10 Most Disturbing True Crime TV Shows If Podcasts Aren’t Enough

There is no denying that real crimes are more unnerving than fictional ones. Today, there are many series in the true crime genre that allow us to observe terrible events from a safe distance, as if we were participating in the capture of dangerous criminals.

1. The Staircase

In 2001, Michael Peterson called 911, and reported that his wife, Kathleen, fell down the stairs and broke her head, but she is still alive. The ambulance arrives and finds the woman dead. The police charge Michael with murder. His numerous relatives are divided into two camps: some believe Michael is innocent, while others, who learn more and more details, begin to doubt.

The most interesting thing about the show is that no one still knows if the man really killed his wife. Peterson and his family members gave a million interviews, but the answer to what really happened is probably known only to Peterson.

2. I'll Be Gone in the Dark

Liz Garbus' documentary is based on the book of the same name by Michelle McNamara, whose passion for amateur detective forums led her to solve one of the most notorious cases in the US. In 2013, McNamara drew attention to the lack of investigation into some of the crimes recorded in California from 1976 to 1986, suggesting that they were all committed by one person.

After spending a lot of time in police archives, McNamara wrote an article and then received an offer to expand the material into an entire book. Liz Garbus has followed McNamara's path to tell all about the Golden State Killer and his stalker.

3. The Murders at Starved Rock

The creators of the miniseries are trying to understand the tragedy that occurred in 1960 in Starved Rock Park, Illinois. Suspicion fell on Chester Weger, as some evidence pointed to him.

After a while, Weger even admitted to what he had done, but after 60 years in prison, he said he had been wrongly accused and that a confession had been beaten out of him by police officers. Director Jody McVeigh-Schultz tried to find out what really happened and to reconsider the facts that pointed to the convict's guilt.

4. Murder on Middle Beach

The show is based on a series of interviews with friends and family of Barbara Hamburg, who was found dead on March 3, 2010. Despite the best efforts of the police, the killer was never found. That's why Barbara's son Madison, an aspiring director, arms himself with a camera and goes in search of the truth.

Over the course of eight long years, the man moves from one suspect to another, revealing more and more horrific details of that day.

5. Who Killed Garrett Phillips?

In October 2011, New York City police received a call from a frightened woman who thought she heard a child screaming in her neighbor's apartment. Soon, the patrol confirmed the fears – the body of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was found behind a door locked from the inside.

After checking surveillance cameras and phone records, police came up with a dead end: the boy had called his mother on the way home from school, rode his skateboard into the apartment, and a few minutes later, a scream was heard. The door remained locked, and his mother was far from the scene at the time.

6. I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter

Conrad and Michelle met in 2012 and kept in touch online. For about two years, their communication was innocent, but in 2014, when Conrad was deeply depressed, Michelle convinced him that the only way he could find peace was to take his own life. The man was found dead on July 13, 2014.

The miniseries uses phone records, correspondence and courtroom footage to try to answer two questions: is it possible to convince a person to commit suicide? And if so, who is to blame for what happened: the one who took his own life, or the one who suggested it?

7. Landscapers

Landscapers is an HBO miniseries based on a true story starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis. The plot centers on a quiet couple, Susan and Christopher, who have recently moved to France. They love each other dearly, but struggle to make ends meet as the language barrier prevents Christopher from finding a job.

One day, when Christopher leaves another interview without a job, he calls his stepmother to ask for money. During the conversation, the man suddenly admits that many years ago he and Susan committed a murder and buried the bodies in the backyard.

8. The Dropout

Not for the first and not for the last time, a true crime project was based on a book: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, a kind of medical thriller whose main character was Elizabeth Holmes.

This woman founded the pharmaceutical company Theranos in the mid-2000s, and within 10 years she became the youngest female billionaire. But there is a simple scam behind her rise to fame.

9. The Keepers

A stunning miniseries about the murder of a nun whose perpetrators still go unpunished. Sister Cathy, with an impeccable reputation, was inhumanely murdered in the late 1960s.

The authors try to find out why and how it happened by talking to acquaintances, a sister, and students at Archbishop Keough High School, revealing not only a hidden conflict, but also the long-standing division of the city into spheres of influence.

10. O.J.: Made in America

The perfect documentary companion to the acclaimed first season of American Crime Story, a meticulous reconstruction of America's most complex trial of the late 20th century.

National hero and superstar O. J. Simpson is accused of murdering his wife, but the trial drags on in record time due to the efforts of the lawyers. Made in America is a detailed analysis of the political context and the influence of the media in the era of O. J., when a dozen coincidences influenced the acquittal.