Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

It doesn't start with control. It starts with everything you've ever wanted.

The constant texts. The overwhelming attention. The "I've never felt this way about anyone." It feels like being chosen. Being seen. Being the center of someone's entire world. That's the trap—because what feels like devotion in month one is actually reconnaissance.

This episode maps the escalation of coercive control using the McKee-Tepe case as the connective thread. According to witnesses, Monique Tepe's seven-month marriage to Michael McKee allegedly went from photos of a happy couple to death threats, strangulation, and forced sex. Th...

The surge is slowing. After weeks of round-the-clock operations with four hundred investigators, sources say the Nancy Guthrie case may transition to a smaller, sustainable task force. The family has been briefed on the change. And the questions that remain unanswered are significant.

The DNA recovered at the scene hit no match in CODIS. No vehicle has been connected to the crime. Two individuals were detained and released with no established connection. The ransom notes contained details suggesting inside knowledge—but no collection mechanism was ever viable. Command coordination between Sheriff Chris Nanos and the FBI has fa...

We've been covering the Nancy Guthrie case since the beginning. This week, we step back from the daily updates and assess the investigation with two retired FBI experts who've been in rooms like this before.

Jennifer Coffindaffer delivers a forensic reality check. The DNA from inside the Nancy Guthrie home? It's a mixture. Family, landscapers, service workers—all contributing to a sample that has to be separated before genetic genealogy can even begin. The glove found miles away? CODIS miss. Doesn't match the property DNA. Coffindaffer asks the question investigators should be asking: is this even case ev...

FBI behavioral analyst Robin Dreeke spent his career reading deception in real time. His "Tempo Tells" framework identifies verbal and nonverbal deviations that reveal when someone is performing rather than authentically responding. In this episode, we apply that framework to fourteen months of Kouri Richins' public behavior after Eric's death—ending with her May 2023 arrest.

The 911 call is clinical material. "He's not breathing, he's cold, he doesn't have a pulse." Robin explains what trained investigators listen for in emergency calls: tempo deviations, detail calibration, emotional authenticity markers. High-stress environments make sustained performance difficult. What did Kouri's call re...

Shame is the abuser's final weapon — and it's the one that keeps working long after they're gone. Shame for staying. Shame for not seeing it sooner. Shame for what you tolerated. Shame for needing help. That internal voice telling you you're weak, stupid, broken — that's not your voice. It was installed by someone who needed you to believe you were the problem.

Put it down. Not all at once. Piece by piece.

The final episode of our coercive control series is about what true crime coverage never touches: healing. The identity you excavate after someone dism...

Robert Crozier, Former Drug Dealer, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving widow wh...

Two cases where the evidence tells competing stories. Both reaching moments that will define what comes next.

In the Kouri Richins trial, both realities exist at once. The prosecution has motive evidence that stacks to the ceiling: five times the lethal fentanyl dose, a forged life insurance policy, a boyfriend she booked a Caribbean vacation with for the month after Eric's death, texts wishing her husband would "just go away." Two weeks before he died, Eric told a friend he thought his wife was poisoning him.

But the defense has something too: four years of...

Anna Isbell, Acquaintance of Kouri Richins, takes center stage in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving wi...

The Nancy Guthrie investigation should be about finding an 84-year-old woman taken from her home in the middle of the night. Instead, the sheriff leading the case has become the story himself.

Former Chief Deputy Richard Kastigar told the Daily Mail that Sheriff Chris Nanos has "great disdain" for the FBI and holds a grudge from a 2015 investigation. The president of the deputies' union says it's become an "ego case." A former lieutenant who ran against Nanos—and is now suing him—calls him "a tyrant."

Nanos says the criticism is political. He says his FBI...

Carmen Lauber, Former Richins Housekeeper, continues to be cross-examined in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving wi...

The prosecution's case against Kouri Richins isn't just about fentanyl. It's about a timeline that points to planning.

Months before Eric's death: Kouri books an all-inclusive Caribbean vacation for herself and her boyfriend—checking in the month after her husband would be dead.

Weeks before: She texts that boyfriend, "If he could just go away and you could just be here, life would be so perfect." She allegedly forges Eric's signature on a $100,000 life insurance policy.

Valentine's Day, two weeks before his death: Eric calls a friend and says "I think my wife is...

Carmen Lauber, Former Richins Housekeeper, continues to be cross-examined in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving wi...

Anna Kepner's sixteen-year-old stepbrother has been charged with federal homicide. The FBI won't confirm it. The DOJ won't comment. But a custody battle just exposed everything.

A February 20th filing in Brevard County, Florida, revealed the teenager was charged on February 3rd, 2026, by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in connection with Anna's death aboard the Carnival Horizon. The eighteen-year-old was found asphyxiated under a bed in the cabin they shared — wrapped in a blanket, covered with life vests.

The federal case is sealed. Juvenile proceedings are closed to the public. Bu...

The fourth day of the Kouri Richins murder trial put the prosecution's most important witness on the stand — and the defense spent the rest of the afternoon trying to tear her apart. Carmen Lauber, the former housekeeper who allegedly obtained the fentanyl prosecutors say was used to kill Eric Richins, testified to four escalating drug transactions she says she carried out at Kouri's direction.

Lauber told the jury she bought pills for Kouri starting in late January 2022 after being told they were for an investor. The requests allegedly escalated from generic opiates to fentanyl, with Kouri approving th...

Defense attorney Kathy Nester told the jury something remarkable in her opening statement: after four years of investigation, prosecutors have "zero evidence" showing how fentanyl got into Eric Richins' body.

This week's testimony proved her point.

The Moscow mule cups at the heart of the prosecution's theory were never tested—the nanny washed them the next morning. Deputy Nguyen didn't secure the kitchen. White specks on Eric's nightstand, visible in crime scene photos, were never analyzed. Crime scene tech Chelsea Gipson found no drugs in the home on her initial visit, but evidence kept turning up...

This wasn't a professional job. The evidence says so.

The suspect visited Nancy Guthrie's home before the night she disappeared. When he came back, he didn't know about the doorbell camera. Tried to disable it and failed. Grabbed weeds to cover the lens. That's improvisation. That's someone who thought they had it figured out—and didn't.

If this was a burglary that turned into something the perpetrator never intended, what's waiting for them on the other side?

Eric Faddis spent years as a felony prosecutor before becoming a defense attorney. He's seen ca...

Carmen Lauber, Former Richins Housekeeper, is cross-examined by the defense in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A gr...

December 6, 2025. Monique was in Indianapolis. According to the affidavit, McKee was at her house. She left the game at halftime. No documented tip-off. Her nervous system picked up a signal the rest of us would have missed entirely.

This episode examines life after escape — the PTSD, the hypervigilance, the landmined ordinary moments, and the partners who inherit the fear. Spencer Tepe loved a woman carrying years of alleged terror. He carried it alongside her. This is the part of the story nobody covers — and the part that should change how we understand what survivors carry.

We...

Carmen Lauber, Former Richins' Housekeeper, testifies in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving widow who wrote ab...

Two cases that defy easy explanation. One expert who can illuminate what the rest of us can't grasp.

Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper has maintained complete silence for three weeks. No contact with investigators. No response to the family's desperate pleas. No ransom demand. Just nothing. What does that absence of communication reveal about who has her and what they want?

Kouri Richins allegedly chose to kill her husband rather than divorce him—poisoning Eric with fentanyl after allegedly making multiple attempts. But Eric reportedly knew something was wrong. He told people. He consulted lawyers. He to...

Four hundred investigators. DNA at the scene. Forty thousand tips. No suspect.

The Nancy Guthrie investigation has reached a crossroads. Sources say operations may soon transition from surge mode to a smaller long-term task force. The family has been briefed. Two people were detained and released with no connection. CODIS returned nothing. The backpack and gloves found near the scene led nowhere. No vehicle identified.

The doorbell camera evidence has generated competing narratives. Some sources suggest the images may have been captured on different days—raising the possibility the suspect visited before the night Nancy va...

Ryan Holden, Senior Forensics Scientist, takes center stage in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving widow wh...

This is the episode I've been thinking about for months.

The Kouri Richins trial just started in Utah. The headlines are all about the fentanyl, the children's book about grief, the alleged affair. But nobody's talking about what Eric Richins actually lived through—the years of psychological warfare before the night prosecutors say she killed him.

According to court documents, Eric discovered Kouri had allegedly stolen nearly half a million dollars from him. Forged his signature. Drained his accounts. He confronted her. She promised to pay it back. She allegedly never did.

He co...

Police Detective & Digital Forensics Expert take the stand in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving widow wh...

Eric Richins took precautions. He consulted divorce lawyers. He met with estate planners. He removed Kouri from his life insurance policy. He transferred business assets into a trust controlled by his sister. He reportedly told people he suspected his wife was trying to poison him.

And then he stayed.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examines the psychology of victims who remain in relationships they believe are dangerous. This isn't about blaming Eric or questioning his judgment. It's about understanding forces most people never have to face.

Suspecting your spouse might kill you is unlike any...

Brianna Peterson, Forensic Toxicologist, takes the stand in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A grieving widow who wr...

She found the body. Romy Reiner, 28 years old, walked into her parents' Brentwood home on December 14th because a massage therapist couldn't reach them. She discovered her father in the master bedroom. She called 911. Hours later, her brother Nick was arrested.

We've dissected Nick Reiner's case from every angle. His schizoaffective disorder. His conservatorship history. His not guilty plea. But this episode is about the three people navigating something the legal system barely has language for: being victims, primary mourners, and family of the accused—all at once.

Jake Reiner, 34, followed his father into film af...

Chelsea Gipson, Lead Crime Scene Technician, takes the stand again in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A gr...

The defense came out swinging in the Kouri Richins murder trial and didn't waste a single minute. Attorney Kathy Nester used her cross-examination of crime scene technician Chelsea Gipson to expose a pattern of investigative gaps that go straight to the heart of the prosecution's case.

A hydrocodone bottle from the victim's nightstand was never tested for fentanyl. The kitchen — central to the prosecution's theory that Kouri spiked a Moscow mule — was never photographed. No drug paraphernalia was found in the home. Items were moved during scene processing. And Gipson confirmed under oath that people commonly conceal illi...

Why murder instead of divorce? That's the question the Kouri Richins case forces us to confront.

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl, that she made multiple attempts before the one that killed him, and that she stood to gain nearly two million dollars in life insurance while carrying on an affair. But financial motive doesn't explain the psychology. Plenty of people want out of marriages with money at stake. What makes someone decide killing is the answer?

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examines the internal logic of partners who allegedly choose murder over...

Three weeks since Nancy Guthrie was taken. Her kidnapper has said nothing. No ransom demand. No proof of life. No communication of any kind. The silence is absolute—and it's the most important piece of evidence we have.

The ransom notes that surfaced weren't from the perpetrator. Investigators believe those came from opportunists trying to exploit the situation. The actual person holding Nancy has maintained complete radio silence since the abduction.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott provides in-depth analysis of what this behavioral pattern reveals. In kidnapping cases, communication is the mechanism perpetrators use to extract what th...

She left fast. Filed for divorce. Moved back to Ohio. Did everything right. And according to prosecutors, the man she fled from allegedly came anyway — eight years later.

This episode breaks down the real barriers between victims and the door — financial traps, custody weaponization, a legal system that waits for the worst, trauma bonding, and the credibility gap. We examine why separation is the highest-risk moment in domestic violence and why the system failed to protect what Monique built after she got out.

Every time someone asks "why didn't she just leave?" it puts the burd...

Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta delivers expert analysis on three high-profile cases: the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation stalling at day 23, the Kouri Richins murder trial in week one, and the Colin Gray prosecution that could reshape parental liability law.

The Guthrie case has problems. Four hundred investigators, forty thousand tips—no arrest. DNA evidence stuck for potentially a year. Sources say the investigation is scaling back. Bob breaks down what that signals and how a defense attorney would exploit every weakness.

The Richins trial is underway with powerful evidence on both sides. Carmen Lauber—the hous...

Forget the opening statements. Forget the attorneys' spin. In this episode, we go straight to the source — the two recordings that captured Kouri Richins in the hours after Eric Richins was found dead in their bed.

First, the 911 call. Placed at 3:21 a.m. on March 4, 2022. Kouri is crying hard. She can barely form sentences. She tells the dispatcher her husband isn't breathing, that he's cold, that she doesn't know what happened. When asked about CPR, she says she doesn't know how. The defense played this for the jury and called it the sound of a wife be...

Two words in a Los Angeles courtroom today. Not guilty. Entered by Nick Reiner's public defender as he sat slumped behind glass, charged with stabbing both of his parents to death.

Rob Reiner. Michele Singer Reiner. Found in their bedroom with multiple stab wounds on the first night of Hanukkah. Their 32-year-old son arrested the same day, now facing two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances.

Today's plea triggered the expected outrage. But here's what most people don't understand: that plea wasn't a defense. It was a door. The real strategy hasn't been...

Chelsea Gipson, Lead Crime Scene Technician, takes the stand again in the Kouri Richins trial.

Kouri Richins stands accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022—allegedly to collect on a $1.9 million life insurance policy she secretly increased just weeks before his death. What prosecutors describe as a calculated murder-for-profit scheme, the defense calls a tragic accident involving a man who, they claim, had a hidden drug problem.

This is gavel-to-gavel coverage of one of the most closely watched trials in Utah history. A children's book author. A gr...

The cause of death isn't in dispute. Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose—several times the lethal amount. Dr. Pamela Sue Ulmer confirmed it on the stand. No evidence of injury. No natural causes.

The question is whether prosecutors can prove Kouri Richins put it there.

Day 2 of this Utah murder trial featured first responders, medical examiners, and a 3D virtual walkthrough of the crime scene. But the defense used every witness to highlight what investigators didn't do. Deputy Vincent Nguyen never entered the kitchen. An empty hydrocodone bottle wasn't bagged. Glassware in the si...

Within minutes of the Apalachee High School shooting, body camera footage captured Colin Gray telling deputies, "God, I knew it." He also said he'd been trying to get his son into counseling. Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta breaks down what those statements mean for Colin Gray's defense—and whether they're devastating admission or desperate father's guilt that a jury might understand.

The Colin Gray trial isn't just a murder case—it's a stress test for parental liability law. Prosecutors charged second-degree murder, not manslaughter. The Crumbleys set a precedent in Michigan. Georgia is determining how far that prec...

Eighteen days before Eric Richins died, he called two friends and said, "I think my wife tried to poison me." One friend says he heard fear in Eric's voice. That statement goes directly to the attempted murder charge against Kouri Richins—and it may be the most damaging evidence prosecutors have.

Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta breaks down the first week of the Kouri Richins trial in Summit County, analyzing what we learned from opening statements and where this five-week case is most likely to be won or lost.

The prosecution painted Kouri as a ca...

The Nancy Guthrie investigation just got a lot more complicated—and a lot more revealing about who we're dealing with.

Law enforcement sources confirmed what many suspected: the doorbell camera images weren't all captured on February 1st. At least one image—showing the suspect without his backpack—was taken on an earlier visit to Nancy Guthrie's property. The theory? He showed up, saw the camera, got spooked, and came back with a plan to cover it with weeds.

Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta joins Hidden Killers to break down exactly what this means from a legal...