Netflix's New True Crime Series Might Be the Most Disturbing Thing You Watch This Week Actorsvaultpro

Making its platform premiere on September 12, 2025, the shocking Netflix docuseries Beauty and the Bester is as unsettling as true-crime stories get. The three-part documentary chronicles the brazen criminality of Thabo Bester, a convicted South African rapist and murderer who escaped prison by faking his own death, doing so with the help of celebrity surgeon Nandipha Magudumana, after they began a romantic affair.

Once Bester and Magudumana went on the run, they were likened to real-life notorious outlaws, such as Bonnie and Clyde. This truly jaw-dropping tale of deadly deceit, criminal complicity, a broken justice system, and the role of celebrity culture in their arrest makes it hard for true-crime fans to find a more riveting and unbelievable story this week, month, or even year.

‘Beauty and the Bester’s Stunning Premise

Directed with pace and authenticity by Anthony Molyneaux, Beauty and the Bester is a true-crime Netflix documentary that takes viewers to Mangaung, a maximum security prison in South Africa. Inside a cell sits Thabo Bester, aka the “Facebook rapist,” a notorious criminal who posed as a model’s agent to lure innocent women online. For his crimes, Bester was convicted on two counts of rape and one count of murder in 2012.

In 2022, the authorities at Mangaung declared Bester dead after apparently burning himself alive in his cell at 3:00 AM on May 3. The first suicide by fire in the prison’s history, very little made sense about the death. Once Bester’s body was examined, it was determined that the victim died from blunt force trauma long before the fire. Following a homicide investigation, the corpse found in the cell was not Bester.

Three days after the prison fire, Nandipha Magudumana arrived at the morgue to claim Bester’s body. A cosmetic influencer and TV celebrity doctor, Magudumana had been visiting Bester in prison since 2017. Despite serving two consecutive life sentences for rape and one for murder, Magudumana began a romantic affair with Bester five years before he faked his death, and she helped his escape from prison.

The investigation proved that Bester had faked his own demise before escaping prison with the help of Nandipha. More shocking yet, Nandipha was married at the time (albeit separated) and had two children, risking her family to aid and abet a serial rapist and murderer. The staggering documentary poses the central question of who Nandipha was deep down and why she would help such a vile perpetrator.

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Once Nandipha helped Thabo escape prison in May 2022, the two went on the run from the law for nearly one year. While on the lam, the pair drove a car from Mangaung Prison in Bloemfontein to Tanzania, covering more than 2,300 miles without being caught. Their romantic exploits on the road while committing violent crimes drew parallels between Thabo and Nandipha and Bonnie and Clyde Barrow, notorious married bank robbers who gained celebrity status in the 1930s.

As the media began fueling the popular obsession with the two lovers on the run, it became somewhat complicit in romanticizing the criminals. In fictional movie terms, the phenomenon that began with Bonnie and Clyde and continued through Natural Born Killers raises serious questions about how the media helped glamorize and glorify Thabo and Nandipha rather than vilify and demonize their heinous acts. Indeed, if the faked death and daring prison escape were shocking, so too is the depiction of the media’s treatment of Thabo and Nandipha’s relationship.

While there’s no dearth of incredible, deeply unsettling true-crime tales out there in 2025, Beauty and the Bester builds on the back of the 2024 Showmax true-crime miniseries film Tracking Thabo Bester. Take caution, there’s nothing remotely pleasant about either of these disturbing docs, and they are sure to be among the most unshakable real-life crime tales in recent memory. Fortunately, the story does have a somewhat happy ending.

Where Are Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana Now?

A woman interviews in Beauty and the Bester

Despite Thabo living in Johannesburg under several aliases for nearly one year, his travels to Tanzania with Nandipha led to their official arrest. Before their capture, Thabo and Nandipha were allegedly enjoying a life of luxury, bilking large sums of money to fund their crime spree by defrauding several private and local businesses. Despite their well-funded efforts to remain hidden in plain sight, Thabo and Nandipha were ultimately brought to justice.

Roughly one year after going on the run from the police in May 2022, Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana were arrested on April 7, 2023. Once apprehended by the authorities in Arusha, Tanzania, Thabo and Nandipha were extradited to South Africa on April 13.

Following their arrest, Thabo Bester was ordered to serve his original life sentence for his rape and murder charges. However, he was not returned to Mangaung, the prison he escaped. Instead, Bester was imprisoned in C-Max, the maximum-security wing of Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria, South Africa. In addition to his original life sentence, Thabo was charged with additional crimes for his prison escape.

As the docuseries notes, Bester tried several times to obtain a laptop computer in his prison cell following his arrest. Bester also tried to block Netflix from releasing Beauty and the Bester. The implication is that Bester is not compunctious at all and may be plotting further crimes in the future.

As for Nandipha Magudumana, she was placed in the all-female prison, Bizzah Makhate Correctional Centre, in Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Nandipha faces several legal charges with several crimes relating to Thabo’s escape, including defiling a corpse, fraud, obstructing justice, and more. Nandipha’s father has also been arrested for aiding and abetting Thabo’s prison escape. However, as of September 2025, her trial has been delayed, and she is still awaiting sentencing.

In a classic case of real life being stranger than fiction, Beauty and the Bester is a deeply unsettling true-crime tale whose jaw-dropping shock value will be hard to top on the platform anytime soon. Beauty and the Bester is available to stream on Netflix.