‘Lost Girls’: Netflix Picks Up True Crime Film About Long Island Serial Killer

With the release of their new Evil Genius docuseries, Netflix continues to prove that they’re the gold standard when it comes to true crime content. The best part about their plight is that they don’t let up, not for a minute. And on May 16th, the streaming giant dropped another bombshell that’s sure to make the true-crime world giddy: the official announcement of a Liz Garbus-Amy Ryan true crime film, titled Lost Girls.

Lost Girls is based off a non-fiction book of the same name by Robert Kolker about the Long Island Serial Killer. Some true-crime buffs may be familiar with the story; it was wonderfully documented by Joshua Zeman in the A&E docuseries The Killing Season.

READ: NETFLIX ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION ON NEW TRUE-CRIME MINI-SERIES — “THE ALCASSER MURDERS”

This film, however, isn’t a docuseries. Instead, Amy Ryan (The Office, The Wire) will play Mari Gilbert — the mother of one of the potential victims — as she “relentlessly drives law enforcement agents to search for her missing daughter and in the process sheds light on a wave of unsolved murders of young female sex workers”.

The Long Island Serial Killer (sometimes referred to as ‘LISK’, the ‘Gilgo Beach Killer’ or the ‘Craigslist Ripper’) is suspected to have murdered over a dozen prostitutes over a 20-year period on Long Island. As many as 10 bodies were found, some of which were wrapped in burlap sacks and dumped on the side of the road near Gilgo Beach.

Liz Garbus — a long-time documentary filmmaker — is set to direct the film. Garbus, who recently had her documentary A Dangerous Son released on HBO, will be making her first foray into narrative feature filmmaking after establishing herself as a heavyweight in the documentary world. Her other credits include What Happened, Miss Simone?, There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane, Love, Marilyn, and several others. What Happened, Miss Simone? was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, winning in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category. The film was also nominated for an Oscar at the 2016 Academy Awards.

Garbus also has a docuseries getting ready to premiere on Showtime, titled The Fourth Estate.

Per the official press release from Netflix, Rory Koslow and Amy Nauiokas will serve as executive producers.