Brace yourself as we dive deep into the world of true crime and chilling investigations. Today, we’ve got something spine-chilling for you. We’re diving into the top spine-chilling serial killer documentaries ever made for Netflix. From twisted minds to chilling investigations, these best true crime documentaries on Netflix offer a gripping look into the minds of some of history’s most notorious serial killers.
1. Dahmer
When it comes to the most notorious criminals in American history, Jeffrey Dahmer stands at the forefront. This docuseries showcases his story from the points of view of his victims. Dahmer was convicted of murdering and dismembering at least 17 men and boys in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 1978 and 1991. Not only that, Jeff took out their internal organs, scarved the flesh off of their bones, and consumed them! The 10-episode series jumps between Dahmer’s unhappy childhood, his murders, and his eventual arrest.
Dahmer committed his first murder in 1978, just three weeks after he graduated from high school. In addition to the horror of Dahmer’s crimes, the series shows how the Milwaukee police didn’t listen to neighbors who warned them something was going on in the killer’s apartment. Two officers actually returned one of Dahmer’s victims to him when the boy, badly injured and drugged, tried to escape the house of horrors.
The show is disturbing, often gory, and a grim watch. So, make sure you keep that in mind before watching it.
2. Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes
This Netflix true-crime docuseries is narrated by the very man whose gruesome story it tells: Dennis Nilsen, one of Britain’s most famous murderers. This docuseries details the life and murders of this Scottish serial killer, first-hand through audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.
Nilsen was arrested in 1983 after human remains were discovered in a drain under his house. He was later charged with the murder of Stephen Sinclair after he confessed to killing not only the people whose bodies were found inside and underneath his home but “15 or 16 people” since 1978. Following each murder, Nilsen would perform a ritual in which he bathed and dressed the victim’s body.
For five years, Nilsen was able to get away with killing multiple young men, in part, because he targeted homeless youths, drifters, sex workers, and gay men. He remained imprisoned from 1983 until his death in 2018.
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3. American Murder: The Family Next Door
As you can guess from the title, this docuseries focuses on the 2018 disappearance of Shanann Watts and her two young daughters. A true-crime documentary that unfurls through home videos, social media posts, police body-cam recordings, news reports, and private text messages.
In the documentary, director Jenny Popplewell takes you behind the scenes, exploring the incident, from husband Chris Watts’s suspicious behavior to his extramarital affair and familial ructions. An examination of what really went down behind closed doors. On August 15th, Chris failed a polygraph test after which he told the police everything he knew if he was allowed to speak to his father first. This was granted, and Chris confessed to his father what he had done. He had killed his pregnant wife and their two daughters.
However, that’s not the twisting part, what is mind-bending is his story keeps changing. Even at this point, he still hadn’t told the true full story of what happened that day.
4. Don’t F**k With Cats
What happens when you mix cats, a couple of Facebook watchdogs, and a deranged murderer who posts homicidal videos on the Internet? This docuseries is one of the most talked-about true-crime shows in recent memory. It tells the story of one of Canada’s most infamous crimes, the murder of Lin Jun. Lin was killed by Luka Magnotta, who courted internet infamy before the murder by circulating videos of himself killing kittens.
In 2010, Magnotta began posting online what eventually became a series of three disturbing videos. In them, he suffocated or drowned kittens, and filmed another cat being eaten by a large snake. This is where Don’t F**k With Cats begins its story—the series documents internet sleuths’ search for the man in the videos, which turned into a worldwide manhunt after Magnotta escalated his crimes.
In 2012, he murdered Lin Jun, a 33-year-old computer engineering student from China, and released a video online of himself killing Lin and abusing his corpse. Magnotta dismembered Lin’s body and mailed his feet and hands to the headquarters of Canada’s Conservative and Liberal Parties as well as to two elementary schools. In 2014, he was convicted of Lin’s murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Magnotta is serving his prison sentence in Quebec’s Port-Cartier prison.
5. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
This four-part Netflix docuseries is poised to introduce a new generation to Bundy’s heinous crimes. Ted Bundy was a serial killer who murdered at least 36 women in the 70s. In this series, you’ll find archived Bundy tapes and recordings where Bundy narrates his crimes and his techniques himself. Woven throughout the documentary are interviews with Bundy recorded on death row.
Bundy confessed to killing 30 women between 1974 to 1978, though the number could exceed 100. However, the unique thing about all the victims was that they were tall, slender, and had brown hair parted in the middle, which shared remarkable physical similarities to his first girlfriend.
If you don’t know much about Bundy, there’s enough in this docuseries to draw interest. Especially chilling is the documentary’s glimpse at Bundy’s “kill kit,” which includes the standard criminal’s balaclava and rope — but also pantyhose and an icepick.
6. The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness
When the serial killer David Berkowitz, who called himself Son of Sam, was arrested on Aug. 10, 1977, it seemed to mark the end of an era of terror that had gripped New York City for months. Beginning in the summer of 1976 and continuing into 1977, Berkowitz killed six people and wounded seven others, shooting them with a .44 caliber revolver.
While his arrest, guilty plea and imprisonment spelled the end of the case to the general public—and brought a semblance of peace to the city—for some, questions remained over whether Berkowitz, who currently remains in prison, carried out his horrific acts alone.
Where the first part of the series delves into the horror wrought by Berkowitz’s violence, the latter part focuses more on Maury Terry, an investigative journalist who became convinced that Berkowitz was connected to a satanic cult.
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7. The Confession Killer
This docuseries tells you the story of Henry Lee Lucas a notorious self-proclaimed serial killer who confessed to committing as many as 600 murders. But as detailed by this documentary series, most of these claims were lies. Decades later, DNA testing showed he’d lied about killing at least 20 people.
Through archival footage from news channels and police confessional videos, and interviews with law enforcement officials and the families of victims, directors Robert Kenner and Taki Oldham offer a compelling look at the fallout wrought by Lucas’ false confessions—and the police officers who were more than willing to go along with them.
In 1984, he was sentenced to death for the 1979 murder of an unidentified woman who was known at the time as “Orange Socks”. However, he had previously also killed his mother, for which he served 15 years in prison.
8. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer
This four-part true crime documentary mini-series is about the serial killer Richard Ramirez. He was a serial killer, rapist, and burglar who murdered at least 13 people in California in 1984–85. He was convicted and sentenced to death but died while in prison. This docuseries shows how two detectives hunted him down and brought him to justice.
Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas, the youngest of five children born to Mexican immigrants. As far as authorities know, he was 24 the first time he took a life. Before his 26th birthday, he would kill at least 13 more people and commit at least 11 sexual assaults, in a wave of seemingly random attacks that terrified residents of Southern California in the summer of 1985.
His crimes were deemed so cruel and callous that they earned him a whopping 19 death penalties. Not only that, he was nicknamed the ‘Night Stalker’ by the media because residents were warned to lock their doors and windows.
9. The Ripper
Peter William Sutcliffe aka the Yorkshire Ripper was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. This four-part mini docuseries smartly explores why police failed for years to catch him.
Popularly, it was the most expensive, and most notoriously botched manhunt in British history to catch this serial killer. The similarities between the notorious Jack the Ripper, a serial killer in 1888, London, and Sutcliffe brought him this nickname by the UK press.
Over the course of the five-year investigation, Sutcliffe was questioned by police nine times but never considered a chief suspect. Between those chats with investigators, he murdered at least 13 people and attacked at least eight more. He was finally captured in 1981 after police found him in a car with false license plates.
10. Indian Predator: the Butcher of Delhi
A series of mutilated bodies and taunting notes left outside a Delhi jail sends police hunting for a seasoned killer who has a grudge against the system. This docuseries is based on Chandrakant Jha who committed a series of murders.
The notorious serial killer not only ruthlessly murdered his victims, but also dismembered them and scattered their body parts across the city. He did it not because of a personal vendetta or revenge against the victim, but to irk the police department. He was toying with them by repeatedly asking them if they had found any clues.
Post this, the police were able to trace the doctor who was looking after the notorious man. The interrogation, however, continued until the police found out that the doctor’s brother-in-law was an acquaintance of the killer. Soon after, the investigating officer was able to spot the cart while scouting the Alipur area, and the killer was arrested at his home.
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