- 6 hours ago
Some cases refuse to stay closed. Join us as we count down the most gripping true crime documentaries about unsolved cases that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about justice!
Transcript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're discussing our picks for the most compelling true-crime
00:05films and docuseries about cases with major unanswered questions.
00:10So I asked the police chief, when was the FBI going to be coming?
00:15American Conspiracy, The Octopus Murders.
00:18This case is a goldmine for anyone who's into conspiracy theories.
00:22The series explores the death of writer Danny Casilaro, whose body was found in a hotel room in 1991.
00:30Police determined that he'd taken his own life, but some people weren't convinced.
00:38Casilaro had been investigating a vast conspiracy he called The Octopus.
00:43He believed the Reagan administration had a hand in bankrupting a tech company that had developed powerful new surveillance software.
00:51Supposedly, the software had then been seized and sold to Israel and dozens of other countries,
00:57and it was all connected to the Iran-Contra affair and hostage crisis.
01:01He says, you put the back door in, you sell it to foreign intelligence agencies,
01:07and then you can spy on whatever they're using the software to spy on.
01:11Other suspicious deaths occurred around the same time as Casilaro's,
01:15so it's not crazy to think he may have been onto something.
01:18That whole operation got out of hand.
01:21Yes.
01:21That's all there is to it.
01:23Jack the Ripper, the case reopened.
01:25Would the Whitechapel murderer have been caught if the police had access to modern forensic technology?
01:31That's what this BBC doc aims to explore.
01:34Every generation seems to bring forth a new suspect for who Jack the Ripper might have been.
01:40Actor Amelia Fox teams up with Great Britain's leading criminologist David Wilson
01:44to examine the case using the latest state-of-the-art tools.
01:48Holmes is taking all the known information about the canonical five victims and the other murders of the time,
01:55and is making links between them.
01:57They reconstruct crime scenes, perform digital autopsies,
02:01and even use algorithms to identify a previously unknown victim.
02:06In the end, they name the man they believe to have been Jack the Ripper himself.
02:10The hour-long doc is must-see TV for Ripper-ologists and true crime fans everywhere.
02:17If the Ripper had been active today, he most certainly would have been caught.
02:22Who killed little Gregory?
02:24In 1984, Gregory Villemin was snatched from his front yard in Les Ponts-Chevillons, France, and murdered.
02:36In the decades since, numerous suspects have been questioned, but no one was ever convicted.
02:42Have you seen everyone?
02:43Do you think it's a family unit?
02:45No, no, absolutely not.
02:46We haven't seen everyone.
02:47This 2019 Netflix docu-series takes a deep dive into the case.
02:51It looks at the mysterious threatening letters sent to Gregory's parents before his abduction,
02:56the media circus surrounding the investigation, and the cops' questionable decision to go after Gregory's mother.
03:10For North American viewers who aren't familiar with the case, each new twist is more shocking than the last.
03:17The show packs a ton of detail into its five fast-paced episodes, so be prepared for a binge session.
03:23It will always be missing a piece of the bottle to know who this child was sent to, who was
03:29present, who saw it.
03:31Cold case. The Tylenol murders.
03:34In September 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died from cyanide poisoning in just two days.
03:41Police soon discovered that over-the-counter bottles of Tylenol were to blame.
03:46Someone had intentionally contaminated the pills and put them back on the shelf for people to buy.
03:51They're innocent people going through their normal daily lives.
03:56Since tamper-proof packaging wasn't yet standard at the time, no one noticed anything suspicious about the bottles.
04:02Both Johnson & Johnson and the Food and Drug Administration say, essentially, that this kind of poisoning can never happen
04:09again.
04:10To this day, no one has been convicted for these random and senseless killings.
04:15The one man tried to extort Johnson & Johnson over the incident.
04:19Cold case, the Tylenol murders, takes a hard look at the investigation, and the evidence that the producers say police
04:26overlooked.
04:27Why is no one questioning these people? Why are we not digging and asking them more questions?
04:31For more breakdowns of compelling cases and true crime stories, scan the QR code on screen to join WatchMojo's 24
04:38-7 true crime livestream.
04:40The death and life of Marsha P. Johnson.
04:43An iconic and powerful trans activist suddenly turns up dead, and authorities immediately announce that she took her own life.
04:51This happened in New York in 1992, at the height of the epidemic of police violence against queer people.
04:58Many of the people closest to Johnson didn't believe the coroner's ruling, and suspected that something much more sinister had
05:06happened.
05:07It was obvious that she'd been murdered, and it was obvious that the police weren't giving it the attention that
05:14it deserved.
05:14This doc from Oscar nominee David France follows one of them, Victoria Cruz, as she investigates Johnson's death.
05:22Can we meet outside of your job?
05:25No, definitely not. I don't want to meet in regards to anything.
05:30Along the way, she exposes case after case of assault and violence against trans people that has been ignored by
05:38cops and prosecutors.
05:39The film doesn't uncover a killer, but it does reveal the ugly truth that trans lives are still treated as
05:46disposable by the justice system.
05:48Murder in the Bayou.
05:50Eight young women were gruesomely murdered and dumped in the swamp in the span of four years, yet police weren't
05:56able to bring a single suspect to justice.
05:59How does such an investigation get bungled so badly?
06:02Oh, it was Miss Teresa. What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?
06:09I don't want you to do s**t. You ain't been doing nothing. You haven't done anything.
06:12That's the question Murder in the Bayou seeks to answer.
06:1628-year-old Loretta Lewis was the first of the so-called Jeff Davis 8 to be found in 2005.
06:22When deputies first arrived at the scene, the body was more toward the north side of the bridge, closer to
06:27where the pylons were.
06:28Lewis and the other victims all allegedly worked as police informants.
06:34That fact raised plenty of suspicion among their friends and family, many of whom believe the perpetrators were cops themselves.
06:41Former chief criminal investigator Warren Gary found himself under investigation after he bought a truck from jail inmate Connie Seiler
06:50and later sold it for a profit.
06:52The docu-series paints a picture of a small town rife with corruption and law enforcement that can't be trusted.
06:59There's a lot of people out there that know a lot more.
07:01Sophie, a murder in West Cork.
07:03This case caused a huge scandal in France and Ireland for decades.
07:08Sophie Tuscan-des-Plantiers was a French TV producer who was found brutally beaten to death outside her Irish vacation
07:15home on December 23rd, 1996.
07:18When we got to the scene, the body was lying in the grass verge, dressed in white night attire.
07:26The Irish National Police were criticized for allegedly botching this investigation from the get-go.
07:31They were accused of losing evidence and coercing witnesses.
07:35And their own records were missing pages.
07:38A local man named Ian Bailey became the prime suspect, and it didn't help that his story changed every time
07:44the cops talked to him.
07:46So why did everyone still think he was the murderer?
07:53Because he told people that he'd done it.
07:55The Netflix series dives into the corruption allegations, Bailey's bizarre testimony, and the international fallout of the crime.
08:02I'm not saying we didn't make mistakes, but there was no...
08:05I'd say that any place.
08:07There was no corruption.
08:08There was no setting people up.
08:10Murder on Middle Beach.
08:11This HBO series is not a typical true crime show.
08:15It was created by Madison Hamburg, the son of the murder victim.
08:20Can you describe the last time you talked to her?
08:23Your mom?
08:27Well, I can describe the last time I saw her.
08:29His mother was found dead on the family's front lawn in 2010, and police are seemingly no closer to an
08:36arrest now than they were then.
08:37I'm going in for questioning on Friday.
08:40What if I, like, brought in the recorder?
08:43Risky.
08:44The series captures Hamburg's reactions in real time, as he discovers shocking details about his family.
08:51From his mom's involvement in a pyramid scheme, to his aunt's years-long grudge.
08:56I'm so sorry.
08:58Why are you sorry?
08:59I'm sorry that I think your sister had something to do with it, but I can't help it.
09:04Following the case from his perspective gives the show an incredibly personal touch,
09:08and lets viewers see how an unresolved murder can tear a family apart.
09:13Please, turn yourself in.
09:17Let us know why, at least.
09:19Who took Johnny?
09:21Young John Gosch seemingly vanished into thin air,
09:24while delivering newspapers early in the morning on September 5th, 1982.
09:28John apparently left the residence sometime around 5.45,
09:33as a neighbor reported hearing a wagon being pulled through the back of his yard.
09:38This independent film focuses less on Johnny's disappearance,
09:41and more on his mother's tireless quest for answers.
09:45Noreen Gosch has never given up searching for her son,
09:48even as the local police refused to take her seriously,
09:51and her advocacy tore apart her marriage.
09:54I'm just more appalled than shocked anymore.
09:58Her testimony to the Department of Justice
10:00even led to the establishment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
10:05Like the other documentaries on our list,
10:08Who Took Johnny leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
10:11But Noreen Gosch's story leaves room for hope in the face of tragedy.
10:16Whatever his life is now, assuming he's alive,
10:20it's working for him.
10:23Sometimes the better decision for a parent
10:26is do what's best for your child,
10:29not just what you want to have happen.
10:34Want more True Crime on WatchMojo?
10:36Check out our dedicated 24-hour livestream.
10:39True Crime All the Time.
10:41We're going to have a great time together, Cheryl.
10:44Paradise Lost Trilogy.
10:46Three teenagers spent years in prison for crimes they didn't commit,
10:51thanks in part to the satanic panic that possessed their Arkansas town.
10:55I shall fear no evil, and I'm not scared of the devil.
11:00I know who my comforter is.
11:03Thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
11:05After three boys were found murdered in 1993,
11:09law enforcement blamed occultists.
11:11Police allegedly coerced testimony from witnesses
11:14who pointed the finger at Damian Echols,
11:17Jesse Miskelley Jr.,
11:19and Jason Baldwin,
11:20who were swiftly convicted despite little evidence.
11:23Paradise Lost,
11:24the child murders at Robin Hood Hills,
11:27is sharply critical of the investigation.
11:29The only thing that the prosecution has put on against Jesse
11:33is this wild story that he told the police.
11:36And I hope that the fact that there's no physical evidence
11:38linking him to the crime scene
11:40is going to have a lot of impact on the jury.
11:42The sequel, released in 2000,
11:44follows Echols' appeal
11:46and a growing number of supporters
11:47who believe the group is innocent.
11:49Paradise Lost 3, Purgatory,
11:52introduces the latest evidence
11:53and the group's attempts at exoneration.
11:55Ultimately, they walk free,
11:57but the real killer still hasn't been caught.
12:00It's up to us as a people to change it.
12:03It starts with all of us.
12:04Which of these crime documentaries
12:06are you adding to your watch list?
12:08Let us know in the comments below.