For every must-see docies about famous serial killers and notorious crimes, there are a number of fascinating documentary series about lesser-known true-crime cases. In fact, many of the best true-crime shows are those where the story is completely unknown, as these allow for greater twists and surprises that the viewer doesn't see coming. While a lot of true-crime aficionados become fans through well-known cases and popular podcasts, many of which are later adapted to documentary series, once that gateway is crossed, they should seek out other more obscure but equally interesting crime stories that have been turned into episodic entertainment.
The most fascinating true-crime documentary series are those that combine an unbelievable or uniquely intriguing story with compelling cinematic storytelling. Most of them involve wild murder cases, but an increasing amount of great true-crime docies chronicle financial misconduct and con artists' scams. Some of these stories are so incredible and these series so engrossing that it's easy to forget that they're actual cases where one or more real people are killed or otherwise devastatingly harmed. One of the reasons that true crime is so appealing, though, is that it's far from relatable, and the more far-removed these stories are, particularly the lesser-known cases, the more fascinating they are.
10 The Innocent Man (2018)
John Grisham is best known for his legal thrillers and the movies adapted from those novels, but he also wrote a lesser-known nonfiction true-crime book called The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Almost a decade after its publication, Netflix released this fascinating adaptation directed by Clay Tweel (Finders Keepers) that also loops in another related murder case from around the same time and in the same small town. Unlike the majority of documentaries about the wrongfully convicted, The Innocent Man is more concerned with being a TV equivalent of a page-turner than a reminder of faults in the judicial system — though it is that, too.
9 How I Caught My Killer (2023)
Nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Crime/Justice show, How I Caught My Killer is an anthology true-crime documentary series about not just one but multiple lesser-known cases. While the title makes the premise sound supernatural, the various stories told in each episode are indeed focused on murder victims who purposefully yet posthumously aided in the discovery of their killer, mostly through their social media activity and other personal documentation. Given the clues involved, it's tragic that the show couldn't be called "How I Caught My Would-be Killer," but the diversity of these otherwise compatible stories makes for some engrossing television as well as a collection of warning signs.
8 The Pharmacist (2020)
On its surface, this Netflix true-crime documentary series sounds like a Hollywood movie. It starts out being about a father whose dissatisfaction with law enforcement in the case of his murdered son leads him to take the investigation into his own hands. Dan Schneider is the titular character, who continued to dig deeper into the cause of his son's fate, which occurred during a drug deal. Eventually, he went even higher to identify and expose medical and corporate offenders in the local Louisiana opioid crisis. The Pharmacist begins with a little-known case and the activist it created and expands into a massive true-crime story affecting millions of Americans.
7 Love Fraud (2020)
From the Oscar-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp), Love Fraud is part of the true-crime subgenre involving the heart, and it was intentionally conceived as a documentary series about a lesser-known case. The four-part Showtime program features interviews with a number of women who were scammed by con artist Richard Scott Smith. As he was still deceiving women during and after the making of the docies, the filmmakers became involved in the case, making for an in-the-moment investigative journey as well as a confessional piece. Love Fraud culminates in a particularly cringe-worthy segment in its final episode that leaves viewers absolutely stunned.
6 The Confession Killer (2019)
The fact that The Confession Killer's Henry Lee Lucas could be considered a lesser-known true-crime subject is fascinating alone. Lucas was considered to be the most prolific serial killer in history after he confessed to more than 600 murders, though the validity of his claims was questionable. However, the word of a criminal was fine for the Texas Rangers, who closed numerous cases as a result of Lucas's testimony. The series offers a different kind of story involving an improper judicial system than the more common innocent-man films, yet it has the same damning conclusion: many in law enforcement simply want to shut cases whether they're rightfully resolved or not.
5 Paul T. Goldman (2023)
While there is a crime at the center of Peacock's Paul T. Goldman, the fascinating thing about this documentary series is how much the title character believes there's a lot more to the story than is true. Some of the narrative of this six-part series is based on Goldman's exaggerated suspicions about his con artist ex-wife while other parts are adapted from books he's written and self-published speculating beyond even that "truth." There's no true-crime documentary like Paul T. Goldman. The extent to which it veers into theoretical and scripted territory makes it divisive among the genre's fanbase, but there's no denying it's a wild story involving an outrageous figure.
4 Murder On Middle Beach (2020)
First-person documentaries can be too self-indulgent and lose focus, but Murder on Middle Beach is a fascinating rarity where the intimate, introspective storytelling adds depth to the true-crime element at its core. Director Madison Hamburg mixes a personal investigation into his mother's death with a family portrait and expression of grief. The multiple suspects in the murder of Barbara Hamburg are mostly relatives and others close to the woman, so telling the story from within seems appropriate. While many true-crime documentary series can feel disconnected from and, as a result, more exploitative of the subjects, Murder on Middle Beach makes audiences care about the people as much as their story.
3 Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer (2019)
This Netflix documentary series offers the perfect combination of an unpredictable true-crime story and irresistible plotting. Don't F**ck with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer consists of three episodes, but it's so compulsorily bingeable that it might as well just be a very long feature. This one is best to go into knowing little to nothing, so it's difficult to explain why it's so fascinating, but it's about an amateur investigation into the apparent death of some kittens that turns into a much bigger case. While the true-crime genre has been lampooned a lot for all the novice sleuths it's inspired, Don't F**k with Cats proves that it's not always laughable.
2 The Keepers (2017)
One of the earliest Netflix documentary series in the current trend of long form true-crime content, and still among the best, The Keepers is another fascinating look at a small story that turns out to part of something much bigger. Where many true-crime stories are spread too thin just to seemingly fill episodes and runtime, Ryan White's seven-part documentary is packed with necessary information and character moments. Those are aided by its layered concern for both micro and macro levels in the telling of the unsolved case of a murdered nun in Baltimore in 1969. What starts out seeming all about the past is ultimately a very contemporary tale.
1 Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist (2018)
The twisted, tragic plot of Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Diabolical Bank Heist is so strange that it had already seemed to inspire a Hollywood crime comedy (30 Minutes or Less, the makers of which deny the connection). Of course, as they always say, the truth is even stranger than the fiction. This fascinating documentary series chronicles the case of Brian Wells, a pizza delivery person forced to rob a bank while wearing a bomb collar. With plans as convoluted as what this case entailed, it's amazing that the filmmakers managed to make such clear sense of it all, let alone limit its telling to just four episodes.