Category: Shows

Show: Still a Mystery

Mysterious disappearances, murders, and other cases

About Still a Mystery

Still a Mystery features homicide and missing persons cases that are unsolved or unresolved in some other way: cases yet to be tried, those awaiting retrial, or solved cases that the family believes was not a suicide or accident but instead, a murder.

Each episode of the true crime show includes two cases and emphasizes the views of the family and their emotional and heartbreaking stories, rather than that of detectives and their investigations. Loved ones offer a lot of speculation about what may have happened, as they cling to their beliefs about their family member’s disappearance or death.

Still a Mystery is similar to Disappeared, but broadens the focus past only disappearances to include murders, accidents, suicides, and other causes of death that family members and friends just can’t bring themselves to believe.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 6 (2019-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+

More shows like Still a Mystery: Disappeared, Gone, In Pursuit: The Missing, Last Seen Alive, The Missing, Real Life Nightmare, The Search, Vanished: The Missing Persons Project

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Disappeared

Missing persons cases, as told by family members and friends

About Disappeared

Imagine your family member, your friend, or your coworker gone without a trace. Calls and texts unanswered. No explanation. This is the premise of Disappeared, which follows the stories of mostly unsolved missing persons cases, thought to be possible suicides, murders, drug overdoses, or psychotic breaks. In only a few episodes are bodies ever found, and even fewer have been solved.

Similar to Still a Mystery, Disappeared is less emotional but also has a lot of speculation by family members and friends about what they think might have happened to their loved one. The focus is on their stories and thoughts, rather than the theories of detectives, who don’t always appear on the show.

Disappeared is a nice change from the usual homicide-based true crime shows, but it will drive you crazy if you’re the type who needs resolution. It may even make you look for updates on the cases. With 10 seasons and still going strong, the show sheds light on just how many unsolved missing persons cases exist in the US. A surprising and sad number at the same time.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 11 (2009-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+

More shows like Disappeared: Still a Mystery, Gone, In Pursuit: The Missing, Last Seen Alive, The Missing, Real Life Nightmare, The Search, Vanished: The Missing Persons Project

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: People Magazine Investigates

Cases drawn from the headlines of People Magazine

About People Magazine Investigates

If you ever wanted more details on a People Magazine story about a murder case, this true crime show is for you. It showcases murder and missing persons cases from articles in the magazine, detailed by its reporters and editors, along with the investigators involved in the cases, and victims’ loved ones.

Episodes include high-profile cases like JonBenét Ramsey, Lorenzen Wright, the Delphi murders, Todd Kohlhepp, Pam Hupp, the Long Island Serial Killer, and the Golden State Killer, along with many cases covered in other true crime series. The show features police interviews and re-creations, as well as narration (only in the first two seasons), but no trial clips.

It’s a solid true crime show, but the number of unsolved cases may drive you crazy if you’re the type that needs resolution.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 8 (2016-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+

More shows like People Magazine Investigates: People Magazine Investigates: Crimes of Fashion, Vanity Fair Confidential

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Sex, Lies & Murder

Stories of homicide cases related to sex

Sex Lies & Murder
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

About Sex, Lies & Murder

The tagline for this true crime series could be “the more salacious the better.” Sex, Lies & Murder concentrates on homicides with a sexual component to the story, sometimes merely sex-adjacent. It plays up the sexual aspect of murder cases even when it has nothing to do with the murder itself, and the stock group of experts dive right in. The show includes many cases covered in other series, but emphasizes the sex-related elements more to give the title its worth.

Cases involve love triangles, strippers, porn stars, child custody, jealousy, affairs, and more, described by the investigators who worked on the cases, along with experts, most notably crime writer and investigative journalist M. William Phelps, who appears in almost all of the episodes. He is joined by local reporters and other crime writers and specialists.

Very few episodes bring in victims’ loved ones, but they often include defense attorneys (unlike many other shows), who provide an alternative perspective.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1, with 40 episodes (2018-2019)

Where to stream: Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel

More shows like Sex, Lies & Murder: Sex & Murder

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✓ Experts
✘ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Exhumed: Killer Revealed

Exhumations help detectives solve murder cases

About Exhumed: Killer Revealed

Exhumed: Killer Revealed is a fairly typical true crime show that focuses on exhumations as the key to solving murders after lengthy periods of time. These include cold cases, undetermined deaths, and deaths first ruled as suicides that are later ruled as homicides.

Some cases in the series are covered in other shows, but Exhumed: Killer Revealed emphasizes the first murder of the two when two homicide cases are linked and in instances when a case has gone cold and leads to the need for exhumation. One example is the Sharon Reeves case in Episode 7. In other cases detailed elsewhere, the show provides more information on the exhumations than other series.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 2 (2021-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Peacock

More shows like Exhumed Killer Revealed: Secrets of the Morgue, Skeleton Stories, Autopsy,
The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead,
Outback Coroner

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Poisonous Liaisons

A true crime show focusing on poison as the weapon of murder

About Poisonous Liaisons

Poison is the method of murder in this true crime show. Killers use various substances to murder victims ranging from romantic partners, to co-workers, to family members, and they sometimes elude the authorities until they attack a new victim and investigators get suspicious.

Featuring many historical cases from periods when pathologists didn’t routinely test for poisons, Poisonous Liaisons includes cases from the UK, US, and Australia by both women and men, including many serial poisoners.

Each episode details two cases through the stories of detectives, medical examiners, and other experts, such as historians, criminologists, forensics professors, and retired detectives. Episodes exclude interview or trial clips, keeping the descriptions of cases succinct.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2019)

Where to stream: Tubi, Peacock, True Crime Network, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Poisonous Liaisons: Poisoned Passions

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✓ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: American Justice

Cases that shine a light on issues in the US criminal justice system

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

About American Justice

Narrated and hosted by Bill Kurtis of Cold Case Files, American Justice uses specific cases to take deep dives into different issues in the American criminal justice system, such as policing, battered spouse syndrome, crimes of passion, and wrongful conviction. It focuses on murder but includes cases involving fraud, the mafia, school shootings, kidnapping, and other crimes, with an emphasis on trials and high-profile cases, sometimes bringing on jurors (such as a few from the OJ Simpson case).

American Justice also discusses many historical cases, such as the outlaws of the Old West, the history of the mafia, Watergate, and the Lindbergh kidnapping.

A&E re-booted the show in 2023 (and called it Season 15, strangely), narrated by Dennis Haysbert. Both the earlier and newer versions are quality true crime television that not only cover the investigation and prosecution of crimes but relevant issues brought up by these investigations and prosecutions. Highly recommended.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 29 (1996-2008, 2023-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Discovery+, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like American Justice: Cold Case Files, The Jury Speaks, Trial by Media, Trial File, What Lies Beneath

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✓ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✘ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Skeleton Stories

A true crime show highlighting the work of forensic anthropologists

About Skeleton Stories

Some true crime shows include a case here or there that involves a forensic anthropologist, but Skeleton Stories devotes an entire show to the work of these bone specialists, who provide an expert eye for medical examiners in cases where bodies are unidentified or exhumed, or bones are found long after murders occurred.

This show details specific techniques used to solve murders and other mysteries through episodes featuring one to two cases, which are described by several forensic anthropologists who worked on them. They demonstrate the science behind decomposition, the identification of a body or cause of death, or how forensic anthropologists look for trauma from a weapon, really getting into the weeds of forensic examination. 

Like some of the other shows from the same era, Skeleton Stories omits or changes some names, even those of killers. Be prepared to learn a lot from this show, especially about bones and anatomy. It’s a great watch for forensics enthusiasts and science buffs.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 2 (2005-2007)

Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Skeleton Stories: The New Detectives, Secrets of the Morgue, Exhumed: Killer Revealed

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✓ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Making a Serial Killer

A look inside the motivations behind serial killers and their murders

About Making a Serial Killer

How does someone become a serial killer? That’s the question that Making a Serial Killer asks, detailing the background, childhood, and family elements that influenced a person’s transformation into a serial killer.

This true crime show includes lesser-known serial killers, and murderers that may not really qualify, and describes their homicidal careers and eventual capture.

Investigators involved in the cases are joined by experts like psychologists, retired homicide detectives, and sociologists (Brian Frederick, Judy Ho, Carolyn Canville, Brian Harris, and Jooyoung Lee), who offer their opinions on the motivations and psychology behind the killers’ exploits.

The show profiles American and Canadian serial killers Don Miller, Jesse Matthew, Donna Perry, Sheila LaBarre, William Devin Howell, Todd Kohlhepp, Bruce McArthur, Willie Inmon, Anthony Shore, and Ronald Dominique.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2021)

Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Making a Serial Killer: American Serial Killers: Portraits in Evil,
Becoming Evil: Serial Killers, Invisible Monsters: Serial Killers in America, Made for Murder, Mark of a Serial Killer, Murderous Minds: Inside Serial Killers

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✓ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science

A showcase for forensics and Canadian true crime cases

About Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science

Hosted and narrated by actor Graham Greene, this forensics-based true crime show emphasizes one item or mistake the killer made in a homicide case: exhibit A.

Not to be confused with Netflix’s Exhibit A, this series focuses on cases in Canada—murder, sexual assault, bombings, and otherwise. Its use of the Dutch angle camera technique and noir-ish saxophone music lends a ’90s style that dates the show, but some of the cases will draw you in, such as those that detail exonerations from DNA testing and an art forgery case.

Exhibit A includes re-creations (which tend to be on the cheesy side) and discussion of investigations by the detectives and forensic scientists involved in the cases, but it excludes archival footage. Very few episodes incorporate surviving victims or their family members and friends, and they change the victims’ names. Most episodes are about 22 minutes in length.

True crime shows

The Show Elements

Seasons: 5 (1997-2001)

Where to stream: Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, True Crime Network, The Roku Channel

More shows like Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science: Forensic Factor, Forensic Files, Forensic Investigators, Forensic Justice, Forensics, The New Detectives, Solved: Extreme Forensics

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✘ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts