The Jinx

Billionaire heir Robert Durst thought his microphone was off when he walked into a bathroom during filming of HBO's The Jinx in 2015. 'Killed them all, of course,' he muttered. The confession sparked a debate about documentary filmmakers' role as evidence gatherers.

HBO Max has built a formidable true crime catalog that appeals to audiences worldwide. Whether you're drawn to factual documentaries or crime dramas inspired by real cases, the streaming platform offers a range of compelling series that have earned both critical and audience acclaim.

In June 2010, Bonnie Woodward, a 46-year-old nurse's aide, vanished from Alton, Illinois. Eight years later, Roger Carroll was arrested and convicted of her murder despite no body ever being recovered. His conviction rested on testimony from family members and a confession to his wife.

On October 13, 2015, former NBA player Lamar Odom was found unconscious in his private suite at Dennis Hof's Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, after what authorities believe was a drug overdose. The incident triggered a medical crisis that would reshape the 35-year-old's life and spark ongoing questions about what exactly happened that fateful Tuesday afternoon.

Rex Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty on April 8, 2026, to seven murders connected to the Gilgo Beach serial killings that terrorized Long Island between 1993 and 2010. Peacock's new documentary *The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets* examines Heuermann's confession and the fractured family left in its wake.

Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architectural consultant, pleaded guilty on April 8, 2026, to seven murders and admitted to an eighth killing in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial murders that claimed multiple victims over nearly two decades.

HBO's The Jinx premiered in February 2015 as a six-part documentary investigation into New York real estate heir Robert Durst, exploring his connections to three unsolved or controversial deaths spanning decades. The series became a watershed moment in true crime television when Durst was arrested on the eve of the finale, with evidence gathered by filmmakers playing a crucial role in his eventual conviction.

In May 2025, CBS's 48 Hours aired 'Facing a Monster,' the story of C.C., a college student who survived a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend Shawn Doyle in 1996, only to face him in court years later after he murdered Lori Leonard, a single mother of two, in 2005.

In August 2017, 35-year-old Nada Huranieh was found dead on the patio outside her Farmington Hills, Michigan mansion. What initially appeared to be a tragic accident—a fall from a second-story window—was actually a carefully staged murder committed by her own 16-year-old son, Muhammad Altantawi.

On August 13, 1996, in Moss Point, Mississippi, a debt collection visit turned into a horrific crime when grocery store butcher Gary Carl Simmons Jr. and accomplice Timothy Milano killed 21-year-old Jeffrey Wolfe, tortured and raped his girlfriend Charlene Brooks, and dismembered the body using butcher's knives.

When HBO's The Jinx premiered on February 8, 2015, few expected the documentary series about New York real estate heir Robert Durst would culminate in his arrest just hours before the finale aired. The six-part investigation, directed by Andrew Jarecki and produced by Marc Smerling, would ultimately help solve a two-decade-old murder and reshape how true crime documentaries intersect with active criminal investigations.