Credit: Netflix

The Netflix library is exploding with true-crime content this week, originals and non-originals, including Unprotected: Murder in Galicia, which reminds viewers to stay wary of those they think they love and blindly trust to protect them.

Directed by Jorge Laplace, the Spanish true-crime documentary explores the real-life 2015 case of Isabel Fuentes, who was found on the brink of death in her home in Pazos, a small village in Verín, Galicia. Despite the critical rescue, Isabel was murdered inside her hospital room during recovery 37 days later.

Netflix highlights the larger institutional failure at play, where systemic oversights and police missteps caused a heartbreaking tragedy. But then again, the Isabel Fuentes murder case is not a one-off incident where the patterns are observed.

So, if you want your post-viewing watchlist to tackle similar true-crime cases that expose the dark side of living, here are four shocking documentaries to stream after Unprotected: Murder in Galicia.

Four Netflix documentaries to stream after Unprotected: Murder in Galicia

Victim/Suspect (Nancy Schwartzman, 2023)

Unprotected: Murder in Galicia boldly spotlights the tragic breakdown of protective systems despite the presence of clear warning signs, and Victim/Suspect embraces the fatal ignorance as its core theme. Directed by Nancy Schwartzman and produced by Centre for Investigative Reporting Studios, the true-crime documentary follows journalist Rachel de Leon as she travels across the United States to investigate a concerning pattern.

Rather than receiving assistance or aid from law enforcement, young women who report sexual assault to the police are routinely and repeatedly dismissed over disbelief, aggressively questioned without lawyers, and often charged with making false claims. Victim/Suspect serves as a critique of systemic law enforcement failures and the use of coercive interrogation tactics that allow perpetrators a safe pass while making actual victims distant from justice.

I Just Killed My Dad (Skye Borgman, 2022)

Since Unprotected: Murder in Galicia tells a tale of a complex domestic situation where systemic failure to intervene led to escalating violence, I Just Killed My Dad needs a rewatch. The three-part true-crime docuseries explores the June 2019 real-life case of 17-year-old Anthony Templet, who murdered his abusive father, Burt Template, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After allegedly shooting Burt thrice, Anthony called emergency services and said, “I just uh killed my dad.”

While Anthony sounded calm and composed during the call, he maintained a cold, emotionally detached demeanour during interrogation, leading interrogators and prosecutors to initially suspect that he was a cold-blooded psychopath. But when a pro bono defence attorney dug deeper into the case and Anthony’s family history, a dark history of abduction, domestic violence, and isolation surfaced.

Where is Marta? (Paula Cons, 2021)

Like Unprotected: Murder in Galicia, Where is Marta? chronicles a shocking true-crime case where system failures and shifting suspect testimonies left a family desperately fighting for justice. The true-crime Netflix documentary delves into the 2009 disappearance of 17-year-old Marta del Castillo in Seville, Spain, who went missing on January 24 after leaving home to meet her ex-boyfriend, Miguel. A subsequent investigation was launched as the family’s suspicion grew toward Miguel.

But while the search for Marta intensified, Miguel and other suspects constantly changed versions of the events that happened the night she was allegedly killed. Despite a trial that resulted in convictions for a few involved, her body was never found. Where is Marta? covers the police investigation and the insensitive media circus, also featuring interviews with Marta’s friends and family.

The Trials of Gabriel Fernández (Brian Knappenberger, 2020)

To wrap up Unprotected: Murder in Galicia’s post-viewing marathon, we recommend The Trials of Gabriel Fernández, also streaming on Netflix. Directed by Brian Knappenberger, the six-episode true-crime docuseries examines the tragic 2013 murder of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernández from Palmdale, California, highlighting how institutions designed to protect repeatedly fail vulnerable individuals despite crystal-clear red flags.

The Trials of Gabriel Fernández tells the story of the young boy who endured prolonged abuse, including beatings, burns, starvation, and being locked in a small cabinet, at the hands of his mother, Pearl Fernández and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, before his death. The Netflix documentary follows the criminal trials of Pearl and Isauro and criticises the failure of social workers to intervene, despite repeated warnings and reports from his teacher, security guards, and remaining family members.