The Prosecution's Case for Christ

Listen to Mayhem in the Morgue on all podcast platforms: https://link.podtrac.com/MayhemMorgue Content Warning: This episode discusses the death of an individual. If you’re sensitive tothis topic, this episode may not be for you. Proximity has a way of revealing character, especially when the walls are thin, and patience runs thinner. In this episode of Mayhem in the Morgue, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kendall Crowns reflects on neighbors whose actions left an enduring impression. From a disruptive medical school neighbor whose behavior eroded routine and focus to a volatile homeowner whose actions escalated into gunfire and a contested death investigation, Dr. Crowns traces how proximity can transform daily life. Highlights • (0:00) Welcome to Mayhem in the Morgue with Dr. Kendall Crowns • (0:45) Medical school housing and the quiet routine that made it work • (2:15) A new upstairs neighbor and the slow collapse of routine and focus • (4:45) Noise confrontation and the limits of courtesy • (6:00) Retaliation by anonymous landline calls • (10:15) Finals arrive and behaviors spiral • (13:30) Years later, a new home brings a new kind of conflict • (16:00) A routine afternoon in the backyard turns violent • (18:00) Law enforcement responds, but the behavior continues • (22:30) A familiar face arrives in the morgue • (25:00) Gunshot wound analysis and suicide determination About the Host: Dr. Kendall Crowns Dr. Crowns is the Chief Medical Examiner for Travis County, Texas, and a nationally recognized forensic pathologist. He las led death investigations in Travis County, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Kansas. Over his career, he has performed thousands of autopsies and testified in court hundreds of times as an expert witness. A frequent contributor to Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Dr. Crowns brings unparalleled insight into the strange, grisly, and sometimes absurd realities of forensic pathology. About the Show Mayhem in the Morgue takes listeners inside the bloody, bizarre, and often unbelievable world of forensic pathology. Hosted by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kendall Crowns, each episode delivers real-life cases from the morgue, the crime scene, and the courtroom. Expect gallows humor, hard truths, and unforgettable investigations. Connect and Learn More Learn more about Dr. Kendall Crowns on Linkedin. Catch him regularly on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and follow Mayhem in the Morgue where you get your podcasts. If you liked this episode, don’t keep it to yourself—follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave us a review.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18 Jan 28min

Breaking crime news as it happens throughout the day! Follow "Crime Alert Hourly Update" now on your favorite podcast app: https://link.chtbl.com/Crime_Alert Here's some of our top stories this week: An 18-year-old daycare worker who was supposed to care for kids, instead hurt & killed them...all to "play the hero" in a twisted plot to get "attention." A couple pulls into a driveway to turn around and are confronted at gunpoint. Now, a wife is grieving her husband's death, and the homeowner is behind bars. A Milwaukee jury convicts a father of child neglect after prosecutors say he locked his six children inside a storage unit while he slept in a nearby truck. Stay informed, stay safe, and stay ahead with "Crime Alert Hourly Update.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Jan 9min

Tot Mom Casey Anthony joins the latest Substack post, which takes Vice President JD Vance to task for his protection of the ICE agents involved in the death of 37-year-old protestor Renee Nicole Good. Anthony calls the shooting a crime, writing that it should be investigated "as all other officer-involved crimes". She also demands the release of any available body-camera video. When Anthony first launches her Substack, she claims she has "been in the legal field since 2011." That's an accurate statement if being on trial for her daughter's murder counts as legal experience. Anthony was acquitted of murder but convicted of lying to police. Substack is a subscription-based platform for writers and podcasters. Subscriptions to her channel cost $10 per month or $100 annually, with a free tier offering limited content. The world learned about Casey Anthony when her mother called 911 to report that her granddaughter had been missing for nearly a month and that Casey had just admitted it. Anthony spun a web of lies, claiming a nanny had taken 2-year-old Caylee and had not returned her. Police and the media got involved, but none of her claims proved true. On October 14, 2008, a grand jury indicted Anthony on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police. A jury acquitted Anthony of murder, but convicted her on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. Joining Nancy Grace today: Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC; X @TroySlaten Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive Rob Dick - Casey Anthony's Former Bodyguard, Bounty Hunter, and Private Investigator; Former Deputy Sheriff for Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept., and Owner of Renegade Investigations Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet," and Host of "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;" X:@JoScottForensic Shannon Butler - Investigative Reporter at WFTV Channel 9, Florida See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Jan 52min

One of the doctors who pleaded guilty to supplying ketamine to actor Matthew Perry, leading to his overdose death, avoids jail time, being sentenced to eight months of home confinement. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Dr. Mark Chavez to three years of supervised release. Chavez is the second of the five defendants to be sentenced in connection with Perry’s death. In his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big, Terrible Thing," Matthew Perry claimed to have been to rehab 15 times, detoxed 65 times, and spent about $7 to $9 million trying to get sober. Two years after his near-death experience, Matthew Perry went to a rehab facility in Switzerland. He admitted to faking pain symptoms to get OxyContin during COVID. He was also getting daily Ketamine infusions. Ultimately, it was Ketamine that killed him. On October 28, Matthew Perry went to his country club to play a game of Pickleball with friends. Perry returned to his home after the game and was seen by his assistant, who was leaving the house to run errands. At 4 p.m., the assistant returned home and found Perry floating face down in the heated end of the pool. Paramedics pulled Perry out of the pool and pronounced him dead at the scene. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Jan 42min

Brendan Banfield is now on trial for the murder of his wife, Christine, and the prosecution's star witness is Banfield's lover, the family's former nanny. Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who was also charged, has agreed to testify as part of a plea deal. In exchange for her testimony, she will plead to the lesser charge of manslaughter, then walk free for time served. She will then be deported back to Brazil. The murder plot unfolded as Christine Banfield planned a fun day for her 4-year-old daughter, with a trip to the National Zoo with her Brazilian au pair, Magalhaes. The adult and child leave for the day, but turn around when Peres Magalhaes realizes she forgot their bagged lunches. Arriving at the house, the au pair sees a car she doesn't recognize, and a man she doesn't know entering the house. Confused, she calls her employer, Brendan Banfield, who tells her to stay in the car, and that he will be right home. Banfield is at the house in minutes, and they enter the house together. The au pair takes the 4-year-old girl to the basement while Brendan Banfield goes upstairs to the master suite. Brendan Banfield finds his wife, Christine, nude, with a man he doesn't know, holding a knife to her throat. Banfield tells cops he tells the man to put the knife down, but he starts stabbing the 37-year-old mother. Brendan Banfield carries a gun as an IRS Special Agent, and he draws his service revolver and shoots the man in the head. The intruder is wounded and down on the ground. Banfield calls for Peres Magalhaes and tells the au pair to get his personal gun, a Glock, out of the bathroom safe. Giving her the code, the au pair retrieves the Glock and, at Banfield's direction, shoots Joseph Ryan through the heart as he is lying on the ground. Investigators say, however, they believe the story told by Brendan Banfield and the nanny is a ruse. Someone created the profile on the Adult Fetish website, pretending to be Christine Banfield, as part of an elaborate plan to kill Christine Banfield so her husband, Brendan, and their Brazilian live-in Au Pair could be together. Investigators found pictures of Banfield and the au pair together in the Banfield bedroom, and Peres Magalhaes' clothes were found hanging in Banfield's closet. Joining Nancy Grace today: Paul Batista - Prominent Criminal Defense Lawyer in NYC and Best-selling Novelist. Author of the textbook, "Civil RICO, Fourth Edition" Dr. John Delatorre - Licensed Psychologist and Mediator (specializing in forensic psychology); Psychological Consultant to Project Absentis: a nonprofit organization that searches for missing persons; X, IG, and TikTok - @drjohndelatorre Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of Podcast, "Mayhem in the Morgue," and Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Gigi McKelvey - Journalist, Host of the podcast “Pretty Lies and Alibis” prettyliesandalibis.org, Facebook, IG, TikTok: @PrettyLiesAndAlibis, Twitter: @PrettiesLiesAlibi Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, ‘Crime Stories’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Jan 48min

A Missouri man is charged with gunning down his neighbor in a violent confrontation that ended a lengthy history of harassment. A Tennessee church deacon was arrested and charged with nine counts of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor after his wife found photos and videos on his phone of a teenage babysitter using their bathroom. A US Bureau of Land Management officer has been charged with second degree murder after a drunken brawl at a Wyoming bar last week left a man dead. Sydney Sumner reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Jan 6min

An Illinois surgeon accused of gunning down his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, the father of their two young children, Spencer Tepe, allegedly threatened to kill Monique nearly a decade ago on “multiple occasions” during their brief marriage. Police arrested Michael D. McKee, 39, at a Chick-fil-A in Rockford, Illinois, on January 10, 2026, and charged him with two counts of murder in the deaths of Spencer and Monique Tepe. Authorities then upgraded the charges against McKee, who now faces premeditated aggravated murder. Police report they have the suspect's vehicle on neighborhood video surveillance in the couple's Ohio neighborhood, arriving just before the murders and leaving shortly after. A search warrant of McKee's luxury Chicago condo results in multiple weapons being found, with one of those weapons preliminarily matching evidence through ballistic testing to the Tepe murder scene. Twelve weeks before McKee is accused of murder, he is sued for malpractice by a Nevada man who claims McKee went into hiding or just disappeared, so he couldn't be served with legal documents papers. Nevada lawyer Dan Laird files the suit, but serving McKee was nearly impossible, as the surgery group he works for gives the attorney a fake address, and the phone number issued by the state medical board for McKee is a fax machine. Joining Nancy Grace: Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, and Author of "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future;" Instagram: @rkessler23, X: @GADivorce Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive Koa Lorimor - Former Army Sniper Dr. Thomas Coyne - Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 Medical Examiner's Office, State of Florida; Forensic Pathologist, Neuropathologist, Toxicologist; X: @DrTMCoyne Susan Hendricks - Journalist, Author: “Down the Hill: My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi;" IG @susan_hendricks X @SusanHendicks Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Jan 48min

A dad blames his ex-wife for their son's road rage murder; he's suing the mom claiming raising her middle at another car finger put their 6yo in the crosshairs. A grave insult for a slain Arkansas mom: she's buried alone, as her abusive ex claims their twins bodies following a triple shooting. Plus, a gym floor face off goes from thrusts to cuffs. Jennifer Gould reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Jan 7min