True Crime Garage: Best True Crime Documentaries of 2025

Kicking Off 2026 with True Crime

• 🎙️ The hosts welcome listeners to 2026, celebrating the past year's best true crime documentaries and dramatizations.
• 🍻 This episode features the "Wake Me Up" Hazelnut Coffee Stout from Wiedemann Brewing Company, earning a 3.75 out of 5 bottle caps.
• 🎁 Shout-outs are given to listeners who contributed to the "beer fund," including Ryan Newart, Katrina, Tara, Katie, Finn, and Maddox.

Top True Crime Documentaries of 2025

• 🎬 The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix): A documentary primarily composed of body cam footage, focusing on a neighborhood dispute in Ocala, Florida, and touching on Florida's stand your ground laws. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, winning the directing award.
• 🚢 Amy Bradley is Missing (Netflix): A three-part series detailing the 1998 disappearance of Amy Bradley from a Caribbean cruise ship, noted for its compelling storytelling and resemblance to the style of "Unsolved Mysteries."
• 👨‍👧 My Father, the BTK Killer (Netflix): This documentary centers on Dennis Rader's daughter, Carrie Rosson, offering a therapeutic perspective on her experience and grappling with her father's crimes, including her past criticism of Stephen King's inspiration from the case.
• 🏠 Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix): A 1 hour and 34-minute documentary about a teenage girl and her boyfriend receiving harassing texts from an unknown caller, which evolves into a dark and sad narrative.
• 🕵️ The Secrets We Bury (HBO/ID): A standalone documentary about the Carol siblings' quest for answers regarding their father's disappearance, exploring deep-seated family secrets and a darker family history. Patricia Gillespie is praised for her masterful direction.
• 🔪 Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock): An eight-part docu-drama that explores the multiple personas of John Wayne Gacy, focusing on his manipulative nature and the extent of his crimes, with strong acting and cinematography.