There are a lot of true crime documentaries out there, and it can be difficult to keep up with what’s new. Most titles in this genre can be found streaming these days, and as fall rolls in, there are new true-crime shows and movies available on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Amazon Prime. When it comes to the shows, most streaming services are dropping the whole season at once.
Sometimes, however, services like Max prefer to release one episode at a time over the course of a month or so. Keep this in mind if you tend to binge a limited series in one or two sittings. These shows and films devote themselves to a single case. This ranges from drug smuggling to murder. Some of these documentaries can be difficult to watch, so it’s best to familiarize yourself with the subject a little before diving in. Viewer discretion is advised.
Here are 7 new true-crime documentaries to watch this fall that are available through streaming services.
‘The Tech Bro Murders’
Releases Weekly Starting on Sept. 9 (Max)
Some pretty wild stories have emerged from the tech scene in Silicon Valley over the years and a few are particularly grisly. The Tech Bro Murders is an Investigation Discovery series that follows retired Palo Alto PD detective Sandra Brown as she examines a variety of murders associated with the tech landscape in San Francisco. “There’s a lot of pressure to succeed and that pressure is like a valve,” Brown notes in the show’s trailer, “but when that valve is released, it could lead you into a lot of trouble.”
Each episode focuses on a different case through interviews and reenactment, but all are associated with Sillicon Valley. Episode 1 covers the 2018 murder of 62-year-old Kathleen Anderson in Menlo Park. Episode 2 takes a look at the 2013 murder of 51-year-old tech executive Forrest Hayes on his yacht in Santa Cruz. There are six episodes total, the first of which premiered earlier this month. The remaining episodes will be released through October. So far, The Tech Bro Murders has 6.2/10 stars on IMDB.
‘Who Killed Our Daughter?’
Releases Weekly Starting on September 18 (Max)
Debanhi Escobar was an 18-year-old law student when she disappeared in Monterrey, Mexico, on April 9, 2022. Thirteen days passed before her body was discovered in a water tank at a motel in General Escobedo. Blunt force trauma to the head was listed as the cause of death. Escobar was not the first woman to go missing in this area, and her death was followed by protests.
Who Killed Our Daughter? is a four-part documentary series and the first episode premiered earlier this month. The show closely examines Escobar’s disappearance and the subsequent forensic investigation. It also explores how Escobar’s death came to symbolize a movement as people demanded that Mexico do more to solve missing person cases. The limited series is directed by Reed Rickert (The Third Root) with Veronica Alvarez (The Power of Clean Water) serving as showrunner.
‘Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel’
Released on Sept. 25 (Amazon Prime)
Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel is a three-part documentary series produced by Mark Wahlberg (Uncharted). It’s the kind of story that sounds like a movie. In the early 2000s, Owen Hanson was a business major and a football player for the University of Southern California. The Trojans were a team that had won the national championship, but behind the scenes, Hanson was smuggling steroids and selling them to other players.
Soon, Hanson started selling cocaine. He got involved with a drug cartel and built his own criminal empire. Hanson had a few seemingly legitimate businesses to account for his extravagant lifestyle, but it all came crashing down when the FBI got involved in 2015. The series interviews Hanson’s former USC teammates and other associates. Hanson is also interviewed, telling his own story from a prison cell.
‘Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?’
Released on Sept. 29 (Hulu)
In 2011, 27-year-old teacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment. Investigators found 20 knife wounds and 11 bruises on her body. Her family believed that she’d been murdered, but pathologist Dr. Marlon Osbourne ruled that this was death by suicide. Fourteen years later, Osbourne has changed his ruling.
Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? is a three-part limited series produced by Dakota and Elle Fanning. The series explores the facts of the case as well as Sandy and Joshua Greenberg’s quest to prove that the investigation into their daughter’s death was mishandled. The documentary series is led by director Nancy Schwartzman, who also directed the 2023 Netflix true-crime documentary Victim/Suspect.
‘The Perfect Neighbor’
Release Date: Oct. 10 (Netflix)
In 2023, 35-year-old Florida resident Ajike Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor, 58-year-old Susan Lorincz. Owens was at Lorincz’s door to confront the woman about an altercation Lorincz had been in with her children. The neighbors had been at odds for about two years, with multiple instances of police being called to their properties. Lorincz shot Owens through the door of her own home and Owens was taken to the hospital, but did not survive the incident. The case sparked a national debate around controversial stand-your-ground laws.
The Perfect Neighbor is a documentary feature film directed by Peabody Award winner Geeta Gandbhir that examines the case as well as the larger ramifications of gun policies. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It has a 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘My Father, The BTK Killer’
Release Date: Oct. 10 (Netflix)
Dennis Lynn Rader, also known as BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill), is an American serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Kansas between 1974 and 1991. The former marine and father of two was arrested in 2005. He was ultimately sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms in prison for his crimes and remains in prison to this day.
My Father, The BTK Killer is a feature-length documentary directed by Skye Borgman (American Murder: Laci Peterson). Instead of focusing on the killer himself, this film tells the story of Rader’s daughter. Kerri Rawson was born after Rader started killing in the mid-1970s and was 26 years old when her father was arrested. “My mom and I have both said, early on, if we had known, we would’ve gone screaming out the door, running to the police…” Rawson told Esquire in 2019. “[We] didn’t know we were living with a psychopath.” My Father, The BTK Killer is based on Rawson’s 2019 memoir, A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love and Overcoming.
‘Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers’
Release Date: Oct. 30 (Netflix)
Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who killed at least seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She was convicted on six counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. After she was executed in 2002, her story was popularized by the award-winning 2003 movie Monster, in which Charlize Theron (Bombshell) starred as Wuornos. Since there aren’t nearly as many incarcerated female serial killers as there are male serial killers, Wuornos has remained a point of public fascination for a long time.
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers is a documentary film that reexamines Wuornos’s story. Through old interviews and archival footage, director Emily Turner (Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax) uses a contemporary lens to better understand the case as well as Wuornos’s motives. Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers includes death-row interviews with Wuornos that have never been released to the public.