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Criminologist Brent Turvey is the primary source behind "Broken Plea," the new book on the Idaho murders case. He has now been publicly disavowed by the defense team that hired him. Attorneys Ann Taylor, Elisa Massoth, and Bicka Barlow stated they are "appalled" by his media appearances and that he is violating his confidentiality agreement. They specified he was hired solely for crime scene analysis and is speaking on topics outside his scope. The book's own author told NewsNation there is "no smoking gun" and "no secret evidence." This Hidden Killers Week in Review combines two episodes examining the...

Kouri Richins was $7.5 million in debt. Her prenup made divorce financially devastating. And without Eric's knowledge, she took steps to ensure his death would be the most profitable outcome available to her. The financial and forensic evidence presented at trial mapped a murder that was months in the making, and in this Hidden Killers Week in Review, Tony Brueski walks through two episodes covering the complete case — the financial architecture of the motive and the execution of the murder itself.The prosecution's financial case was devastating. Kouri's house-flipping business had produced 236 bounced checks and fifteen failed renovation pr...

According to prosecutors, David Anthony Burke allegedly fatally stabbed Celeste Rivas Hernandez in his Hollywood Hills garage, then drove over a hundred miles to a remote location to allegedly dispose of evidence. The following morning, he reportedly gave a radio interview to promote his album. In the days and weeks that followed, prosecutors allege he ordered chainsaws, a body bag, and an inflatable pool under a fake name — and forensic evidence reportedly connects those items to injuries found on Celeste's remains. This Hidden Killers Week in Review combines two episodes analyzing the prosecution's case through the expertise of retired FB...

Michael Jackson voluntarily submitted to a strip search in 1993. Investigators photographed him to compare against a description Jordan Chandler had allegedly provided. More than thirty years later, both prosecution advocates and Jackson defenders insist those photographs support their position — and neither side has been able to definitively prove the other wrong. This Hidden Killers Week in Review combines two comprehensive episodes examining the Jackson allegations through the lens of evidence, legal procedure, and the unresolved questions that persist decades later.Tony Brueski reconstructs the 1993 Chandler case — the secretly recorded tape of Evan Chandler allegedly threatening to destroy Jack...

Christopher Whitcomb's book on the Idaho student murders presents itself as an investigation into unresolved evidence questions. When each major claim is checked against on-the-record responses from law enforcement, prosecutors, and the defense team itself, the foundation doesn't hold.This week's True Crime Today review examines the most consequential Kohberger case developments — a point-by-point analysis of the book's claims, the public disavowal of its primary source, and the civil litigation that represents the actual unresolved accountability in this case.Brent Turvey's chain of custody allegation regarding the Ka-Bar knife sheath centers on a claim ab...

The People's Brief filed in the case of David Anthony Burke — the musician known as D4VD — lays out a prosecution theory of premeditation and post-offense conduct that extends well beyond the alleged killing of fourteen-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors allege Burke texted the victim's phone after she was allegedly already dead. They allege he purchased disposal materials including chainsaws, a body bag, and an inflatable pool using the alias "Victoria Mendez." They allege three separate trips to a remote location near Lake Cachuma. And they allege that blue plastic fragments recovered from the victim's remains were forensically matched to t...

ATI — the educational arm of Bill Gothard's IBLP — shut down in 2021. The organization that spent decades providing curriculum to homeschooling families including the Duggars ceased operations without remediation, without outreach to former students, and without any institutional acknowledgment of the educational gaps it created. The adults it produced are still rebuilding.This week's True Crime Today review examines the most consequential conversations from our series on the Duggar family curriculum — the ideological architecture of the Wisdom Booklets, the institutional reach of the Character First program, and the measurable outcomes for adults who completed the full IBLP educational track...

Nick Reiner is being held without bail on two counts of first-degree murder with death penalty eligibility. His parents Rob and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home. He was arrested the same day. And the case has effectively stalled — because the autopsy reports on both victims remain incomplete more than four months after their deaths.This week's True Crime Today review examines the most consequential Reiner case developments — the procedural bottleneck, the emerging defense posture, and the legal analysis of what this timeline means for both sides.The prosecution has iden...

Bryan Kohberger entered guilty pleas to four counts of first-degree murder. He waived appellate rights. He is serving four consecutive life sentences without parole. The criminal case is resolved. The public conversation that has erupted since is not — and the substance of it doesn't hold up the way its authors want it to.This week's True Crime Today review examines the most significant Idaho murders developments — specifically, why the forensic claims circulating after the plea don't carry the weight being assigned to them.Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist retained by the defense, has publicly alleged chai...

Rex Heuermann's guilty plea resolved eight murder charges in one proceeding. But the structure of the deal itself raises questions that go beyond the confession. During a confidential session with prosecutors, Heuermann raised the name Karen Vergata — a woman he was never charged with killing. Her case was absorbed into the plea agreement, effectively closing it without a separate prosecution or public evidentiary hearing. The cooperation agreement with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit reportedly includes no mechanism to compel truthful participation or penalize refusal.This week's True Crime Today review revisits the most significant Gilgo Beach developments — the...

Three hours. That’s how long a jury of eight took to convict Kouri Richins on every single charge — aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, forgery, and two counts of insurance fraud. In the final installment of our definitive series, we examine what made the prosecution’s circumstantial case so overwhelming that the defense rested without a single witness. No medical expert. No financial analyst. No character witness. No one. We trace Prosecutor Bloodworth’s closing argument and the devastating simplicity with which he reduced a complex case to a single transaction: buy insurance, commit murder, file claim. We cover the defe...

A comprehensive procedural legal analysis of three major criminal cases by former felony prosecutor and defense attorney Eric Faddis.Nancy Guthrie has been missing from her Tucson-area home for over three months. No arrest has been made. No suspect has been publicly identified. FBI Director Kash Patel stated his agency was excluded from the investigation for four days. The Pima County Sheriff disputes this timeline. Faddis analyzes the legal framework for civil claims the family may pursue — including defamation actions against content creators who allegedly targeted cleared family members, potential county liability for alleged investigative failures including th...

The Cascio family is the latest. They won’t be the last. And the pattern they represent — decades of public defense followed by allegations, followed by money, followed by more allegations — is the pattern that defines the entire Michael Jackson saga.This episode covers the Cascios in full: the Oprah appearance, the memoir, the twenty-five years of vocal defense, the reported sixteen million dollar settlement, and the federal lawsuit alleging Jackson assaulted every one of their children. The estate’s attorney called it a desperate money grab and pointed to the decades of public defense as evidence the clai...

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty on July 2, 2025, to the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. He received four consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole and waived his right to appeal. The legal proceedings are concluded.A book titled "Broken Plea" by Christopher Whitcomb has introduced claims from former defense expert Brent Turvey regarding alleged chain of custody irregularities with the Ka-Bar knife sheath recovered at the crime scene — the prosecution's primary physical evidence linking Kohberger through DNA found under the snap. The evidence bag was reportedly documented inconsistently, with entries on a label appearing in...

A new book on the Murdaugh case makes the most disturbing claim anyone has put in print about Alex Murdaugh: that he factored the genuineness of his own grief into the murder plan. That he understood his devastation would be so real, so obviously authentic, that it would function as proof of his innocence. And that he was right — the deputies reached forward to squeeze his shoulder in the patrol car because his pain didn't look performed. It wasn't. That was the point.James Lasdun's The Family Man is built on years of original reporting — including two in-p...

At Washington State University, Bryan Kohberger's classmates kept a tally board tracking his disturbing behavior. A faculty member told a student to email "911" if she needed help around him. Women were afraid to walk home alone because of him. He was described as a narcissist who never displayed empathy toward another person. In the courtroom, he sat expressionless through everything — victim impact statements, a surviving roommate confronting him, families breaking down — and said nothing. Then from prison, he picked up a pen, and a different person appeared on the page entirely.Kohberger's jail letters have surfaced, and they...

The preliminary hearing in the D4VD case is set for May 26 after the defense's motion to delay was denied and a motion to seal the People's Brief was rejected by the court. The prosecution's filing — the most detailed evidentiary document produced in this case — lays out the framework for charges of first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a child under fourteen, and unlawful mutilation of human remains against David Anthony Burke. He has pleaded not guilty.The special circumstances alleged include murder of a witness, murder for financial gain, and lying in wait. Pros...

The crime scene was allegedly released early. A sergeant with no homicide experience was reportedly assigned to lead. The FBI Director stated publicly that his agency was excluded for four days during the most critical window of the investigation. And DNA evidence collected from the home has reportedly been difficult to interpret, with mixed samples that haven't yielded a match in the FBI's CODIS database.Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old woman, has been missing from her Tucson-area home for over three months. Blood confirmed as hers was found on the front porch. A masked, armed individual was captured...

A ghostwritten children’s book. A television appearance with a promo code. A six-page letter from jail scripting false testimony. And an anonymous package from her mother to the sheriff. Kouri Richins didn’t just commit murder — she produced, directed, and starred in a fourteen-month campaign to cover it up. In part four of our definitive series, we examine the digital evidence and public performances that became the prosecution’s most powerful exhibits. The Google searches alone read like a confession: lethal fentanyl dosages, poisoning on death certificates, luxury prisons, FBI jurisdiction, life insurance timelines. She deleted 800 messages...

Two landmark cases examined through the lens of criminal psychology by psychotherapist Shavaun Scott — one resolved by guilty plea, one in early proceedings.Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder for the November 2022 stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. He received four consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole and waived all appellate rights. Newly published letters from his time in the Latah County Jail — written in October 2023 to his dog, his sister, and his family — contain no reference to the victims, the charge...