17 True-Crime TV Shows That We Were Obsessed With in 2019

Before you watch Zac Efron portray Ted Bundy, you might want to check out this horrifying docuseries from Netflix, which is led by the same director, Joe Berlinger. The show curates interviews and archival footage with the notorious serial killer (pictured) and those affected by his actions. The criminal infamously targeted young women and confessed to 30 homicides in total between 1974 and 1978 (though the actual number is likely higher).

True-crime documentaries tend to get grisly, and the unspeakable violence of Bundy's crimes is a good reason to watch this show with caution (and to stop calling him hot).

Release date: Jan. 24

With Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins as its executive producer, I Am the Night, a six-part TNT miniseries, follows the gruesome 1947 Black Dahlia murder. Certain parts of the story are fictionalized, including the addition of a reporter named Jay Singletary, who's portrayed by none other than Chris Pine (pictured in the series). Singletary searches for answers with Fauna Hodel, an adopted woman who has been told that her biological grandfather is the Black Dahlia killer.

Release date: Jan. 27

Patricia Arquette continued her work in the true-crime genre in Hulu's The Act. She plays Dee Dee Blanchard, a Louisiana woman who had a tenuous and toxic relationship with her daughter, Gypsy. According to Dee Dee, Gypsy, portrayed by Joey King, suffered from illnesses such as leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy, and brain damage. Gypsy's search for independence eventually led to murder.

The shocking true story has already been made into a documentary and a made-for-TV movie, as well as inspiring an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Besides Arquette and King, the rest of the talented cast includes Chloë Sevigny, AnnaSophia Robb, and Calum Worthy.

Release date: March 20

Known for her powerful work in 13th and Selma, Ava DuVernay directed the Netflix series When They See Us, about a group of young black and Latino men (pictured in 2012) who were accused of physically and sexually assaulting a white female jogger, who was in a coma for 12 days following the brutal attack inflicted upon her. While no physical evidence linked any of them to the crime, each of the defendants spent six to 13 years in prison.

A few names that viewers may recognize from this project include Jovan Adepo (Fences), Chris Chalk (The Newsroom), Michael K. Williams (The Wire), and Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel).

Release date: May 31

Season two of Netflix's Mindhunter dropped in August. The fictionalized series follows the investigations of FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, who undertake the task of criminal profiling to learn more about what motivates serial killers. The show is based on the true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit written by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

While Holden and Bill are fictionalized, many of the criminals that they profile were real people, including Ed Kemper, Montie Rissell, Herry Brudos, and Richard Speck. It's been announced that Damon Herriman will, in season two, be portraying Charles Manson (who he also plays in the upcoming Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Release date: Aug. 16

Just a few years ago, Sarah Koenig excavated the murder of high school student Hae Min Lee and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed (pictured in 2016) in the first season of the podcast Serial. HBO took on the case again in a mini documentary series called The Case Against Adnan Syed, which is directed by Academy Award nominee Amy Berg. You hear from Syed, his relatives, teachers, and members of law enforcement on the case.

Release date: March 10

Season one of Dirty John technically started in November of 2018, but it ended at the beginning of 2019. Starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana, the first season of the anthology series is about the grifter John Meehan, and how he scammed a successful interior designer into believing that he was an anesthesiologist.

Release date: Nov. 25, 2018

Produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, this Amazon docuseries focuses on the case of Lorena Bobbitt, a woman who cut her husband John's penis off with a carving knife while he was asleep and accused him of marital rape and domestic violence. Interviewing both husband and wife, Lorena shows how the issues of domestic abuse and assault got buried under flippant tabloid takes.

Release date: Feb. 15

Leaving Neverland, a two-part HBO special, is about the disturbing child sex abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. It looks into the stories of James Safechuck and choreographer Wade Robson, who first encountered Jackson as children at age 7 and 10. Now in their 30s and 40s, the two men speak on how they were sexually abused by the pop star.

Release date: March 3

Regarded as one of the most publicized missing-person cases in modern history, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is now the subject of this Netflix docuseries. McCann went missing in 2007 at age 3 while on vacation in Portugal from the UK with her parents. The case received lots of attention, but went cold due to a combination of false leads and mishandled evidence.

Release date: March 15

The Confession Tapes follows cases where people later said their confessions were involuntary, coerced, or false. We see interviews with lawyers, investigators, and other experts, as well as recordings of the suspects with law enforcement. Season two of this Netflix docuseries adds four more cases to the fold.

Release date: June 21

This American-Israeli HBO miniseries depicts the cases of three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and killed by the militant group Hamas as well as the murder of the Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir. The miniseries reveals how the tragically violent events impacted international politics and the families involved.

Release date: Aug. 12

Netflix's Unbelievable adapts the This American Life episode "Anatomy of Doubt" and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" into a thrilling limited series. Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever plays Marie, a rape survivor who is accused of falsifying her attack. We also learn about the two detectives (played by Merritt Wever and Toni Collette) who connect a series of rape cases and find their way to Marie.

Release date: Sept. 13

Netflix's The Devil Next Door follows the story of how John Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker in Cleveland, became the subject of international scrutiny when evidence surfaced that he could be a former Nazi prison guard named Ivan the Terrible. Demjanjuk was arrested, denaturalized, and extradited to Israel, where he served several years in prison and continued facing litigation until his death in 2012 at the age of 91.

Release date: Nov. 4

Netflix's The Confession Killer zeroes in on the particularly peculiar and chilling case of Henry Lee Lucas, who confessed to hundreds of murders, then later retracted his confessions. Many of his claims were corroborated by Ottis Toole, his lover and partner-in-crime.

Release date: Dec. 6