Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

Two teenage boys in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Both charged with first-degree rape. Both charged with strangulation. Both were 17 at the time of the alleged crimes. Both attacked teenage girls they were dating.

One of them walked out of court with community service. The other is sitting in jail on $30,000 bond, facing five years to life.

What's the difference?

Jesse Mack Butler was convicted on ten rape-related charges in 2025. One of his victims nearly died—her doctor testified she was thirty seconds from death during a strangulation attack. Police found videos on his phone of the as...

Brian Walshe is on trial for murdering and dismembering his wife, Ana — a woman whose body has never been found. He has already pleaded guilty to disposing of her remains and lying to investigators, but maintains he didn’t kill her. His explanation: he woke up, found Ana dead from an unexplained medical event, panicked, and tried to “protect his children.” The prosecution says the evidence tells a very different story.

In this full interview, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke — former chief of the Bureau’s Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program — breaks down every behavioral marker in this case: Walshe’s...

This full-length interview with retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke brings together two deeply disturbing stories — the Jesse Butler case in Oklahoma and the tragic death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard a cruise ship. Both cases expose something bigger than individual acts of violence. They reveal systems, institutions, and family dynamics that shape who gets protected — and who gets overlooked.

Part One: The Predator’s Playbook
We examine how Jesse Butler allegedly built trust, manipulated perception, and inflicted escalating violence behind a mask of charm. Love-bombing, grooming, strangulation, digital trophies, calibrated threats — this is the behavioral blueprint of a pre...

In this episode, I sit down with defense attorney and trial analyst Bob Motta to examine two major developments shaking the foundation of the Delphi case: the collapse of the timeline investigators built around the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German, and the sweeping appeal just filed on behalf of Richard Allen.

For years, the investigative timeline was treated as immutable. But in deposition after deposition, the structure starts to buckle. Bob and I dissect how key witness descriptions were reframed, how the search-warrant affidavit selectively emphasized certain statements, and how critical timestamps shifted depending on which...

Prosecutors in the Brian Walshe murder trial are trying to do something extremely rare: prove first-degree murder without a body, without a weapon, and without a confirmed cause of death. Ana Walshe has never been found. But what the Commonwealth does have is a digital trail that reads like a blueprint for premeditated murder — and a defendant positioned to receive $2.7 million in life insurance if his wife died.

According to testimony from Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino, the searches began at 4:52 a.m. on New Year’s Day: “Best way to dispose of a body.” Three minutes later: “...

This episode of Hidden Killers brings together three troubling, psychologically revealing stories — each offering a unique window into manipulation, identity, and the way families and offenders construct narratives to protect themselves.

We begin with Bryan Kohberger’s reported self-harm threats inside Idaho Maximum Security Institution. He’s allegedly telling staff he’ll “harm himself” if they don’t move him out of J-Block — a threat strategically worded, attached to conditions, and deployed after earlier complaints didn’t get traction. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott breaks down the psychology behind conditional threats, escalation patterns, and why institutions must take every claim seriously even whe...

The new Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning is igniting a firestorm — not only for its graphic accounts of alleged abuse, but for what former Bad Boy co-founder Kirk Burrowes claims happened behind the scenes financially. One allegation in particular is shaking viewers: that Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly charged the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. for the costs associated with his funeral, even as he publicly positioned himself as the devastated best friend mourning a national tragedy.

But the documentary doesn’t stop there. Across four episodes, The Reckoning lays out three decades of alleged financial exploita...

Charity Beallis did everything right. She reported the abuse. She filed for divorce. She got a protective order. She went to a state senator and told him her husband was going to kill her. She reportedly pleaded with local police. She posted publicly on social media, naming the case number, begging someone to listen.

The system heard her. And then the system gave her husband joint custody of their six-year-old twins.

Twenty-four hours later, Charity and both children were found shot to death in their Bonanza, Arkansas home.

Dr. Randall Beallis was arrested in...

Bryan Kohberger spent years studying criminal behavior, rigid thinking patterns, and how violent offenders survive behind bars. But just months into four consecutive life sentences, the reporting out of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution tells a very different story. Instead of a calculated mastermind adjusting to prison life, we’re seeing a man unraveling under pressure — filing grievances, demanding transfers, and issuing warnings that staff say look more like manipulation than crisis.

In this episode, we break down the nonstop stream of complaints Kohberger has reportedly filed since arriving on J-Block, one of the most restrictive housing units in t...

In this full episode, Bob Motta joins us to dissect the entire defense strategy playing out in the Brian Walshe murder trial — a strategy built not on one cohesive story, but on three shaky pillars the defense is hoping can hold up under the weight of the evidence.

First, Bob walks us through the “sudden death” claim — the idea that Ana died unexpectedly in her sleep and Brian panicked. Not murdered. Not harmed. Just suddenly gone. Bob explains why the defense is leaning into this bizarre narrative, what they were trying to draw out of the medical examiner, and whet...

The Brian Walshe case isn’t just about timelines, evidence dumps, and surveillance clips — it’s about a mindset. A pattern. A psychological profile that becomes harder to ignore the deeper you look. Today, we’re combining the trial’s most explosive Day 4 revelations with a full behavioral breakdown from psychotherapist Shavaun Scott, who helps us decode what investigators say they’re seeing in real time.

In court, jurors learned that Brian Walshe allegedly searched “Ana Walshe found dead” on Christmas Day 2022 — a full week before his defense claims Ana died suddenly and unexpectedly in their bed. Prosecutors also introduced te...

Two shocking criminal cases. Profoundly different stories. But a single unifying variable: evidence.

In this special all-in-one episode, former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins Tony Brueski to walk us through both the Luigi Mangione suppression hearing and the early trial of Brian Walshe — side by side.

What you’ll get:

A look at the body-cam video in a McDonald’s, a backpack with a ghost-gun + manifesto, and the scrambled fate of the Mangione case.

A deep dive into Mangione’s weird behavior after the killing — surrender, confessions, chatter in custody — and what it all...

This full-length interview with retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke brings together two deeply disturbing stories — the Jesse Butler case in Oklahoma and the tragic death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard a cruise ship. Both cases expose something bigger than individual acts of violence. They reveal systems, institutions, and family dynamics that shape who gets protected — and who gets overlooked.

Part One: The Predator’s Playbook
We examine how Jesse Butler allegedly built trust, manipulated perception, and inflicted escalating violence behind a mask of charm. Love-bombing, grooming, strangulation, digital trophies, calibrated threats — this is the behavioral blueprint of a pre...

Rebecca Park was 22 years old and 38 weeks pregnant when she disappeared from rural Michigan on November 3rd, 2025. Three weeks later, her body was found in Manistee National Forest—her abdomen cut open, her baby gone. Now her biological mother, Cortney Bartholomew, and stepfather Bradly Bartholomew face eight felony charges each, including first-degree murder and torture. But the allegations in this case go far beyond the killing itself. According to probable cause affidavits, Cortney had been having an affair with her daughter's fiancé, Richard Falor—the same man who fathered Rebecca's unborn child. 

Rebecca's sister Kimberly also allegedly told invest...

Charity Powell-Beallis spent nine months warning everyone who would listen. She told a state senator she feared for her life. She posted on Facebook that the system was protecting her abuser — a local doctor — while silencing her as the victim. She went through the courts, filed for divorce, requested protective orders, and did everything you're supposed to do when you're trying to survive.

One day after a judge awarded her estranged husband joint custody of their six-year-old twins, Charity and both children were found shot to death in their Arkansas home.

Her husband, Dr. Randall Beallis, had...

Eighteen-year-old Anna Kepner died on a cruise ship. Her sixteen-year-old stepbrother is the suspect. Now the public is hearing two competing narratives: the parents describing a picture-perfect blended family, and outside witnesses describing aggression, chokeholds, and tension adults insist never existed.

In this interview, former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke breaks down how investigators read these conflicting accounts. What signals truth? What signals narrative-protection? And how do you tell the difference between a family genuinely blindsided — and a family rewriting history?

We explore the grandparents’ “everything was fine” statements, the ex-boyfriend’s drastically different perspective, the minimized...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...

The parents of Jesse Butler's victims are breaking their silence — and what they're revealing is devastating. Jesse Mack Butler, 18, of Stillwater, Oklahoma, pleaded no contest to 11 felony charges including attempted rape, rape by instrumentation, and domestic assault by strangulation against two teenage girls. One victim was strangled until she lost consciousness and required surgery on her neck. Her doctor told her she was 30 seconds away from dying. Police found video on Butler's phone of him strangling the other victim. He faced 78 years in prison. Instead, a judge granted him "youthful offender" status — and he received community service, counseling, and supervision unti...

Two victims. Video evidence. Medical records. Eleven felonies. A potential 78-year sentence. And somehow, Jesse Butler walked away with community service, counseling sessions, and the promise of a wiped-clean record at nineteen.

In this segment, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke returns to dissect the institutional meltdown surrounding this case. The DA cut a deal without notifying the victims. A judge with connections to Butler’s father granted youthful offender status. A community service program rejected Butler outright. And families who were ready to testify were shut out entirely.

We dig into what the justice system th...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...

The Brian Walshe murder trial took a stunning turn Thursday morning when the defense rested without calling a single witness. Not Brian Walshe. Not their forensic experts. Not the medical professional who was supposed to explain how a healthy 39-year-old woman just drops dead in bed. Nothing. This comes just 24 hours after Walshe's attorneys told the judge he would take the stand. Instead, when asked directly by Judge Diane Freniere, Walshe confirmed: "I will not testify." After eight days of prosecution testimony and 50 witnesses, the defense offered zero counter-evidence to support the "sudden unexplained death" theory they promised in opening...

After fifteen years inside the Murdaugh family's world, after walking through that house twelve hours after the murders, after being dismissed by investigators and watching the trial unfold — Blanca Simpson has reached her own conclusion.

"Do you think Alex Murdaugh pulled the trigger?"

"I do. I do."

In the fifth and final part of this exclusive interview series, the Murdaugh family's longtime housekeeper shares her complete theory about what happened on June 7th, 2021. She believes "Plan A" involved luring someone else to the property — possibly Chris Rowe — but when that fell through, Alex pivoted to "Pl...

The Netflix documentary "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" presents some of the most damning allegations ever made against the disgraced music mogul — and the most explosive involve two murders that changed hip-hop forever. In this breakdown, we examine the documentary's claims about Diddy's alleged role in the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., including never-before-heard audio from Keefe D's 2008 proffer session where he alleges Combs offered a million-dollar bounty on Tupac and Suge Knight. We walk through the testimony of Bad Boy co-founder Kirk Burrowes, who kept detailed journals during his years at the label and now cl...

Jesse Butler wasn’t the monster people warn their daughters about. He was the boyfriend parents trusted. Flowers, church, country clubs, family dinners — the whole Norman Rockwell starter kit. And according to investigators, behind that perfectly polished image was a pattern of calculated violence that nearly killed two teenage girls.

In this interview, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke breaks down how someone like Butler operates in plain sight — how predators build charm, weaponize trust, and calibrate threats to keep victims silent. We walk through the behavioral markers, the escalation from love-bombing to violence, and why strangulation is one of...

This episode of Hidden Killers brings together three troubling, psychologically revealing stories — each offering a unique window into manipulation, identity, and the way families and offenders construct narratives to protect themselves.

We begin with Bryan Kohberger’s reported self-harm threats inside Idaho Maximum Security Institution. He’s allegedly telling staff he’ll “harm himself” if they don’t move him out of J-Block — a threat strategically worded, attached to conditions, and deployed after earlier complaints didn’t get traction. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott breaks down the psychology behind conditional threats, escalation patterns, and why institutions must take every claim seriously even whe...

Charity Beallis did everything right. She reported the abuse. She filed for divorce. She got a protective order. She went to a state senator and told him her husband was going to kill her. She reportedly pleaded with local police. She posted publicly on social media, naming the case number, begging someone to listen.

The system heard her. And then the system gave her husband joint custody of their six-year-old twins.

Twenty-four hours later, Charity and both children were found shot to death in their Bonanza, Arkansas home.

Dr. Randall Beallis was arrested in...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...

The death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner aboard a cruise ship has left behind a trail of conflicting stories — and at the center of it is a blended family dynamic that now looks very different depending on who’s doing the talking. Parents and grandparents describe harmony, closeness, and three teenagers who were “the three amigos.” Yet teens who actually lived inside that home describe something else entirely: aggression, chokeholds, tension, and behavior reframed by adults as “just playing.”

On today’s episode of Hidden Killers, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins us to break down what these contradictions reveal about denial, family...

Donna Adelson is officially back in South Florida — just not the way she planned. According to Florida Department of Corrections records, the convicted mastermind behind the Dan Markel murder-for-hire has been transferred from the Ocala reception center to Homestead Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade County. It's the exact placement her defense team requested at sentencing, when Judge Stephen Everett recommended she be housed close to her husband Harvey. The woman who allegedly funded a contract killing because she couldn't accept her grandchildren living in Tallahassee is now thirty miles from her former life, behind razor wire, serving life without parole. Her so...

Bryan Kohberger is reportedly telling prison staff he’ll “harm himself” if they don’t move him out of J-Block — and the wording of that threat is raising eyebrows. Not “end his life.” Not “I’m in crisis.” The phrase is specific, conditional, and attached to a demand. And in corrections psychology, that distinction matters.

Today on Hidden Killers, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins us to break down what this behavior actually signals. Is Kohberger genuinely overwhelmed inside Idaho’s most restrictive housing unit? Or is this a strategic form of pressure meant to regain a sense of control he no longer has?
...

A grand jury is actively hearing evidence in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez — and what's coming out of that Los Angeles courthouse is raising serious questions about who knew what and when. Robert Morgenroth, the head of D4vd's record label Mogul Vision and president of his touring company, reportedly testified for three days. He was overheard telling his attorney that prosecutors grilled him on why he didn't call police — and his response was that he "didn't feel it was his responsibility" and "just wanted to continue with the tour." 

Now a female witness is facing arres...

The prosecution has officially rested its case in the Brian Walshe murder trial after eight days of testimony — and Day 8 delivered some of the most emotional moments yet. Two of Ana Walshe's closest friends took the stand, painting a picture of a woman at her breaking point just days before she allegedly died at the hands of her husband.

Gem Mutlu, a family friend and the last known person to see Ana alive besides Brian, testified about spending New Year's Eve 2022 with the couple at their Cohasset home. He described a festive evening where all three signed a ch...

Twelve hours after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were gunned down at the Moselle kennels, their housekeeper Blanca Simpson walked through the front door of the family home. What she found inside would haunt her — and raise questions that the official investigation never answered.

In part four of this exclusive interview — the longest and most intense segment of the series — Blanca describes receiving the phone call from Alex, the slow-motion drive to the property with the radio turned off, and stepping into a house that felt different. Cold. Wrong.

The pajamas were laid out in the laundry room d...

Two teenage boys in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Both charged with first-degree rape. Both charged with strangulation. Both were 17 at the time of the alleged crimes. Both attacked teenage girls they were dating.

One of them walked out of court with community service. The other is sitting in jail on $30,000 bond, facing five years to life.

What's the difference?

Jesse Mack Butler was convicted on ten rape-related charges in 2025. One of his victims nearly died—her doctor testified she was thirty seconds from death during a strangulation attack. Police found videos on his phone of the as...

While threatening self-harm, Bryan Kohberger is reportedly reaching out to serial offenders across the country — trying to build relationships with the very people he once studied academically. It’s a pattern that has stunned investigators and raised deeper questions about identity, belonging, and psychological validation.

Today on Hidden Killers, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott helps us untangle what this behavior reveals. Why would someone convicted of killing four college students seek connection not with family, supporters, or advocates — but with other violent offenders? What does that choice of outreach tell us about how he sees himself and the world around him?

In this full episode, Bob Motta joins us to dissect the entire defense strategy playing out in the Brian Walshe murder trial — a strategy built not on one cohesive story, but on three shaky pillars the defense is hoping can hold up under the weight of the evidence.

First, Bob walks us through the “sudden death” claim — the idea that Ana died unexpectedly in her sleep and Brian panicked. Not murdered. Not harmed. Just suddenly gone. Bob explains why the defense is leaning into this bizarre narrative, what they were trying to draw out of the medical examiner, and whet...

Bryan Kohberger is threatening to harm himself if guards don't move him out of J-Block.

He's also reportedly reaching out to serial killers across the country—trying to network with men he apparently admires.

One of these is crisis behavior. The other is networking. You don't get to be both.

According to retired homicide detective Chris McDonough, who says he has sources inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, Kohberger has been writing messages to staff warning he'll harm himself if they don't transfer him. But at the same time, he's actively trying to connect wi...

LIVE COURTROOM COVERAGE — NO COMMENTARY

This is the raw, uninterrupted courtroom feed from The Trial of Brian Walshe, presented exactly as it unfolds inside the courtroom.

Brian Walshe is standing trial in connection with the disappearance and death of his wife, Ana Walshe, a case that has captured national attention and raised urgent questions about digital evidence, marital dynamics, and investigative timelines. This series provides unfiltered access to the testimony, exhibits, expert witnesses, and courtroom decisions as they happen.

There is no editorializing, no added narration, and no commentary — just the court, the attorneys, the...