7.1

/54/

50

/1/

40

/1/

3.3

/462/

The Last Sacrifice delves into the real-life 1945 witchcraft killing of Charles Walton—the terrifying event that inspired The Wicker Man and birthed the folk horror genre. This unsettling true-crime interrogation probes into the eerie, enigmatic cultural undercurrents that shaped 1970's folk horror genre, leaving an indelible mark on cinema and public psyche.

77

7.1

/19999/

73

/1500/

67

/153/

3.7

/113618/

99

/92/

81

/179/

83

/21/

RogerEbert

3.0

age 15+

Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.

62

57

6.2

/3744/

65

/317/

67

/43/

2.7

/10782/

age 15+

Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.

71

IMDb 42

7.0

/44810/

71

/3138/

71

/415/

3.5

/216445/

87

/214/

85

/472/

66

/37/

RogerEbert

2.0

age 15+

A former Army Ranger and struggling father turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname 'Roofman'. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.

62

?

5.8

/119/

66

/3/

3.1

/428/

In a fictitious trial, twelve members of a jury must decide whether journalist Ian Bailey is guilty of the 1996 murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier. Based on real events, the film reconstructs, through the discussions between these twelve people, a case that ultimately invites the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

?

70

/3/

Grace and Daryl are living happily in Watford when a dangerous stalker starts to rip everything apart. No one can help them. They need evidence. So they start to film everything....

?

The Holocaust began with the indiscriminate mass shootings by the Einsatzgruppen in the bloodlands of Eastern Europe and was perfected in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. “Bullets And Blueberries” explores the motives, methods and madness of the perpetrators, using never-before-seen images captured by the killers themselves — images that fully capture the banality of evil.

?

7.2

/52/

When a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan and the wife of his best friend—radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge® Clem—was leaked online, it ignited a media firestorm. You’ve read the headlines. Bubba recorded it. Gawker published it. This shocking documentary unpacks the lies, the betrayals, and the lawsuit that rewrote the rules of privacy. But the resulting fallout had much greater consequences than just Hogan crushing Gawker. You think you know the real story. You don’t know anything.

61

10

5.7

/270/

65

/29/

57

/7/

3.3

/504/

When a series of shocking, violent crimes shatters a remote native village in Northern Alaska, one man embarks on a journey to investigate a frightening paranormal connection.

?

7.0

/29/

73

/8/

The powerful true story of Ann Ming, a mother who fought for 17 years to repeal the historic ‘double jeopardy’ law after her daughter, Julie, was murdered in 1989.

64

6.7

/19453/

70

/1734/

67

/184/

2.7

/233624/

age 14+

Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.

?

7.8

/69/

76

/3/

40

/3/

After an urban Catholic High School football team comes together to win a state championship, tragedy strikes. A star player is killed and two of his teammates are charged with his murder. Based on the true story of the Cleveland, Ohio Benedictine football team's 2004 season.

?

50

/1/

65

/2/

Featuring testimony from friends, neighbours, journalists and detectives at the heart of the search for Shannon Matthews, this is the inside story of a case that became a defining moment in British public life, a missing child caught in the middle of a media frenzy, and a case that sparked debates that still resonate today. This two-part series explores how truth, trust and community unravelled under the weight of suspicion and scrutiny.

71

?

7.1

/117/

72

/8/

This programme explores the views of a team of international scientists who say that the prosecution case against nurse Lucy Letby doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

?

65

/2/

50

/1/

The full story of how Erin Patterson murdered three dinner guests.

?

70

/1/

The lives of Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle were torn apart when they were wrongly convicted of killing police officers—Sunny in the U.S, Peter in Ireland. Each were jailed for crimes they did not commit, only be exonerated after more than a decade each behind bar. In the aftermath of unimaginable hardship, by chance, they found one another and became the world’s only wrongfully convicted, death sentenced, cop-killer accused, exonerated and married couple!

58

15

5.7

/373/

65

/34/

57

/5/

2.8

/1278/

When four University of Idaho coeds are brutally stabbed to death, brilliant criminology student Bryan Kohberger is accused of their murders.

?

65

/8/

In 2023, Virginia McCullough was charged with murdering her parents. Speaking freely to arresting officers, Virginia confessed to killing her parents in 2019 and then living alongside their dead bodies for the next five years in the house they shared.

60

?

5.5

/162/

59

/13/

70

/1/

2.9

/425/

The extraordinary story of one woman's terrifying campaign to destroy the life and reputation of a young barrister, told by the victim himself, that describes the jaw-dropping levels of harassment that he was subjected to.

?

7.9

/10/

100

/1/

The story of the "Hot Lotto" scandal, a $20 million fraud so ingenious it took more than a decade to unravel. Told by the confounded state Lottery CEO and the brash, young investigator who dared to outwit his mysterious adversary.

?

6.6

/10/

80

/2/

On 21 December 1988, passenger jet Pan Am 103 was blown up over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground. It was the UK’s largest crime scene and remains the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil. In this documentary, families and loved ones, most of whom are speaking for the first time, tell the deeply personal stories of six victims, each with their own hopes and dreams.

?

50

/1/

Amid the radical politics and cultural upheaval of the late 1960s, a series of brutal murders targeting young women gripped the twin university towns of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. Home to the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, the communities grew increasingly anxious as police seemed unable to stop the killer—or killers—responsible. Through interviews with law enforcement, political figures, and women who lived through the fear, this independent documentary examines not just a series of crimes, but the social and political tensions that enabled them—many of which still resonate today.

65

6.6

/6949/

69

/707/

65

/70/

3.1

/16979/

age 14+

Murder or self-defense? Told from both sides, this documentary explores the killing of Jason Corbett during a dispute with his wife and her father.

?

3.5

/85/

100

/2/

Five years since the murder of George Floyd – the police killing that set America on fire with rage and sparked a wave of protests around the world, director Kwabena Oppong's film explores one of the most important and defining events in modern history. Featuring ground-breaking interviews with members of George Floyd’s family, the Minneapolis Police Chief who took the bold step of testifying against one of his own officers, Boris Johnson’s advisor on race Samuel Kasumu, and Sal Naseem the former Regional Director for London at the IOPC, as well as cultural figures Che Lingo, Nathalie Emmanuel, broadcasters Andi and Miquita Oliver and Munya Chawawa.

64

?

6.5

/137/

68

/18/

60

/1/

The case of Yeates, found murdered on Christmas Day 2010 in Bristol, became a stark example of media frenzy gone wrong. Her innocent landlord, Christopher Jefferies, was wrongly accused, before a Dutch national was ultimately jailed.

67

63

6.8

/3480/

70

/392/

67

/43/

3.2

/7033/

age 14+

This gripping documentary revisits the shocking 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.

?

60

/1/

Uncover the chilling true story of Kyle Clifford, a 26-year-old ex-soldier whose brutal murders of Carol, Louise, and Hannah Hunt shocked Britain. This documentary delves into the heinous crimes that led to his life sentence.

56

5.9

/19300/

65

/1858/

63

/371/

2.7

/43915/

40

/143/

71

/215/

47

/41/

RogerEbert

2.0

age 15+

Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever.

?

7.8

/55/

Misunderstood by his family, abandoned by the system, and desperate for respect, a dyslexic teenager becomes a drug dealer struggling to balance his addiction and debt to a local gangster while a rival threatens to destroy his world, driving him apart from the girl he loves and a daughter he's never known.

53

51

5.6

/3304/

63

/425/

61

/62/

2.7

/11239/

56

/34/

22

/32/

62

/12/

age 15+

In August 1969, Charles Manson's followers killed seven people on his orders. Why? Explore a conspiracy of mind control, CIA experiments, and murder.

?

An unravelling of the extreme lengths that Dr Thomas Kwan went to obliterate anyone who may prevent him from what he thought was rightfully his - his mother's inheritance.

?

90

/1/

The real story of wellness campaigner Belle Gibson's massive worldwide fraud and the famous interview that brought the con artist down.

50

27

4.8

/751/

59

/127/

59

/23/

1.8

/2356/

Writings and social media posts help to reveal the secret life and troubles of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the brazen murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and whom so many people are calling a hero.

76

21

6.3

/71/

67

/7/

100

/1/

67

/100/

85

/14/

Idris Elba confronts the reality of knife crime, speaking to those most affected - from the streets to the system - in a quest to uncover how we can break the cycle.

53

11

4.5

/220/

56

/101/

58

/5/

2.8

/530/

Disgraced hip-hop mogul, Sean 'Diddy' Combs could no longer buy his way out of trouble when a September 2024 grand jury indicted Combs on a racketeering conspiracy including sex trafficking, forced labor, and bribery. No bail meant jail.

62

17

6.3

/442/

65

/42/

60

/4/

3.1

/1298/

Recognized for his distinctive wolf costume and boisterous social media antics, Xaviar Babudar aka ChiefsAholic rose to fame as one of Kansas City's most fervent fans. However, a secret life came to light when he was arrested in Bixby, Oklahoma, unraveling a series of unsolved bank robberies committed across the Midwest.

52

11

4.9

/321/

57

/36/

52

/5/

2.6

/869/

In 1991, Wanda Holloway was arrested for trying to hire a hit man to kill her daughter Shanna's cheerleading rival so that Shanna could get a place on the team. Now, Shanna reveals the truth behind what happened for the first time.

?

5.4

/19/

60

/1/

In the Pacific Northwest, a crew investigates the mysterious legend of a deep lake where the cold and stillness claim lives and keep secrets. But as they delve deeper, they uncover a horrifying truth about the lake's dark past and the fate of those who enter its depths.

?

6.1

/12/

This stranger than fiction crime thriller tells the hidden story of the Horsemeat Scandal. With testimony from whistleblowers, the detectives who cracked the case and journalists who uncovered how horsemeat ended up in our high street stores, it’s an outlandish tale that changed what we eat forever.

61

46

6.1

/1787/

67

/313/

60

/26/

2.8

/2864/

age 14+

Their crimes earned them the nickname Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde — and the story only gets weirder in this documentary about the most lucrative heist ever.

?

6.2

/57/

68

/5/