The 25 best true-crime stories | members only access

_​MY FAVORITE MURDER_ (2016-) Who says crime can’t be funny? In this comedy podcast, hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark recount bizarre murders, true-crime tales and survivor

stories, with listeners often writing in about their “hometown murders.” Over more than 400 episodes, they’ve invited on special guests like Conan O’Brien, 60, Tig Notaro, 53, and Patton

Oswalt, 55, and they’ve become such a cult hit that they even have their own rabid fan base (the Murderinos) and catchphrase (“Stay sexy and don’t get murdered”). LISTEN: _My Favorite

Murder_ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify _​BURIED TRUTHS_ (2018-) WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station, produces this podcast about race and injustice in the American South with seasons that focus on

still-relevant stories from the past (Isaiah Nixon, who was shot in his home in 1948 for voting) and today (the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery). The show is hosted by Pulitzer-winning reporter

Hank Kilbanoff, 75, and it’s proven to be an awards magnet in its own right, winning a Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Award. LISTEN: _Buried Truths _on

Apple Podcasts, Spotify ​​TRUE-CRIME MOVIES [embedded content] _​MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST_ (2017) This HBO documentary introduced the world to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who murdered her mother,

Dee Dee, after suffering years of abuse at her hands. In what has been called a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, Dee Dee had invented a series of fake illnesses, shaving her daughter’s

head because of cancer she didn’t have and making her use a wheelchair. The younger Blanchard has been back in the news this year, but if you somehow haven’t heard of this case — or seen the

Emmy-winning miniseries adaptation,_ __The Act_ — we won’t spoil it for you! WATCH IT: _Mommy Dead and Dearest_ on Max, Prime Video [embedded content] _​​THE THIN BLUE LINE_ (1988)

Suspecting a miscarriage of justice, Errol Morris, 76, took on the case of Randall Dale Adams, a drifter who had been sent to death row for the killing of a Dallas police officer. Morris

uncovered scores of lies and inconsistencies in the case, ultimately arguing for Adams’ innocence. Morris’ early masterwork employed a number of innovative approaches, including an original

score by Philip Glass, 87, and while many critics consider it among the finest documentaries ever made, it was snubbed by the Academy for its controversial use of reenactments. WATCH IT:

_The Thin Blue Line_ on Apple TV, Prime Video [embedded content] _​CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS_ (2003) Andrew Jarecki, 61, directed this Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner about a seemingly

normal, upper-middle-class family from Long Island that’s torn apart when the father and his youngest son are accused of molesting students during a computer class taught in his basement.

Jarecki stumbled upon the subject while he was making a totally different kind of movie about New York City children’s birthday party clowns, and the movie is surprisingly effective at

keeping you guessing: Did they actually commit the heinous crimes they were accused of? WATCH IT: _Capturing the Friedmans_ on Max, Prime Video Drafthouse Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

_​​THE ACT OF KILLING_ (2012) Joshua Oppenheimer’s experimental documentary completely reinvented the form. In this harrowing recounting of mass killings in Indonesia in the mid-1960s,

filmmakers asked executioner Anwar Congo and his fellow murderers — many of whom are still in power — to reenact and talk about the acts of genocide they committed. It was an utterly complex

(and difficult-to-watch) window into the psychology of mass murder, earning an Oscar nomination and a 2014 companion piece called _The Look of Silence_, in which a middle-aged Indonesian

optometrist whose family members had been killed decides to confront and interview the perpetrators while giving them eye exams. WATCH IT: _The Act of Killing_ on Apple TV, Peacock [embedded

content] _​I LOVE YOU, NOW DIE: THE COMMONWEALTH V. MICHELLE CARTER_ (2019) You may remember the tragic case of Conrad Roy, a teenager who died by carbon-monoxide poisoning after his

girlfriend, Michelle Carter, sent him texts convincing him to commit suicide. Erin Lee Carr, who previously made a name for herself with _Mommy Dead and Dearest_, directed this two-part

documentary, which earned raves from critics for its empathy and its open-mindedness; Carr asks questions about what might cause someone to commit such acts and whether Carter’s actions are

illegal or simply immoral. WATCH IT: _I Love You, Now Die _on Apple TV ​​TRUE-CRIME TV SHOWS (Left to right) Michael Peterson and David Rudolf in "The Staircase." Netflix _​THE

STAIRCASE_ (2004-18) This French-produced docuseries offers a deep dive into the trial of Michael Peterson, an American novelist who had been accused of murdering his second wife, Kathleen,

who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their Durham, North Carolina, home. The series — which returned with new episodes in 2013 and 2018 — is perhaps best remembered for its

wild “owl theory,” which suggested that a barred owl may have been responsible for the killing. The case was later fictionalized in an Emmy-nominated HBO Max miniseries starring Colin Firth,

63, and Toni Collette, 51, which detailed not only the death and the trial but also the filming of the original documentary. WATCH IT: _The Staircase_ on Netflix [embedded content] _​THE

VOW_ (2020-22) We Americans love a good cult story — it’s easy to feel smug as if we could never be so dumb as to get wrapped up in such a scheme. That’s what made the case of Keith Raniere,

63, and his self-improvement group NXIVM so compelling: Its victims were, by all accounts, smart and successful, with many of them enjoying robust Hollywood careers. You’ll be shocked by

all the gasp-worthy twists, which involve sex trafficking, branding, a supposed cure for Tourette’s syndrome and a surprising amount of volleyball. WATCH IT: _The Vow_ on Hulu, Max Joe

Exotic in "Tiger King." Netflix _​​TIGER KING_ (2020-21) Forever associated with the early days of pandemic-era binge-watching (its first season hit Netflix on March 20, 2020),

this salacious docuseries introduced Americans to the world of big-cat breeding and private zoos, with a larger-than-life cast of characters that included Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. He

has a multicolored mullet, films his own music videos and is a polygamist who ran for governor of Oklahoma; she may or may not have killed her missing husband. It’s a Jerry Springer–style

spin on the docuseries formula — if you’re into that sort of thing. WATCH IT: _Tiger King_ on Netflix [embedded content] _​THE JINX: THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF ROBERT DURST_ (2015-24) After

breaking out with _Capturing the Friedmans_, director Andrew Jarecki became obsessed with New York real estate heir Robert Durst, who was suspected of being involved in the disappearance of

his first wife and two murders. When Jarecki made a fictional film version of the story called _All Good Things_, Durst reached out and offered to be interviewed. The resulting 20-plus hours

of conversations form the basis of this gripping docuseries, which has one of the most shocking finales you’re ever likely to witness. WATCH IT: _The Jinx_ on Hulu, Max [embedded content]

_​MAKING A MURDERER_ (2015-18) A spiritual successor to _The Thin Blue Line_, this docuseries sheds a light on the case of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was released from prison after 18

years for a crime he didn’t commit — only to find himself charged with murder two years later. The investigators started uncovering a complicated web of attorney ineptitude, coerced

confessions and planted evidence that led to enormous public outcry and four Emmys. WATCH IT: _Making a Murderer_ on Netflix [embedded content] _​THE KEEPERS_ (2017) This humane and haunting

seven-episode Netflix series revisits the unsolved 1969 murder of a Baltimore nun, Sister Cathy Cesnik. She was a beloved teacher at an all-girls school, and decades later, some of her

former students have teamed up to uncover what happened to her. A working theory is that she had been murdered after learning about sexual abuse at the hands of the school’s chaplain and

guidance counselor, which was part of a wider-spread culture of fear and silence: There was possible collusion between the archdiocese, the police department and the state’s attorney’s

office. WATCH IT: _The Keepers _on Netflix