FBI Unscripted | Real Agents On Real Crime

🔍 What does true crime guru Howard Blum now believe about Bryan Kohberger's fractured family and twisted motives? Paired with retired FBI behavior chief's razor-sharp breakdown of that abrupt July 2025 guilty plea – in this riveting rewind from Hidden Killers 2025 Year in Review – a look back at the biggest cases of the year. Blum unpacks the emotional rifts: Dad's uneasy post-murder road trip, sibling silences, and how Kohberger's criminology obsession birthed the #Idaho4 nightmare – sheath DNA damns, Amazon premed slips, and WSU stalking ghosts that universities ignored. FBI vet dissects the plea pivot: Ego-crushing evidence avalanche forced the "guilty" gasp, dodging death row but i...

🔍 Unravel the terrifying psychology behind the Idaho student murders with retired FBI profiler Robin Dreeke in this riveting deep dive from Hidden Killers 2025 Year in Review – a look back at the biggest cases of the year. As Bryan Kohberger serves four consecutive life sentences after his July 2025 guilty plea, we revisit the behavioral red flags that doomed his defense—from premeditated Amazon knife buys to DNA matches that obliterated third-party theories. Dreeke, ex-head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, exposes Kohberger's victim selection tactics, autism claims' fatal flaws, and the gap between real profiling and TV drama. Drug deal alibis? Dismant...

Two cases. Two different outcomes. One shared question the system still can’t answer.

In California, police say they moved quickly after Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found stabbed to death — confident they had enough evidence to arrest their son, Nick Reiner, within hours. The legal fight now centers on schizophrenia, medication changes, and whether mental illness excuses violence.

In Kentucky, the opposite happened. Everyone saw Mickey Stines unravel — law enforcement, attorneys, medical professionals. But because he was an elected sheriff, no one had the legal authority to stop him. No red flag law. No sus...

Court filings in the Mickey Stines case reveal a chilling reality: everyone saw the breakdown coming — and no one had the power to stop it.

An elected Kentucky sheriff spiraled publicly. He called dead relatives on his phone. Lost weight rapidly. Stopped sleeping. Displayed paranoia. His own staff pushed him to see a doctor. The diagnosis? Acute stress reaction. The response? Send him home — with his badge, his gun, and his authority untouched.

Twenty-four hours later, Judge Kevin Mullins was shot nine times in his own chambers.

In this deep-dive, retired FBI Special Agent Jenn...

Nick Reiner was diagnosed with schizophrenia years ago. He was in treatment. Expensive treatment. According to multiple reports, his medication was changed just weeks before his parents were stabbed to death. His defense attorney, Alan Jackson — fresh off a major acquittal in another high-profile case — is already calling this case “very complex.”

Translation: the insanity defense is coming.

But insanity is not a diagnosis — it’s a legal standard. In California, the question is narrow and brutal: did the defendant understand what he was doing, and did he know it was wrong?

In this episode, we...

By the time Romy Reiner walked into her parents’ Brentwood home Sunday afternoon, it was already over. Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner had been stabbed multiple times in their master bedroom. Their son, Nick Reiner, was gone. Investigators believe the killings happened hours earlier — giving Nick time to leave the house, check into a Santa Monica hotel, and eventually wander near USC, where he was arrested calmly at a gas station that night.

The murder weapon hasn’t been recovered. The hotel room Nick reportedly stayed in was partially cleaned before police arrived. And yet law enforcement says t...

Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke, who ran the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, joins us to analyze two cases that expose how predatory and crisis behavior escalates inside families while the people closest to it feel powerless to intervene.

First, the Nick Reiner case. The son of legendary director Rob Reiner now faces two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of both his parents at their Brentwood home. Dreeke examines the disturbing timeline that emerged in the hours before the killings: erratic behavior at Conan O'Brien's holiday party, repetitive questioning of celebrities like Bill Hader...

Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke — who ran the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program — joins me to break down the psychology behind the JP Miller case and what the federal indictment reveals about predatory behavior and coercive control.

A federal grand jury just indicted Myrtle Beach pastor JP Miller on charges of cyberstalking and making false statements to investigators. The charges stem from a documented pattern of harassment against his wife Mica Miller in the months before her death in April 2024. According to the indictment, Miller posted intimate photos of her online without consent, placed tracking devices on her...

Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke joins us to analyze the behavioral red flags in the Nick Reiner case—the son of legendary director Rob Reiner who now faces two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of both his parents.

In this exclusive interview, Dreeke examines the disturbing timeline that emerged in the hours before Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead in their Brentwood home: the erratic behavior at Conan O'Brien's star-studded holiday party, the repetitive questioning of celebrities like Bill Hader and Jane Fonda, the explosive public argument between father and son, and Nick's re...

Jesse Butler was eighteen years old when he pleaded no contest to eleven felony charges in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The charges included attempted rape, rape by instrumentation, and domestic assault by strangulation against two teenage girls. One victim was choked until she lost consciousness and required emergency surgery on her neck. Her doctor told her she came within thirty seconds of dying. Police recovered video from Butler's phone showing him strangling the other victim. Prosecutors could have pursued a sentence of up to seventy-eight years in prison.

Instead, a judge granted Butler youthful offender status. His punishment? Community service...

Three cases. Three explosive developments. One of the nation’s most respected former FBI agents breaking down what it all means.

In this extended episode, Jennifer Coffindaffer joins us to analyze the newest revelations in the D4VD / Celeste Rivas Hernandez investigation, the shocking identification of a second suspect, and the devastating domestic-violence failure surrounding the murders of Charity Beallis and her children.

PART ONE: The Inner Circle Cracks
D4VD’s record-label GM, Robert Morgenroth, spent three days on the stand before a grand jury — an extraordinary sign that prosecutors believe he has information he eit...

Rob Reiner didn’t ignore his son’s struggles — he built a movie around them. He talked openly about the guilt, the missteps, the decades of trying. Michele carried the emotional weight of nearly 20 years of crisis. They were present, involved, and doing everything our system tells families to do.

And still, they were left defenseless.

In part two, former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke explains the darkest truth: families are often fully aware someone is dangerous — but the law ties their hands. Parents cannot force an adult child into long-term treatment. They cannot limit their movement...

For nine months, Charity Beallis told anyone who would listen that she was in danger. She reported strangulation. Filed for divorce. Got a protective order. Went to a state senator. Documented her fears online. She even posted research showing that victims who are strangled are 750% more likely to be murdered by their abuser.

But instead of protection, she got a court ruling awarding joint custody to the man she said she feared. Three days later, Charity and her six-year-old twins were found dead from gunshot wounds.

No one has been charged.
Federal agencies — including Homeland Se...

Rob and Michele Reiner didn’t die because the red flags went unnoticed. They died because everyone noticed — and still couldn’t do a thing about it. The night before the murders, Nick and Rob had a public, explosive argument at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party. Guests heard it. People saw it. And yet, 24 hours later, the worst happened anyway.

Why? Because in America, when an adult struggles with severe mental illness, addiction, and escalating instability, families have almost no authority to intervene unless the person voluntarily agrees to treatment — or commits an act of violence.

Former F...

Three cases. Three explosive developments. One of the nation’s most respected former FBI agents breaking down what it all means.

In this extended episode, Jennifer Coffindaffer joins us to analyze the newest revelations in the D4VD / Celeste Rivas Hernandez investigation, the shocking identification of a second suspect, and the devastating domestic-violence failure surrounding the murders of Charity Beallis and her children.

PART ONE: The Inner Circle Cracks
D4VD’s record-label GM, Robert Morgenroth, spent three days on the stand before a grand jury — an extraordinary sign that prosecutors believe he has information he eit...

For nine months, Charity Beallis begged for help. She wrote letters. Posted warnings. Told friends, family, legislators — anyone who would listen — that she feared her estranged husband would kill her. On December 2nd, a judge awarded that man joint custody. On December 3rd, Charity and her two children were found shot to death.

Now the Secret Service and Homeland Security have joined a sprawling investigation, and the death of the suspect’s first wife in 2012 — also by gunshot, ruled a suicide, with evidence destroyed — has been reopened.

Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins us to break down...

A bombshell revelation from attorney Mark Geragos has shifted the entire landscape of the Celeste Rivas Hernandez investigation: according to him, LAPD has identified a second suspect. Not the killer — but someone allegedly involved before, during, and after Celeste’s death, including the disposal and possible dismemberment of her body.

Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins us to break down what investigators uncovered — and how they uncovered it.

Geragos says cellphone data, Tesla GPS, and social-media location tracking created a digital trail accurate “almost to the minute.” One key focus: a late-night trip to a remote are...

The grand jury investigating the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez has entered its third week — and the pressure inside that room is reaching a breaking point. Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins me to break down the newest developments as the people closest to D4VD begin to fracture under questioning.

This week, Robert Morgenroth — general manager of D4VD’s record label and president of his touring company — spent three straight days testifying. Three days for a non-target witness is extraordinary, and it signals something major: prosecutors believe he knows far more than he’s letting on. Accord...

One month after 18-year-old Anna Kepner was found dead on the Carnival Horizon, the case has exploded into public view — not because the FBI has announced charges, but because her own family is now exposing details that paint an increasingly disturbing picture of what happened inside that cabin.

In a December 5th custody hearing in Brevard County, Anna’s older stepbrother testified under oath that their stepfather, Christopher Kepner, once put him in a chokehold during a custody dispute — the same type of bar hold that killed Anna. That testimony, delivered while the FBI is investigating a homicide involv...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The first week of testimony has shaken the foundation of the defense for Brian Walshe. From cell-phone data placing him at multiple dumpster sites to surveillance footage and forensic tools found nearby — the prosecution says the timeline and digital footprints speak louder than any alibi.

Guest: ex-FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer. She guides us through:

How investigators used synced devices (MacBook + iPad) and phone-pings to chart Walshe’s movements.

The pattern of visits to dumpsters, apartment complexes, and Home Depot / Lowe’s — and why that movement doesn’t look like panic.

The axe, the h...

He kills a man on a NYC sidewalk — then sits at McDonald’s for 40 minutes while law enforcement hunts him. He gives his real name without fight, never touches the gun, then talks endlessly in custody. What kind of killer behaves like that?

In Part 2, former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins to interpret the odd psychology and what it might mean for the future of the case.

We explore:

Whether Mangione looked like a desperate fugitive — or someone who wanted to be caught.

What it means that he surrendered immediately, talked about a knif...

The suppression hearing for Luigi Mangione took a turn when prosecutors introduced a photo taken moments after his arrest — a photo showing Mangione had urinated on himself inside the Altoona McDonald's. It’s an image that stops you cold. Not because of shock value, but because of what it reveals about the moment the most-wanted man in America realized the chase was over.

In Part One of this interview, retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins Tony Brueski to break down why that single photo may tell investigators more than any manifesto or ghost gun ever could.

...

Brian Walshe is on trial right now for murdering and dismembering his wife Ana. Her body has never been found. He's already pleaded guilty to disposing of her remains and lying to police—but he says he didn't kill her. His defense: he woke up, found her dead from some unexplained medical event, and panicked. Rather than call 911, he spent three days Googling how to dismember a body, bought a hacksaw and hatchet at Home Depot, and distributed her remains across dumpsters in eastern Massachusetts. To protect his kids, they say.

The prosecution has a different theory. And a...

Whatever happened to Ana Walshe in the early hours of January 1, 2023, her husband left a trail. Starting at 4:55 a.m., he searched "how long before a body starts to smell." Over the next 72 hours: "hacksaw best tool to dismember," "can you be charged with murder without a body," "how to clean blood from wooden floor." He went to Home Depot in surgical gloves and a mask, paying cash for tarps, mops, a hatchet, and baking soda. Surveillance cameras caught him at dumpsters near his mother's apartment. Inside those bags: bloodstained clothing, cutting tools, and Ana's COVID vaccination card.

...

From the outside, the Walshes had it together. Three kids, a house in upscale Cohasset, a townhome in D.C., and Ana rising through commercial real estate. But the structure was fractured in ways that matter. Ana was months into an affair. Brian was under federal home confinement for art fraud, unable to travel, serving as primary caregiver while his wife built a separate life 400 miles away. She was the breadwinner. He was stuck.

Four days before Ana died, someone on Brian's devices searched "what's the best state to divorce for a man." Two days later, their last...

Brian Walshe sat across from detectives and told them everything was fine. Happy marriage. No affair. No idea where his wife went. He said he'd "never do anything to hurt" Ana. What investigators didn't tell him right away was that they'd already pulled his search history—queries like "how long before a body starts to smell" and "can you be charged with murder without a body."

In this interview, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—former chief of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—breaks down the recorded police interviews that are now central evidence in the Brian Walshe...

Brian Walshe sat across from detectives and told them everything was fine. Happy marriage. No affair. No idea where his wife went. He said he'd "never do anything to hurt" Ana. What investigators didn't tell him right away was that they'd already pulled his search history—queries like "how long before a body starts to smell" and "can you be charged with murder without a body."

In this interview, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—former chief of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—breaks down the recorded police interviews that are now central evidence in the Brian Walshe...

Tonight on Hidden Killers, we’re looking at two cases that have stunned the public with their contradictions, inconsistencies, and lack of action from the justice system.

In the Buzzard case, witness Tyler Brewer describes a home filled with paranoia: shifting stories about handing Melodee to strangers at a zoo, deleted accounts, talk of fake plates, accusations of undercover cops — and a pillow dressed in Melodee’s clothes surrounded by torn missing-poster photos. Ashlee’s erratic behavior continues, and Melodee is still missing.

In the Celeste Rivas-Hernandez case, her decomposed, partially dismembered remains were found in the frun...

In the case of Celeste Rivas-Hernandez, nothing is simple — not the timeline, not the condition of the remains, and certainly not the path forward for investigators. Celeste was missing for over a year before her decomposed, partially dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of a Tesla tied to public figure D4vd.

Early reporting suggested freezing; LAPD later clarified the body was not frozen when discovered, leaving open the possibility of prior storage. The autopsy is under a full security hold. A grand jury is reviewing evidence behind closed doors. Multiple people have lawyered up — and stil...

Tonight on Hidden Killers, we’re digging into the unraveling story surrounding nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard — and the disturbing firsthand account from the only person who’s been inside Ashlee Buzzard’s home since Melodee vanished.

According to witness Tyler Brewer, Ashlee claimed she handed her daughter to strangers she met at a zoo. No names. No contacts. Constantly shifting meeting spots across multiple states. Then, moments later, she snapped, “How do you know I left her in Utah?” Her story collapsing inside itself.

Brewer describes paranoia, accusations he was undercover, fears of being tracked, deleting accounts, talk of fake...

Tonight on Hidden Killers, we’re looking at two cases that have stunned the public with their contradictions, inconsistencies, and lack of action from the justice system.

In the Buzzard case, witness Tyler Brewer describes a home filled with paranoia: shifting stories about handing Melodee to strangers at a zoo, deleted accounts, talk of fake plates, accusations of undercover cops — and a pillow dressed in Melodee’s clothes surrounded by torn missing-poster photos. Ashlee’s erratic behavior continues, and Melodee is still missing.

In the Celeste Rivas-Hernandez case, her decomposed, partially dismembered remains were found in the frun...

This case isn’t just tragic — it’s claustrophobic.
A cabin.
A blended family.
A teenager found hidden under a bed.
And every adult involved spiraling in a different direction while the FBI tries to reconstruct what happened in those critical early moments.

Tonight on Hidden Killers, retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke joins me to break down one of the most complex psychological environments we’ve seen in a long time: the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner on board a cruise ship returning to Miami.

We start with the concealment.
Not foun...

As part of our Hidden Killers 2025 Year in Review series, we’re revisiting the question that haunts this case — can studying crime actually teach someone how to commit it?

When Bryan Kohberger, a Ph.D. student in criminology, was arrested for the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, the irony was inescapable. The man studying the psychology of killers was suddenly accused of becoming one. But what makes this case so disturbing isn’t just the alleged crime — it’s the meticulous planning prosecutors say went into  it.

In this two-part deep dive, Tony Brueski is...