Four Netflix true-crime cases where the killer was never identified
Ugh, just the taste of a twisted mystery makes people gag, so imagine when it is left unsolved. You see, our brains crave closure, be it relationships or murder cases, especially murder cases. But if you happen to not know who did it, those loose ends will drive you up the wall, and Netflix just happens to have a nice little stash of cases that do not have the answer for you.
And no, we are not about to recommend The Watcher for the hundredth time, but since we are here… remember the Broaddus family? Remember 657 Boulevard and those creepy letters? Yeah. All that buildup and nope. Just like the real case, no confirmed culprit was ever identified
The Texas Killing Fields also deserve a nod too. The case got dragged on for decades, leaving families waiting for answers that never came.
So go ahead, follow the breadcrumbs and play detective… just don’t expect every trail to lead somewhere. These four Netflix movies and documentaries are the proof.
Four Netflix true-crime cases where the killer was never identified
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
Fincher does something mean with Zodiac: he lets you think the answer is right there, close enough to touch, and then pulls it back again. Stay with the case long enough, and you start feeling the obsession too. People got severely obsessed with him, because the Zodiac did not just kill across Northern California; he also sent cyphers and threatening letters to newspapers, almost daring everyone to figure him out.
After Arthur Leigh Allen’s entry in the film, for a while, you really think this might be the guy. Survivor Michael Mageau later picked him from a photo, and police kept coming back to Allen, but the evidence never sealed it. His fingerprints did not match, and neither did his handwriting. Even the DNA testing did not give investigators a clean answer. Allen died in 1992 without being charged, and that is what makes the case so frustrating. So many clues and still no confirmed Zodiac.
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey (Joe Berlinger, 2024)
The JonBenét Ramsey case did not just become a murder investigation… it became a full-blown media storm almost overnight, and Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey on Netflix takes you back to the investigation. On December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey finds a ransom note inside the family’s Boulder home: six-year-old JonBenét is reported missing, and then, hours later, her father finds her body in the basement. She had been struck and strangled. Yeah, this case turns dark fast.
Then the finger-pointing starts, and the suspicion goes straight to the family. A grand jury votes to indict JonBenét’s parents on child abuse and accessory charges, and unidentified male DNA throws another wrench into the works. Years of retesting and new leads later, still no arrest or a confirmed killer. This Netflix documentary still remains one of America’s most infamous cold cases, sitting wide open.
Who Killed Little Gregory? (Gilles Marchand, 2019)
Before four-year-old Grégory Villemin was murdered, someone had already been terrorising his family with calls and anonymous letters. Nobody knew who it was, so the tormentor became “the Crow”. Then, in October 1984, Grégory disappeared and was found in the River Vologne with his hands and feet bound. And yes, it gets worse: the Crow claimed responsibility.
Now here is where you expect the police to close in; however, everything blows apart. Teenager Murielle Bolle points at relative Bernard Laroche, then her account collapses, and he walks free. Grégory’s father, convinced Laroche did it, shoots him dead, but it’s not long before the suspicion swings toward Grégory’s mother, Christine; she is charged and later cleared. Decades pass. Handwriting tests surface. New theories arrive. But the answer everyone wants? Still missing. The Crow has never been identified.
The Keepers (Ryan White, 2017)
The Keepers starts with Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun who vanished from Baltimore in November 1969 and was found dead two months later with her skull fractured, and from there, it keeps getting uglier. The series follows claims that Cathy may have learned about abuse at the Catholic school where she taught, and that brings us to our next suspect: Father Joseph Maskell.
Now, you better hold onto this part, because one former student said Maskell showed her Cathy’s body before police found it, as a warning to stay quiet. Well, give you a minute to process that. You would expect a claim like that to blow the case wide open, but no dice. Maskell died in 2001, his body was exhumed in 2017, and his DNA did not match crime-scene evidence. Decades later, nobody has been charged with Cathy’s murder, and that silence hangs over the whole story.