True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Brendan Banfield spent his career as an IRS special agent. He knew how investigations work. He knew how prosecutors think. He apparently believed he could beat a murder charge by taking the stand and explaining why "no reasonable person" would kill their wife over a six-week affair.
Nine hours of deliberation. Guilty on every count. Life without parole.
The jury believed the au pair. Juliana Peres Magalhães testified that she watched Banfield stab Christine, that they staged the crime scene together, that the whole thing was his plan from the beginning. She walked free with time served on a manslaughter plea. The defense called her bought and paid for.
Twelve people didn't care.
Defense attorney Bob Motta joins Hidden Killers Live to break down exactly what happened. The decision to put Banfield on the stand. The DNA that wasn't on the knife. The digital forensics fight that went nowhere. And the fundamental flaw in the defense strategy: they told the jury what didn't happen, but never gave them an alternative story to believe.
Bob explains why attacking a cooperating witness's credibility isn't enough. You have to give jurors somewhere else to land. The defense never did.
Prosecutors painted a picture of a calculated scheme—fake profiles on FetLife, catfishing Joseph Ryan into believing he was meeting Christine for a consensual violent encounter, killing him when he arrived, and framing him for her murder. The jury bought it completely.
Now the appeals begin. Potential grounds include the extraordinary plea deal given to Magalhães, suppressed digital evidence, and a recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling. But right now, Brendan Banfield is facing mandatory life without parole.
Was he arrogant enough to think he was the smartest person in the room? Bob Motta answers that question.
#BrendanBanfield #ChristineBanfield #BanfieldVerdict #BobMotta #JulianaMagalhaes #IRSAgent #AggravatedMurder #HiddenKillersLive #DefenseStrategy #TrueCrimeLive
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The Kouri Richins murder trial begins February 23rd—and the prosecution has taken major hits before opening statements.
Robert Crozier, the man who allegedly sold fentanyl to Kouri's housekeeper Carmen Lauber, has signed a sworn affidavit recanting his original statement. He now claims he sold OxyContin, not fentanyl, and says he was detoxing and "out of it" when he spoke to detectives in 2023.
The defense argues this destroys the state's theory. If Crozier didn't provide fentanyl, Lauber couldn't have sold fentanyl to Kouri, and prosecutors can't place the murder weapon in her hands. Judge Richard Mrazik acknowledged this could "poke holes" in the case but denied bail anyway, saying substantial evidence remains.
Now a new defense motion alleges prosecutors are intimidating witnesses—threatening arrest and suggesting immunity could be revoked if witnesses don't cooperate with additional preparation meetings.
True Crime Today examines every pretrial ruling and what they mean for trial. The 26 financial fraud charges severed from the murder case. The domestic violence expert blocked entirely. The FBI profiler limited to rebuttal testimony only. The statements suppressed after detectives failed to Mirandize Kouri during a 2022 search.
We also break down what prosecutors still have: Carmen Lauber's testimony, Eric's toxicology showing five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, the orange notebook allegedly detailing the night he died, and the "Walk the Dog" letter found in Kouri's jail cell that prosecutors call witness tampering. The defense says it was fiction.
No fentanyl was ever recovered. No pills. No forensic link. 80% of Summit County residents recognize this case—and eight jurors from that county will decide Kouri's fate.
This is everything you need to know before testimony begins.
#KouriRichins #EricRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #TrueCrimeToday #WitnessRecants #FentanylMurder #WalkTheDogLetter #UtahMurderTrial #PretrialRulings #TrueCrime
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Eighteen rehab stays. Unlimited resources. Two parents who showed up for every therapy session while other wealthy families sent handlers. And it allegedly ended with Rob and Michele Reiner stabbed to death in their Brentwood home.
Everyone wants to talk about what failed Nick Reiner—the system, the medication changes, the revolving door of treatment centers. But what if nothing failed him? What if he simply refused to let anything work?
True Crime Today examines Nick Reiner's own words across nearly a decade of interviews. On the Dopey podcast, he admitted to throwing a rock through a window specifically to "prove he was crazy" and manipulate staff into giving him drugs. He co-wrote a film—Being Charlie—that blamed his father for his failures, and convinced Rob Reiner to direct it. He got his parents to publicly apologize for listening to doctors.
Then we hear from Danny Spilar, who shared a rehab room with Nick when both were 15. According to Danny, the hatred was already there. Nick would stay up ranting about his parents. He was violent with other teens. He blamed everything on his parents' fame—not addiction, not mental illness.
Danny says he knew instantly who killed Rob and Michele when he saw the headlines. He doesn't buy the insanity defense Nick is reportedly planning. And he thinks jurors won't either when they hear Nick's own admissions.
This isn't about excusing systems or condemning mental illness. It's about examining what happens when victimhood becomes a lifestyle—when the people trying to save you become the enemy simply because they want you to live.
For families living this nightmare right now—this one's for you.
#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleSingerReiner #DannySpilar #TrueCrimeToday #InsanityDefense #BeingCharlie #Addiction #BrentwoodMurder #FamilyTragedy
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A firearm was recovered from Michael McKee's Chicago condo. The NIBIN ballistics database allegedly matched it to shell casings found where Spencer and Monique Tepe were shot sixteen times. That's how fast this case unraveled—two bodies on December 30th, an arrest 350 miles away on January 10th.
McKee allegedly went dark on his phone for 18 hours during the murder window. Swapped stolen plates from two different states onto his vehicle. Had over a decade of surgical training in precision and planning.
Investigators still caught him in 11 days.
True Crime Today examines both sides: the forensic investigation that caught a man who allegedly tried not to be caught, and the defense strategy that will try to create reasonable doubt anyway.
Former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer breaks down the investigative architecture. The surveillance footage analysis that first flagged McKee's vehicle. The NIBIN ballistics hit. The coordination between Columbus Police, FBI, Chicago PD, and Illinois authorities.
Coffindaffer explains what an 18-hour phone blackout actually tells investigators—and how they reconstruct movements when someone has deliberately created a digital gap. The stolen Ohio and Arizona plates looked like counter-surveillance. They became their own forensic trail.
Then defense attorney Eric Faddis reveals the playbook McKee's team is preparing. The pretrial fight to exclude testimony about alleged abuse never reported to police. The hearsay battle over three statements Monique allegedly told friends—that McKee could "kill her at any time," that she would "always be his wife."
She can't testify. Can her words still convict him?
For every piece of evidence, Eric reveals the innocent explanation the defense might offer. If acquittal isn't realistic, what does a "win" look like?
#MichaelMcKee #SpencerTepe #MoniqueTepe #TepeMurders #TrueCrimeToday #JenniferCoffindaffer #EricFaddis #NIBINBallistics #FBIForensics #DefenseStrategy
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Newly unsealed documents in the Monique Tepe and Spencer Tepe murder case reveal the prosecution's evidence and the alleged psychology of a killer who refused to let go.
According to witnesses, Michael McKee told Monique three things during and after their marriage: he could "kill her at any time," he would "find her and buy the house right next to her," and "she will always be his wife." Surveillance allegedly captured McKee walking through the Tepes' yard on December 7th, 2025—twenty-three days before the murders—while Spencer and Monique attended the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis. Monique reportedly left early, upset about something involving her ex-husband.
The affidavit lays out a prosecutor's roadmap: stolen license plates from two states, a cell phone that went completely dark during the murder window, a vehicle tracked arriving before and leaving after. Witnesses told investigators that during their marriage, McKee allegedly strangled Monique and forced unwanted sex on her. Strangulation remains the strongest predictor of future lethality in domestic violence cases.
Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis examines the case through the prosecution's lens. He identifies which evidence he'd anchor the entire case around, addresses the hearsay problem with statements Monique allegedly made to friends about death threats spanning years, and explains whether prior abuse allegations—never criminally charged—can even reach a jury. Firearm specifications allege an automatic weapon or silencer was used, signaling calculated premeditation.
The case reveals a brutal truth: doing everything right—leaving, divorcing, starting over—doesn't always protect you from someone who never recognized your autonomy.
Spencer and Monique Tepe were found shot to death in their Columbus home on December 30th, 2025. Their two young children were found unharmed. McKee has pleaded not guilty.
#MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #ColumbusOhio #UnsealedAffidavit #DomesticViolence #AggravatedMurder #TrueCrimeToday #CircumstantialEvidence #MurderCase
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