A stellar true crime show doesn’t just have compelling cases, it has attention-getting writing and a narrator with a voice and rhythm that can deliver that writing with panache. Most shows offer run-of-the mill narrators who possess a strong voice but don’t leave their mark on the genre. If the case is interesting enough, they’ll suffice, but sometimes you want to sink into the voice of a narrator who envelops you into the world of a case. If you’re the type who likes to listen to your true crime rather than watch, check out how these seven experts spin their tales.
1. Keith Morrison, Dateline
Keith Morrison isn’t just a narrator or interviewer, he’s a storyteller. He delivers the lines of a Datelineepisode like your favorite uncle telling a scary bedtime story (check out his tellings of “The Night Before Christmas” and other Christmas classics). His episode intros set the stage for murder cases that might not be that interesting by themselves, but he makes them so, very, interesting. He hits the words with just the right tone, inflecting his trademark creepiness just enough to compel you to listen.
Actors Paul Winfield and Keith David match the amazing writing of the original City Confidential with their fluid storytelling and strong voiceovers. Winfield’s voice sounds like a semi-distant relative of Morgan Freeman, and David’s sounds like a friend sharing an easy conversation over coffee. Before describing specific murder cases, each episode features an initial segment laying out the history of the city or town where they occurred, and Winfield and David make even the most podunk of towns intriguing.
Not afraid to include lightness and humor when appropriate, the classic series required voiceover actors who could step up to the plate and deliver the lines with precision. Winfield and David met that challenge. The show’s revival in 2021 brought on actor Mike Colter, who has a great voice but lacks the personality of Winfield and David, and the episodes fail to live up to the intriguing writing of the 1998-2005 episodes.
Paul Winfield narrating City Confidential
Keith David narrating City Confidential
4. Bill Kurtis, Cold Case Files and American Justice
Before retiring, Bill Kurtis had a long career as a journalist and news anchor, but his narration of true crime shows and documentaries doesn’t sound like a typical news reporter. Kurtis has a smooth, rich voice that keeps you listening while lulling you into stories revolving around cold cases and the criminal justice system. Kurtis’ voice alone is worth watching any show or documentary he narrates, but coupled with the amazing writing, it makes Cold Case Filesand American Justicemust-watch shows. Kurtis also narrates the series Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks.
Cold Case Files
American Justice
5. Stacy Keach, American Greed
Veteran actor Stacy Keach, known for the show Mike Hammer and many other television and film roles, brings his voice to another top-shelf show: American Greed. Keach relates stories of corruption, greed, and corporate and financial crimes like that grandfather who tells stories around the fireplace on a cold winter night. You’ll want to pull up a blanket and pillow and sink into the episodes.
American Greed
6. Christine Estabrook, Deadly Wives
Actress Christine Estabrook is another narrator who delivers the smart writing of a true crime show with just the right punch. Deadly Wives is a clever show that sometimes injects humorous asides about women who kill their spouses, and Estabrook knows just how to convey them. Wives kill their spouses, Estabrook narrates the cases, and her voice adds a hint of sarcasm—you can almost hear her rolling her eyes at the women’s mistakes and lies. It’s a shame the run of the show was so short.
Deadly Wives
7. Joe Alaskey, Murder Comes to Town
Murder Comes to Town, which focuses on murders in small towns, has two narrators who vary in style (Joe Alaskey and Anthony Call), but Alaskey wins the race for the creepier narration. He sounds like the voice-child of Paul Winfield and Vincent Price and delivers words like “murder” and “bloody corpse” with an electricity that sends a chill across the screen and up your spine. When Alaskey died in 2016, actor Anthony Call took over the narration, without the same creepy flair as Alaskey.
Can’t get enough of Keith Morrison? Here are 10 more of his best episodes from Dateline, complete with twisty stories, creepy voiceovers, and suspect pushback.
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1. “The Last Ride” (Season 31, Episode 1)
Professional cyclist Moriah Wilson is found murdered in her apartment in Austin, Texas, in 2022, dead from two gunshot wounds. Was it her colleague and romantic interest, fellow cyclist Colin Strickland? Or someone else? As the police investigate, they discover video surveillance of a vehicle arriving at the apartment just before the murder. It’s a twisty episode full of jealousy, stalking, and murder, even a suspect on the lam, who flees to Costa Rica to start a new life under an assumed name but is caught 43 days later.
2. “The Real Thing About Pam” (Season 30, Episode 22)
In 2011, Betsy Faria is found stabbed to death in her home in Missouri. Police find bloodstained slippers in her husband, Russell’s, closet, and a document by Betsy expressing her concern that he might kill her. Betsy’s friend tells the police that he had threatened to kill Betsy. But he had an alibi, and he wasn’t the recipient of the life insurance money. The killer is also suspected in two other murders. If you can’t get enough of the case, check out Keith Morrison’s podcast on it and NBC’s limited series, The Thing About Pam.
3. “The Ascension of Mother God” (Season 30, Episode 4)
The mummified body of spiritual leader Amy Carlson, who called herself “Mother God,” is found in the house of some of the members of her cult, Love Has Won, in rural Colorado. The body was wrapped in Christmas lights and covered with a sleeping bag. Was it murder or did she die another way? The episode is full of conspiracies, cult beliefs, and other weirdnesses perfect for Keith to report on.
4. “Buried Secrets” (Season 20, Episode 58)
David Jackson disappears in 1988 in Florida, just before he is supposed to meet someone at a motel. Three months later, his car is discovered at the airport, but police have no other leads. The case goes cold until 14 years later, when a new detective links a skeleton in a box to his disappearance. The bones were recovered during the construction of a new Walmart in Florida years earlier. Further investigation leads to a confession, but were all the killers caught? Is everyone telling the truth? Keith interviews one of the suspects and pushes for answers.
5. “Tangled” (Season 24, Episode 38)
In Walsenburg, Colorado, Ralph Candelario is found in front of his house, injured and calling for help. His wife, Pam, is found murdered inside. Both had been beaten by burglars in the middle of the night. When investigators look at the closest people in Pam’s circle, they discover another murder by their main suspect. A letter to the town newspaper, written by the suspect, raises the suspicions of police and leads to answers.
6. “Secrets in a Small Town” (Season 20, Episode 17)
In Alabama, Theresa Mayfield is found shot dead in her car on a dirt road. She had gone there to help a friend whose car had broken down, but the police only discover her body in her car, with the window rolled down. With no other clues, the case goes cold until a witness comes forward, claiming that he had been on the same road that day and someone had given him a gun in a plastic bag. The gun was the murder weapon.
7. “The Family Secret” (Season 18, Episode 26)
When Lloyd Ford leaves his wife and family in Ainsworth, Nebraska, his children assume he’ll come back. Years pass, and he never returns, so his wife files for divorce. But one of his daughters knows what really happened, that he’s been dead for years, and it takes her 25 years to tell anyone. Keith interviews the daughter, and the story she reveals is both shocking and heartbreaking.
8. “In the Dead of Night” (Season 19, Episode 3)
At a farm in rural Nebraska, Wayne and Sharmon Stock are found shot dead on Easter Sunday in 2006. Police immediately look to their closest circle and become suspicious of their nephew Matthew, who was supposedly angry at them over money. He fails a polygraph and upon questioning, confesses, saying that he and his cousin Nick murdered the couple. But an engraved ring found at the murder scene is unexplained. When police investigate, they begin to question Matthew’s confession. If you’ve ever been skeptical about police interrogations, polygraphs, and the Reed technique, check this episode out.
9. “The Disappearance of Debbie Hawk” (Season 18, Episode 55)
In Hanford, California, Debbie Hawk’s children come home to find her missing and blood leading from the bedroom to the garage. Papers are scattered everywhere. To the police, the crime scene looks staged. They find her car abandoned with keys in the ignition. Debbie’s ex-husband has an alibi—he was at home with the kids all night. But suspicions build, and they divide the family. Keith’s pushback against the main suspect, who he interviews, is classic.
10. “Miles from Nowhere” (Season 22, Episode 5)
At a remote cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Chad Wallin-Reed and his family feel threatened by vandals who stole a light from their property, concerned due to recent break-ins at their cabin. When the vandals return the following night, Chad fires a warning shot at their car then follows in his own car. When he catches up to them, someone fires a gun at him, so he continues to follow them and fires back. The car stops, and he approaches, finding the driver wounded, possibly dead. In fact, he had shot not just the driver but six men. Chad tells the police that they had shot at him and that it was all in self-defense. But that’s only one side of the story, and when police investigate, the truth surfaces.
Gifts for all of the true crime lovers in your life
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Gifts for the organized true crime lover
Who doesn’t want to keep track of time using murders and other true crime facts? Quotes, quizzes, cold cases, and statistics make this calendar a fun gift for that uber-organized true crime lover in your life. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
But what if they want to keep track of all of their podcasts, shows, and cases? Here’s a handy-dandy notebook for just that purpose. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
And a daily planner will help them plan their viewing and listening schedule. Not their work and school schedules, silly! Click the image to buy on Amazon.
Gifts for the Keith Morrison lover
From cards to T-shirts, any Keith Morrison fan will swoon over these gifts. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
Gifts for the Book Lover
From Truman Capote, to kidnapping victim Jan Broberg, to former FBI Agent Candace DeLong, these authors will thrill the book lover in your life. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
Gifts for the gamer/puzzler
Cryptograms, anagrams, logic puzzles, and more will keep the true crime puzzler busy. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
This murder mystery game includes documents, clues, and photos to solve the case. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
Know someone who likes to color and learn at the same time? Get them this coloring book featuring 47 killers and the details of their crimes. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
Gifts for the true crime junkie
True crime junkies can show their love—and obsession—of the genre with these gifts. Click the image to buy on Amazon.
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Season 32
The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo If These Walls Could Talk The Night Time Stopped True Confession The Secret in Black Rock Canyon The Last Weekend Part of the Plan The Case of the Man With No Name On the Hunt for the Zombie Hunter Bethany Vanished
Season 31
The Killings on King Road The Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell Killing Time Along Came Sarah Laci Peterson: A New Turn Finding Rita Who Killed Mindy Morgenstern? On a Dark, Deserted Highway Killings in a College Town The Last Walk The Sisterhood The Last Ride
Season 30
The Day the Music Died The Curious Case of Sherri Papini The Real Thing About Pam In the Light of Day Echoes in the Canyon What Happened in Vegas The Doomsday Files Ascension of Mother God Kill Switch The Evil That Watches
Season 29
Secrets by the Bay The Necklace Mommy Doomsday The Waiting Car The Woman with No Name Broken Circle Night of the Summer Solstice Into the Night – Part 2 Far from Spider Lake 10 Minutes to Sunset Hope Whispers Killer Role Left for Dead
Season 28
The Rise and Fall of Oscar Pistorius What Happened to JJ and Tylee? Unbreakable Family Business The Death of Gianni Versace What Happened to the Children? Before Daylight The Ranch Where are the Children? The Black Candle Confession In a Lonely Place 2 While They Were Sleeping The Black Widow of Lomita The Box Haunted The Thing About Pam
Season 27
Into the Dark Robert Durst: The Secret Tapes The Secret Keepers Before Midnight Into the Night #2 The Betrayal of Sarah Stern Evil Intent Evil Was Watching The Motive In a Lonely Place Suspicion in Silver City Everything She Knew At the Bottom of the Lake
Season 26
A Deal with the Devil No Title (segment: the bail project) Trapped Prairie Confidential The Threat The Other Side of Paradise The Watcher Silent Witness Into the Night No Way Out A Crack in Everything Secrets on the Emerald Coast The Women & Dirty John Unthinkable: The Menendez Murders Black Friday The Halloween Party At the Bottom of the Pool Scorned
Season 25
Dark Valley The Summer of Manson The Knock at the Door A Shot in the Dark The Death of Gianni Versace: A Dateline Investigation The Laci Peterson Story: A Dateline Investigation Nightfall Good & Evil Double Lives Vanished Heart of Darkness The House on the Lake Stranger Than Fiction The Man Who Knew Too Much Secrets in the Smoky Mountains A Dangerous Man After the Storm
Season 24
Family Secrets The Bastille Day Attack Manson The Feud After the Party Tangled The Hometown Hero & The Homecoming Queen Deadly Desire Smoke and Mirrors A Place on the Sand The Interrogation The House on Badger Lane Return to Game Night Where the Heart Is Mystery in Big Sky Country Under a Full Moon In the Shadow of Justice: The Confession Footprint in the Dust
Season 23
The Shadow Miami Heat Game Night Robert Durst: The Lost Years A Perfect Spot The Fugitive Millionaire Deadly Twist Infatuation In Broad Daylight The Trap The Root of All Evil Someone Was Out There While She Was Sleeping The Wire
Season 22
Into the Wild Bad Blood Family Business The Man Who Talked to Dogs Deadly Connection The Vow Swept Away The House on Sumac Drive Secrets in the Mist The Mystery on Bridle Path Graduation Night A Killing in Cottonwood Secrets in Pleasant Grove The Wrong Man Miles from Nowhere Burning Suspicion Up in Flames
Season 21
Secrets in the Desert The Stranger A Cold December Morning Mystery at Payson Canyon Deadly Desire Deception What Happened to the Beauty Queen? Secrets in the Mist Vanished Under the Desert Sky Under a Killing Moon Secrets in the Snow
Season 20
The Confession Tragedy in Colorado Finding Booker’s Place/Deadly Conspiracy (segment “Deadly Conspiracy”) The Last Dive Buried Secrets Who Killed the Radio Star? Poison Deadly Trust A Family’s Story Suspicion Deadly Triangle The Player Someone Was Watching Strangers on a Train Crossing the Line Justice for Bonnie Silent Witness
Season 19
The Day She Disappeared Path of Destruction/Royal Wedding (segment “Path of Destruction”) As Darkness Fell The Boy from Baby House 10 Disaster in Japan Haunting Images Conduct Unbecoming In the Dead of Night Blind Justice Deadly Ambush Mean Girls The Night Before Halloween Lost and Found The Mystery of the Murdered Major Deadly House of Cards
Season 18
The Disappearance of Debbie Hawk The Mystery in Rock Hill The Secrets in the Suitcase The Family Secret The Desperate Hours Mystery at Lost Dog Road The Grifters Flying High at Cocktail Cove/Disappearance Before Dawn Recipe for Murder
Season 17
Michael Jackson: Remember the Time Deadly Sanctuary
Season 16
The Devil’s Business The Stripper and the Steelworker 10 Most Unforgettable 911 Calls/The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom (segment “The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom”) The Santa Strangler
Season 15
Somewhere in the Shadows Family Ties Death in the Hollywood Hills Fatal Exposure/The Death of a Centerfold Blood Ties The Miraculous Life of Jonathan Swain The Party’s Over/Death in the Desert Blood Ties Suspicion
Season 13
Children of War/Rocky Mountain High/The Perfect Storm (segment “Children of War”) Secrets & Lies (II) Blackout: Minute by Minute/Blackout: Answers/Total Recall II/Going South (segment “Going South”)
Season 11
Secrets & Lies Say You Will Against All Odds A Separate Peace Separate Lives 9-11 Investigations/NYC Principal/Stephen Ambrose/The Heroes of Flight 93/Arab Americans (segment “Arab Americans”)
Unknown Season
The Good Samaritan/Dark Victory (segment “The Good Samaritan”) Tower of Terror/Animal Kingdom (segment “Animal Kingdom”) Out of Gas/Sonny’s Story/True Lies? (segment “Sonny’s Story”) Under the Gun/The Families vs. O.J. Simpson/Survivor: Troubled Waters/Who Killed JonBenet? (segment “The Families vs. O.J. Simpson”) Language Barrier?/Deep Pockets/North by Northwest/Consumer Alert: Coming Clean (segment “Language Barrier?”) In an Instant
You know you’re watching a classic Keith Morrison Dateline episode when it has an outside shot of Keith doing his patented, casual lean-against-something, a pensive look, a creepy voiceover line that drops an octave at the end and trails off in a “well…,” or Keith pushing back against a suspect or their attorney. And of course, it has to have a great story.
There are too many episodes to sift through to find these gems, and since we at True Crime Docket are unabashed Keith Morrison fans, we’ve done that just for you.
(Note: This site contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
1. “The Black Widow of Lomita” (Season 28, Episode 8)
This is not your typical black widow story. Instead, it’s a twisty story about a woman (Sonia Rios) in Lomita, California, whose two marriages end in death when her husbands die within 20 years of each other. The case leads to the discovery of a murderer who is killed by their family member before an arrest can occur, and it includes plenty of creepy voiceovers by Keith.
2. “Scorned” (Season 26, Episode 1)
In this episode, a strange story begins with a love triangle and unfolds into stalking, arson, and murder, leading investigators to the discovery of a woman impersonating the victim. Keith adds his usual creepy narration, and the story will keep you guessing until the end. The case is also detailed in American Justice.
3. “A Shot in the Dark” (Season 25, Episode 34)
When Cara Ryan kills her ex-husband in her bedroom, she claims that it was self-defense. She appears on the show, and Keith provides plenty of pushback against her story.
4. “Deadly Desire” (Season 24, Episode 36)
Two seemingly normal couples in Idaho, Kandi and Rob Hall and Emmett and Ashlee Corrigan, are caught in a tangled relationship that leads to affairs, murder, and a surprising defense. In his interviews, Keith pushes back against the main suspect and his wife, and the episode contains plenty of spooky narration.
5. “The Shadow” (Season 23, Episode 74)
Late one night in Iowa, Angie Ver Huel wakes up to find her fiancé, Justin Michael, dead in their bed. Questioning by detectives leads to the discovery of a convoluted plan by the killer to pin the murder on someone else. Keith not only provides his classic chilling narration, but plenty of empathy for Michael’s family and fiancée. The case is also covered by The Last 24.
6. “The Man Who Talked to Dogs” (Season 22, Episode 53)
In this case involving a love triangle and divorce, dog trainer Mark Stover is murdered. The draw of the episode is when Keith confronts the lies of the main suspect, who also tries to push back against Keith. How dare he!
7. “Secrets in Pleasant Grove” (Season 22, Episode 9)
Martin MacNeill finds his wife Michele dead in the bathtub a few days after she had a facelift. Family secrets come out, and the truth of Michele’s death is revealed. Keith provides entertainingly eerie dialogue and plenty of sarcasm, as well as lots of resistance against the suspect’s story.
8. “Under the Desert Sky” (Season 21, Episode 14)
In this compelling episode, Keith details the murder of Micaela Costanzo, a 16-year-old high school student from a small town in Nevada. You’ll be shocked by the identities of the murderers, and what they claim happened. The case is also detailed on Snapped: Killer Couples.
9. “Secrets in the Snow” (Season 21, Episode 2)
Stephanie Roller Bruner is found dead in the snow one winter night in Colorado, and a love triangle comes to light. Police investigate three suspects, and Keith provides the requisite creepy narration, along with pushback against one of the suspects.
10. “Deadly House of Cards” (Season 19, Episode 95)
In Edmonton, Canada, Johnny Altinger vanishes, leading police to a killer inspired by the show Dexter. The episode and twisty story will keep you watching until the end. It includes footage from a weird police ride-along with their key suspect, in which he is creepily silent the entire time. The case is also covered on Bizarre Murders.
Bonus: Keith Morrison has some fun with Seth Meyers
Detectives trace the last day of a murder victim’s life
About Dateline: The Last Day
Dateline: The Last Day is a Dateline spin-off that presents murder cases through the perspective of the victim’s last day (much like The Last 24). The tone surrounding the true crime show is more serious than Dateline, but it features regular Dateline correspondents Keith Morrison, Josh Mankiewicz, and Andrea Canning, along with additional contributor Stephanie Gosk.
Each episode follows the events of the victim’s last day and the key people they interacted with during those events, described by the investigators involved, victims’ friends and families, and through police interviews.
In the first season, the show has less emphasis on intimate partner homicide than Dateline and includes murders by strangers, friends, and others. And unlike Dateline, it omits lengthy trial clips or description of the trials. Instead, the focus is squarely on the timeline of the victim.
If you can’t get enough Dateline in your life, this show is for you.
Gather ‘round the Christmas tree and snuggle up for some holiday tales of murder and mayhem.
Happy holidays? Nuh-uh, says Homicide for the Holidays, which dominates the round-up of Christmas true crime show episodes. But there are plenty of gems hiding in other shows, including several shows about the JonBenét Ramsey case. And scroll down for a bonus story from Dateline’s Keith Morrison.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Carnage in Carnation” (Season 1, Episode 2)
It’s the day after Christmas 2007 in Carnation, Washington, and a co-worker worries that her friend, Judy Anderson, hasn’t shown up for work. She drives to Judy’s house and stumbles across four of Judy’s family members dead in the home, including two children, and Judy and her husband Wayne dead outside near a shed. Eerie, silent 911 calls had been made from someone at the house on Christmas Eve, but police could not legally go past the locked gate to the property. Other family members are also missing, and when found, the truth comes out.
Homicide for the Holidays: “A Christmas Massacre” (Season 1, Episode 3)
Christmas Eve 2008 in Covina, California, turns from a fun family celebration into a horrific mass shooting. During a poker game after dinner, a man dressed as Santa Claus enters the home of Joseph and Alice Ortega, shoots and kills nine people, and sets the house on fire using a homemade flamethrower. In nearby Sylmar, a man discovers his brother dead in his apartment, and police find a booby-trapped car, both connected to the Christmas massacre.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Morning Murder” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Steve and Carla Barron are shot and killed early Christmas morning while sleeping in their home in Tyler, Texas, in 1999. Police come across the murder weapon in their daughter’s room. She appears on the episode.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Mourning” (Season 2, Episode 3)
Christmas Eve 2003, in Nampa, Idaho, and Bob and Idella Young are found stabbed and bound with Christmas lights, each having one strategically placed stab wound to the back. The case goes cold by the next Christmas, and it is finally solved a few years later.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Rampage” (Season 2, Episode 5)
December 28, 1987, in Russellville, Arkansas, four shootings across different locations in the town leave two people dead. The police apprehend the shooter and take him into custody, discovering five more bodies at his house, seven in a mass grave outside the house, and two dead infants in a car trunk, all family members killed around Christmas.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Rager” (Season 2, Episode 6)
A few days before Christmas 2007 in St. Paul Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, Kristine Larson fails to show up to make Christmas cookies with her mother. A stranger finds Kristine’s dead body in a burning car in an alley, strangled. Detectives investigate both her ex and her current boyfriend.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Silent Night, Lethal Night” (Season 2, Episode 7)
Nightmare Next Door: “Murders Under the Mistletoe” (Season 7, Episode 10)
It’s Christmas Eve 2002 in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and Jean Wholaver, her two daughters, and her granddaughter fail to show up for dinner at Jean’s parents’ house. Police find Jean and her two daughters shot dead in her home and the baby abandoned. The daughters had made allegations of sexual abuse against their estranged father, and the case was scheduled for trial that January. From jail, he attempts to hire someone to stage a suicide and pin the murders on someone else.
Stream Homicide for the Holidays on Peacock and Hulu
Stream Nightmare Next Door on Discovery+ and Amazon Prime Video
Homicide for the Holidays: “Last Christmas” (Season 3, Episode 2)
Two days after Christmas 2005 in Fort Myers, Florida, 911 operators receive a call with a young child’s voice in the background. Police discover the child covered in blood at the home, and his parents, Steven and Michelle Andrews, dead. Steve had been shot, and Michelle had been beaten, strangled, and posed nude.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Christmas Heartbreak” (Season 3, Episode 3)
Jack and Elaine Denney are found shot on Christmas Day 2007 in their home in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. The case goes cold and is finally solved seven years later.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Death in Santa Claus” (Season 3, Episode 4)
In the aptly named Santa Claus, Georgia, it’s three weeks before Christmas 1997, when a passing motorist finds three girls from the Daniels family wandering on the side of a road, after a family friend had woken the girls up and told them they needed to leave with him. Police officers go to the Daniels house and discover four bodies, including two children, all members of the family. One of the daughters shares her experiences in the episode.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Six Slays of Christmas” (Season 4, Episode 2)
Sins of the City: “Dayton, Ohio” (Season 3, Episode 3)
In 1992, several seemingly unconnected shootings around Christmas in Dayton, Ohio, are traced to a group of four young people, who murdered six people between Christmas Eve and December 26 in a spree shooting.
Stream Homicide for the Holidays on Peacock and Hulu
Homicide for the Holidays: “Killing of the Christmas Tree Farmers” (Season 4, Episode 3)
A Time to Kill: “The Mystery Passenger” (Season 5, Episode 9)
Cold Case Files: “Killings on Christmas Eve” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Christmas tree farmers Ed and Minnie Maurin disappear from their home December 19, 1985, in Ethel, Washington. Police officers find their car dumped in a parking lot, but no Maurins, only their blood. A random motorist discovers their bodies on Christmas Eve, and it takes 27 years to solve the crime.
Stream Homicide for the Holidays on Peacock and Hulu
Stream A Time to Kill on True Crime Network, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Discovery+
Stream Cold Case Files on Netflix, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and Discovery+
Homicide for the Holidays: “Murder Under the Mistletoe” (Season 4, Episode 4)
Pregnant mother Melissa Sowders disappears the day after Christmas 2013 in Houston, Texas. Police find her abandoned car the next day, and eventually discover her body on the banks of a river. A love triangle holds the key to solving the case.
Deadly Women: “Red Hot Temper” (Season 9, Episode 10)
In the third story in this episode, a drunk Karen Walsh breaks into the house of her neighbor, Maire Rankin, on Christmas Eve in Newry, Northern Ireland, in 2008. After Maire lectures Walsh about her drinking, Walsh attacks her, and beats her to death with a crucifix. She then passes out on her bed and finds her way home the next morning. Maire’s family discover her body on Christmas Day.
Stream on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Discovery+
Christmas night 1986 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Donald Ott’s roommate finds him dead in their apartment and assumes it’s a suicide. He has a gunshot wound to the head, but a gun is nowhere to be found. Police learn that Ott’s brother is involved in the drug trade and their investigation leads to the killer.
Stream on Hulu, Discovery+, and Amazon Prime Video
JonBenét: An American Murder Mystery (3-part series)
The day after Christmas 1996 in Boulder, Colorado, and Patsy Ramsey finds a ransom note claiming that her daughter, JonBenét, had been kidnapped. Police allow Patsy’s husband John and his friend to search the house, and they find JonBenét in the basement dead, strangled and bound. The crime scene had not been secured, leading to a botched investigation, despite DNA evidence, and an unsolved case to this day.
Law enforcement officers who participated in the case appear on People Magazine Investigates, JonBenét: An American Murder Mystery, and How It Really Happenedwith Hill Harper. The Barbara Walters Presents episode includes an interview with John and Patsy Ramsey from 2000, as well as an interview with John Ramsey from 2015. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones takes a different approach, bringing in outside experts and a private investigator for the Ramsey family to review the case, while How It Really Happenedwith Hill Harper includes a plethora of news clips, especially from CNN.
There are additional series specifically focusing on the case; see this list for more details.
Stream People Magazine Investigates on Discovery+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video
Stream JonBenét: An American Murder Mystery on Discovery+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video
Stream How It Really Happenedwith Hill Harper on Discovery+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video
Stream True Crime with Aphrodite Jones on Discovery+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video
Stream Barbara Walters Presents on Discovery+ and Amazon Prime Video
A Crime to Remember: “Coffin for Christmas” (Season 5, Episode 4)
College student Barbara Mackle is kidnapped on December 17, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia, by a man dressed as a police officer and someone wearing a ski mask. A ransom note is found at the family home in Miami, asking for $500,000 and claiming that Mackle is buried in a ventilated container. The ransom drop is interrupted by the Miami police, who were unaware of the kidnapping. A new drop is scheduled, and on December 21, the FBI gets an anonymous tip to where Barbara is buried.
Stream A Crime to Remember on Discovery+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video
December 15, 2013, when people are preparing for Christmas in Spokane, Washington, Doug and Elberta Carlile return to their home to find a masked man in black who shoots and kills Doug. Police discover another murder related to Doug’s business dealings, then a murder-for-hire plot against the estranged wife of the main suspect. Keith Morrison narrates the episode.
Dateline NBC: “Under a Halloween Moon” (Season 22, Episode 6)
In this episode, Josh Mankiewicz details the murder of Joel Lovelien, which occurred outside a bar he went to with his fiancée for a Halloween party in 2007 in North Dakota. Lovelien was beaten to death in the parking lot, and police search for the killer among the large group of people in costume. This one has a surprise ending.
Dateline NBC: “The Halloween Party” (Season 26, Episode 5)
Keith Morrison lends his spooky narration to the story of Chelsea Bruck, who attends a Halloween party as Poison Ivy at a rural property in Michigan in 2014. She disappears that night, and police find her body several months later. She had been sexually assaulted and died from blunt force trauma.
Stream on Peacock and Hulu
Killer Kids: “Vampire and the Essay” (Season 4, Episode 8)
The 16-year-old leader of a vampire cult murders Naomi Ruth Queen and Richard Wendorf in 1996 in Florida, the parents of a 15-year-old girl who ran away from home with his group. Although the ringleader was convicted of murder, she was never charged.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video and the Roku Channel
City Confidential: “Monsters on Main Street” (Season 7, Episode 1)
An 11-year-old girl, Shauna Howe, disappears on the way home from a Halloween party in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1992. Police discover her body three days later, but the murder goes unsolved until 2003. The town banned nighttime trick-or-treating for 15 years after the murder. The case is also covered in Cold Case Files.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Discovery+, and the Roku Channel
In 1984, pregnant mother Doreen Erbert is murdered on Halloween in California by a man in a wolf mask wielding a machete. The episode is rare coverage of a male killer on the female-focused series.
In a ritualistic killing, a teen interested in the occult kills an elderly woman, removes her heart, and drinks her blood. The episode is based on the story of the murder of Maybel Leyshon in the UK in 2001.
Stream on Tubi, True Crime Network, and the Roku Channel
Killer Cases: “Murder Under a Blue Moon” (Season 1, Episode 5)
The triple homicide by a man who killed his mother, Voncile Smith, and two half-brothers, Richard Thomas Smith and John William Smith, in Florida in 2015. The murder occurs close to the blue moon, and the positioning of the bodies and the killer’s pagan practices make detectives mistakenly think it is a result of witchcraft. Also featured on Family Massacre.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and True Crime Network
A true crime classic for junkies and newbies alike
About Dateline
Dateline is the type of show that, back in the days of channel-surfing, would suck you in because you just had to know who the murderer was.
This long-running NBC show focuses mostly on murders (and murders of romantic partners), with other investigative pieces thrown in here and there. Dateline previously included other series like To Catch a Predator, but now concentrates on true crime.
Although it can sometimes be predictable, the show pulls the audience into the investigation through correspondents’ interviews with witnesses and suspects, leading the viewers through the case to the end of the trial in a more intimate way than most shows. Not to mention Keith Morrison‘s chilling, yet compelling, narrations.
Dateline’s storytelling, and the correspondents’ empathy for victims’ families and friends, makes it a standout. Morrison, Andrea Canning, Dennis Murphy, and Josh Mankiewicz often interview suspects before or after their conviction—a rarity in the genre—and their hard-nosed questioning is a highlight. When there is a trial, the show gives it ample attention, often with trial clips. Recommended.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 33 (1992-)
Where to stream: Peacock, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video
True Crime Docket 