5 Key Takeaways From ‘Should I Marry a Murderer?’ Netflix Documentary

Forensic pathologist Caroline Muirhead recalls one of her most horrifying experiences of almost marrying a murderer in the new Netflix documentary, Should I Marry a Murderer? The documentary presents the hit-and-run case of Navy veteran Tony Parsons by twin brothers Alexander and Robert McKellar through the eyes of Caroline, who was engaged to Alexander, aka Sandy.

Should I Marry a Murderer?	Details
Director	Josh Allott
No. of episodes	3
Release Date	April 29, 2026

The viewers are taken through Caroline’s emotional turmoil as she finds out about her fiancé’s terrible crime and grapples with the consequences of calling the police about the brothers. The story is a true rollercoaster of emotions, as Caroline’s psychological conflict between love and morality makes you both mad at her but also sympathize with her. Here are the 5 key takeaways from the documentary.

1 Why Caroline Muirhead Didn’t Go to the Police Immediately

In Netflix’s Should I Marry a Murderer?, Caroline Muirhead truly believed that she had found the love of her life when she met Sandy McKellar. He was a deer stalker who lived on the Auch Estate in Argyll, Scotland. Caroline really fell for Sandy and the estate life, so when he proposed to her after two months of dating, she had no second thoughts.

Everyone was worried for Caroline, including her friends and family, who shared in the documentary that they believed Caroline was moving way too fast in the relationship at the time. She only realized her mistake when she asked if he was hiding any secrets from her. He went on to reveal his darkest mistake in life. Sandy’s confession to the woman he loved eventually brought out his crime.

He confessed that after a night of partying, he and Robert were on the road in their truck when they accidentally hit a cyclist. He went on to tell Caroline that he had buried him in the estate. The confession shocked Caroline to the core, but she surprisingly kept her calm and assured Sandy that she would keep this secret safe.

The documentary then goes on to show Caroline’s emotional state over the next few weeks. She confesses on camera that she didn’t want to reveal this to anyone immediately, especially her parents, because of how things ended in her last relationship. Her fear of being judged for repeating the same mistakes not only stopped her from running to the cops, but she also invited Sandy over to her parents’ home to meet them.

However, guilt took over her as she kept thinking about the dead man and his family. By this time, Sandy had also asked her to help remove the body from the burial site and burn it without evidence. She eventually confessed to her parents and then called the police to tell them everything Sandy had told them.

2 Caroline’s Quick Thinking Finally Sealed Sandy’s Fate

Before Caroline went to her parents and eventually the police, she wanted to make sure that she had the proper details of their crimes. Even after knowing about Sandy’s crimes, Caroline decided to go with him to the estate grounds. She tricked him into showing the exact place where he had buried the body, telling him that she needed to know where, if she were to help.

Trusting her, Sandy showed her the place. A quick thinking from Caroline helped her to mark the place, which would later help the police identify the place. She usually drank sugar-free Red Bull and carried a can with her when she visited the burial site. She dropped the can at the spot and was able to hide it from Sandy.

When she finally made the call to the police, it was a crucial piece of evidence. She had hoped that the can would help them narrow down the burial site quickly, find the body, and nail the McKellar twins. However, what she hadn’t anticipated was the time it took the police to go through all these things. The police brought in the McKellar twins for questioning before finding the body.

They should’ve known that by bringing in the brothers at that time, they potentially left Caroline exposed as a witness. It was at this point that Caroline began to lose herself and get into more severe troubles.

3 The Truth Comes Out About the Diabolical Nature of the Crime

After the police couldn’t arrest the McKellar twins, they went straight to a relative’s house. Caroline feared for her life since she couldn’t ignore the possibility that Sandy would identify her as a witness. However, he trusted her too much to believe that she would give him up to the police. Caroline moved back to her flat to take the problems away from her parents. When the brothers called and asked if they could come over, Caroline felt she had no choice but to accept them into her home.

In events that the viewers find shocking, Caroline had to live with the two people that she accused of murder for days. During this time, Robert confessed to Caroline the real gravity of Sandy’s claim. He told her that his brother was not right in his head. When Caroline dug further, she found out from Robert that Parsons was still alive when the brothers went looking for the person they had hit.

Instead of helping him or letting other passing vehicles help him, Sandy moved his body to the side of the road, went back to their home, got the things they needed, and came back to take the body with them without leaving any evidence. The brothers had apparently carried him with them over the next day, when they hosted a hunting group. Later in the evening, they dug up the pit and buried him.

The documentary doesn’t talk much about the real victim in the case, Tony Parsons. His photos are shown at various points in the series, revealing how he was a cancer survivor and was cycling across Glasgow for a charity. A bar owner had met him just hours before the accident, when Parsons refused to stop and take a rest.

Caroline was shocked, since the case had just become a full-blown murder. She saw that Sandy showed no remorse for his actions, so she tried to record a confession from him. In her attempt, she got a crucial piece of evidence against him. When she confronted him with the truth Robert told her, he told her, “It’s either my life or his.”

The show also touched upon the brothers’ childhood, revealing that their father, Tom McKellar, was prosecuted for possession of illegal firearms. It was revealed that these brothers were introduced to firearms and slaughtering at a young age, making them desensitized to killing.

4 Did the Scottish Police Mess Up Handling This Crime?

The Scottish police and Victim Support Service refused to speak in this Netflix documentary, which is perhaps a sign that the law enforcement and Caroline weren’t seeing eye to eye in this case. The head prosecutor spoke on behalf of the police, and while he admired Caroline’s bravery to come forward about the crime, he kind of shifted some of the blame to Caroline and her actions since she called the police.

When Caroline was seemingly risking her life and finding evidence against the brothers by living with them, the police detectives dropped in to check on her and almost exposed her as their witness. Later, when the body was found, information was leaked to Sandy that it was Caroline’s Red Bull can that helped the police identify the body. Both these events turned Caroline completely against the police.

However, Sandy was more upset with himself over pulling Caroline into this mess. This somehow humanized Sandy more for Caroline. What finally broke her was when she was not allowed to work as a pathologist. She was contracted to work at the same hospital where Parsons’ body was being examined. She was put on leave, citing a conflict of interest.

She couldn’t work, and she couldn’t talk to anyone, which, according to her, led to a mental breakdown. The documentary raises accusations against the police for not providing adequate resources to help her. The prosecutor’s best defense was that she didn’t need as much help as the other victims in a similar situation because she was a highly intelligent pathologist.

With nowhere to turn, Caroline would go to the last place in the world that she should be. She went to live with the brothers at their estate.

5 Caroline’s Actions May Have Jeopardized the Case

While you could see what drove Caroline to her actions and even sympathize with her, you couldn’t finish the documentary without getting a little bit mad at her. Not only did she maintain a complicated relationship with Sandy after everything came out, but she also partied with the brothers, where alcohol and drugs were involved.

The defense talked about how this action made her a potentially unreliable witness. Her parents and friends were left completely helpless in this situation. It took quite some time, and some damning comments from Sandy, before Caroline realized the messed-up situation she was in. During this time, she recorded Sandy revealing the exact location where he had dumped the victim’s bicycle.

After breaking up with Sandy one day, she returned home and handed over the evidence to the police. However, it turned up nothing. For the prosecution, it all came down to Caroline’s testimony. This put heavy pressure on her, and she resorted to drugs and alcohol again. She tried to back out from being a witness, but she was met with a threatening letter from the prosecution, which said that she would be arrested if she failed to show up.

That’s exactly what Caroline did. On the day of the trial, she drove her truck up to the estate in an effort to find the bike as evidence. Police are deployed to find her and arrest her. She eventually gets jailed for contempt of court. In the absence of Caroline’s testimony, the charge against Sandy is brought down from murder to culpable homicide.

Sandy is sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Robert gets 5 years. The charges against Caroline were eventually dropped. However, one couldn’t help but think what would’ve happened if Caroline testified against Sandy. Caroline claims that the Parsons family is thankful to her for coming forward. In that aspect, Caroline definitely did a great thing.

What do you think of Caroline’s moral dilemma in Should I Marry a Murderer? Let us know in the comments below!

Should I Marry a Murderer is now available on Netflix.