Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

A judge declared Nick Reiner "gravely disabled" in 2020. Licensed fiduciary Steven Baer took control of his treatment decisions. Nick could be forced into a locked psychiatric facility against his will. The Reiners obtained the most powerful legal tool California offers families dealing with severe mental illness. It lasted one year. Four years later, both parents are dead.Here's what the law actually does: if a family provides food, clothing, and shelter for a mentally ill loved one, that person may no longer qualify as "gravely disabled." The conservatorship can expire not because the patient improved—but because lo...

Rob Misleh said something on Good Morning America that stops you cold: "She just had to get away from him." He said Monique told him Dr. Michael McKee was emotionally abusive. That she was willing to do anything to escape. That many in the family knew about the torment. Misleh called McKee a monster, said Monique never spoke his name after the 2017 divorce—only "her ex-husband." She was always worried. But nobody thought he'd actually do it.Now look at the court records. No domestic violence allegations. No protection orders. No restraining orders. The divorce paperwork says "in...

Eight months after Christine Banfield was allegedly stabbed to death in her own bedroom, detectives returned to the home. What they found tells a story all by itself. The blood-soaked carpet? Gone. Fresh wood flooring in its place. New furniture throughout. And on the nightstand where wedding photos once sat? Pictures of Brendan Banfield with Juliana Peres Magalhães—the au pair who prosecutors say helped plan Christine's murder.Crime scene photographer Kenner Fortner showed the jury these before-and-after images during day three of testimony. Detective Terry Leach presented graphic photographs of Joseph Ryan's body—blood on his f...

Police just connected the dots. Sixteen days after Spencer and Monique Tepe were found dead in their Columbus home, investigators announced they've recovered multiple firearms from Dr. Michael McKee's property—and one of those weapons has a preliminary ballistic match to the murder scene through NIBIN, the federal database that links bullets to guns across the country.McKee allegedly drove from Illinois to Ohio to kill his ex-wife Monique and her husband Spencer while their two young children slept feet away. Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant called it what it was: a targeted domestic violence attack. The ch...

One of America's best defense attorneys just made the most unusual exit in recent legal memory. Alan Jackson told the court he was "legally and ethically prohibited" from continuing to represent Nick Reiner. Then he walked outside and told reporters: "Pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder." What circumstances force an attorney to withdraw while simultaneously staking his professional reputation on his client's innocence?The clues are buried in sealed documents. A confidential medical order. Ten subpoenas prosecutors aren't allowed to see. Three weeks of investigation that changed Jackson's entire approach—th...

The Murdaugh saga reaches its most critical moment yet. On February 11th, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Alex Murdaugh's appeal — and the stakes couldn't be higher.Becky Hill, the Colleton County Clerk of Court who managed the jury during Murdaugh's six-week murder trial, has pled guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice, and misconduct in office. She admitted to lying under oath at the January 2024 hearing where retired Chief Justice Jean Toal denied Murdaugh's request for a new trial. Now his defense team is asking the Supreme Court to consider that conviction as th...

This week on Hidden Killers, we're examining two cases demanding legal accountability—one criminal, one civil—with former felony prosecutor turned defense attorney Eric Faddis. In Ohio, Dr. Michael McKee faces aggravated murder charges for allegedly executing his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband Richard Tepe in their Columbus home. Police say the murder weapon was recovered from McKee's Chicago apartment. His alibi reportedly collapsed. Family members describe eight years of obsession. Faddis analyzes what prosecutors must prove and where McKee's defense team will attack the evidence—from chain of custody issues to the fundamental problem of no eyewitnesses. In...

The Reiners called police twice in 2019. A welfare check. A mental health call. That means at some point they perceived enough danger or dysfunction to bring in law enforcement. But by December 2025, they're sharing a home with Nick after watching him act erratically at a party. They went to bed. What happened to their threat calibration? Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke joins Hidden Killers to analyze the long con—how a manipulative person reshapes family reality over two decades until danger becomes normalized. Robin spent 21 years with the FBI, including as Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, an...

Harry Lidsky, Digital Forensic Examiner, testified today in the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Banfield, a former IRS agent, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at their Herndon, Virginia home.Prosecutors allege Banfield plotted the killings with the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Magalhães has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is expected to testify against Banfield. The defense maintains digital evidence does not support the state's catfishing theory.#BrendanBanfield #AuPairAffair #MurderTrial #TrueCrime #Te...

Nick Barreiro, Audio/Video Forensic Analyst, testified today in the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Banfield, a former IRS agent, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at their Herndon, Virginia home.Prosecutors allege Banfield plotted the killings with the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Magalhães has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is expected to testify against Banfield. The defense maintains digital evidence does not support the state's catfishing theory.#BrendanBanfield #AuPairAffair #MurderTrial #Tr...

Harry Lidsky, Digital Forensic Examiner, testified today in the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Banfield, a former IRS agent, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at their Herndon, Virginia home.Prosecutors allege Banfield plotted the killings with the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Magalhães has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is expected to testify against Banfield. The defense maintains digital evidence does not support the state's catfishing theory.#BrendanBanfield #AuPairAffair #MurderTrial #TrueCrime #Te...

Washington State University knew Bryan Kohberger was dangerous. That's what the families of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin are alleging in a devastating new lawsuit filed January 7th, 2026. The 126-page complaint details at least 13 formal complaints filed against Kohberger during his single semester as a graduate teaching assistant at WSU. Women were requesting security escorts to avoid him. Staff created informal "911" email alerts to warn each other when he was nearby. One supervising instructor allegedly expressed concern that removing Kohberger could expose the university to a lawsuit—choosing legal liability over campus safety. A p...

Rob and Michele Reiner were stabbed to death in their Brentwood mansion. Their son Nick - diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, fresh off a medication change - is charged with their murders. The family narrative focuses on mental illness. But the violence pattern tells a different story.Sources describe the crime scene as so brutal it disturbed veteran investigators. TMZ's Harvey Levin says it had "all the markings of a meth murder." Nick was arrested in a known drug area fifteen miles from home. And his own public statements document years of stimulant abuse - including violent rampages...

Harry Lidsky, Digital Forensic Examiner, testified today in the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Banfield, a former IRS agent, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at their Herndon, Virginia home.Prosecutors allege Banfield plotted the killings with the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Magalhães has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is expected to testify against Banfield. The defense maintains digital evidence does not support the state's catfishing theory.#BrendanBanfield #AuPairAffair #MurderTrial #TrueCrime #Te...

Michael McKee is expected to plead not guilty to the aggravated murders of Monique Tepe and Richard Tepe. His defense team sees something prosecutors don't want jurors to notice. The murder weapon was allegedly found in McKee's Chicago apartment—but that's 300 miles from the crime scene in Columbus. There are no eyewitnesses placing him inside the Tepe home. The forensic evidence that seems airtight? Defense attorneys have ways to challenge it. Criminal defense attorney Eric Faddis spent years as a felony prosecutor before switching sides. He's tried over 45 jury trials and knows exactly how defense teams dismantle cas...

The defense came out swinging on Day 7 of the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Homicide Detective Leah Smith testified she was pressured by supervisors to support the catfishing theory before evidence backed it up. She says she was told: "There are two theories and you need to get behind the right one." A forensic analyst was transferred off the case after suggesting Christine Banfield — not Brendan — may have been the one communicating with victim Joseph Ryan on FetLife.But then came testimony that stopped the room cold.Victim services officer Saly Fayez testified that an intel dete...

Michael McKee allegedly drove 400 miles in the middle of the night carrying a suppressed firearm to murder his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband Spencer while their children slept down the hall. Now he sits in an Ohio jail facing four counts of aggravated murder — and based on everything we know about his behavioral patterns, he probably still believes he can beat this case.In this deep-dive opinion piece, I examine the psychology of a man who has demonstrated a lifelong pattern of avoiding accountability. A man who allegedly evaded service on a malpractice lawsuit nine times. A...

Before Michael McKee invoked his right to remain silent, he allegedly gave police a bogus alibi. That single decision may haunt him for the rest of his life. McKee, a Chicago vascular surgeon, is charged with aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband Richard Tepe at their Columbus home. Police say the murder weapon was recovered from McKee's apartment nearly two weeks after the killings. But it's not just forensic evidence prosecutors will weaponize—it's what McKee reportedly said before he stopped talking. Former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis has built cas...

The judge who presided over Richard Allen's murder trial just announced her retirement from the bench. Frances Gull's press release is full of praise for her Drug Court work and her belief in "second chances, rehabilitation, and redemption." Conspicuously absent from that press release is any mention of the Delphi case—the trial that made her internationally known and is now under appellate review for alleged constitutional violations.Richard Allen was convicted and sentenced to 130 years. But the 113-page appellant's brief filed last month tells a different story than the one the jury heard—because according to the...

The perpetrator psychology. The victim experience. The shattered aftermath. One complete breakdown.Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott brings over thirty years of experience in forensic settings, domestic violence work, and trauma recovery to examine every dimension of the Tepe murder case. She's the author of "The Minds of Mass Killers" — and she's a survivor herself.What allegedly happens inside someone who can't let go for eight years after a seven-month relationship? Michael McKee apparently never remarried. Prosecutors say he drove six hours, entered without forced entry, killed Monique and Spencer at 3:52 AM, and drove back. We examine th...