For the past decade, a horrifying series of murders have haunted New York's Long Island, leaving the coastal community feeling like the real-life setting of a true-crime thriller. And now on Netflix, a three-part docuseries is delving into the Long Island Serial Killer case — and the new title is officially topping the Netflix top 10 shows list.
Having premiered on Monday, Mary 31, "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer" (not to be confused with the David Fincher film of a similar name) comes from Oscar-nominated documentarian Liz Garbus ("What Happened, Miss Simone?").
It joins the streamer's growing collection of top-rate true crime documentaries, which also includes "American Murder: Gabby Petito" and "The Menendez Brothers".
Like those docs, "Gone Girls" chronicles brutal crimes that shocked the American public, and it's clearly resonating with viewers as it's currently the No. 1 show on Netflix in the U.S.
If you're a true crime buff, this new series is tailor-made for you, but if you need more convincing before you hit play, here’s everything you need to know about "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer."
What is 'Gone Girls' about?
In the 1990s and early 2000s, young female sex workers were disappearing from New York City and Long Island, though no law enforcement was looking heavily into the missing-persons cases and no media was covering it.
That is, however, until 2010, when the remains of 10 different women were found in the Gilgo Beach area of Long Island, leading local police to horrifyingly realize that they had a serial killer on their hands.
While "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer" does closely follow the case of the Gilgo Beach Killer, through the suspect's arrest in July 2023 and still-ongoing trial, it differs from other true-crime docs of its ilk by focusing the narrative on the perspective on the victims as well as their loved ones who fought to gain justice for them.
Garbus — who previously directed "Lost Girls", a 2020 scripted feature film about this same case — told Variety about establishing relationships with the victims' families and friends: “So much true crime out there is focused on the perpetrator, and so I think there is some weariness about being involved in something that might be about him or his wife, or participating in a show that sensationalizes these crimes. We had to have a lot of conversations, and trust does get built.”
What are the critics saying about 'Gone Girls'?
The new docuseries is certainly a hit with viewers, with "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer" beating out fellow popular titles including "Adolescence", "The Residence", and "Survival of the Thickest", but what do the critics think about Garbus's true-crime thriller?
In his "Stream It Or Skip It" review for Decider, Joel Keller praises Garbus's incorporation of stories about the victims in the narrative of the Gilgo Beach story, writing that "'Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer' gives viewers a much fuller picture of the horrors that the killer wrought" as a result.
For Vulture, senior news writer Fran Hoepfner similarly commends the docuseries, especially its refusal to "too far into a territory that is lurid or manipulative." She added: "Garbus has always prioritized giving a voice to those who are silenced, as she did in 'Who Killed Garrett Phillips?,' a documentary about an unsolved murder in upstate New York," though Hoepfner also notes that "the series barely scratched the surface of each of these women’s lives."
And calling the director "an expert in an increasingly unpredictable field," Variety's Hunter Ingram writes: "At a moment when sensationalized true-crime documentaries are often the ones that top the trending charts, Garbus knowing where to draw the line is what sets quality apart from quantity in the streaming age."
Watch "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer" now on Netflix
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