They don’t wear prison uniforms. They haven’t committed the crime. And yet, they live with the sentence. The whispers, the suspicion, the unbearable question: Did you know? Could you have stopped it?
For decades, true crime has obsessed over killers—their twisted minds, their methods, their victims. But now, a new wave of storytelling is forcing us to look beyond the perpetrators. What about the people they left behind? The mothers who raised them, the children who bear their names, the siblings who once shared bedtime secrets. Netflix’s Adolescence, Paramount+’s Happy Face, and a string of recent documentaries expose the unseen collateral damage of crime: the families of murderers who are left to pick up the pieces.
Families of criminals face relentless scrutiny, forced to answer for crimes they never committedGetty Images
This isn’t just about crime. It’s about guilt, grief, and the unbearable weight of blood ties.
Adolescence: When a killer is your own child
Imagine tucking your child into bed one night, only to wake up and find their face on the news, not as a victim, but as the monster.
Netflix’s Adolescence is a gut-wrenching portrayal of parental horror. It follows Eddie and Manda Miller as they grapple with the unthinkable: their 13-year-old son, Jamie, has murdered his classmate. The show drags its audience into the Millers’ suffocating reality, social ostracisation, self-recrimination, and the sheer impossibility of reconciling their love for their son with the horror of his actions.
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Stephen Graham’s portrayal of Eddie is haunting. In one of the show’s most chilling moments, he watches home videos of Jamie as a toddler, whispering, “Where did my boy go?”
But Adolescence isn’t just fiction, in fact it mirrors real-life crises. A 2024 NSPCC report found a 58% rise in violent youth offences linked to online radicalisation. Meanwhile, 72% of parents of young offenders experience suicidal thoughts (The British Journal of Criminology).
The series forces us to confront a terrifying question: What if it were my child?
Happy Face: The daughter of a serial killer
For most, a father is a protector. For Melissa Moore, he was a predator.
Happy Face (Paramount+, 2025) is an excruciating journey through inherited trauma. Melissa was 15 when she learnt her father, Keith Jesperson, was the “Happy Face Killer.” Her childhood memories became crime scene evidence.
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Annaleigh Ashford delivers a searing performance as Melissa, capturing the agony of a daughter caught in the web of a man she once adored. In one scene, she holds an old photograph of herself on her father’s shoulders and whispers, “That’s not my dad. That’s the man who played him.”
The statistics paint an ugly reality: 89% of perpetrators’ families suffer from PTSD (Journal of Forensic Psychology). One in three lose jobs or homes due to stigma.
Reality: This is not a story of redemption. It’s survival.
Monster in my Family: When love becomes horror
The investigative series Monster in My Family takes viewers behind closed doors, offering first-hand accounts from relatives of notorious criminals. Each episode gives voice to those trapped in the wreckage, struggling to reconcile their love with the truth.
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The show highlights a brutal reality: These families don’t just grieve privately. They are judged, harassed, and in some cases, driven into hiding. The crimes may not be theirs, but the punishment often is.
The Alcàsser Murders & burden of proof: When the world turns on you
Not all suffering comes from the crime itself. Sometimes, it’s society that delivers the final blow.
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Spain’s The Alcàsser Murders (2019) and HBO’s Burden of Proof (2023) expose the brutal truth: when someone you love is accused of a crime, the world turns against you. Families are dissected by the media, harassed by strangers, and, in some cases, forced into hiding.
- A 2022 BBC report found that 64% of families of violent criminals face harassment or death threats.
- 43% relocate to escape the scrutiny (Interpol, 2021).
Grief is hard enough. But how do you grieve someone the world expects you to hate?
The ethics of true crime’s new frontier
Not everyone agrees with this shift. Critics argue that giving voice to the families of criminals risks humanising monsters. But Dr. Lorna Rhodes, a criminologist at Cambridge, disagrees: “Ignoring the families doesn’t erase their pain. It erases their humanity.”
Beyond the headlines, the families of perpetrators live in silence, haunted by a crime they didn’t commitGetty Images
These stories don’t justify crimes. They bring to light the wreckage left behind. They force us to look at crime’s hidden victims, the innocent relatives drowning in guilt, the parents asking themselves if they could have stopped the inevitable, the children growing up in the shadows of killers.
The unanswerable question
True crime’s new frontier doesn’t offer easy answers. It doesn’t allow us to shake our heads at a monster and move on. Instead, it demands we sit with the uncomfortable truth: What would I do if it were my father? My son?
Parents of young offenders wrestle with an unbearable truth: Can you still love the child you raised?Getty Images
Because the most haunting stories aren’t just about the dead or the damned. They’re about the ones who have to keep living.
The answer isn’t in the headlines. It’s in the silence after the cameras leave, in the homes where loved ones stare at family photos, wondering when the person they knew became a stranger.
Rahul’s casual dismissal of that controversy has added fuel to the fire
Rahul Bhatt sparks controversy over 'insensitive' remarks about sisters Alia and Pooja Bhatt
Rahul Bhatt, fitness trainer and son of veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, has found himself at the centre of a social media storm following controversial remarks about his half-sister, Alia Bhatt. In a recent interview, Rahul drew comparisons between Alia and their older sister Pooja Bhatt, calling the latter more talented, attractive, and principled.
The comments, which many have labelled inappropriate and insensitive, have sparked widespread criticism online. During the interview, Rahul stated, “In my opinion, she (Alia) is not even half of what my real sister Pooja is. Not in talent, not in looks, not in terms of being sexy. In front of my sister, she is ‘paani kam chai’ (watery tea). Amongst the siblings, the most talented and the most moralistic is Pooja.”
Social media users reacted strongly, questioning why Rahul would compare his sisters in such personal terms. Several users were particularly disturbed by his reference to their appearance and sex appeal, pointing out that such comparisons within a family cross boundaries of propriety. One comment read, “This is disturbing. Why talk about your sisters like that? It’s not just weird, it’s wrong.” Another post said, “There’s nothing respectful about comparing your siblings’ attractiveness in public.”
The backlash also reignited conversation around a decades-old controversy involving Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt. Rahul was asked about the infamous 1990s magazine cover where the father-daughter duo shared a kiss, which had stirred public outrage at the time. Dismissing the criticism, Rahul said, “It doesn’t make any difference. It’s like water off a duck’s back. We know the truth, and we’ve seen everything since childhood.”
Rahul’s casual dismissal of that controversy has added fuel to the fire, with critics saying it reflects a broader issue of the Bhatt family being insensitive to public perception and boundaries. Many users questioned the need for bringing up old incidents in a bid to defend new and equally questionable statements.
As of now, neither Alia Bhatt nor Pooja Bhatt has issued any public response to Rahul’s remarks. Both actors, known for their significant contributions to Indian cinema, have typically kept family matters private despite living in the public eye.
This episode has also sparked debate over the role of public figures in maintaining respect when discussing family matters in the media. Observers say such comments, especially when involving women’s appearance and personal qualities, reinforce problematic attitudes and fuel unnecessary controversies.
While Rahul Bhatt is not as prominent in the entertainment industry as his father or sisters, his comments have made headlines and placed the Bhatt family in the spotlight for reasons beyond their creative work. For many, this serves as a reminder that public platforms come with responsibility, and that family ties should not be trivialised or dissected for attention or comparison.
The backlash is unlikely to subside soon, especially as fans and followers of Alia and Pooja continue to express disappointment over the way the situation has unfolded. Whether or not Rahul chooses to clarify or apologise remains to be seen.