Norman Porter, a convicted double murderer from Massachusetts, served 25 years in prison before escaping to Chicago where he spent the next two decades living under the name JJ Jameson. He was apprehended in 2005, thanks to a relentless police investigation, just after being named Chicago’s “Poet of the Month.” The film interweaves varying perspectives on an elusive and enigmatic persona, from the eccentric characters living in the heart of Chicago’s beatnik-artist community, to the victims’ embittered families in Boston, and the vigilant officers behind the 20-year hunt for a killer.
Dan Wetzel and Kevin Armstrong undertake an exhaustive journey into the mind and motives behind the murderous fall, and tragic suicide, of Aaron Hernandez, providing an unprecedented look into the most infamous athlete since O.J. Simpson.
On the evening of February 9th, 1918 three local lawmen and one federal officer rode into the Arizona wilderness to apprehend four men on counts of draft evasion and murder. The violence that followed has been so steeped in legend, lies, and hearsay, that the facts of what occurred at that remote cabin and why were almost lost to history. Contemporary interviews with historians and family members, archival footage, and original artwork tell the story of the events leading up to and following the deadliest shootout in Arizona's history.
A short mockumentary detailing the rise of intergenerational cosmetic theft through the eyes of an affected family.
Did a remorseful Randy Herman Jr. really commit a brutal murder in his sleep, or was it a convenient cover story? Exclusive access to Herman and his family, the defense and prosecution attorneys, journalists who covered the case, forensic psychiatrists and world experts in violent parasomnia (sleep-walking) give an inside look at the shocking twists and turns of the controversial crime.
In this twisting documentary, a mechanic tries online dating for the first time and meets a woman who takes romantic obsession to a deadly extreme.
In an intimate and unflinching account dealing with grief, 'Alice is Still Dead' tells the story of a murdered loved one from the victim's family perspective. From the detective's notification to her family to facing the killer in court, we see the pain, anger and heartbreak a family must endure while the nightmare is investigated. The filmmaker is the brother of the late Alice Stevens and, in this tribute, ultimately asks if it's even possible to move forward after such a traumatic event.
A unique individual who collects almost everything reveals some of the darker things he has acquired, including JonBenet Ramsey's Tricycle. An investigation of pop culture, media, tragedy and the items we possess.
The story of the Hare Krishna movement in the West, contrasting the spiritual exploration of its devotees with the leadership's systemic, long-term cover-up of criminality, moral decay and abuse of power.
A famed criminologist reexamines the evidence in this powerful interview with murderer Bert Spencer, suspected in the killing a paperboy in 1978.
Documentary about the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 and the aftermath. The documentary also explores the modern Asian-American identity when so few Asian-American youths are aware of who Vincent Chin is.
A look into the mind of one of the Hillside Strangler murderers, Kenneth Bianchi.
The last time Hannetjie Stadler heard her daughter's voice was a voicemail as she called for help during a brutal murderous attack. In 2005 the popular tourist town of Knysna was shattered when two young women were murdered in a nightclub over a period of two months.
The film is a Slovak version of The Thin Blue Line, recounting the unsolved disappearance and murder of a young woman that happened thirty years ago. It was a case that was paraded in the communist media at the end of which seven individuals were found guilty of this heinous crime. They are the same individuals who at present proclaim their innocence.
On May 7th, 2011, 20-year-old Elliot Turner strangled his girlfriend Emily Longley and persuaded his doting parents to help him cover up the crime. This documentary examines events surrounding the murder, the investigation and the trial, and features interviews with family, friends, police and prosecutors, as well as covert recordings, surveillance footage and personal archive material.
Billy and Alexis expose serious problems with forensic experts’ testimony in the U.S. court system, citing multiple cases in which people were charged with murders they didn’t commit, based largely on an expert’s opinion.
Shortly before dawn on August 21, 1992, six heavily armed U.S. marshals made their way up to the isolated mountaintop home of Randy and Vicki Weaver and their children on Ruby Ridge in Northern Idaho. Charged with selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns to an undercover agent, Weaver had failed to appear in court and law enforcement was tasked with bringing him in. For months, the Weavers had been holed up on their property with a cache of firearms, including automatic weapons. When the federal agents surveilling the property crossed paths with members of the family, a firefight broke out. The standoff that mesmerized the nation would leave Weaver injured, his wife and son dead, and some convinced that the federal government was out of control. Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, including interviews with Weaver’s daughter, Sara, and federal agents involved in the confrontation, Ruby Ridge is a riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement.
Examining the brutal murder of 21-year-old student Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Known as a “kindly killer”, this documentary details Nilsen’s moves between 1978 and 1983, after which he admitted to killing as many as 15 young men.
“Seduced by Evil” delves into the world of the wickedly smart and dangerously evil Derek Alldred, a criminal mastermind who sought out relationships with unsuspecting women and entangled them in a web of lies to deplete their savings and support his fabricated life.
This documentary about serial killers and FBI Behavioral Sciences profilers features interviews with Ed Kemper and Ted Bundy as well as crime victims and law enforcement officials. The film includes some dramatic recreations.