Top 10 True Crime Shows with the Most Disturbing Backstories

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at true crime television shows based on very unsettling source material. For this list, we’ll be focusing on true crime dramas and excluding docuseries. Beware of spoilers ahead. What true crime series disturbed you the most? Let us know in the comments below.

#10: “The Girl from Plainville” (2022)

On July 12, 2014, Conrad Roy III was found deceased in a Massachusetts parking lot as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning inside his truck. When investigators went through his phone, they found countless texts from his girlfriend, Michelle Carter, encouraging him to take his own life. When he hesitated or second-guessed the decision, she repeatedly told him to go through with it. Carter’s deeply upsetting messages showed that she played an active role in his death and that had it not been for her unrelenting words of assurance, Roy might’ve lived. She was ultimately found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Elle Fanning starred as Carter in Hulu’s “The Girl from Plainville,” which explores the unprecedented case and the heartbreaking reality of mental illness in youth.

#9: “Candy” (2022) & “Love & Death” (2023)

In June 1980, Betty Gore was killed inside her Wylie, Texas home. The grisly crime made headlines not only because it occurred on Friday the 13th but because the ax wielder was church-going housewife, Candace ‘Candy’ Montgomery. However, not many people were familiar with the shocking murder and the controversial not guilty verdict. That changed in 2022, with the arrival of Hulu’s “Candy,” a 5-part series starring Jessica Biel in the titular role. In 2023, Max released their 7-episode series, “Love & Death,” led by Elizabeth Olsen. Both shows follow the affair between Candy Montgomery and Betty Gore’s husband, Allan, which was the catalyst for the violent altercation. Biel and Olsen perfectly portray the eeriness of Candy committing a crime and then going about her day.

#8: “I Am the Night” (2019)

TNT’s “I Am the Night” tells the true story of Fauna Hodel, who uncovered dark secrets in her biological family, including a connection to one of the most famous unsolved cases in Los Angeles. In 1949, Tamar Hodel, Fauna’s birth mother, alleged that she was physically mistreated by her father, Dr. George Hodel, who was ultimately acquitted in court. Among other crimes, the wealthy physician was a suspect in the 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, who was found in unspeakable conditions. While the case has been explored in several books, podcasts, and movies, TNT interweaves two twisted stories surrounding the Hodel family in one dark, fascinating series.

#7: “Under the Bridge” (2024)

Based on Rebecca Godfrey’s 2005 book “Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk,” Hulu’s limited series takes a look at the cruelty that led to the untimely death of Reena Virk. In November 1997, a group of young people, mostly girls, attacked her at a gathering under the Craigflower Bridge in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Unfortunately things didn’t end there, as two party-goers, Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski, followed her as she tried to leave and attacked her again before Ellard drowned Virk. The violent crime was shocking not only because it happened in a small Canadian town but because the victim and perpetrators were all so young.

#6: “A Friend of the Family” (2022)

In 1970s Idaho, Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice by family friend Robert Berchtold. Strangely, he also had intimate encounters with her parents, essentially blackmailing them to get away with his crimes. Anyone who has seen Netflix’s documentary “Abducted in Plain Sight” already knows the bizarre story. Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family” retells Broberg’s traumatic experiences with Berchtold and how he used brainwashing tactics to convince her that abductions were part of an alien mission. Jan Broberg herself, who later became an actress, collaborated on the series and appeared in the finale. Her involvement helped creators make the series “as close as it can be” to the real, stranger than fiction tale.

#5: “The Act” (2019)

This Hulu miniseries is as disturbing as it is tragic. For years, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard told everyone that her daughter Gypsy-Rose had a long list of illnesses including muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and epilepsy. She was forced to use a wheelchair and underwent unnecessary surgeries. She also notably ate through a feeding tube and had her head shaved to appear more sickly. It was suspected that Dee Dee might have had factitious disorder imposed on another, meaning she acted as though her child was ill to gain attention. After a lifetime of torturous medical procedures, isolation, and pain, Gypsy Rose planned her mother’s murder with her boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn in 2015.

#4: “Mindhunter” (2017-19)

Based on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s true crime book, “Mindhunter” follows the inception of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit and of criminal profiling. Along with psychologist Dr. Wendy Carr, Special Agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench set out on a research project, proving that criminal psychology could be used to capture serial killers. They travel around the country interviewing convicted murderers, including the likes of Edmund Kemper and David Berkowitz, which the Netflix series reenacts with direct quotes. Exploring everything from their traumatic backstories to their horrifying crimes, “Mindhunter” depicts some of the most depraved killers with eerie accuracy.

#3: “Appropriate Adult” (2011)

ITV’s two-part crime drama stars Emily Watson as Janet Leach, a social worker who became the “appropriate adult” for one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers. In 1994, she was summoned to attend the interrogation of Fred West, played by Dominic West (not his relative), where he confessed to the 1987 murder of his daughter, Heather. When police searched the Wests’ “house of horrors” at 25 Cromwell Street, they uncovered her buried remains among several others. More were later discovered at different locations. The series focuses on Leach’s pursuit of the truth about the West and his wife Rosemary’s horrific crimes. Dominic West, Emily Watson, and Monica Dolan, who played Rose, all won Best Acting awards at the 2012 BAFTAS while the program itself earned a nomination for Best Mini-Series.

#2: “Dr. Death” (2021-)

The first season of “Dr. Death” is based on Christopher Duntsch, a Texas-based neurosurgeon who received a life sentence for maiming and killing patients. Over two years, Duntsch caused irreparable damage to at least 33 out of 38 patients, two of whom died during or after an operation. Others were left paralyzed, severely injured, and/or in agonizing pain. Peacock’s anthology series follows doctors Randall Kirby and Robert Henderson, who fought to have Duntsch’s license revoked and him put behind bars. If the hospitals that employed him had reported his pattern of egregious crimes, many victims could’ve been saved. Season 2 focuses on disgraced surgeon and conman, Paolo Macchiarini, whose unethical experiments killed multiple patients. Both sickening cases are the stuff of nightmares.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions

“Baby Reindeer” (2024)

Richard Gadd’s Autobiographical Series About His Stalker

“Des” (2020)

The Chilling Capture & Conviction of Scottish Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen

“Under the Banner of Heaven” (2022)

Two Religious Extremist Brothers Murdered Their Sister-in-Law & Niece

“Black Bird” (2022)

An Undercover Operation to Secure a Confession from Suspected Serial Killer Larry Hall

#1: “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (2022)

Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most recognizable names in the true crime world. After Ryan Murphy’s controversial series hit Netflix in 2022, a new generation was introduced to the horrific story. Starring Evan Peters in the title role, “Dahmer” follows the Milwaukee serial killer from childhood to his reign of terror between the late ‘70s and early ‘90s. For years, he lured and killed men, most of whom were from marginalized communities. While living at the Oxford Apartments, neighbors complained of awful smells and noises. It wasn’t until Dahmer was apprehended on July 22, 1991 that police discovered his house filled with remains, the details of which we can’t get into, and explicit photos of his victims. It doesn’t get more disturbing than that.