Crime Documentaries on Netflix That Will Keep You On the Edge of Your Seat (If That’s Your Thing)
Let’s set the scene: You’re laying in bed scrolling through Netflix, Hulu, Roku (whatever it may be), and you’ve been scrolling for a good fifteen minutes. You begin to get frustrated. Is there really nothing good? There has to be something, but you just can’t find anything worth while. Well dear reader, sit back, relax, and grab your favorite drink because we’ve combed through Netflix (as one does during a pandemic) and picked our top Netflix crime documentaries and docuseries just for you.
This Is a Robbery
This is a robbery of our attention because dang did we sit for hours with our eyes glued to the screen. The series follows the events after the biggest art heist in history, located at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In 1980, two men dressed as Boston police officers entered the museum, bound the two security guards, and stole a ton of priceless works of art. To this day, we still don’t know who committed the crime, where the paintings are, or where they could be. There’s still even a reward of $10 million out for the stolen art, and the FBI have been searching for both them and the two men who stole them for over forty years. And if you’re at all interested in the Italian Mafia, definitely give this docuseries a watch.
2. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Love to travel solo? You won’t want to after watching this docuseries. In 2013, 21 year old Elisa Lam took a trip to the West Coast and ended up staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. A few days later, she went missing, literally without any trace. Along with following the trail left behind for investigators and internet sleuths to figure out, the series dives into the incredibly dark history of the Cecil Hotel and the dark personalities that lived there throughout the years. We recommend watching this with a friend, or literally anyone, because there is a strong chance you might get a *little* creeped out.
3. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer
As you probably gathered from the title, this docuseries isn’t the most lighthearted of things to watch. It is, however, incredibly gripping and it will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The series begins with a string of random murderers and sexual assaults in the Los Angeles area of California during the 1980s, and if you don’t already know who committed the crimes, you won’t find out until a few episodes in. The viewers find clues along with the detectives involved, and you hear first hand accounts from those who were personally affected by the crimes. This is another series we recommend watching with someone.
4. American Murder: The Family Next Door
This documentary uses footage from actual police officers, real interviews, and surveillance footage to dissect what happened after the Watts family murders in 2018. It’s a dark film unraveling what really happened, as well as what was really going on behind closed doors.
5. Abducted in Plain Sight
Abducted in Plain Sight is one of those films where you genuinely cannot believe it to be true. We don’t want to spoil anything before you watch, so we’ll just say this for now: A 12 year girl is abducted from her house in 1974 by a family friend, and it happens more than once.