Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

Monique Tepe bought her own engagement ring. She bought her own wedding ring. She listed both as "Separate Property" in her divorce from Michael McKee, writing "I paid" as the explanation. She never took his name. Seven months after they married in August 2015, she was done with him.

Eight years later, she was dead. And her family says they saw it coming.

Dr. Michael David McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon, is charged with murdering Monique and her husband Spencer Tepe in their Columbus, Ohio home on December 30, 2025. Both were shot — Spencer had multiple gunshot wounds, Monique at least one to the chest. Their children, ages 4 and 1, were found unharmed in another room.

The divorce paperwork required Monique to reimburse McKee $1,281.59 with a 23% interest penalty if she didn't pay on time. That petty financial arrangement was apparently not the end of his interest in her. Court records show contact between McKee and Monique in June 2025. Experts believe it may have been legal stalking — a way to force response after years of silence.

The timeline builds from there. June 2025: court contact and his Nevada medical license expires. September 2025: he buys a Chicago condo. October 2025: a colleague tells a process server McKee has "disappeared." December 30, 2025, 3:52 AM: Spencer and Monique are shot dead in the home where they'd married in 2020.

Retired FBI agent Maureen O'Connell identifies McKee as a "grievance collector." Therapist Darby Fox believes the planning began when Monique filed for divorce. McKee had no criminal history beyond traffic tickets. His neighbor used to chat with him by the pool.

He maintains his innocence. The charges are death penalty-eligible in Ohio.

#TeepeMurders #MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #HiddenKillers #ColumbusOhio #TrueCrime #GrievanceCollector #DomesticViolence #WeekInReview

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Rob Reiner's own words haunt this case. Experts repeatedly told the family that Nick was "lying or manipulating them." Eighteen rehab stays. Years of interventions. A fortune spent on dual-diagnosis treatment. And still, his parents couldn't figure out when to believe their son. Now a jury has to solve the puzzle they never could.

Nick Reiner reportedly admits he killed his parents. He's not denying it. But according to TMZ sources, he doesn't understand why he's in jail. He allegedly believes his incarceration is part of a conspiracy against him. That's either genuine psychosis or the foundation of an insanity defense being laid in public before trial begins.

The TMZ documentary "The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened" revealed critical details. Nick's schizoaffective medication was changed about a month before the murders because he complained about weight gain. Sources say the medication still isn't working properly in jail. When his family paid for treatment facilities, Nick would only stay 30 days — enough time to detox, not enough to treat the underlying illness.

Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer breaks down Nick's post-offense behavior. After the alleged killings, he checked into a Santa Monica hotel. The following night, he was wandering near USC. What does that pattern reveal about his mental state? Coffindaffer also examines why LAPD sought a court order to seal the autopsy reports and what investigators might be protecting.

The murder weapon has not been found. The case won't see a courtroom for at least two years. The surviving Reiner siblings reportedly oppose the death penalty. Prosecutor Habib Balian — the man who handled the Menendez brothers and Robert Durst — is leading the prosecution.

Nick Reiner is clearly mentally ill. The question is whether that illness explains the murders or whether he's spent decades learning exactly how to use it.

#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #InsanityDefense #Schizoaffective #FBI #JenniferCoffindaffer #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #ReinerCase

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Crime scene evidence presented in the Adrian Gonzales trial this week showed exactly how the Robb Elementary shooter killed children who were trying to hide. Former Texas Ranger Juan Torrez testified that investigators placed pink and yellow trajectory rods into bullet cavities throughout Room 111. The rods demonstrated the gunman fired downward — through the desks — at students sheltering underneath.

Jurors saw photographs showing pools of blood on the classroom floor, drag marks where bodies were removed, dried bloodstains on desks and textbooks, and a child's tennis shoe covered in blood. Judge Sid Harle warned the gallery before the images appeared: "These photographs are going to be shocking and gruesome." No family members left. They passed tissues and watched in silence for more than an hour.

Then came Arnulfo Reyes. The only surviving teacher from Room 111 told the jury he saw a "black shadow" appear in his doorway, watched fire come from the gun, took a bullet to his arm, and collapsed. He lay on the ground and listened as the shooter killed all eleven of his students. The gunman taunted him, splashed blood on his face, and shot him again in the back while he pretended to be dead. He waited 77 minutes for rescue.

Defense attorney Nico LaHood confronted Reyes about the unlocked classroom door. Whose responsibility was it to lock that door? Reyes admitted it was his. The defense is building a case that failures extended far beyond Adrian Gonzales — to the school, to security protocols, to everyone involved that day.

Texas Rangers also established what they called a "fatal funnel" — a hallway configuration with no cover that made tactical approach extremely dangerous. This trial is testing a question American courts have rarely answered: can an officer be criminally liable not for what he did, but for what he failed to do?

#UvaldeTrial #AdrianGonzales #RobbElementary #ArnulfoReyes #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Uvalde #TexasTrial #WeekInReview #Justice

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Alan Jackson spent three weeks on the Nick Reiner case. Every waking hour, according to his own account. His team issued ten subpoenas — all now sealed by the court. Then he walked into a Los Angeles courtroom and told the judge he had "no choice" but to withdraw. Whatever he discovered, whatever those subpoenas revealed, he says he's legally prohibited from discussing.

But Jackson did say one thing on the courthouse steps: Nick Reiner is "not guilty of murder" under California law. That's not a legal ruling. That's a preview of the insanity defense he was building before he left.

Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene inherited the case with approximately thirty seconds of introduction time before the hearing. She told reporters she'd had no prior contact with the Reiner family. The LA County Public Defender's Office has a strong capital case record — between 2006 and 2015, only one of their clients received a death sentence out of thirty capital appeals. But Greene is walking into a case mid-construction, with sealed subpoenas she may or may not be able to access.

Rob and Michele Reiner spent nearly two decades trying to help their son. Eighteen rehab programs. Seventy thousand dollars a month in treatment. A guest house on the family property. When Nick was arrested for allegedly stabbing them to death, the resources that had always protected him became a question mark.

Nick's arraignment is February 23rd. No plea entered. No bail. Alan Jackson knows something. He just can't tell anyone what it is.

#NickReiner #RobReiner #AlanJackson #MicheleReiner #PublicDefender #ReinerMurders #InsanityDefense #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #WeekInReview

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Barry Morphew pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Monday in the death of his wife Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared Mother's Day 2020. This marks the second time he's faced these charges. The first case imploded in 2022 when DA Linda Stanley's office failed to meet discovery deadlines and withheld key evidence from the defense — including unknown male DNA found in Suzanne's vehicle. Stanley was later disbarred for misconduct. Suzanne's remains were found accidentally in September 2023 in a shallow grave near Moffat, Colorado. An autopsy revealed BAM — a tranquilizer used on large animals — in her bone marrow. 
Prosecutors say Barry Morphew is the only private citizen in the region who had access to that drug, and he admitted using it weeks before Suzanne vanished. Court documents describe a troubled marriage: Suzanne texted Barry "I'm done" four days before disappearing, confided in friends about abuse, and had been secretly planning to leave him for a man she'd been seeing for two years. Barry maintains his innocence and says investigators have "tunnel vision." His attorney says this case will end the same way the first one did. Trial is set for October 2026. We cover the full timeline, the affair, the forensic evidence, and what prosecutors need to prove this time around.

#SuzanneMorphew #BarryMorphew #MorphewCase #TrueCrimePodcast #ColoradoMurder #ColdCaseSolved #WildlifeTranquilizer #MurderMystery #JusticeForSuzanne #TrueCrimeCommunity

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Attorney Eric Faddis breaks down the legal landscape across two major cases — and exposes where the system works, where it fails, and what happens next.

In the Nick Reiner case: Alan Jackson issued ten sealed subpoenas before withdrawing. He declared Nick "not guilty of murder" on the courthouse steps. There's a sealed medical order. Nick appeared in a suicide prevention smock. His medications aren't stabilized. Eric examines the competency question, what those subpoenas might reveal, and why the gas station surveillance footage showing Nick "calm" after the murders cuts both ways.

In the Tepe case: Police announced a preliminary NIBIN ballistic link connecting a weapon from Dr. McKee's property to the murders. Surveillance footage captured a vehicle traced to McKee arriving before and leaving after. Charges were upgraded to premeditated aggravated murder — death penalty eligible. Eric breaks down what "preliminary" ballistic evidence means, whether it can be challenged, and what defense strategies remain.

Then there's the domestic violence angle. Monique Tepe's family says she was emotionally abused. But the divorce records show no DV allegations, no protection orders — just "incompatibility." Eight years after the divorce, court activity brought McKee and Monique back together. Six months later, she was dead.

Eric examines why victims choose not to document abuse, how the legal system treats emotional abuse versus physical abuse, and whether court filings can be weaponized to force contact with an ex-spouse.

For anyone watching who recognizes their own situation in Monique's story, Eric offers legal advice on what steps victims can take to protect themselves — and where the system's limits are.

#EricFaddis #NickReiner #MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #HiddenKillers #InsanityDefense #Ballistics #DomesticViolence #TrueCrime

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Juliana Peres Magalhaes wrote from jail that she was "heartbroken for doing this to Brendan" and that she still loved him. Then she testified against him to go home to Brazil. So who was manipulating whom?

Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke joins Hidden Killers to break down the relationship at the center of the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Dreeke led the FBI's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and literally wrote the book on trust and manipulation. If anyone can decode this dynamic, it's him.

The prosecution portrays Juliana as a young woman manipulated by an older, more powerful man. They say Brendan told her it was "too late to back out" and pressured her into participating. The defense says she's a liar who flipped to save herself. Dreeke examines the behavioral evidence to determine which version is closer to the truth.

Juliana maintained the home invasion story for a full year before changing it. What causes someone to hold a lie that long? What causes them to flip? Dreeke explains the psychology of both.

The affair began in August 2022. Juliana was living in the Banfield home, caring for Christine's daughter, sleeping with Christine's husband — all under the same roof. Dreeke analyzes what that arrangement reveals about power, control, and the dynamics between all three people.

If Brendan and Juliana actually conspired to commit murder, that requires extraordinary trust. Dreeke explains what would need to exist for that kind of criminal partnership to form — and whether he sees evidence of it here.

#BrendanBanfield #JulianaPeresMagalhaes #HiddenKillers #RobinDreeke #FBI #Trust #Manipulation #AuPairMurder #StarWitness #Psychology

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Eight years after their divorce was finalized, something brought Dr. Michael McKee and Monique Tepe back into the court system. We don't know who filed or what it was about. Six months later, Monique was shot dead.

Attorney Eric Faddis examines whether someone can use the court system to force contact with an ex-spouse — and whether courts can prevent it.

The divorce records from 2017 show no domestic violence allegations, no protection orders, no restraining orders. Just "incompatibility." But Monique's family tells a different story. Her relative Rob Misleh said McKee was "emotionally abusive" during their brief marriage. He said she "just had to get away from him." He said the family knew about the torment.

Why do so many victims choose not to document abuse in divorce proceedings? Eric explains the risks of documenting versus staying silent — and why the legal system treats emotional abuse differently than physical abuse.

Monique filed for divorce rather than dissolution. She hired a private judge to expedite the process. Eric breaks down what those choices typically indicate — and whether this is a pattern he sees with clients trying to exit dangerous marriages.

If Monique was being harassed years after the divorce, what legal options did she have? Could she have sought a protection order based on emotional abuse without documented physical violence? And even when victims do get protection orders, how effective are they against someone determined to cause harm?

Here's the hard truth: McKee had no criminal record. There were no documented DV allegations. No protection orders. The divorce listed "incompatibility." Eric examines whether the legal system could have done anything — or whether this was a threat that was never officially documented.

#MoniqueTepe #MichaelMcKee #SpencerTepe #EricFaddis #DomesticViolence #CourtSystem #HiddenKillers #TeepeMurders #TrueCrime #ProtectionOrders

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

Forget the courthouse soundbite. Here's what matters: there's a sealed file in the Nick Reiner case that contains evidence significant enough to make Alan Jackson declare his client not guilty of murder—then immediately walk away from the case.

What's in that file?

Psychiatric evaluations we can't read. Medical records we can't access. Ten subpoenas targeting witnesses and documents the prosecution doesn't even know about. A confidential order signed by the judge relating to Nick's mental health. Sources confirming schizophrenia treatment—but zero details on what that treatment revealed.

Jackson saw all of it. He investigated "top to bottom, back to front." And whatever he found was apparently damning enough—for the prosecution—that he felt confident making a public declaration before handing the case off.

But here's the part that doesn't add up: if the insanity defense is airtight, why seal the evidence? If the psychiatric evaluations prove Nick didn't understand what he was doing, why hide them? If Jackson's so certain, why isn't he in the courtroom making the argument himself?

Something doesn't fit. There's a piece of this puzzle we're not seeing—probably because someone decided we're not supposed to see it.

The mainstream coverage is stuck on "will he plead insanity?" We're asking a different question: what's in the sealed file that nobody wants to talk about?

#NickReiner #RobReiner #SealedEvidence #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #CourtSecrets #InsanityDefense #WhatAreTheyHiding #PsychiatricEvaluation #TheRealStory

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

The charges against Dr. Michael McKee were upgraded from murder to premeditated aggravated murder. In Ohio, that distinction matters — it's the difference between serious prison time and death penalty eligibility.

Attorney Eric Faddis breaks down what prosecutors need to prove "prior calculation and design" and what this upgrade signals about evidence police haven't released yet.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant confirmed multiple firearms were recovered from McKee's property, with a preliminary ballistic link through NIBIN connecting one weapon to the crime scene. Eric explains what NIBIN is, how preliminary ballistic evidence works, and whether the defense can challenge it at trial.

Police have connected McKee to surveillance footage showing a vehicle that arrived before the murders and left shortly after. That vehicle has been traced to McKee. Eric examines how strong this circumstantial evidence is and what the defense would likely argue to counter it.

McKee waived extradition but remains in Illinois. Court records say his transfer to Ohio "will not be feasible" by the end of the week. His attorney says he plans to plead not guilty. Given the public evidence — ballistics, vehicle records, surveillance footage — what defense strategies might be available?

Chief Bryant said police are withholding details to avoid jeopardizing conviction. Eric explains when the defense and public will start seeing more evidence — arraignment, preliminary hearing, or discovery.

Spencer and Monique Tepe were found shot dead in their Columbus home on December 30, 2025. Their children — ages 4 and 1 — were found unharmed. McKee is Monique's ex-husband from a seven-month marriage that ended in 2017. Her family says they waited eight years for this arrest.

#MichaelMcKee #SpencerTepe #MoniqueTepe #EricFaddis #TeepeMurders #AggravatedMurder #HiddenKillers #ColumbusOhio #TrueCrime #DeathPenalty

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.