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.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 2 (2005-2007)
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video
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.
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
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.
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
Medical examiners take the lead in this true crime show
About Secrets of the Morgue
Secrets of the Morgue puts medical examiners, forensic pathologists, and forensic anthropologists at the center of each episode of the series, which emphasizes autopsy reports more than most true crime shows, while still relating the subsequent murder investigations.
In each episode, medical examiners describe the specific details of autopsies in all types of murder cases, their technical elements, and how this information helps them identify a body, find the cause of death, or figure out the weapon used in a homicide.
The show includes detectives and others involved in the cases, along with a stock group of experts specializing in sociology, violent crime, forensic pathology, and homicide investigation (Mark Mendelson, Jooyoung Lee, and Jane Turner), who weigh in on the psychology and investigative aspects of each case.
The show also includes interviews with victims’ loved ones, re-creations, and police interviews in select cases, but no trial clips.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 1 (2018-2019)
Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+
What if someone you love turns out to be a murderer?
About Someone You Thought You Knew
We all wonder if we truly know the people close to us—our partner, family members, friends. But what if we don’t really know someone at all, and they are, instead, a murderer? That’s the scary premise of Someone You Thought You Knew.
This true crime show consists of the usual elements—narration, re-creations, excerpts from police interviews, and testimonials from victims’ families and friends, who share their stories and reveal their surprise at finding out who their loved ones really are.
About half of the cases appear on other shows, such as Dateline, and the presentation is pretty typical of most true crime shows, so if you’re looking for something new and different, skip this one.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 2 (2018-2019)
Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+
Retired homicide detective Joe Kenda shares stories from his 23-year career
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About Homicide Hunter
A memoir of sorts, Homicide Hunter with Joe Kenda focuses on the murder cases and other investigations of one detective throughout his 23-year career: Joe Kenda of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Kenda boasts a 92% solve rate and provides a master class in investigation at a time before DNA testing. He recounts many of the hundreds of cases he has worked, solving murders of all types, during his career in Colorado Springs, like an uncle sharing war stories. Colleagues involved in the cases, and local reporters, also appear in the series.
Not every detective could carry an entire true crime series; Kenda succeeds. He often throws in what has become his catchphrase, “Well my, my, my,” upon an eye-opening discovery. Standout episodes include cases from his early career detailing what he learned and how he became a detective (see Season 4, Episode 14, “My First Case”), and he sometimes brings in the perspective of his wife and family, who show up in Season 8, Episode 19 (“Married to the Job”) and Season 9, Episode 20 (“The End”).
The show is a rare look into a lengthy investigative career, the stress of the job, the psychology behind interrogation, and personal aspects of being a detective, such as Kenda’s feelings at crime scenes and the toll his work took on his family.
Kenda also hosts two specials, Homicide Hunter: Never Give Up and Homicide Hunter: Devil in the Mountains, as well as American Detective with Joe Kenda, which brings in other detectives to share their cases.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 9 (2011-2020)
Where to stream: Hulu, Discovery+
More shows like Homicide Hunter: American Detective with Lt. Joe Kenda, The Case That Haunts Me, Detective, Detective Diaries, The Detectives Club: New Orleans, The Detectives: Murder on the Streets, Detectives: My Killer Case, Homicide Hunter: Devil in the Mountains, Homicide Hunter: Never Give Up, I Am Homicide, The Killer Closer, Murder Chose Me, Real Detective
A humorous look at strange murders, murderers, and evidence
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About Bizarre Murders
For a lighter, comical take on murder cases, check out Bizarre Murders. Hosted by former FBI agent Steve Moore, this true crime show presents dramatized versions of strange murder cases and characters, through re-enactments and commentary on them. The show omits interviews with detectives, experts, or victims’ loved ones, choosing instead to present a semi-humorous version of a case, with some details changed.
Moore provides sardonic and amusing asides to the often dumb mistakes killers make and adds his expert perspective on the cases. Episodes include weird situations like vampires, cannibalism, a murderer obsessed with Dexter, and nicotine poisoning. Sometimes the murder itself isn’t bizarre, but the people involved are (e.g., Mexican wrestlers), or the evidence is weird (hot dog bun, anyone?). Episodes are on the shorter side, approximately 22 minutes, great for brief bites when you’re jonesin’ for some true crime.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 1 (2018)
Where to stream: True Crime Network, Tubi, The Roku Channel
Video surveillance is a detective’s best friend, and a witness that doesn’t lie
About See No Evil
It’s easy to overlook the fact that we are watched almost everywhere we go, as silent surveillance cameras shadow our daily lives. Murderers forget this small fact, too, but cops are well aware.
Video surveillance is investigators’ key to catching killers in See No Evil, using this “witness that doesn’t lie.”
A sister show to Hear No Evil(which focuses on audio recordings), See No Evil features cases involving video recordings of events before, during, and after all kinds of murders, recordings from store surveillance videos, home security cameras, and other cameras. Some of the video is obvious—a killer disposing of evidence, a victim driving through the streets—while others are chilling scenes of a killer stalking their prey or getting rid of a car with a body hidden in the trunk.
The 10 seasons of this true crime show make for interesting and binge-able viewing. Episodes include narration, re-creation, police interviews, and detectives and victim’s loved ones talking about the cases. Some of the cases have been covered elsewhere, but See No Evil provides extra detail from the videos.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 13 (2014)
Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Discovery+
More shows like See No Evil: Hear No Evil, The Murder Tapes, Confessions of a Serial Killer, Lies, Crimes & Video
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.
How the Secret Service used a counterfeiting investigation to the find the victims of James DeBardeleben
Suzanne Hamlin
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The Mall Passer doesn’t sound like the name of a serial killer. And technically, it isn’t. It’s the name of a counterfeiter hunted by the Secret Service for four years, whose arrest led to the discovery of a trove of evidence and constellation of crimes not at all related to counterfeiting, and much more disturbing.
This is the story of James Mitchell “Mike” DeBardeleben and the reverse investigation that occurred as the Secret Service searched for his victims following his arrest in 1983 in Tennessee for passing and manufacturing fake $20 bills, which he used to buy small items at malls across the country, pocketing the change and thereby making a profit.
James Mitchell “Mike” DeBardeleben
The Evidence
The Secret Service was first established in 1865 to combat counterfeiting (one of the many fascinating facts that can be gleaned from the DeBardeleben case). The agency was in the midst of investigating DeBardeleben when they stumbled across, in his car and storage units in Virginia, police paraphernalia, handcuffs, photos of nude and bound women, guns, women’s underwear, newspaper clippings of other people’s crimes, notes and diaries, and audio tapes, all found while searching for the printing press he used to make the counterfeit bills.
Most disturbing were the photos, notes, and audio tapes. The tapes recorded the torture and sexual assault of several women, who investigators surmised were abducted when DeBardeleben posed as a police officer to lure them into his car.
The notes detailed his plans, goals, and tasks, including the type of women and torture he desired, details on how to abduct women, and ideas on how to be more attractive to women and control them. This evidence more than sparked the curiosity of the investigators, Secret Service Agents Greg Mertz, Dennis Foos, Mike Stephens, and Jane Vezeris, who were determined to find the unknown victims and put names to their faces and the crimes committed against them. Were these women murdered? Kidnapped? Sexually assaulted? DeBardeleben refused to talk, and the FBI declined to get involved without any names of victims.
The Investigation
The Secret Service pushed on and sent the photos of the unknown women to law enforcement agencies across the US. Some police departments contacted the Secret Service with matches to open cases regarding abduction, sexual assault, and other crimes. And there was an FBI case in Maryland, the kidnapping and rape of Laurie Jensen, which finally spurred the FBI’s involvement.
Lucy Alexander and Elizabeth Mason
The FBI was able to identify DeBardeleben in photos he appeared in with the victims, some showing parts of his body (but not his face), by matching freckles and moles on his body to the body in the photos. This was key to the prosecution, along with handwriting analysis and eyewitness testimony from women who could identify themselves in the photos and tapes.
The Prosecution
He was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, sodomy, armed robbery, and aggravated criminal sexual assault in Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Missouri, Virginia, and New Jersey. In the end, DeBardeleben was sentenced to 375 years for counterfeiting, kidnapping, attempted robbery, and sodomy. The victims of these crimes include Jensen, Lucy Alexander, Elizabeth Mason, Dianne Overton, Maria Santini, and David Starr.
It seems nothing was off-limits for this jack-of-all-crimes. He was also indicted for the murders of Jean McPhaul in Louisiana and Edna Terry McDonald in Rhode Island, but was never tried for these murders, as prosecutors felt that the 375-year sentence for his other crimes would keep him in prison for the rest of his life. Rightly so, as he died of pneumonia in prison in 2011. Investigators speculate that he may have committed many more crimes involving up to 200 victims, including the murder of Joe Rapini, and may have been a serial killer.
Where to Watch the Case
Hear No Evil, The New Detectives, and Cruel Deception (an FBI Files special) capture the many twists of the DeBardeleben case. Hear No Evilincludes excerpts from the audio tapes (omitting the most graphic parts), while Cruel Deception includes photos of the evidence found during the investigation, as well as some of DeBardeleben’s notes.
The New Detectiveslooks at the story from the perspective of the FBI profiler who examined the case, and incorporates some photos of evidence, but none of the audio. The case is also detailed in Stephen G. Michaud’s book Beyond Cruel: The Chilling True Story of America’s Most Sadistic Killer, previously published as Lethal Shadow: The Chilling True-Crime Story of a Sadistic Sex Slayer.
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Learn more about the case in Hear No Evil(“The Sound of Terror,” Season 1, Episode 5), The New Detectives(“Mind Hunters,” Season 2, Episode 1), and Cruel Deception.
True Crime Docket 