With access to family, neighbours and professionals who knew Michael Donovan, this is the story of the man who abducted 9-year-old Shannon Matthews in 2008 and kept her in his flat for 24 days before she was found in a dramatic rescue by the police.
Social & External
The people behind it
Karen Matthews
Self (Archive)
Lucy Thornton
Self (Daily Mirror Reporter)
Nick Townsend
Self (Detective W.Yorkshire Police)
A gruesome look into the infamous and seemingly neverending 1991 Vizconde murder case in the Philippines where a woman, her teen daughter, and a 6-year-old were all viciously stabbed to death while the husband was away in America on business.
Billy Dean Anderson was a prolific criminal and outsider artist who lived in a Tennessee cave for almost five years while on the run from the FBI. The cave became his home, spiritual refuge, and art studio. Billy’s decades-spanning criminal career included multiple imprisonments, three shootouts with the law, three prison escapes, and culminated with an addition to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. After his tumultuous and conflicted life, did Billy's art bring some form of redemption?
Monaco, 1999. One of the world's richest men dies in his penthouse. This documentary unpacks the mysterious murder of billionaire banker, Edmond Safra.
Jack the Ripper was a prince, a pauper, a mason, a madman... A host of more and more bizarre theories have surrounded the unexplained killings in Whitechapel since they hit the headlines in 1888. This film dispels the grisly fiction, revealing for the first time the true contents of the police and Home Office files on the case, drawing on the expertise of historians and of those who have encountered today's killers - on the street or behind bars.
Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.
The story follows the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.
Former State Pathologist, Dr. Marie Cassidy leads a brand new investigation into the killing of revolutionary, soldier and politician Michael Collins in August 1922, an event that ignited acrimonious arguments that have endured ever since.
3 real life stories taken from the Mexican police archive.
Charlie Cullen was an experienced registered nurse, trusted and beloved by his colleagues at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. He is also one of history’s most prolific serial killers, with a body count potentially numbering in the hundreds across multiple medical facilities in the Northeast.
During a three-month period in 1888, a knife-wielding serial killer murdered six women on the streets of Whitechapel. Their throats were cut and their bodies horribly mutilated. He was never caught and his identity remains one of the world's greatest crime mysteries. In the years that have passed since Jack the Ripper's killing spree, many high-profile suspects have been suggested, yet the fact remains that none of them can be placed at any of the crime scenes. Now, journalist Christer Holmgren believes that he has found a suspect who can not only be linked directly to one of the murders but also whose daily routine could be consistent with all the other deaths
A nature lover's paradise lays in wait for a mother and daughter enjoying a day's excursion on the North York Moors.
When the detectives won’t believe she was abducted, a woman must do her own investigation to identify the person who kidnapped her.
A young British racing driver faces an international challenge after overcoming struggles early in his life. Will he regain control of his future?
This documentary details the investigations into the disappearances and murders of several young boys throughout the Midwest in the 1970s. Detectives conducted a nine-day, twenty-four-hour surveillance of a suspect for several hundred miles with a team of police officers from several agencies. With William 'Freight Train' Guatney in custody the kidnappings and murders of young boys stopped.
Amanda Knox served four years in an Italian prison for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007, always insisting on her innocence. In 2011, she was acquitted on the basis of DNA evidence but prosecutors successfully appealed and her acquittal was struck down. In 2014 she was again found guilty in absentia after a retrial and sentenced to 28 years and six months in jail. The saga came to and end when Italy's highest court overturned the convictions of Ms Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito in March 2015. Known burglar Rudy Guede was arrested a short time later following the discovery of his bloodstained fingerprints on Kercher's possessions. He was later found guilty of murder in a fast-track trial and is currently (as of 2019) serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Based on the shocking true story of a young NYPD detective in the late 1980s who uncovers a conspiracy linking the remnants of the infamous mafia Five Families to the highest levels of the police force.
Documentary shedding light on the emotional fallout of the murder of Sarah Payne, the eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped and killed in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, in 2000. Two weeks after her disappearance, Sarah's body was found, and after a high profile police investigation, Roy Whiting was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Testimonies from friends, family, police officers, key witnesses and experts in criminology are combined with an interview with Sarah's mother, to illustrate the tragic toll the case took on those closest to the victim.
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
A family falls prey to the manipulative charms of a neighbor, who abducts their adolescent daughter. Twice.
A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Elizabeth Smart's harrowing abduction at 14 from her family's Utah home unfolds through her own words and never-before-seen material in this documentary.
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.
Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
A chef's life is upended when a jet-setting, champagne-sipping, hotel-hopping woman claims to be his long-lost mother.
In the mid-aughts, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator drew millions of weekly viewers to watch sting operations: men planning to meet minors for sex would instead be confronted by polished host Chris Hansen, then by the police — all on hidden camera.
Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
A homemade flying saucer lifts off, and a 6-year-old boy might be inside. National panic ensues — but what truly happened? This documentary investigates.
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.
When Jennifer Pan calls 911 to report that her parents have been shot, she becomes the primary focus of a captivating criminal case.