Dark Side of Wikipedia | True Crime & Dark History

Before there was a “haunted house,” there was a family. And before The Amityville Horror became a pop-culture phenomenon, there was a very real crime scene — six members of the DeFeo family, murdered in their beds on November 13, 1974. In this Hidden Killers deep-dive, Tony Brueski strips away the myth and exposes the true story of Ronald DeFeo Jr. — the 23-year-old son who turned a picture-perfect Long Island home into one of the darkest chapters in American true-crime history. This isn't about ghosts. It's about control, pressure, and collapse inside a family that looked flawless from the outside. Through court records, trial transcripts, and eyewitness accounts, we unravel the DeFeo family's life before the murders — a world of strict rules, generational pride, and a father-son relationship that spiraled from conflict to catastrophe. What happened inside 112 Ocean Avenue wasn't supernatural. It was psychological. A slow burn of resentment, addiction, and identity loss that ended with a rifle and six bodies. Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. claimed he heard voices telling him to kill. The jury didn't believe him. He was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to six consecutive life terms. He died in prison in 2021 — leaving behind a trail of lies, contradictions, and one chilling constant: he never showed remorse. Decades later, the Amityville myth still overshadows the truth. This episode reclaims it. Because before it was a franchise, it was a family. And the real horror wasn't the house — it was what happened inside it.

When Ajike Owens was killed through a closed door, her four children lost their mother — and a nation faced the consequences of unchecked paranoia. In this exclusive episode, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels to dissect the mental chain reaction behind that fatal moment. Scott explores how chronic resentment, fear scripting, and entitlement converge in what she calls “justified aggression”—the mind's way of excusing harm under the guise of self-protection. She breaks down how fear, when reinforced over years, becomes not a response but an identity. The discussion turns toward healing: what happens to children who witness or lose parents to violence, what recovery actually looks like, and how society can stop mistaking grievance for danger.  This is not just analysis — it's a human reckoning with how far distorted thinking can go when no one intervenes. #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillersPodcast #ThePerfectNeighbor #AjikeOwens #SusanLorincz #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimeToday #PsychologyOfFear #TraumaRecovery #FearVsAccountability Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

In a quiet Virginia suburb, what looked like a perfect family hid something unthinkable. When police walked into the Banfield home in Herndon, they found 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield stabbed to death and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan shot in the head. Her husband, former IRS agent Brendan Banfield, claimed it was self-defense — that Ryan had broken in and attacked his wife. But investigators soon discovered the scene was staged. Christine had never met Joseph Ryan. In reality, he had been lured to the house through a fetish site called FetLife, believing he was meeting Christine for a consensual role-play encounter. The account that contacted him used her photo and name — but wasn't her. It was allegedly created by her husband. Living in that same home was their Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who was having an affair with Brendan. She later admitted to helping orchestrate the meeting — and described the entire deadly plan as “part of the game.” Prosecutors say the “game” was a plot to kill Christine and stage it as a home invasion gone wrong. Both Christine and Joseph Ryan ended up dead. Juliana has since pled guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against Brendan Banfield, who now faces aggravated murder charges in Fairfax County. His trial, most recently delayed, is set for January 13, 2026. In this Hidden Killers deep dive, Tony Brueski exposes the chilling story behind the façade of suburban normalcy — how power, fantasy, and control converged into one of Virginia's most disturbing murder cases. This isn't a story about sex. It's a story about manipulation, obsession, and the fatal delusion of control. Because when you start to play God, eventually, someone bleeds for it. #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #BanfieldCase #JulianaMagalhaes #ChristineBanfield #BrendanBanfield #JosephRyan #VirginiaCrime #TonyBrueski #CrimePodcast #FetishMurder #HerndonCrime #MurderCase #TrueCrimeStories Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Sean “Diddy” Combs — the man who once ruled hip-hop, fashion, and nightlife — now faces a very different kind of countdown: 921 days until freedom. Federal Bureau of Prisons records confirm Diddy's expected release date as May 8, 2028, following his 50-month sentence for charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. But the real story isn't about a date — it's about survival. In this Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski exclusive, we dive deep into what life behind bars really means for one of the most powerful figures in modern pop culture. What's a day like for a man who once lived in penthouses and private jets, now forced to wake up at 5 a.m. for head count? What happens when a man used to commanding everyone suddenly has no control — not even over his own meals? Tony breaks down the stark reality of Diddy's prison life — the monotony, the risk, the psychology — and explores the haunting list of famous figures who didn't make it out alive. From Epstein to Bulger to Hernandez, history is full of men who thought they were untouchable… until the bars closed behind them. This is not the story of a comeback. It's the story of a countdown.

Imagine fifteen people—five of whom personally knew Laci Peterson—telling police they saw her alive, walking her golden retriever, after her husband had already left for his solo fishing trip. Now imagine every single one of them ignored. That's the picture painted by the LA Innocence Project in its new 600-page petition for a new trial. The filing lists more than a dozen witnesses who saw a pregnant woman matching Laci's description between 9:45 and 11:30 a.m. on Dec 24 2002, right in the Petersons' Modesto neighborhood. Detective Grogan told jurors no “verifiable” sightings existed. Yet other officers called those witnesses “credible.” Several now swear they were told by police, “We already got our guy.” This episode examines the testimonies that never reached a courtroom—and why suppressing them matters. If Laci was seen alive after Scott left, the state's entire timeline collapses. Fifteen people say they saw the truth. The question is — why didn't anyone want the jury to? #ScottPeterson #LaciPeterson #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #LAInnocenceProject #JusticeForLaci #TonyBrueski #WrongfulConviction #EyewitnessTestimony #CriminalJustice Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?  Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Before Donna Adelson was a headline — before the mugshots, the trials, the whispers about murder-for-hire — she was a woman built for control. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we trace how Donna Adelson became Donna Adelson — from her 1950s New York upbringing to the mindset that would one day define her downfall. What happens when an entire generation is raised to believe obedience equals love, achievement equals safety, and perfection equals survival? Tony digs into the psychology of authoritarian parenting, the postwar obsession with order, and the quiet fear that can turn control into compulsion. This isn't speculation — it's context. Because before Donna Adelson ever micromanaged her family's image or her son's future, she lived in a world that worshiped control and punished chaos. A world that taught: if you can't control the story, you lose it. This is where it all began — The Genesis of Control. #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #Psychology #Control #AuthoritarianParenting #CriminalPsychology #Matriarch #PowerAndFear Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Before Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, his defense team was quietly preparing a courtroom strategy that would have shocked the nation. According to newly unsealed court filings, Kohberger planned to call friends of the victims — and even the survivors themselves — as defense witnesses. Among them: Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the two young women who lived through that horrific night in November 2022. Also on the list were Emily Alandt, Hunter Johnson, and Kaylee Goncalves' ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur. Imagine it — the two surviving roommates, who lost four of their closest friends, being forced to testify for the man accused of killing them. That was the reality Kohberger's defense was preparing for before he struck a plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty. In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down what that trial might have looked like — and how Kohberger's strategy reveals far more about his psychology than any confession ever could. Why would a killer want his survivors on the stand? What kinds of questions would they have faced? And what kind of manipulation drives someone to keep controlling people even after their arrest? This deep-dive dissects the legal and psychological layers of the case: from the 138 witnesses Kohberger planned to call, to the devastating emotional toll that trial would have inflicted on every surviving friend and family member. Because for Kohberger, control wasn't just about life and death — it was about owning the story. And this time, he lost it.

In this full episode of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take you inside the minds of two of America's most notorious convicted murderers — Donna Adelson and Chad Daybell — through the words they wrote themselves. Segment 1: Donna Adelson's Prison Letter From a Florida jail cell, Donna Adelson wrote a 2024 letter to her husband Harvey describing how her heart “breaks” over missing her grandsons' first day of school. What could have been a rare glimpse of remorse quickly spirals into denial and bitterness: “If I don't get out, then hopefully I die soon so no one remembers me in prison garb.” She paints herself as the victim of “vigilante justice” and a “southern sweetheart prosecutor,” refusing to accept any role in the plot that left her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, dead. The Markel family's official statement, read in court, shredded that illusion — accusing Donna of callous indifference and of cutting off Markel's parents from their grandsons for six years. Tony unpacks the psychology of control, image management, and moral blindness that define the Adelson saga — and why Donna's letter might be the most revealing confession she never meant to write. Segment 2: Chad Daybell's Ghost Story Letter Then, we shift from manipulation to mysticism. In “Letter #7,” Chad Daybell — the self-proclaimed prophet now convicted of multiple murders — recounts his time as a Utah cemetery sexton. He writes of being haunted by a thief's ghost, attacked by unseen forces, and taunted by demonic voices shouting, “We hate your books!” He interprets it all as proof that Heaven had chosen him for a divine mission. Tony dissects how this “ghost story” maps the arc of Daybell's descent — from fantasy and grandiosity to apocalyptic belief — showing how delusion and ego fused into a theology that justified murder. Two letters. Two minds. One terrifying common thread: a total inability to see reality — or remorse — through the walls they built around themselves. #DonnaAdelson #ChadDaybell #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #DanMarkel #LoriVallow #MurderForHire #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #TonyBrueski Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Four people murdered in cold blood. A baby left sitting in a car seat in a stranger's yard, alone. And somehow, the man accused of doing it — Austin Drummond — is still trying to control the narrative from behind bars. This is what happens when evil gets too comfortable with itself. Drummond isn't some unhinged mystery; he's a career predator who's been testing limits since the day the system let him out early. Robbery. Attempted murder. Released in 2024. On bond when he wiped out nearly an entire family in Lake County, Tennessee. He killed the people closest to him — his girlfriend's family — and then abandoned their baby forty miles away like an afterthought. Now he's behind bars, and still performing. Guards say he's been caught with narcotics, covering his cell door in paper and feces, causing chaos every way he can. He's not losing his mind — he's working the room. This is how narcissistic psychopaths survive: they create chaos, force the world to orbit around them, and call it control. You can take away the gun. You can lock the cell. But you can't cage the ego. Drummond has turned his cell into a stage. Every disgusting act, every tantrum, every outburst is another move in his game. Because if you're talking about him, he's still winning. The same control he exercised with a trigger, he now wields through manipulation. You can see it in every report, every court motion, every moment he refuses to act human. He's not insane. He's addicted — not to drugs, but to dominance. This is the man who's learned that if he can't rule the outside world, he'll rule the one inside his cell. He'll make guards disgusted, psychologists confused, and the public fascinated. Because to him, that's oxygen. That's relevance. And the system? It keeps giving him what he wants. The headlines. The coverage. The spotlight. The endless “what went wrong?” debates. What went wrong is simple: we keep mistaking performance for psychosis. We call it mental illness when it's just manipulation with better lighting. Austin Drummond isn't broken. He's hollow. He's the kind of human shell that feeds off outrage and fear. He's the same man who once looked at a baby and saw disposable evidence. That's not insanity — that's the pure absence of empathy. This isn't a story about one killer. It's about how a system so obsessed with “second chances” keeps handing them to people who only use them to destroy. He was already on bond for attempted murder. He should've been locked away. Instead, four lives were wiped out, and a child will grow up knowing the only reason they're still alive is because the killer got bored of holding them. And now, that killer sits in a state prison cell, convinced he's still in control. This is what narcissistic collapse looks like — a man whose only identity is the chaos he can still create. Every time we give him airtime, every time a headline drops, he gets what he wants. But what he'll never get again is freedom. And that's the one thing his ego can't perform its way out of. Four people are gone. A baby grows up without a family. And the monster who did it still thinks he's writing the script. He's not. He's the ending. #AustinDrummond #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #TonyBrueski #Murder #Psychopath #CriminalMind #JusticeSystem #Control #PrisonPsychology #Narcissism #Manipulation #Ego #DeathPenalty #LakeCounty #TrueCrimePodcast Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

It sounds impossible — but in Idaho, it's not. Bryan Kohberger, the convicted killer of four University of Idaho students, could one day profit from his crimes. Why? Because Idaho has no “Son of Sam” law — no statute that blocks criminals from turning their infamy into income. In this episode, Tony Brueski exposes the gaping legal loophole that could let a murderer make money off murder. While most states have laws that stop convicted felons from profiting off books, interviews, or documentaries about their crimes, Idaho never passed one. That means that even behind bars, Kohberger could legally sell his “story,” write a memoir, or partner with a producer on a so-called “tell-all” — and keep the profits. This isn't theory. It's a constitutional gap that's been exploited before, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down New York's original Son of Sam law on First Amendment grounds. Since then, states have tried to rewrite the rules — but Idaho simply never wrote them. The result? Victims' families would have to fight in civil court just to stop a killer from cashing checks tied to their loved one's deaths. Tony breaks down how this could actually play out, how media companies skirt the rules by routing money through shell deals and “consulting” fees, and what lawmakers must do now to close the door before Kohberger or anyone like him turns infamy into profit. Justice isn't just about a sentence — it's about who owns the story afterward. And right now, in Idaho, that story could pay. #BryanKohberger #HiddenKillers #UniversityOfIdahoMurders #TrueCrime #Idaho #SonOfSamLaw #JusticeForVictims #CrimeProfits #BryanKohbergerCase #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimePodcast #LegalLoopholes #VictimsRights #Kohberger Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

A six-year-old brought a gun to class. Four adults sounded the alarm. The assistant principal said the boy's pockets were too small to hold a gun. Hours later, teacher Abby Zwerner was bleeding on a classroom floor. The bullet came from a child's hand — but the failure came from the adults who didn't listen. In this episode, Tony Brueski and former prosecutor Eric Faddis dig into The Price of Ignorance — the $40-million civil trial that exposes how bureaucracy, denial, and institutional cowardice nearly cost a teacher her life. They break down the legal concept of foreseeability — how repeated warnings establish negligence — and the difference between a bad decision and reckless disregard for human safety. Abby Zwerner's case reveals the rot inside American education: administrators afraid of optics, systems paralyzed by fear of lawsuits, and a culture that prioritizes image over action. Tony and Eric walk through every failure: the ignored warnings, the denied bag search, the “too small” comment, and the claim that being shot is a “normal occupational risk.” They also unpack the emotional and psychological damage to teachers nationwide who watch the case wondering, Would my school protect me? This episode asks the questions that cut through legal jargon: When does negligence become moral crime? How many warnings are enough before inaction becomes guilt? And if a jury rules that a teacher's shooting was “unforeseeable,” what message does that send to every educator still waiting to be heard? In a country with 344 school shootings since Columbine, this trial isn't an exception — it's a mirror. #AbbyZwerner #SchoolShooting #Negligence #TrueCrime #JusticeSystem #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #EducationReform #VictimsRights #TeacherSafety #ZwernerTrial #Accountability Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that's forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day's proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You'll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

A 6-year-old brought a gun to class. His teacher, Abby Zwerner, ended the day in a hospital — shot through the chest and hand in front of her first graders. But what's unfolding now inside a Virginia courtroom is almost more shocking than the shooting itself. This isn't just a story about a child with a gun — it's a story about four separate warnings ignored by school officials who had every chance to stop it. Teachers and staff begged Assistant Principal Ebony Parker to act. They told her the boy might be armed. They saw him put something heavy in his backpack. One even asked to search it. Parker allegedly refused — saying his “pockets were too small.” Hours later, a gun went off. Now, as the $40 million negligence trial plays out, jurors are watching the district try to explain the unexplainable. The plaintiff's team presented bodycam footage showing the chaotic aftermath — but only outside the jury's view — while the defense fights to keep that footage out, calling it “too prejudicial.” Tony Brueski pulls back the curtain on the trial that could redefine school accountability across America. What happens when administrators put reputation over responsibility? When “policy” replaces basic human instinct? When a teacher bleeds out because a school was too afraid to act? Zwerner's lawyers say this wasn't a freak tragedy — it was institutional failure in slow motion. And for the first time, the people who ignored the warnings are on the stand. This is the trial the entire education system should be watching — because it's not just about one teacher in Virginia. It's about every school that hears the alarm and chooses silence. #HiddenKillers #AbbyZwerner #SchoolShooting #Trial #Virginia #RichneckElementary #Negligence #EducationSystem #JusticeForTeachers #TrueCrimePodcast Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Bryan Kohberger can't leave his cell — but his story can. In the state of Idaho, there's no Son of Sam law, meaning that a convicted murderer can legally make money from the story of his crimes. Books. Documentaries. Interviews. Royalties. In this episode, Tony Brueski and former prosecutor Eric Faddis expose how one of the most horrifying modern murder cases has collided with one of America's oldest constitutional blind spots: the First Amendment's protection of speech — even when that speech turns into profit from murder. Tony opens with the question every viewer needs to hear: How can a convicted killer make money from killing? The answer lies in a 1991 Supreme Court ruling, Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board, which struck down New York's original Son of Sam law after the “Son of Sam” killer, David Berkowitz, tried to sell his story. The Court ruled that laws restricting “crime-based storytelling” discriminated against speech by content. States rewrote their laws to pass constitutional review — some succeeded, others failed — but Idaho never passed anything. The result: a legal vacuum where infamy becomes an industry. This episode breaks down the moral, legal, and economic consequences of that loophole. What does it mean for victims' families when killers can cash checks? Could Kohberger assign rights to a third party to hide profits? And why are lawmakers too afraid to fix it? Tony and Eric dissect how “freedom” became a shield for greed, how fear of being called unconstitutional paralyzed reform, and why the justice system now doubles as a business model. Justice shouldn't have a payout plan. This episode asks why America keeps writing one. #BryanKohberger #SonOfSam #TrueCrime #JusticeSystem #CrimePodcast #VictimsRights #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #KohbergerTrial #FreeSpeech #MurderProfit #TrueCrimeAnalysis Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

A Florida appeals court has overturned the $213.5 million verdict once awarded to Maya Kowalski and her family — the same case that inspired the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya. In 2016, Maya Kowalski, then just ten years old, was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital for complications related to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a rare and debilitating pain condition. Her mother, Beata Kowalski, a registered nurse, had been pursuing aggressive ketamine treatments to relieve her daughter's suffering. But when hospital staff grew suspicious of the treatment plan and Beata's behavior, they reported suspected child abuse to Florida's Department of Children and Families. Under state law, they had no choice. That single report changed everything. Maya was placed under state custody, separated from her mother for months. Beata, cut off from her daughter and accused of being an abuser, took her own life. Years later, a jury sided with the Kowalski family, holding the hospital liable for false imprisonment, emotional distress, and wrongful death, awarding them over $250 million — later reduced to $213.5 million. Now, the Second District Court of Appeal has reversed that decision, citing Florida's mandatory reporter immunity laws under Chapter 39. The court ruled that Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital acted as an agent of the state after reporting the suspected abuse and was therefore protected from liability for many of the claims. The ruling effectively vacates the entire verdict and limits any future retrial to a narrow scope: battery, medical negligence, and emotional distress claims related to Maya alone. Supporters of the decision say it reinforces the importance of protecting mandatory reporters from retaliation. Critics argue it shields institutions from accountability and erases justice for a grieving family. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we explore the facts, the law, and the human cost of this reversal. Did the system protect Maya — or fail her? #TakeCareOfMaya #MayaKowalski #JohnsHopkinsAllChildrensHospital #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimePodcast #CourtTV #FloridaLaw #MedicalNegligence #ChildAbuseReporting #JusticeSystem Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Two stories. One broken system. In Idaho, Bryan Kohberger could legally make money off his own murders. In Virginia, a first-grade teacher named Abby Zwerner was shot after four separate warnings were ignored. Both stories show how America's justice system has traded accountability for excuses — and how law, morality, and bureaucracy keep collapsing under their own contradictions. Tony Brueski and former prosecutor Eric Faddis connect these cases in one of their most morally charged episodes yet. The first half, When Infamy Becomes an Industry, explores how constitutional loopholes turned the First Amendment into a profit shield for convicted killers. The Supreme Court's Simon & Schuster decision gutted Son of Sam laws nationwide — and states like Idaho never replaced them. Tony and Eric unpack how “free speech” became a business plan for murderers and why politicians are too afraid to fix a law that lets killers cash checks while victims' families get nothing. The second half, The Price of Ignorance, turns the spotlight on institutional cowardice. In Newport News, Virginia, teacher Abby Zwerner was nearly killed after school officials ignored every warning about an armed six-year-old. Tony and Eric examine how fear of optics, legal liability, and self-preservation led to tragedy — and what that means for every teacher still walking into a classroom unprotected. Together, these stories reveal a single truth: justice in America doesn't end at the verdict — it just changes platforms. Whether it's a killer monetizing murder or a school hiding behind procedure, the result is the same. Profit over pain. Policy over people. #BryanKohberger #AbbyZwerner #TrueCrime #JusticeSystem #SonOfSam #SchoolShooting #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #VictimsRights #CrimePodcast #LegalAnalysis #WhenJusticeFails #FreeSpeech #Accountability Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

In this Hidden Killers deep dive, Tony Brueski examines what really happens to a mind like Bryan Kohberger's when the walls close in and the audience disappears. After being sentenced to life in prison for the murders of four University of Idaho students, Kohberger now faces the one force he can't manipulate: time. For nearly three years he's lived under lockdown—no stage, no admirers, no power. What does that do to a brain built on control, superiority, and a complete lack of empathy? Using insights from decades of psychological research on psychopathy, narcissistic collapse, and long-term solitary confinement, this episode unpacks the internal decay of high-control offenders once their delusions of dominance meet the reality of prison life. From the first days of agitation and rage to the later stages of emotional flatlining and obsessive routine, Tony explores how predators like Kohberger adapt—or fail to adapt—when stripped of power. What happens when a narcissist can no longer perform for an audience? When his intellect stops being an asset and starts becoming his tormentor? This episode digs deep into the science and the psychology of isolation, boredom, and self-destruction—where every day becomes a mirror, and the only reflection staring back is guilt he'll never acknowledge. There are no redemption arcs here. No grand awakenings. Just a slow-motion unraveling inside a concrete box—a living case study in how control-obsessed minds corrode under the weight of silence. Tony Brueski pulls no punches in this brutally honest look at the narcissistic decay of Bryan Kohberger, the illusion of control that built his ego, and the quiet, endless punishment that awaits him behind bars.

In a quiet neighborhood in Ocala, Florida, a mother of four simply knocked on her neighbor's door to ask for answers. What happened next was anything but simple. AJ Owens' life ended when her neighbor, convinced her peace had been stolen, reached for a gun and fired through a locked door. This isn't just a story of a shooting — it's a psychological breakdown in full display. I'm Tony Brueski, and in this episode of Hidden Killers, we go deep into the mindset of one woman who couldn't tolerate other people living. She didn't see children playing. She saw disrespect. She didn't hear laughter. She heard a threat. With the veneer of the “perfect neighbor” and the weapon of her choice, her answer to disruption was final. We'll trace the two-year buildup: the constant complaints, the phone recordings, the police visits. Then we'll walk you through the shot itself, the locked door, the children, the devastation. But most of all, we'll shine a light on the malignant psychology behind it all — entitlement that morphs into threat, control that masquerades as safety, and a system that responded but never interrupted. This longform narrative isn't about sensationalizing death. It's about accountability. It's about understanding how narcissistic control can completely retract someone from reality, until the world either bends to them — or lives break. If you've ever lived next to someone who demands their world be silent except for their voice, this one's for you. Because quiet isn't always peace. Sometimes quiet is the calm that follows a gunshot. Listen in. Watch the patterns. Recognize the danger. And subscribe to keep uncovering the hidden killers lurking behind everyday facades. #TrueCrimeStory #HiddenKillers #NeighborhoodMurder #PsychologicalProfile #NarcissismInCrime #MotherOfFour #StandYourGround #CrimeAnalysis #FatalEgo #ControlAndViolence Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels to unpack the warped psychology behind The Perfect Neighbor case — where “fear” became justification for a killing. For two years, Susan Lorincz saw danger in ordinary life: neighborhood kids, laughter, noise. That chronic hyper-vigilance — mixed with grievance and entitlement — built a narrative that only she believed. Scott explores how paranoia and cognitive distortion feed on isolation, turning imagined threat into moral crusade. From micro-aggressions to the myth of the “good citizen,” this interview asks what happens when anxiety weaponizes itself and empathy disappears. Scott also offers trauma-informed insights for the secondary victims — Ajike Owens' children — and explains how communities can recognize early warning signs before another tragedy repeats. #ThePerfectNeighbor #ShavaunScott #AjikeOwens #HiddenKillersPodcast #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimeAnalysis #FearVsReality #TraumaPsychology #BehavioralHealth #StandYourGround Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Before Charlie's smirk, before Donna's letters, before the Adelson name became synonymous with murder — there were the first flips. In this haunting episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we go back to where it all began: the deals, the confessions, and the whispers that cracked open the Daniel Markel murder-for-hire case. This is the untold story of how Luis Rivera — a gang member with nothing left to lose — traded silence for survival, and how Katherine Magbanua — caught between love, money, and manipulation — became the bridge that connected killers to the Adelson family. It's a chilling portrait of greed, control, and the illusion of safety that defined the Adelsons long before the world saw their faces in court. This is how justice began — not with headlines, but with the first domino that dared to fall. #HiddenKillers #AdelsonFamily #DanMarkel #TrueCrimePodcast #KatherineMagbanua #LuisRivera #DonnaAdelson #CharlieAdelson #MurderForHire #FloridaCrime Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

A mother is dead. A neighbor claims fear. But what really drove Susan Lorincz to pull the trigger through a closed door?  In this exclusive conversation, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins Tony Brueski. Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels to dissect the psychology behind The Perfect Neighbor case — where paranoia, entitlement, and grievance collided in one deadly moment. Scott unpacks the behavioral descent that transforms everyday irritation into lethal certainty. Was Lorincz truly afraid, or was “fear” the mask for long-nurtured anger? From chronic irritability and confirmation bias to the self-righteous delusion of being “under siege,” Scott breaks down the cognitive distortions that rewrite reality until violence feels justified. Together, they examine how “stand-your-ground” culture, racialized fear, and emotional dysregulation converge — and what this case reveals about the American obsession with safety at all costs. This isn't just a crime story; it's a psychological autopsy of modern paranoia. #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillers #ThePerfectNeighbor #AjikeOwens #SusanLorincz #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimePodcast #PsychologyOfFear #StandYourGround #BehavioralAnalysis Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Alex Murdaugh's name has become synonymous with deceit, greed, and betrayal. The former South Carolina attorney confessed to stealing millions from clients, friends, and even his own firm — but does that make him a murderer? In this explosive episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we strip away the money, the scandals, and the headlines to ask one uncomfortable question: did the jury convict Alex Murdaugh for murder, or for being a monster they already hated? In March 2023, Murdaugh was found guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at their Moselle property. But with no murder weapon, no direct forensic link, and no eyewitnesses, the case depended heavily on his financial crimes to establish motive. His own attorney, Dick Harpootlian, admits Murdaugh is a “horrible person” for what he did financially — but insists that doesn't mean he pulled the trigger. As the South Carolina Supreme Court weighs whether to grant a new trial amid allegations of jury tampering by former court clerk Becky Hill, the debate over guilt versus prejudice is heating back up. Tony breaks down the real evidence: what points to guilt, what points to innocence, and why removing the financial narrative changes everything. Was Murdaugh's conviction built on facts — or on disgust? Is he a murderer, or just a morally bankrupt man who became the perfect villain for America's true-crime obsession? It's time to separate what can be proven from what just feels true.

When Ajike Owens was killed through a closed door, her four children lost their mother — and a nation faced the consequences of unchecked paranoia. In this exclusive episode, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels to dissect the mental chain reaction behind that fatal moment. Scott explores how chronic resentment, fear scripting, and entitlement converge in what she calls “justified aggression”—the mind's way of excusing harm under the guise of self-protection. She breaks down how fear, when reinforced over years, becomes not a response but an identity. The discussion turns toward healing: what happens to children who witness or lose parents to violence, what recovery actually looks like, and how society can stop mistaking grievance for danger.  This is not just analysis — it's a human reckoning with how far distorted thinking can go when no one intervenes. #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillersPodcast #ThePerfectNeighbor #AjikeOwens #SusanLorincz #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimeToday #PsychologyOfFear #TraumaRecovery #FearVsAccountability Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Before there was a “haunted house,” there was a family. And before The Amityville Horror became a pop-culture phenomenon, there was a very real crime scene — six members of the DeFeo family, murdered in their beds on November 13, 1974. In this Hidden Killers deep-dive, Tony Brueski strips away the myth and exposes the true story of Ronald DeFeo Jr. — the 23-year-old son who turned a picture-perfect Long Island home into one of the darkest chapters in American true-crime history. This isn't about ghosts. It's about control, pressure, and collapse inside a family that looked flawless from the outside. Through court records, trial transcripts, and eyewitness accounts, we unravel the DeFeo family's life before the murders — a world of strict rules, generational pride, and a father-son relationship that spiraled from conflict to catastrophe. What happened inside 112 Ocean Avenue wasn't supernatural. It was psychological. A slow burn of resentment, addiction, and identity loss that ended with a rifle and six bodies. Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. claimed he heard voices telling him to kill. The jury didn't believe him. He was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to six consecutive life terms. He died in prison in 2021 — leaving behind a trail of lies, contradictions, and one chilling constant: he never showed remorse. Decades later, the Amityville myth still overshadows the truth. This episode reclaims it. Because before it was a franchise, it was a family. And the real horror wasn't the house — it was what happened inside it.

At Scott Peterson's 2004 trial, one expert witness sealed his fate. Dr. Terry D'Vor told jurors that baby Connor's fetal measurements proved Laci Peterson died on or before Christmas Eve 2002—the same day Scott went fishing. Jurors called his testimony “the nail in the coffin.” Now, in 2024, D'Vor has recanted. After reviewing modern NIH and WHO fetal-growth studies, he signed an affidavit admitting the old 1990s charts he used were scientifically obsolete. The updated data show Connor's gestational age was consistent with a January death, not December 24. That's when Scott Peterson was already under 24-hour police surveillance. Meaning: he couldn't have done it. This episode dissects the science that collapsed and the law that lets outdated forensics destroy lives. We'll explain California's Penal Code § 1473 (b)(2), written for exactly this scenario—when an expert's own recantation proves the state's theory was wrong. If modern science shows Laci and Connor died while Scott was being followed by cops, what's left of the prosecution's timeline? #ScottPeterson #LaciPeterson #LAInnocenceProject #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #TonyBrueski #WrongfulConviction #ForensicScience #JusticeForLaci #CrimePodcast Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?  Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Kada Scott should still be alive. But under Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, justice isn't blind — it's asleep. In this in-depth investigation, Tony Brueski breaks down the horrific chain of failures that allowed Keon King, a man already charged with kidnapping and strangulation, to walk free on low bail… and allegedly kill Kada Scott just months later. This episode exposes how Larry Krasner's so-called “progressive reform” has turned Philadelphia's justice system into a revolving door — where violent offenders walk, victims die, and the DA's office hides behind slogans about compassion and root causes. We follow the trail from the earlier dropped case against King, to the bail “error” that Krasner now calls “probably incorrect,” to the chilling truth: this death was preventable. And Kada Scott isn't the only casualty. From the slaying of Philadelphia Police Corporal James O'Connor by another released gun offender, to the hundreds of violent cases dismissed or lost, the pattern is clear — ideology has replaced accountability. Philadelphia deserves a DA who protects the innocent, not excuses the guilty.  If you believe in justice, in public safety, in the idea that compassion means protecting the next victim before it's too late — then listen to this. Larry Krasner's record isn't about reform. It's about failure. And if you live in Philadelphia, the power to stop it is in your hands. Vote. Demand better. Because Kada Scott deserved better.

It's one of the most shocking allegations to ever surface in a high-profile murder case: that detectives in the Laci Peterson investigation met behind closed doors to discuss discovery—and the very next day, marked key evidence for destruction. According to the new 600-page LA Innocence Project petition, internal Modesto Police logs show that on May 6 2003, investigators gathered to decide what to hand over to the defense. By May 7, they'd ordered the destruction of two critical items: the videotaped interrogations of burglars Steven Todd and Glenn Pierce, and the safe stolen from the Medina home across the street from Scott and Laci. Weeks later—gone. Destroyed. No copies, no transcripts, no forensic testing. This episode breaks down how that single act could unravel the entire case. We'll look at the timeline, the paper trail, and the California law (Trombetta and Youngblood) that defines intentional destruction of exculpatory evidence as a constitutional violation. If this petition is right, it wasn't negligence. It was orchestration. And it may be the moment the State of California crossed the line from prosecution … to cover-up. #ScottPeterson #LaciPeterson #LAInnocenceProject #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #JusticeForLaci #WrongfulConviction #TonyBrueski #ForensicEvidence #CriminalJustice Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?  Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This isn't just a missing-child case. It's a mirror held up to a system that looked the other way. Melodee Buzzard's home was reportedly in squalor. No food. No schooling. Prior CPS visits. Still, she remained. Then came the disguise — a wig, a hoodie, a rental car — and a cross-country drive that ended in silence. On Hidden Killers, Tony Brueski and retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer strip away the excuses and bureaucracy that let it happen. How does a child go unaccounted for months while everyone knew something was wrong? How does a mother stay free when the child she left with never returns? They examine the intersection of law enforcement failure, family neglect, and bureaucratic paralysis — and what it says about the way America protects its most vulnerable. This episode is empathy for the child, outrage for the system, and an unflinching call for accountability. Because Melodee Buzzard didn't vanish overnight. She disappeared over years of warning signs ignored. Hashtags: #MelodeeBuzzard #SystemFailure #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimeToday #TonyBrueski #JenniferCoffindaffer #MissingChild #JusticeForMelodee Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

When 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez vanished from her California home, nobody imagined she'd later be found inside a Tesla — registered to viral pop star d4vd. The question haunting everyone since: what was their relationship? In this episode, Tony Brueski takes you inside the connection that's now at the center of one of the most disturbing Hollywood investigations of the year.  Matching tattoos. An unreleased song called “Celeste.” Photos reportedly taken by him. A livestream clip that ends with the words “Delete everything.” What do these pieces mean — and how close were they, really? This isn't gossip. It's a deep dive into a power dynamic that may have crossed the line between fame and exploitation — and a reminder of what happens when influence meets innocence. Tony separates fact from rumor, walking the razor's edge between evidence and silence in a case that's as tragic as it is chilling. Hashtags:  #d4vd #CelesteRivasHernandez #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimeToday #TonyBrueski #HollywoodCrime #CelebrityScandal #JusticeForCeleste #TrueCrimePodcast #InvestigativeJournalism #PowerAndFame #PodcastClip #CrimeStory Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Imagine fifteen people—five of whom personally knew Laci Peterson—telling police they saw her alive, walking her golden retriever, after her husband had already left for his solo fishing trip. Now imagine every single one of them ignored. That's the picture painted by the LA Innocence Project in its new 600-page petition for a new trial. The filing lists more than a dozen witnesses who saw a pregnant woman matching Laci's description between 9:45 and 11:30 a.m. on Dec 24 2002, right in the Petersons' Modesto neighborhood. Detective Grogan told jurors no “verifiable” sightings existed. Yet other officers called those witnesses “credible.” Several now swear they were told by police, “We already got our guy.” This episode examines the testimonies that never reached a courtroom—and why suppressing them matters. If Laci was seen alive after Scott left, the state's entire timeline collapses. Fifteen people say they saw the truth. The question is — why didn't anyone want the jury to? #ScottPeterson #LaciPeterson #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #LAInnocenceProject #JusticeForLaci #TonyBrueski #WrongfulConviction #EyewitnessTestimony #CriminalJustice Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?  Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard should have been in a classroom in Lompoc, California. Instead, she's missing—and the story unfolding around her disappearance is hauntingly familiar to anyone who followed the Harmony Montgomery case. Former FBI agent and expert witness Jennifer Coffindaffer returns to Break the Case to dissect every known detail of this developing investigation, from the last verified sightings to the eerie gaps that have law enforcement scrambling for answers. Coffindaffer recounts how the case began not with a frantic 911 call, but with a report from the Lompoc Unified School District after Melodee hadn't attended school for months. The child's father died in a motorcycle crash when she was only six months old, and her mother, Ashley, appeared to have spiraled since. A chilling interview with Melodee's grandmother revealed a home in squalor, unfit for a child, and a family paralyzed by distance and dysfunction. By the time Child Protective Services intervened, it was already too late—Melodee had vanished. Law enforcement has released a crucial timeline. Melodee was last seen on October 7, 2025, at a California rental car agency, traveling with her mother, who reportedly planned a cross-country trip to Nebraska. Surveillance footage shows the child heavily clothed, possibly wearing a wig—a potential attempt to disguise her identity. As Coffindaffer points out, these details suggest intention, preparation, and deep secrecy. The FBI and Santa Barbara authorities have since executed search warrants, but so far, no confirmed trace of Melodee has been found. Through methodical breakdowns, Coffindaffer urges the public to share Melodee's image widely, drawing parallels to how social media once led to the discovery of Gabby Petito. Every share, every view, could be the one that brings a missing child home—or finally reveals the truth about what happened to her. #MelodeeBuzzard #MissingChild #TrueCrime #JenniferCoffindaffer #BreakTheCase #FBIInvestigation #HarmonyMontgomery #CPSFailure #GabbyPetito #TrueCrimeCommunity Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Sean “Diddy” Combs — the man who once ruled hip-hop, fashion, and nightlife — now faces a very different kind of countdown: 921 days until freedom. Federal Bureau of Prisons records confirm Diddy's expected release date as May 8, 2028, following his 50-month sentence for charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. But the real story isn't about a date — it's about survival. In this Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski exclusive, we dive deep into what life behind bars really means for one of the most powerful figures in modern pop culture. What's a day like for a man who once lived in penthouses and private jets, now forced to wake up at 5 a.m. for head count? What happens when a man used to commanding everyone suddenly has no control — not even over his own meals? Tony breaks down the stark reality of Diddy's prison life — the monotony, the risk, the psychology — and explores the haunting list of famous figures who didn't make it out alive. From Epstein to Bulger to Hernandez, history is full of men who thought they were untouchable… until the bars closed behind them. This is not the story of a comeback. It's the story of a countdown.

Before Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, his defense team was quietly preparing a courtroom strategy that would have shocked the nation. According to newly unsealed court filings, Kohberger planned to call friends of the victims — and even the survivors themselves — as defense witnesses. Among them: Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the two young women who lived through that horrific night in November 2022. Also on the list were Emily Alandt, Hunter Johnson, and Kaylee Goncalves' ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur. Imagine it — the two surviving roommates, who lost four of their closest friends, being forced to testify for the man accused of killing them. That was the reality Kohberger's defense was preparing for before he struck a plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty. In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down what that trial might have looked like — and how Kohberger's strategy reveals far more about his psychology than any confession ever could. Why would a killer want his survivors on the stand? What kinds of questions would they have faced? And what kind of manipulation drives someone to keep controlling people even after their arrest? This deep-dive dissects the legal and psychological layers of the case: from the 138 witnesses Kohberger planned to call, to the devastating emotional toll that trial would have inflicted on every surviving friend and family member. Because for Kohberger, control wasn't just about life and death — it was about owning the story. And this time, he lost it.

In this chilling segment of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski reads and dissects Chad Daybell's Letter #7 — a rambling, supernatural account written years before the doomsday murders that would make him infamous. In the letter, Daybell claims that while working as the sexton of a Utah cemetery, he was haunted by the ghost of a petty thief named Eddie — a spirit that supposedly opened gates, picked locks, and moved padlocks onto pegs. He writes that he eventually told Eddie to “go toward the light,” and that the disturbances stopped. Then the letter descends into something far darker. Daybell describes being electrically jolted and shoved by an unseen force while probing a “haunted grave.” He calls it a demonic attack and connects it to the same “evil legions” described in 19th-century LDS texts. To him, it wasn't psychosis or imagination — it was confirmation of his divine purpose. From there, he recounts hearing a dozen disembodied voices outside his window shouting, “We hate your books!” and claims this was proof that Satan opposed his writing. For Chad, it all fit the narrative: he wasn't an aspiring author with an obsession — he was a spiritual warrior under attack. That mindset — the blending of fantasy, religion, and grandiosity — would become the foundation of his later relationship with Lori Vallow, the “prophetess” who believed their murders were part of God's plan. Tony breaks down how this letter foreshadowed everything that came next: The God complex behind Chad Daybell's self-anointed mission. His habit of reframing delusion as divine validation. The chilling psychological progression from “I saw a ghost” to “I'm chosen to cleanse the world.” It's one of the most haunting pieces of writing from any modern-day killer — not because of its ghost story, but because of the mind telling it. #ChadDaybell #LoriVallow #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #ReligiousDelusion #MurderMystery #TonyBrueski #PrisonLetters Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard vanished after a mysterious three-day road trip with her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, in early October 2025. Surveillance footage shows Melodee wearing a dark wig and hoodie at a California car-rental counter on October 7. Ashlee rented a white Chevy Malibu (plate CA 9MNG101), drove more than 1,500 miles to Nebraska, and returned alone on October 10. Four days later, on October 14, the Lompoc Unified School District reported the child's prolonged absence. Deputies found Ashlee Buzzard at her home — but no Melodee. Officials say she has not provided a verifiable explanation and remains uncooperative. The FBI has joined the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, classifying Melodee as an “at-risk missing child.” In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony examines the mounting evidence, the haunting disguise footage, and the public's growing frustration that no arrest has been made. How can a mother drive across state lines with her child, return alone, and face no charges? Why hasn't an AMBER Alert been issued? What does her silence tell investigators — and what does it hide? Join Tony for a raw, in-depth breakdown of a case that exposes the gaps in our missing-child system. Hear how the FBI is tracing license-plate readers, cell-site data, and rental-car GPS logs to piece together Melodee's final known route. This story isn't about custody disputes — it's about accountability, and a little girl who deserves to be found. If you have information about Melodee Buzzard or Ashlee Buzzard's travel between October 7 and 10, contact the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office (805-681-4150) or the FBI (1-800-CALL-FBI / tips.fbi.gov). #MelodeeBuzzard #MissingChild #AshleeBuzzard #FBI #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #Lompoc #SantaBarbara #AtRiskChild #Investigation If you saw anything—any sighting of Ashlee Buzzard or a young girl between October 7 and October 10—call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office at (805) 681-4150, or their anonymous line at (805) 681-4171, or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Because the truth is simple: silence protects no one. And until the silence breaks, Melodee Buzzard is still missing. And that should haunt every single one of us. Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Before Donna Adelson was a headline — before the mugshots, the trials, the whispers about murder-for-hire — she was a woman built for control. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we trace how Donna Adelson became Donna Adelson — from her 1950s New York upbringing to the mindset that would one day define her downfall. What happens when an entire generation is raised to believe obedience equals love, achievement equals safety, and perfection equals survival? Tony digs into the psychology of authoritarian parenting, the postwar obsession with order, and the quiet fear that can turn control into compulsion. This isn't speculation — it's context. Because before Donna Adelson ever micromanaged her family's image or her son's future, she lived in a world that worshiped control and punished chaos. A world that taught: if you can't control the story, you lose it. This is where it all began — The Genesis of Control. #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #Psychology #Control #AuthoritarianParenting #CriminalPsychology #Matriarch #PowerAndFear Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

In this episode of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take listeners inside a letter that shocked everyone who followed the Dan Markel murder case — a 2024 note written by convicted killer Donna Adelson from her jail cell. It begins with a mother's lament — the pain of missing her grandsons' first day of school — but quickly morphs into something darker. “If I don't get out, then hopefully I die soon so that no one remembers me in prison garb behind bars.” The words read less like remorse and more like resentment — a woman consumed by self-pity, not guilt. Donna paints herself as the victim of “vigilante justice” and a hometown prosecutor's ambition, calling the case “another notch in her belt.” She even asks that her grandsons never see her in prison, telling them instead to “remember the good times.” But the Markel family's statement after sentencing makes clear what they think of that narrative. “Her display of emotion was not remorse for Danny's death, but sorrow for the consequences she now faces for causing it.”  They recount how Donna and Harvey Adelson kept Dan Markel's sons from their paternal grandparents for six years — until Florida passed the Markel Act — and describe her “callous indifference” to the murder she helped set in motion. This letter, and the family's response, expose the heart of the Adelson saga: control, image, and denial.  Donna's words show a woman who cannot see beyond her own suffering — who views justice not as accountability but as persecution. Tony breaks down what these lines reveal about her psyche, her obsession with narrative control, and the haunting reality that even behind bars, Donna Adelson still sees herself as the wronged party. #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurderForHire #PrisonLetter #JusticeForDanMarkel #FamilyControl #PsychologyOfEvil #TonyBrueski Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

In a quiet Virginia suburb, what looked like a perfect family hid something unthinkable. When police walked into the Banfield home in Herndon, they found 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield stabbed to death and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan shot in the head. Her husband, former IRS agent Brendan Banfield, claimed it was self-defense — that Ryan had broken in and attacked his wife. But investigators soon discovered the scene was staged.  Christine had never met Joseph Ryan. In reality, he had been lured to the house through a fetish site called FetLife, believing he was meeting Christine for a consensual role-play encounter. The account that contacted him used her photo and name — but wasn't her. It was allegedly created by her husband. Living in that same home was their Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who was having an affair with Brendan. She later admitted to helping orchestrate the meeting — and described the entire deadly plan as “part of the game.” Prosecutors say the “game” was a plot to kill Christine and stage it as a home invasion gone wrong. Both Christine and Joseph Ryan ended up dead. Juliana has since pled guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against Brendan Banfield, who now faces aggravated murder charges in Fairfax County. His trial, most recently delayed, is set for January 13, 2026. In this Hidden Killers deep dive, Tony Brueski exposes the chilling story behind the façade of suburban normalcy — how power, fantasy, and control converged into one of Virginia's most disturbing murder cases. This isn't a story about sex. It's a story about manipulation, obsession, and the fatal delusion of control. Because when you start to play God, eventually, someone bleeds for it. #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #BanfieldCase #JulianaMagalhaes #ChristineBanfield #BrendanBanfield #JosephRyan #VirginiaCrime #TonyBrueski #CrimePodcast #FetishMurder #HerndonCrime #MurderCase #TrueCrimeStories Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

In this full episode of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take you inside the minds of two of America's most notorious convicted murderers — Donna Adelson and Chad Daybell — through the words they wrote themselves. Segment 1: Donna Adelson's Prison Letter  From a Florida jail cell, Donna Adelson wrote a 2024 letter to her husband Harvey describing how her heart “breaks” over missing her grandsons' first day of school. What could have been a rare glimpse of remorse quickly spirals into denial and bitterness: “If I don't get out, then hopefully I die soon so no one remembers me in prison garb.” She paints herself as the victim of “vigilante justice” and a “southern sweetheart prosecutor,” refusing to accept any role in the plot that left her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, dead.  The Markel family's official statement, read in court, shredded that illusion — accusing Donna of callous indifference and of cutting off Markel's parents from their grandsons for six years.  Tony unpacks the psychology of control, image management, and moral blindness that define the Adelson saga — and why Donna's letter might be the most revealing confession she never meant to write. Segment 2: Chad Daybell's Ghost Story Letter  Then, we shift from manipulation to mysticism. In “Letter #7,” Chad Daybell — the self-proclaimed prophet now convicted of multiple murders — recounts his time as a Utah cemetery sexton.  He writes of being haunted by a thief's ghost, attacked by unseen forces, and taunted by demonic voices shouting, “We hate your books!” He interprets it all as proof that Heaven had chosen him for a divine mission. Tony dissects how this “ghost story” maps the arc of Daybell's descent — from fantasy and grandiosity to apocalyptic belief — showing how delusion and ego fused into a theology that justified murder. Two letters. Two minds. One terrifying common thread: a total inability to see reality — or remorse — through the walls they built around themselves. #DonnaAdelson #ChadDaybell #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #DanMarkel #LoriVallow #MurderForHire #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #TonyBrueski Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

For more than twenty years, the name Scott Peterson has been synonymous with guilt. A husband who smiled on camera, a pregnant wife who vanished on Christmas Eve, and a nation that decided — almost instantly — that he was the killer. But now, the Los Angeles Innocence Project has filed a 2,600-page petition that could force the courts — and the public — to look again. Their filing doesn't claim Scott Peterson is innocent. It asks a harder question: What if the story we all accepted isn't the whole truth? Inside the petition are four explosive claims:

Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly woke up in his Brooklyn prison cell with a knife pressed against his throat. According to a close friend, it was a warning — a scare that could've ended with blood on the floor. But here's the question that needs to be asked: why is this the story everyone's talking about? Because if even half of what's been alleged about Diddy is true, then the real horror didn't start behind bars. It started long before — behind locked hotel doors, studio walls, and a decade of silence. In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down why sympathy for Diddy's so-called “brush with danger” feels misplaced. The federal indictment, the civil lawsuits, the survivors — their stories paint a picture of inhuman treatment that makes one prison scare seem like poetic irony. Cassie Ventura's decade of abuse allegations. The infamous 2016 hotel video. Claims of “freak-off” sex parties, drugging, beating, coercion, and threats. Lawsuits describing a pattern of violence, humiliation, and control that allegedly spanned decades. The minors. The staffers who say they were forced to procure drugs or keep secrets. The federal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. The witnesses. The verdicts. This isn't about celebrity gossip. It's about power — the kind that corrodes every soul it touches.  And it's about what happens when the man who allegedly used fear as a weapon finally feels it himself. If you came here looking for a redemption story, you won't find one.  Because waking up to a knife at your throat isn't the same as living years with one metaphorically pressed against your soul. This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski — where we stop pretending that predators deserve sympathy, and start remembering the victims who were never headline news. #Diddy #SeanCombs #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #CassieVentura #DiddyTrial #DiddyPrison #CelebrityCrime #Justice Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872