Netflix has just purchased a true-crime documentary series created by Yes Docu, The Motive. The series, which is scheduled to begin streaming on Netflix on October 28, tells the grisly and baffling story of a 14-year-old boy who murdered his parents and two sisters with his father’s rifle in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1986. The boy said a green creature entered his mind and told him to kill his family.
Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudri, who made the award-winning documentary, Death in the Terminal, created the four-part series.
The boy, now an adult, has never been identified in the media because he was a minor when he committed the crimes. Many psychiatrists from Israel and around the world tried to understand the motive for his horrific crime, but no one reached a clear conclusion. The series creators interviewed Yossi Arnon, the murderer’s lawyer, who presents his version for the first time and admits that the boy made up the story about a green creature. There are also interviews with police, judges, doctors, prosecutors, counselors at the home for young offenders where he served six years and a journalist.
Following the broadcast of the series in Israel in December, it was revealed that the killer is now married, has children and works in finance in a senior position, although Ynet reported that after the killer’s name circulated on social media, he was fired from his job.
It is just the mysterious and gruesome kind of crime story that should draw a huge worldwide audience on Netflix.