If it bleeds, it leads, and there is nothing quite as unsettling as true crime that hits close to home. Netflix’s latest documentary "Maternal Instinct" clearly struck a nerve with audiences, shooting to the No. 1 spot after landing on the streamer on Friday (June 12), where it's stayed strong all weekend.
Netflix subscribers are collectively shocked and appalled at the lengths one women went to for the sake of making her dream life a reality. If that true crime documentary left you wanting more, you’re in the right place. But instead of mindlessly scrolling through the algorithm trying to find your next fix, let us do the heavy lifting for you.
We’ve rounded up the best true crime documentaries currently on Netflix that peel back the curtain on haunting family secrets, twisted motives, and the chilling realities lurking just behind closed doors.
'The Perfect Neighbor' (2025)
Told entirely through police bodycam, Ring camera, and cellphone footage, "The Perfect Neighbor" documents a tragedy that feels painfully familiar. It centers on a neighborhood dispute in Florida that escalates until the woman behind years of racist complaints, Susan Lornicz, shoots and kills her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens, a mother of four.
When police arrive, Lorincz is not immediately arrested and is treated more like a toddler than a suspect, even as she shows no remorse for her actions. Throughout the investigation and trial, she argues that she acted out of fear for her life, but the documentary lets the damning footage speak for itself.
Watch "The Perfect Neighbor" on Netflix now
'Abducted in Plain Sight' (2017)
Before Skye Borgman became a staple of Netflix's true crime doc catalog, she first made a name for herself with 2017's "Abducted in Plain Sight" about the case of Jan Broberg and how abusers often lurk closer to home than you'd think. When then-12-year-old Jan was abducted in 1974 by close family friend Robert Berchtold, her family and community rushed to get her back and breathed a collective sigh of relief after she eventually returned safely.
Then, Berchtold kidnapped her a second time! The documentary meticulously unpacks how he was able to manipulate not only Jan but also the adults around her, raising frustrating questions about how such glaring warning signs went unnoticed for so long.
Watch "Abducted in Plain Sight" on Netflix now
'My Father, the BTK Killer' (2025)
Serial killer documentaries are hardly in short supply, but "My Father, the BTK Killer" offers a perspective you rarely see in this kind of true crime fare. Rather than focusing solely on the crimes, this documentary shines a light on one of America's most notorious serial murder cases through the eyes of the killer's daughter, Kerri Rawson.
Her world was turned upside down in 2005 when authorities arrested her father, Dennis Rader, unmasking him as the BTK Killer, who was ultimately convicted of 10 members. Alongside revisiting the horrific crimes that terrorized Wichita, Kansas, the film unpacks Rawson's struggle to reconcile her father's double life and the lasting impact his actions continue to have on her decades later.
Watch "My Father, the BTK Killer" on Netflix now
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