The Menendez Brothers and the 4 best documentaries on Netflix in October 2024

Netflix has a reputation for producing outstanding documentaries on a wide variety of topics, including many wildly popular true crime titles.

On Oct. 7, Netflix added The Menendez Brothers, a new true crime documentary series about Lyle and Erik Menendez. The Menendez brothers' story was also the subject of the second season of Netflix's Monster series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The series from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan premiered on Netflix on Sept. 19.

We shared the list of the best true crime documentaries worth watching on Netflix this month.

The Menendez Brothers

The recent series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has brought the brothers back into the headlines. While that series is a dramatization of events that took place almost 30 years ago, The Menendez Brothers is a two-hour documentary feature.

The film includes interviews with Erik and Lyle Menendez from prison. The brothers were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Director Alejandro Hartmann used decades of material to chronicle the crime and the subsequent trial. This documentary gives a unique perspective as the brothers tell their story in their own words.

At the time of publishing, The Menendez Brothers is currently No. 2 on the Netflix Top 10 movies list behind Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter

Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter is a two-part story about the disappearance of Cathy Terkanian's biological daughter. The documentary follows Terkanian's decades-long search for Aundria Bowman, née Alexis Badger, the daughter she gave up for adoption who went missing in 1989 at the age of 14. She never saw her daughter after giving her up or knew anything about her adoptive parents but vowed to uncover the truth.

Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter premiered on Netflix on Sept. 12. It's produced by Charlize Theron and directed by Ryan White.

Jailbreak: Love on the Run

Another new true crime documentary worth a watch is Jailbreak: Love on the Run, which premiered on Netflix on Sept. 25. So, it's another fairly new documentary to watch.

The documentary follows the story of Casey White, a convicted felon serving time at an Alabama detention center who strikes up a romance with a respected correction officer, Vicky White, who share the same last name but are not related. Together, they plan to break out the prisoner to begin a new life.

Jailbreak: Love on the Run lays out events that led to the forbidden romance to the escape from the Lauderdale County Jail, which resulted in an 11-day manhunt across the United States.

American Murder: Laci Peterson

The three-part documentary American Murder: Laci Peterson chronicles the murder of Laci Peterson that dominated news broadcast and headlines starting in 2002.

Laci, a Modesto, California resident, was reported missing while 8 months pregnant with her first child. The search for Laci continued for months and resulted in the discovery of her body in the San Francisco Bay. Her husband, Scott Peterson, was charaged and convicted.

More than 20 years after her husband Scott's conviction of her murder, the new documentary takes a deep dive into the case featuring interviews with people involved in the investigation, including first-time interviews with Laci's mother Sharon Rocha.

The documentary series premiered on Netflix on Aug. 14.

I Am a Killer

The Netflix original true crime series, I Am a Killer, will release a new season on Oct. 16. So far, there have been four seasons of I Am a Killer.

I Am A Killer season 5 features thought-provoking interviews with death row inmates, chronicling the true stories of their crimes. I Am a Killer visits maximum-security prisons in the United States, interviewing six prisoners per season, giving viewers a glimpse into the driving force behind the crimes they committed. The series has been renewed for a sixth season, as well.