83 of Netflix's best true-crime documentaries available now

What Jennifer Did (2024)

Length: 1 hour 27 minutes

The true story of a Canadian woman who hired hit men to kill her parents, piecing together incriminating text messages, police footage and never seen before interviews.

Long Shot (2017)

Length: 40 minutes

A documentary about an innocent man, Juan Catalan, who was arrested for the murder of a teenage girl that he did not commit, and how he used footage from a popular TV show to prove his innocence.

American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing (2023)

Length: 3 episodes, 52 - 62 minutes each

A tragic look at the terrorist attack that took place during the Boston Marathon in 2013, piecing together archive footage with exclusive interviews and reenactments to unpick how two brothers tore a city to pieces.

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Bitconned (2024)

Length: 1 hour 34 minutes

A documentary based on Centra Tech, the company set up by three men who used the cryptocurrency market to scam millions from investors and bankroll lavish lifestyles.

American Nightmare (2024)

Length: 3 episodes, 45 minutes each

A woman is compared to the real life Gone Girl when she's kidnapped via home invasion in 2105, with her boyfriend being accused of fabricating her story.

Can I Tell You A Secret? (2024)

Length: 2 episodes, 50 minutes each

Told from the perspective of three separate women, whose lives were changed forever when a prolific cyberstalker infiltrated their profiles.

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Lover, Stalker, Killer (2024)

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

When a mechanic tries his hand at online dating for the first time, his world is turned upside down by a woman who quickly becomes obsessed.

Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (2023)

Length: 4 episodes, 56 minutes each

From the same filmmakers who made Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich, comes this documentary which delves into his victim's stories, and examines how convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth and power to carry out his abuses.

The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker (2023)

Length: 1 hour 27 minute

The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker tells the story of Kai, a homeless man, who went viral in early 2013 for saving a woman's life by attacking the woman's assailant using a hatchet and "smashing" him around the head with it. Kai spoke with a local news team shortly after the event and the interview went viral, instantly making him a celebrity. Kai appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show and Justin Bieber's team reached out to him.

However, after just a few months in the spotlight, he was arrested for the murder of Joseph Galfy.

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Waco: American Apocalypse (2023)

Length: 3 episodes, around 45 minutes each

In 1993, a 51-day siege unfolded when the US government raided a compound in Axtell, Texas, following reports that cult leader David Koresh and the Branch Davidians were violating federal firearms regulations. This documentary shows unearthed videotapes filmed inside the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit, as well as raw news footage never released to the American public and FBI recordings.

Take Care of Maya (2023)

Length: 1 hour 44 minutes

This gut-wrenching true story is about Maya Kowalski, who was 10 years old when she was taken into hospital by her parents back in 2016. Maya was suffering with stomach pains, but the medical team at the hospital were confused by her symptoms - and what eventually unfolded was a completely nightmare for her and parents Jack and Beata Kowalski.

Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife (2023)

Length: 3 episodes, around an hour each

When journalist Benita Alexander was tasked with exploring Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, who was world famous for his revolutionary stem cell-infused windpipe transplants, the last thing she expected was to get wrapped up in lies, disaster and medical fraud.

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Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes (2022)

Length: 3 episodes, around an hour each

Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered at least 17 males between 1978 and 1991. This true crime documentary chronicles over 32 hours of recordings between his defence attorney, Wendy Patrickus, and Dahmer, while they were working on his case.

Escaping Twin Flames (2023)

Length: 3 episodes, 60 minutes each

The Twin Flames Universe takes centre stage in this documentary, which looks at the controversial community a couple built, which they claim helps individuals looking for love to find their twin flame. Disturbing practices and uncomfortable truths are uncovered the deeper you delve.

Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street (2023)

Length: 4 episodes, around an hour each

Charting the rise and fall of financier Bernie Madoff, infamous for creating one of the biggest Ponzi schemes (a form of fraud that lures investors into investing their money, which in turn is used to pay off prior investors) in Wall Street history.

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Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023)

Length: 2 seasons, 6 episodes, around 50 minutes each

The three-part series focusses on the story of the Murdaughs, a prominent family in South Carolina, whose lives were shaken after a tragic boating accident. But when murder, exposed secrets, and untrustworthy figures came to light in the years following, it becomes clear that this was a web more tangled than could have ever been imagined.

Who killed Jill Dando? (2023)

Length: 3 episodes, around 50 minutes each

On 26 April 1999, one of the UK's best-known television personalities, Jill Dando, was shot dead on the doorstep of her London home. 20 years on, this Netflix documentary re-explores the tragic event, looking into why former suspect Barry George was acquitted in 2008, after serving an eight-year prison sentence for her murder, and the faxct there's been no more serious investigation into Jill's death.

Missing: Dead or Alive (2023)

Length: 4 episodes, range from 30 - 60 minutes

Each individual episode explores a different disappearance at the South Carolina sheriff's department, many of which have occurred under troubling circumstances.

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Sins Of Our Mother (2022)

Length: 3 episodes, 50 minutes each

Lori Vallow was known as a devoted mother of three, a loving wife, and a woman of God. Now, Lori is in prison for murdering her two youngest children. In this documentary, Lori’s surviving son Colby speaks out about his family’s past and future with Lori behind bars. How did a seemingly normal woman become the most notorious mother in America?

Casting JonBenet (2017)

Length: 1 hour 20 minutes

This is the story of the death of JonBenét Ramsey as you've never seen it before. Here, actors in the Colorado-area where the child died are interviewed and tested for the roles of real people involved in the case, including John and Patsy Ramsey, Burke Ramsey and JonBenét herself. You have to see it to believe it.

Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television. 

 Zoe Shenton is the Site Director at Cosmopolitan UK. As well as looking after the day-to-day running of the website, she oversees video, e-commerce and social for the brand. Starting out in teen magazines (RIP, Bliss), Zoe has worked in the media industry for almost 15 years and has a background in entertainment journalism, having interviewed the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. She also spent three and a half years living in Los Angeles where she covered red carpets and discovered all the best spots serving bottomless mimosas. Find her on

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