Reiner Case: FBI & Psychology Experts Explain How Smart Parents Stopped Seeing the Threat
Rob Reiner wasn't naive. He was a successful director with resources, connections, and access to the best treatment money could buy. By the end, he was publicly saying they should have listened to Nick instead of the professionals. They brought a son exhibiting erratic behavior to a party where other guests considered calling 911. They went to sleep in a house with someone who, according to sources, was in psychiatric crisis. Something fundamentally shifted in how they perceived threat.Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—who served as Chief of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—analyzes twenty years of family dynamics. How does a family go from calling police in 2019 to sleeping in the same house on December 13th, 2025? Dreeke explains how trust gets exploited through reciprocity, vulnerability, and manufactured guilt. Nick co-wrote "Being Charlie" with his father—a movie about their relationship. That's extraordinary narrative control over the family story.Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott delivers our most comprehensive analysis—a three-part breakdown covering Nick's individual psychology, the family dynamics that trapped the Reiners for 30 years, and systemic failures that allowed tragedy despite unlimited resources. She examines Nick's schizoaffective disorder, the medication change that reportedly destabilized him one month before the murders, and the psychology of someone who admits killing his parents but believes his incarceration is a conspiracy.Part two breaks down how the family "grew used to" behavior that alarmed strangers and what three decades cycling through 18-plus facilities does to parents. Part three exposes why the mental health system failed. Dr. Drew said 30-day programs were "almost meaningless" for Nick. Alexis Haines said he belonged in a hospital. The care he needed may not even exist. When does supporting a dangerous adult child stop being love?#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #TrueCrimeToday #FBI #ThreatBlindness #FamilyDynamics #PsychologyJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
26 Tammi 1h 15min
Monique Tepe Did Everything Right: FBI Expert on Why Grievance Collectors Don't Let Go
She left after seven months. Let him keep the house. Let him have the rings. Paid what she owed—with interest. Moved back to Ohio, rebuilt her life, married Spencer, had two children. Her family says Monique never spoke Michael McKee's name after the divorce. She only called him "her ex-husband." She talked about emotional abuse. About torment. That she was always worried. She did everything right.Eight years later, police say he drove 300 miles in the middle of the night and killed her anyway.Former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer examines the psychology of someone who allegedly holds onto that kind of rage for nearly a decade. She breaks down what she calls "deep-seated resentment and hate that just built up"—the behavioral profile of a grievance collector who catalogs perceived slights, assigns permanent blame, and never moves on. Watching an ex-spouse build a new family doesn't bring closure for someone like this. It escalates obsessive attachment into violence.The divorce records reveal telling control dynamics. McKee wanted the rings back from a marriage that lasted less than a year. The separation agreement required Monique to reimburse him with interest. Coffindaffer explains what this suggests about ownership and entitlement—someone who demands jewelry back from a seven-month marriage isn't negotiating. They're keeping score.Police labeled this a "targeted domestic violence attack." But there were no prior reports. No restraining orders. No documented threats. Monique's family says the arrest was "not a shock"—they'd suspected McKee from day one but stayed quiet to protect the investigation. The family knew. For eight years. And the system couldn't act until someone was dead.Sometimes doing everything right still isn't enough.#TeepeMurders #MoniqueTepe #MichaelMcKee #JenniferCoffindaffer #TrueCrimeToday #FBI #GrievanceCollector #DomesticViolence #SpencerTepe #IntimatePartnerViolenceJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
25 Tammi 32min
Reiner Case: FBI Expert Analyzes "Threat Blindness" & California's 57% Conservatorship Failure Rate
Rob Reiner wasn't naive. He was a successful director with resources, connections, and access to the best treatment money could buy. By the end, he was publicly saying they should have listened to Nick instead of the professionals. They brought a son who'd been exhibiting erratic behavior to a party full of friends. They went to sleep in a house with someone who, according to sources, was in the middle of a psychiatric crisis. Something fundamentally shifted in how they perceived threat.Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—who served as Chief of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—analyzes what happened inside that family over twenty years. How does a family go from calling police in 2019 to sleeping in the same house on December 13th, 2025? Dreeke explains how trust gets exploited through reciprocity, vulnerability, and manufactured guilt. The Reiners had tried tough love. It hadn't worked. They blamed themselves. Nick co-wrote "Being Charlie" with his father—a movie about their relationship. That's extraordinary narrative control over the family story.But the system abandoned them too. Nick was under court-ordered conservatorship in 2020. A judge found him gravely disabled. A licensed fiduciary controlled his treatment. On paper, this is the system working. In reality, California's conservatorship expires after one year with no follow-up. Families can't petition for renewal. The state doesn't track what happens next.A California study found 83% of conserved patients remain stable under conservatorship. After termination? Only 43% stay stable. That's a 57% relapse rate—and the state calls follow-up care "voluntary." Nick's conservatorship ended in 2021. For four years, no one was watching. When he moved back in with his parents, when sources say he changed medications a month before December 14th—there was no legal mechanism for intervention. The system declared victory and walked away.#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #RobinDreeke #TrueCrimeToday #FBI #ThreatBlindness #Conservatorship #Manipulation #SystemFailureJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
25 Tammi 49min
McKee-Tepe Murders: FBI Experts on "Wound Collectors" & Why a Surgeon Allegedly Made Critical Mistakes
A vascular surgeon with no criminal record. A Chicago penthouse. A firearm that police say matches shell casings from a double homicide 300 miles away. And eight years of alleged obsession that ended with Monique Tepe and her husband Spencer dead while their children slept down the hall.Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—who headed the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—identifies Dr. Michael McKee as a potential "wound collector." These are people who don't move on from perceived injuries. They catalog grievances, assign blame, and carry resentment for years until it explodes. Dreeke breaks down how wound collectors think, how high-functioning professionals mask dangerous resentment, what finally triggers them to act, and how they convince themselves they're the victim. Understanding this psychology might help someone recognize the signs before the next tragedy.Former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer analyzes the forensic evidence. Surveillance footage captured McKee's vehicle arriving before the killings and leaving after. A hooded figure walked through an alley at 3:52 AM. A preliminary NIBIN ballistics match ties a firearm from McKee's penthouse to the crime scene. But the investigation raises questions: how did someone allegedly enter the Tepe home with no forced entry? And why would a surgeon—someone whose entire career is built on precision—allegedly keep the murder weapon in his own apartment for eleven days?Coffindaffer examines the behavioral red flags that emerged months before, including a malpractice process server who tried nine times to locate McKee at addresses that didn't exist. She explains what investigators are holding back, what the defense will exploit, and why waiving extradition might be calculated. McKee maintains his innocence and plans to plead not guilty to two counts of premeditated aggravated murder.#TeepeMurders #MichaelMcKee #WoundCollector #RobinDreeke #JenniferCoffindaffer #TrueCrimeToday #FBI #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #NIBINJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
25 Tammi 40min
Nick Reiner's Conservatorship Ended—Then His Parents Died: Inside California's Mental Health Trap
Nick Reiner was under court-ordered conservatorship in 2020. A judge declared him "gravely disabled." Licensed fiduciary Steven Baer controlled his treatment. The Reiners obtained the most restrictive mental health intervention California law allows. It lasted one year. Four years later, both parents are dead—allegedly killed by the son they fought to help.The devastating loophole: under California law, if a family provides food, clothing, and shelter for a mentally ill loved one, that person may no longer qualify as "gravely disabled." The Reiners may have lost the conservatorship not because Nick got better—but because they kept caring for him. The system forces families into an impossible choice: abandon your child or lose legal authority to force treatment.We trace the timeline: 2019 police calls to the Reiner home. Nick's reported schizophrenia diagnosis around 2020. The conservatorship under Steven Baer that ended after one year. The medication change approximately one month before the killings that sources say triggered a "complete break from reality." And we examine why Baer will almost certainly testify—and what his testimony means for Nick's defense.But the Reiner tragedy exposes a sixty-year failure. Before California's 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, families could petition courts to hospitalize violent, psychotic relatives. That system is gone. Today, someone can be paranoid, delusional, and dangerous but still walk free if they can say where they're going to sleep. California went from 37,000 patients in state psychiatric hospitals to fewer than 1,500 on involuntary conservatorships. Where did the patients go? The streets. The jails. Family homes where they became ticking time bombs.The Reiners reportedly spent vast sums on treatment. None of it mattered. The system finally has authority to hold their son—but it took two bodies to get him there.#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #LPSConservatorship #TrueCrimeToday #StevenBaer #Deinstitutionalization #CaliforniaLaw #MentalHealthLaw #SystemFailureJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
25 Tammi 51min
Tepe Murders: Gun Found in McKee's Penthouse, GMA Interview Reveals Undocumented Abuse
The physical evidence is now overwhelming. Columbus police confirmed the murder weapon was recovered from Dr. Michael McKee's Chicago penthouse eleven days after Spencer and Monique Tepe were shot dead in their Columbus home. NIBIN matched shell casings from the bedroom to a firearm seized from his residence. Multiple weapons were recovered. His alibi collapsed before his arrest. ATF picked him up at a Chick-fil-A seven minutes from the hospital where he worked overnight shifts. Surveillance footage places him near the Tepe home during the murder window. Police labeled this a "targeted domestic violence attack."But the paper trail tells a different story than the family's. Rob Misleh appeared on Good Morning America and said Monique told him McKee was emotionally abusive during their brief marriage. "She just had to get away from him." He said she was willing to do anything to escape, that the family knew about the torment. Misleh called McKee a monster, said Monique never spoke his name after the divorce—only "her ex-husband." She was always worried. But nobody thought he'd actually do it.The 2017 divorce documents show none of this. No domestic violence allegations. No protection orders. No restraining orders. Just "incompatibility." Attorney Eric Faddis explains why so many victims choose silence—the calculation that documenting abuse creates more danger than it prevents. He breaks down how the legal system treats emotional abuse compared to physical abuse and what options exist for victims who recognize their own situation in Monique's story.Eight years passed between the divorce and the murders. Then in June 2025, something brought McKee and Monique back into the court system. Six months later, she was dead. Eric examines what that timeline suggests and where the system's limits are when a threat was never officially recorded. McKee faces two counts of aggravated murder with prior calculation and design. Death penalty eligible. He plans to plead not guilty.#TeepeMurders #MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #MurderWeapon #TrueCrimeToday #EricFaddis #DomesticViolence #NIBIN #EmotionalAbuseJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
25 Tammi 36min
Brendan Banfield Crime Scene Evidence: Bedroom Renovated, Knife Hidden, FBI Analyzes Star Witness
The Brendan Banfield trial is building toward its climax, and day three delivered evidence that cuts through every defense narrative. Fairfax County detectives showed jurors what they found when they returned to the Banfield home eight months after Christine's death: fresh wood flooring where blood-soaked carpet used to be, new furniture throughout the master bedroom, and photographs of Brendan with au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães sitting on the nightstand where pictures of Brendan and Christine once belonged.Detective Terry Leach walked the jury through graphic crime scene photographs of Joseph Ryan's body—blood covering his face, hands, chest, and arms. The murder knife wasn't in Ryan's hand. It was hidden under blankets on the floor. That detail alone challenges the defense's theory that Ryan attacked Christine. DNA confirmed Christine's blood on Banfield's jeans. Fingerprints on the knife came back inconclusive. Prosecutors added that Banfield bought a gun weeks before the killings, took Juliana to a shooting range twice, and allegedly installed $30,000 in soundproof windows.The timeline crystallized with McDonald's surveillance footage: Banfield waiting in the parking lot, then exiting the bathroom at 7:37 AM with his phone pressed to his ear—the exact moment phone records show Juliana called to signal their target had arrived.But prosecutors face a complicated star witness. Juliana spent a year telling police the same story Brendan did before flipping to save herself. From jail, she wrote her mother that she was "heartbroken" for what she was doing to Brendan—that she still loved him. Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke, who led the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program for 32 years, examines what genuine coercion looks like versus willing participation. The affair began six months before the killings. Juliana lived in the home, cared for the daughter, slept with the husband. Dreeke analyzes the power dynamics and tells you exactly what to watch for when she takes the stand.#BrendanBanfield #ChristineBanfield #JulianaMagalhaes #RobinDreeke #TrueCrimeToday #AuPairMurder #CrimeSceneEvidence #FBI #StarWitness #FairfaxMurderJoin 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/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This 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.
24 Tammi 58min
