Courtesy of Netflix
Netflix is no stranger to true crime. They’ve all but cornered the market on must-watch (yet ephemeral) forays into the darkest recesses of true-crime culture. Some are standout hits. This year’s Sundance acquisition, The Perfect Neighbor, should be a serious awards contender. Just as often, however, their output skirts the line between appropriate and exploitative. Their most recent hit, and the film that’s number one on the charts, is an unbelievable true story titled The Carman Family Deaths. You can catch it streaming on Netflix now.
After a young man, Nathan Carman, was presumably lost at sea for eight days, a dramatic rescue ensued. So far, so normal. Only, his dramatic rescue opened a probe into insurance scams, his grandfather’s murder several years before, and the disappearance of his mother, Linda, while stranded in the sea. Was Nathan secretly connected to both deaths? Or, did a pile of circumstances simply render him the easiest, most obvious suspect?
Courtesy of Netflix
What Viewers Think
That is largely left up to viewers. Unconventionally (or not, really, with the current slate of true crime), The Carman Family Deaths doesn’t have an answer. Nathan Carman died by suicide while awaiting trial, so the story stops there. What’s left is supposition and talking heads. Experts, family members, and friends, all of whom have different accounts of who Nathan was as a person and, more importantly, whether he was truly capable of the kind of violence of which he was accused.
The uncertainty of it all has no doubt played a key role in rendering it a hit. In today’s digital age, we love playing detective. Is it responsible? No, because these are real people with real lives at stake, but the impulse to stream a miniseries and solve a crime in our minds is too beguiling to resist. You can check out some choice social media reactions to The Carman Family Deaths below to better understand my point:
@netflix the #The Carman Family Deaths was very disturbing. My son with autism was born in 2003 and even then I didn’t know anyone else w a child like mine. Insurance didn’t cover therapy and there were not a lot of options for us. Like Nathan, my son became .. see comments
— mellovesbeaches (@Momto3Busbys) November 19, 2025
I was watching The Carmen Family Deaths on Netflix last night. I don’t know if the main subject of that documentary killed his mother and grandfather, but I did feel a certain amount of empathy and anger for him for a few reasons:
1. His parents decided to deal with his…
— sudox (@kmcnam1) November 21, 2025
You want to be angry go watching this documentary. I do not believe that autistic man did it. And that one aunt of his is terrible and I’d punch her #TheCarmanFamilyDeaths
— Scaredy Cat (@hello_jaime) November 20, 2025
The Carman Family Deaths on Netflix is a confusing one…. 3 pointless deaths. I’m still not convinced Nathan murdered both his grandfather AND his mother – but there were definitely some bad apples in that family. Yikes 😬
— Pip 🥛 (@PippyG82) November 21, 2025
Did Nathan Carman do it? Was he innocent? Does it really, ultimately matter now? Is tragedy really currency for our entertainment? These are big questions, and I don’t have any answers, but you can check out a trailer for the film below and see what conclusion you reach.
What do you think? Any plans to check out The Carman Family Deaths on Netflix? If you do, let me know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram. While you’re there, be sure to share any other must-see true crime docs I might have missed as the year slowly comes to a close.
Categorized: Streaming News
