Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer – Review | Netflix

GONE GIRLS: THE LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER on Netflix is a true-crime docuseries from director Liz Garbus. She also directed the 2020 movie about this case. Read our Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer documentary review here!

GONE GIRLS: THE LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER is a new Netflix true-crime documentary series in three parts. Watching this docuseries on Netflix should anger most viewers. The way these cases were long ignored or very “lightly” investigated is downright wrong.

If the case seems familiar, it could be because you’ve watched the 2020 movie Lost Girls (find our review of that movie here). Not only was it about the same true crime, but it was made before the serial killer was arrested and by the director of this new true crime docuseries.

Continue reading our Gone Girls Netflix docuseries review here. Find it on Netflix from March 31, 2025.

Choosing the right victims

For the Long Island Serial Killer – the actual perpetrator, not this Netflix docuseries – it has always seemed obvious that he knew how to choose victims. By this, I mean that he chose victims that he expected the police wouldn’t be willing to spend much time on.

And he was absolutely right.

In Gone Girls, we see just how right he was. Just as it was the focus of the movie about this same case. When young women working in the sex industry go missing, the police are quick to write it off as not important. Meaning, they suspect these women will show up of their own accord.

Admittedly, this is probably the case for many of them. Just as it’s the case with runaway teens. However, in far too many cases, something much more sinister has happened. Unfortunately, by the time the police even acknowledge this option, many clues and much evidence are long gone.

Fortunately, for the friends and family wanting answers, their remains are not. And once bones, skulls, and teeth start showing up on a Long Island beach, the brutal truth becomes obvious: There’s a serial killer on the loose.

And he has been working freely for far too long!

What’s in a title?

While this Netflix docuseries could easily have been titled simply “The Long Island Serial Killer”, it would never happen with Liz Garbus at the helm. She is known for always focusing on the victims as well. Hence, the title begins with referring to the victims: The Gone Girls.

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer also spends most of its time focusing on the victims. Much more than we see in most other True Crime productions. And I applaud that. What her productions tend to have in common is that they’re about a true crime case.

Or, in the case of The Handmaid’s Tale and Yellowjackets series, they’re about something that focuses on women… and usually crimes of some sort. Most recently, she also directed an episode of Good American Family, which is based on another infamous true crime case.

With Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, we follow the investigation, which truly began in 2010. This was when female remains were found in the Gilgo Beach area of Long Island. Once they started really looking, the remains of additional victims were found.

The following year, even more remains were found. Not just new or fresh remains, but skulls, bones, and teeth. How they managed not to search the rest of this Long Island beach area is a mystery to me. It seems that whenever they actually look, they find new victims.

In any case, as you may know, the murders went unsolved for 13 years after the first body was found. In July 2023, a major break came. Coincidentally (sarcasm should be detected here), it happened after corruption, within the police responsible for the case, was rooted out.

Watch Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer on Netflix now!

As already mentioned, the director of this Netflix true crime documentary series is Liz Garbus. The very same Liz Garbus, who directed the movie Lost Girls about the same case. I always applaud her focus on victims as well as the perpetrator.

Also, it’s worth noting that Liza Garbus is a two-time Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy-winning director. She’s extremely talented at what she does, and uses her skills to get the full story across.

As someone who is intrigued by true crime but hates when it’s all about the perpetrator, Liz Garbus’s productions (as a director or simply a producer) never fail to focus on the victims as well. In the case of the Long Island Serial Killer, it would’ve helped if the police did as well.

All three episodes of the Netflix documentary were released on its premiere day.

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer is on Netflix from March 31, 2025.