So, you’re a true-crime buff, and you’re in search of your next true-crime watch. We’re on the case. We’ve used our detective skills to uncover nine great true-crime shows – compelling series with twisty-turny narratives that are inspired by or based on true-life stories. Read on to get our full list. And while you may have to solve a mystery or two once you’ve begun watching, you definitely don’t have to solve the mystery of how to stream these nine shows: All our picks are streaming right now on Paramount+.
1. Don’t Date Brandon
Romance is intoxicating. It can be difficult to find anything wrong with a brand-new sweetheart. But this three-part, Paramount+ original docuseries shows how a seemingly perfect mate may be far, far from perfect.
When Amber Rasmussen connects with Brandon Johnson on a dating app, it seems like a match made in heaven. The chemistry is so fantastic, in fact, that Brandon proposes marriage after only six weeks. It is only after the couple marries that Amber begins to suspect that she’s tied herself to a master manipulator, and she reaches out to Brandon’s ex-wife, Athena Klingerman. Soon, her fears are confirmed: Indeed, Brandon is a liar who’s hiding nefarious secrets.
Despite Brandon’s attempts to turn the women against one another, Amber and Athena join forces, launching a podcast to expose Brandon’s deceit, and talk openly about the warning signs they missed. In doing so, more victims of Brandon’s abuse and trickery come forward, adding details to the story of this victimizer’s exploits. With so many women speaking against their harasser on a popular podcast, Brandon’s toxic influence grows ever-weaker. A bully loses power when all his targets team up to fight back.
WATCH NOW: Don’t Date Brandon
2. My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story
Many people dream about achieving fame – for the red carpets, the swag, the adoration. But celebrity can have a dangerous downside, a fact that actress Eva LaRue understands all too well. In the two-part, Paramount+ original docuseries My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, the Emmy® winner and her daughter, Kaya Callahan, share harrowing memories of receiving threatening letters and messages from LaRue’s stalker. A full decade later, the harassment had yet to cease, and the FBI was no closer to identifying the culprit …
LaRue gained renown playing DNA analyst Natalia Boa Vista on CSI: Miami, and with this popularity came fan mail – including violent missives from a stalker she came to dub “Freddy Kruger.” For 12 years, he terrorized her and Callahan’s lives, all the while remaining in the shadows. His identity stayed a mystery to detectives, and to LaRue herself – until a forensic breakthrough finally offered hope.
Featuring candid interviews with LaRue and Callahan, this must-watch series depicts a woman’s long journey through the emotional ringer, as well as the courage she plucked up to protect her family and continue searching for the truth.
WATCH NOW: My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story
3. Happy Face
What would you do if you discovered that someone near and dear to your heart committed acts of pure evil? What if that someone was your father? This is the question at the heart of Happy Face, the Paramount+ original drama series, starring Annaleigh Ashford, Dennis Quaid, James Wolk, and Tamera Tomakili, now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
Happy Face tells the story of Melissa (Tony® winner and Emmy® nominee Annaleigh Ashford) who learned as a teenager that her beloved father (played by Emmy®– and Golden Globe®-nominee Dennis Quaid) was actually a serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer. Decades later, she has severed all contact with the now-incarcerated man, and made every effort to hide her connection to him. But suddenly Melissa is at a crossroads. Her dad has snaked back into her life with a shocking claim: He committed the crime for which another man is about to take the fall. Now, Melissa must choose between protecting her identity and unraveling an unsolved mystery to save an innocent person.
Happy Face is inspired by the true-life story of Melissa G. Moore, as well as the critically acclaimed Happy Face podcast from iHeartPodcasts and Moore, and the autobiography Shattered Silence, by Moore with M. Bridget Cook. All eight episodes of the series are streaming now, exclusively on Paramount+.
WATCH NOW: Happy Face
4. Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas
This docuseries follows the criminal investigation of a cast member from the SHOWTIME® reality show Gigolos, which was produced from 2011 to 2016. A cultural phenomenon, the show followed the personal and professional lives of five gigolos in Las Vegas, featuring sexually-charged shenanigans, and making stars of the oft-shirtless escorts. It was steamy, but ultimately harmless fun … right? In 2020, Gigolos cast member Akshaya Kubiak was arrested for killing one of his clients, and the benign reality-show world of sun and sensuality was quickly shown to be an illusion.
Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas weaves together the story of this tragic case with footage from the Gigolos reality series, offering a unique perspective on Las Vegas, sex work, reality television, stardom, and the particulars of a murder investigation. Driving the three-part narrative is this question: How did a man who preached about love, and who’d achieved public veneration, end up murdering another human being?
WATCH NOW: Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas
5. 72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square
This three-part docuseries focuses on the 2018 stabbing of white real-estate developer Sean Schellenger in the wealthy Philadelphia neighborhood of Rittenhouse Square. Though police officers initially have no suspects, a 20-year-old Black bike courier turns himself in to authorities the following day. This man, Michael White, admits to engaging in a physical fight with Schellenger. Schellenger did indeed die from a stab wound during that altercation. But all is not as cut-and-dry as it seems.
Was White acting in self-defense? To what extent did the two parties’ racial and economic differences play in the brawl, as well as the subsequent trial? With footage that includes a comprehensive interview with White – his first since his murder trial – as well as a never-before-seen recording of the stabbing, 72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square offers another side to a crime story news buffs might think they know well.
WATCH NOW: 72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square
6. Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders
Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders may have a heavy tone, however, it never loses the pervasive hope of its interviewees that they’ll eventually get answers. Isabel Janus, the 13-year-old niece of three of the victims, says as much during the series: “I truly believe that justice will be done, if not in this lifetime, then in the next.”
WATCH NOW: Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders
7. #CyberSleuths: The Idaho Murders
#CyberSleuths: The Idaho Murders is a fascinating look at where the online Sherlocks succeed in helping law enforcement officials … and where they fall short, or even hinder the process. The series poses the question: Do we want our answers accurate, or do we just want them now, now, now?
WATCH NOW: #CyberSleuths: The Idaho Murders
8. CTRL+ALT+DESIRE
Incorporating interviews with cam models, recreations of events, and conversations with Amato himself, the three-episode docuseries CTRL+ALT+DESIRE explores one man’s descent into addiction – and the Internet’s appeal to the isolated and directionless. Indeed, CTRL+ALT+DESIRE will make you think twice before logging on.
WATCH NOW: CTRL+ALT+DESIRE
9. Pillowcase Murders
Not only is Pillowcase Murders simply a riveting watch, this three-part docuseries brings up an important, and haunting, question about culpability: If a retirement facility isn’t safe, what is?
WATCH NOW: Pillowcase Murders
