Four true-crime documentaries to watch within a weekend
If you’re already up to date with Netflix’s latest true-crime documentaries, it’s probably time to flip back a few pages and catch up on what you missed.
With Netflix busy addressing other genres amidst the ongoing season of spook, fans are quietly eyeing some real-time nightmares.
Not the ones that drag on for days, but the ones that easily fit into the weekend and still leave viewers craving more.
So, if you’re out of options over the lack of recent releases, here are four true-crime documentaries from the past few years to stream this weekend.
Four true-crime documentaries to stream this weekend
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders (Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines, 2025)
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders chronicles one of the most terrifying unsolved cases of American history, where seven lives were claimed in Chicago in September-October 1982 after the victims took Extra-Strength Tylenol. In the unbelievable true-crime case, the perpetrator bought Tylenol bottles from local stores, opened them, and added deadly potassium cyanide to the capsules before putting the bottles back on store shelves.
The consecutive deaths sent the city of Chicago into a complete state of panic, shocking the entire nation and sparking an intense investigation. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders details the decades of investigation that followed, resulting in numerous copycat murders spanning New York, Washington State, and Texas. The gripping true-crime documentary includes interviews with those “closest to the killings,” alongside prime suspect James Lewis, who died in 2023.
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story (Dan Dewsbury, 2025)
Up next on the true-crime watchlist is Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, directed by Dan Dewsbury, which chronicles the spine-chilling real-life crimes committed by the titular serial killers. For almost two decades, Fred and Rose West kidnapped, tormented, sexually assaulted, and brutally murdered young women, including their own. Their house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, infamously dubbed the “House of Horrors,” is where most of their victims were buried.
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story features newly unearthed police recordings and archival footage that showcase just how heinous the couple were. The documentary covers unsettling testimony from survivors, including Caroline Owens, a former nanny who narrowly escaped an attack by Fred and Rose West back in 1972, alongside details on their arrest and subsequent conviction.
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey (Joe Berlinger, 2024)
As The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey approaches on Netflix, it’s probably the perfect time to revisit Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey. Directed by Joe Berlinger, the three-part documentary explores the unsolved murder case of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey that took place on Christmas night 1996 in Boulder, Colorado, when JonBenét was reported missing and later found dead in her family’s basement.
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey covers the instant media frenzy that followed, opening up about the mishandling of the crime scene by law enforcement, and how her parents had to face the immediate eyes of suspicion at a time they were still grieving the tragedy. The Netflix documentary examines the controversial grand jury decision involving the parents while exploring alternate theories and external suspects.
Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (Emma Sullivan, 2022)
Directed by Emma Sullivan, Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case explores the unbelievable murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall by Danish inventor Peter Madsen. The true-crime story begins in 2016 when the Australian filmmaker began closely documenting eccentric amateur inventor Madsen in an attempt to monitor and profile his space program and homemade submarines.
One year into filming, freelance journalist Wall boarded Madsen’s homemade submarine, the UC3 Nautilus, for an interview. But the submarine didn’t return, sparking a widespread search-and-rescue operation. Although Madsen was rescued the next day, Wall wasn’t with him. Upon interrogation, Madsen alleged that he had dropped her ashore the night before. However, inconsistencies in his statements and lack of contact from Wall clearly suggested otherwise.