The 10 Best True Crime Shows and Films on Netflix in 2025

True crime is one of the most popular genres in the world. Netflix is home to many of the most interesting. Let’s take a look at 10 must-watch true crime series you can stream now!

From stories of serial killers to wild, social media scams, Netflix offers a huge variety of true crime shows. In this list, we walk you through 10 of the very best true crime series Netflix has to offer. These shows and films are a mix of documentary style, dramatized versions of events, and sometimes a blend of both.

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The Tinder Swindler

Starting with a Netflix film, The Tinder Swindler covers the horrors a group of women endured after using the world’s most popular dating app, Tinder. The true story sees a seemingly charming and super-rich man make women fall in love with him. However, this is all a mask for him to con them out of enormous sums of money.

The Tinder Swindler made huge waves online when it premiered in 2022. It remains one of Netflix’s most popular true-crime projects.

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Catching Killers

Catching Killers is a documentary series, where investigators behind serial killer cases explain how they caught the criminals. It contains interviews, reenactments, and real footage. Some of the cases covered in the series include the Happy Face Killer, the BTK Strangler, and the Green River Killer. All the cases are harrowing and sometimes hard to watch.

Catching Killers released on Netflix in 2021 and has three seasons.

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8 Capturing the Killer Nurse

This investigative Netflix film explores how authorities captured and apprehended Charles Cullen, one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history. Cullen was an American ICU nurse, suspected of killing hundreds of patients across his 16-year career. The documentary film presents events that Charles Graeber covered in his novel The Good Nurse, which Netflix also adapted into a film of the same name.

This is the first doc on the list, which we’d dub a companion documentary, as once you finish this or watch the dramatized version, you’re almost certainly going to check the other title out.

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7 Worst Roommate Ever

In 2 seasons, Worst Roommate Ever documents horror stories recalled by people who lived awful home experiences with evil roommates. From con artists to fierce manipulators to murderers — these roommates are the worst of the worst.

The show dives into each case, getting to the bottom of motivations through interviews,

 

expert analysis, and archived footage. Moreover, there are reenactments, allowing viewers a look into how these situations played out. The series is pretty haunting which is no surprise given that it comes from the horror experts at Blumhouse. The series also has a sister series called Worst Ex Ever, which is equally as good.

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6 Evil Genius

Evil Genius is a 4-episode limited series from 2018 that covers one of the most baffling murder cases ever and dives into the evil mind of the man who dealt it. It starts with the murder of a pizza man who robs a bank with a bomb around his neck.

 

People see the “Pizza Bomber Heist” as one of the most infamous bank robberies in United States history. And this documentary series covers it superbly in a way that’s informative, interesting, and provocative.

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5 Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal is a two-season documentary series covering the shocking story of the Murdaugh family — a once wealthy, powerful family from South Carolina — who become enamored by twisted cases of death and scandals. It’s an utterly unique series, showing the family’s rise to power and ultimate downfall.

 

From the corruption that comes with power to the endless fight for justice, this series captivated a nation for a good time following its release.

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4 The Staircase

The Staircase takes place following the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson, documenting the myriad legal battles her

accused husband, author Michael Peterson, faces. At first, the novelist claimed his wife died after falling down a staircase, but further investigations showed that he had beaten her with a weapon.

The series originally aired with 8 episodes way back in 2005. But in 2013 and 2018, Netflix expanded the series, which currently stands at 13 installments.

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3 American Nightmare

Regarded as a “real-life Gone Girl” story, Netflix’s true-crime series American Nightmare tells the story of abductee Denise Huskins, who the police accused of faking her kidnap. It’s a tragic case. In 2015, Huskins was kidnapped, drugged, raped and held hostage. But upon reappearing, Huskins was accused of fabricating the kidnapping.

 

 

The three-part series, made by the same team behind The Tinder Swindler, is a chilling story that highlights poor misjudgment in law enforcement.

Released in 2024, the series ended the year with the accolade of being the most popular docu-series.

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2 Unbelievable

Inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning article, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” Netflix’s Unbelievable is a dramatized account of real events. It follows a teen, Marie, who was charged with a crime for reporting that she was raped. But after she comes forward, two detectives follow pieces of evidence that unveil the truth.

 

 

 

 

The series received high reviews from critics, receiving Best Limited Series nominations at the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, and Emmys.

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1 Making a Murderer

Making a Murderer was perhaps the catalyst true crime show on Netflix. The 2015 true crime documentary was a massive success, paving the way for numerous other true crime shows.

 

Filmed over 13 years, Making a Murderer chronicles the life of Steven Avery, a man from Wisconsin, exonerated from a murder case by DNA testing and released from prison in 2003, only to be charged with another murder case two years later. Like most true crime dramas, Making a Murderer is a fascinating insight into the man’s life, while also being hard to watch at times.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Making a Murderer is an absolute must for any true crime viewers after all these years and really laid down the blueprint for so many series and movies to follow.

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