Best True Crime Documentaries Available On Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO Max

Published 03/26/2022, 1:30 PM EDT

True crime documentaries are like those monsoon clouds we love to watch. But soon, they tend to doom our hearts and minds with their absorbing grey manifestation. Yet we constantly aspire to consume more and more of it. They hold such enigma, and such ambiguous transparency pertaining to it, that we could not help but binge through it all. There is something bone-chilling yet captivating that makes us watch this sinister side of reality from the comfort of our home, that is otherwise too horrific to watch.

Here, we have covered some of the best true crime documentaries streaming on different OTT platforms right now. But first, you might want to check your doors are locked.

Best true crime documentaries on Netflix

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#1 Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives

A story that would make you want to question your love interests; Bad Vegan tells the shocking tale of a successful restauranteur, Sarma Melngailis, and how she was brainwashed by her husband, Anthony Strangis. Apparently, he made her believe he had some supernatural powers and can make her and her beloved dog immortal. All she had to do was to go through some ‘cosmic endurance test.’ Here enter the money. The pair together robbed money of Sarma’s investors and employees.

Interesting right? What’s even more interesting is how Anthony literally hypnotized the owner of a successful business. And how badly she treated her employees after realizing that they have all become jobless because of her deeds. As you watch the series on Netflix, try not to question your boss’s relationship or yours, for that matter.

#2 Worst Roommate Ever

Ever thought about what it would be like to have a bad roommate? Well, while a good roommate is good to share clothes and hang out with; a bad one can hang you and wrench the life out of your body. Worst Roommate Ever captures four such real-life cases. An old granny with an unlawful past (Dorothea Puente), an obsessed lover (K.C. Joy)who would totally remind you of ‘YOU,’ a hustler (Youssef Kahtar), and a serial squatter (Jamison Bachman). These are the face of this true-crime documentary.

The series tells the story of four accounts in different time periods, tying them with the same theme. There are rhetorical suspensions and regretful conclusions. Watching it, the thought of living across a murderer or a sociopath will surely freeze your bone. If anything, the series teaches us not to fall for first impressions.

#3 The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea

This true-crime documentary chronicles the heinous deeds of a Korean psychopath, Yoo Young-chul. From 2003 to 2004, in a span of less than a year, Yoo Young-chul killed a total of 20 people in various parts of Seoul. He targeted victims, including wealthy elderly people, masseuses, and young women.

The series portrays the large number of brutal murders he committed, cruel methods of the killing he used, and grotesque dismemberment of bodies were horrific and unprecedented.

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#4 Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killers

As the name suggests, this docuseries is the testimony of two frivolous officers who swore to chase down one of the deadliest serial killers, Richard Ramirez, in the history of America. Ramirez was convicted of assaults, murders, rapes, kidnappings, and whatnot. The series tells the story of the POV of people most affected by his crimes- victims, reporters, the public, and especially the two cops that held him.

Basically, the series shows how hard work went into finding a psycho whose methodology was all over the place, and thus more difficult to profile.

#5 American Murder: The Family Next Door

Life on social media is just an allusion to a perfect, well-settled way of living. American Murder, clocking in 83 minutes portrays how deceptive we can all be while crafting our digital profiles. It is as incredible a true crime story, a familial murder, that failed to cover up.

August 13, 2018. Shanon Watts, an active social media user, portrays how perfect her family is. Comes back from work. What could have been a serene night took the form of a horrific one. Her husband, Chris, strangled the pregnant lady to death and dumped the body nearby one of his work sites. Later killed their children and threw them in an oil vat. All to start a new life with his mistress! This is the context of this crime film. And what worries us more is, it is an adaptation of real-life occurrence.

Watch it today to realize how monstrous our loved ones can be sometimes, for their own selfish benefits.

#6 Abducted in Plain Sight

Watching this disturbing film will keep you glued to your seats like you possibly have never been. It is a factual account of child kidnapping- not once, but twice! In ’74, 12-year-old Jane Broberg was kidnapped from a small community in Idaho by a trusted neighbor. When the sociopath returned her five weeks later, she assured family and court that nothing ‘bad’ had happened, letting the monster free.

Little did she know she has invited a lifelong agony and torment. She was abducted again by the same person, in the same way, and was sexually and emotionally abused for years. This complete, informative, and aggravating anecdote will leave your jaw permanently on the floor.

#7 Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer

*Caution: If you are too sensitive to watch horrifying, sickening, and gut-wrenching torment to animals, you might want to watch something else.

The three-part doc-series, helmed by Mark Lewis, is the story of how the internet can help to track down gory criminals. Thanks to two savvy internet-astute, Dienna Thompson and John Green who, disturbed by the Facebook viral videos of cat killings in brutal and unimaginable ways, swore to find out who this low life is, and was rather successful in their hunt.

The 2010 Facebook clip showed how the criminal suffocated the air out of these poor kittens by imprisoning them into a plastic bag. Sure, he wanted to gain the attention of the viewers. The series opens with Dienna telling the audience about the pros and cons of social media, and the internet as a whole, introducing to us a rule most of us were not aware of. The series portrays how they grabbed the smallest of hints and got this foul mind arrested.

And although there are not many clips showing the misery these kittens went through, it has captured a few disturbing ones. For instance, how manipulation of dead cats’ bodies is done or that feeling of fright in the poor animal’s eye, right before it was fed to a cobra. Yes, it will surely make you look away now and then.

Best true crime documentaries on Other OTTs

#1 LuLa Rich

Exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime

Ever been a victim of fake promises that robbed you of your feelings and faith? That’s exactly what the billion-dollar clothing empire, LuLaRoe leggings, did to its loyal female customers. Through exclusive interviews with retailers, employees, the company founders, and more; this four-part docuseries unveils how things went wrong spectacularly weirdly, and the story of the USA at a broader level.

With capitalists gone mad, the series is set to take you on a wild ride.

#2 Dead Asleep

Only on Hulu

Committing murders, while sleep-walking was only the truth of the gaudy fictional world, well, until 2017! This crime documentary follows the case of Randy Herman Junior, a Florida man, who was convicted of murdering his little sister without his family’s consent, or his!

The man gave an excuse stating; he did what he did out of sleep-walking. Might as well have said some demonic creature possessed his body while performing this ‘unintentional’ assassination!! Siblings do get pain-strikingly notorious sometimes, but never did we think it can reach such extremities. Stream the show on Hulu today to see how he enacted it all and how he was caught later on.

#3 A Wilderness of Error

Only on Hulu

The five-part series is based on a novel of the same name by filmmaker and author Errol Morris. The series examines the evidence against the case of Army surgeon, MacDonald, who was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two children.

The physician claimed that an innocent man did the murder, and he was truly innocent. Marc Smerling re-investigates a decade-long complicated case. You can always stream it on Hulu to find out the truth.

#4 Generation Hustle

Exclusively on HBO Max

People imposing themselves as high profile wealthy human beings is not a strange thing anymore! Generation Hustles shows how a con artist impersonates himself as a high-profile Hollywood producer to diddle the young artists out of their money.

It is a story of how dreams and the desire to attain fame and money make people cross limits and go to shocking lengths.

#5 Beware of the Slenderman

Exclusively on HBO Max

Internet and social media influence our lifestyle a lot, A LOT! And when there is an option to hide contents that can badly influence your kids, you must do that. Because this film showcases the worst-case scenario possible. It is a terrifying look at how two twelve-year-olds were led to attempt the murder of their friend.

Seems like the mythos of internet boogyman, known as Slenderman, ill-affected the real-life children in a way that won’t let you off easily.

#6 I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter

Exclusively on HBO Max

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The concept of kalayuga in Hindu mythology proves to be true when we come across such horrific crimes. The series is divided into two parts: The Prosecution, and The Defense.

It is a story about two teens, Michelle Carter and Conard Roy, who fell in love. But their love story was mostly over the internet and texts, with a few in-person meetings. On July 13, 2014, Roy was found dead in his car. Apparently, he intoxicated himself with carbon monoxide. And guess what made him commit suicide? The texts from his beloved girlfriend, Carter! In the second part Michelle’s attorney tries to defend her, but thankfully, fails.

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Do let us know in the comment section which one will you pick up first among these.

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Prithvi Shah

856 articles

Prithvi Shah is a writer at Netflix Junkie. Currently pursuing her Bachelor's in English Literature at St Xavier's University, Prithvi, who is a brown belt in Karate, adores Cobra Kai; her other favourite shows include The Witcher, Emily in Paris and Gilmore Girls. Home Alone and Harry Potter have been her go to movies since childhood.

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