Bryan Kohberger: The Selfie, The School Paper, and The Psychology of a Killer | 2025 Year in Review

Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard vanished after a mysterious three-day road trip with her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, in early October 2025. Surveillance footage shows Melodee wearing a dark wig and hoodie at a California car-rental counter on October 7. Ashlee rented a white Chevy Malibu (plate CA 9MNG101), drove more than 1,500 miles to Nebraska, and returned alone on October 10. Four days later, on October 14, the Lompoc Unified School District reported the child’s prolonged absence. Deputies found Ashlee Buzzard at her home — but no Melodee. Officials say she has not provided a verifiable explanation and remains uncooperative. The FBI has joined the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, classifying Melodee as an “at-risk missing child.” In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony examines the mounting evidence, the haunting disguise footage, and the public’s growing frustration that no arrest has been made. How can a mother drive across state lines with her child, return alone, and face no charges? Why hasn’t an AMBER Alert been issued? What does her silence tell investigators — and what does it hide? Join Tony for a raw, in-depth breakdown of a case that exposes the gaps in our missing-child system. Hear how the FBI is tracing license-plate readers, cell-site data, and rental-car GPS logs to piece together Melodee’s final known route. This story isn’t about custody disputes — it’s about accountability, and a little girl who deserves to be found. If you have information about Melodee Buzzard or Ashlee Buzzard’s travel between October 7 and 10, contact the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office (805-681-4150) or the FBI (1-800-CALL-FBI / tips.fbi.gov). #MelodeeBuzzard #MissingChild #AshleeBuzzard #FBI #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #Lompoc #SantaBarbara #AtRiskChild #Investigation If you saw anything—any sighting of Ashlee Buzzard or a young girl between October 7 and October 10—call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office at (805) 681-4150, or their anonymous line at (805) 681-4171, or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Because the truth is simple: silence protects no one. And until the silence breaks, Melodee Buzzard is still missing. And that should haunt every single one of us. 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

28 Okt 20min

Before Donna Adelson was a headline — before the mugshots, the trials, the whispers about murder-for-hire — she was a woman built for control. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we trace how Donna Adelson became Donna Adelson — from her 1950s New York upbringing to the mindset that would one day define her downfall. What happens when an entire generation is raised to believe obedience equals love, achievement equals safety, and perfection equals survival? Tony digs into the psychology of authoritarian parenting, the postwar obsession with order, and the quiet fear that can turn control into compulsion. This isn’t speculation — it’s context. Because before Donna Adelson ever micromanaged her family’s image or her son’s future, she lived in a world that worshiped control and punished chaos. A world that taught: if you can’t control the story, you lose it. This is where it all began — The Genesis of Control. #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #Psychology #Control #AuthoritarianParenting #CriminalPsychology #Matriarch #PowerAndFear 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

28 Okt 13min

In this episode of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take listeners inside a letter that shocked everyone who followed the Dan Markel murder case — a 2024 note written by convicted killer Donna Adelson from her jail cell. It begins with a mother’s lament — the pain of missing her grandsons’ first day of school — but quickly morphs into something darker. “If I don’t get out, then hopefully I die soon so that no one remembers me in prison garb behind bars.” The words read less like remorse and more like resentment — a woman consumed by self-pity, not guilt. Donna paints herself as the victim of “vigilante justice” and a hometown prosecutor’s ambition, calling the case “another notch in her belt.” She even asks that her grandsons never see her in prison, telling them instead to “remember the good times.” But the Markel family’s statement after sentencing makes clear what they think of that narrative. “Her display of emotion was not remorse for Danny’s death, but sorrow for the consequences she now faces for causing it.”  They recount how Donna and Harvey Adelson kept Dan Markel’s sons from their paternal grandparents for six years — until Florida passed the Markel Act — and describe her “callous indifference” to the murder she helped set in motion. This letter, and the family’s response, expose the heart of the Adelson saga: control, image, and denial.  Donna’s words show a woman who cannot see beyond her own suffering — who views justice not as accountability but as persecution. Tony breaks down what these lines reveal about her psyche, her obsession with narrative control, and the haunting reality that even behind bars, Donna Adelson still sees herself as the wronged party. #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurderForHire #PrisonLetter #JusticeForDanMarkel #FamilyControl #PsychologyOfEvil #TonyBrueski 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

28 Okt 38min

In a quiet Virginia suburb, what looked like a perfect family hid something unthinkable. When police walked into the Banfield home in Herndon, they found 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield stabbed to death and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan shot in the head. Her husband, former IRS agent Brendan Banfield, claimed it was self-defense — that Ryan had broken in and attacked his wife. But investigators soon discovered the scene was staged.  Christine had never met Joseph Ryan. In reality, he had been lured to the house through a fetish site called FetLife, believing he was meeting Christine for a consensual role-play encounter. The account that contacted him used her photo and name — but wasn’t her. It was allegedly created by her husband. Living in that same home was their Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who was having an affair with Brendan. She later admitted to helping orchestrate the meeting — and described the entire deadly plan as “part of the game.” Prosecutors say the “game” was a plot to kill Christine and stage it as a home invasion gone wrong. Both Christine and Joseph Ryan ended up dead. Juliana has since pled guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against Brendan Banfield, who now faces aggravated murder charges in Fairfax County. His trial, most recently delayed, is set for January 13, 2026. In this Hidden Killers deep dive, Tony Brueski exposes the chilling story behind the façade of suburban normalcy — how power, fantasy, and control converged into one of Virginia’s most disturbing murder cases. This isn’t a story about sex. It’s a story about manipulation, obsession, and the fatal delusion of control. Because when you start to play God, eventually, someone bleeds for it. #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #BanfieldCase #JulianaMagalhaes #ChristineBanfield #BrendanBanfield #JosephRyan #VirginiaCrime #TonyBrueski #CrimePodcast #FetishMurder #HerndonCrime #MurderCase #TrueCrimeStories 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

28 Okt 18min

In this full episode of Hidden Killers Live, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take you inside the minds of two of America’s most notorious convicted murderers — Donna Adelson and Chad Daybell — through the words they wrote themselves. Segment 1: Donna Adelson’s Prison Letter  From a Florida jail cell, Donna Adelson wrote a 2024 letter to her husband Harvey describing how her heart “breaks” over missing her grandsons’ first day of school. What could have been a rare glimpse of remorse quickly spirals into denial and bitterness: “If I don’t get out, then hopefully I die soon so no one remembers me in prison garb.” She paints herself as the victim of “vigilante justice” and a “southern sweetheart prosecutor,” refusing to accept any role in the plot that left her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, dead.  The Markel family’s official statement, read in court, shredded that illusion — accusing Donna of callous indifference and of cutting off Markel’s parents from their grandsons for six years.  Tony unpacks the psychology of control, image management, and moral blindness that define the Adelson saga — and why Donna’s letter might be the most revealing confession she never meant to write. Segment 2: Chad Daybell’s Ghost Story Letter  Then, we shift from manipulation to mysticism. In “Letter #7,” Chad Daybell — the self-proclaimed prophet now convicted of multiple murders — recounts his time as a Utah cemetery sexton.  He writes of being haunted by a thief’s ghost, attacked by unseen forces, and taunted by demonic voices shouting, “We hate your books!” He interprets it all as proof that Heaven had chosen him for a divine mission. Tony dissects how this “ghost story” maps the arc of Daybell’s descent — from fantasy and grandiosity to apocalyptic belief — showing how delusion and ego fused into a theology that justified murder. Two letters. Two minds. One terrifying common thread: a total inability to see reality — or remorse — through the walls they built around themselves. #DonnaAdelson #ChadDaybell #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #DanMarkel #LoriVallow #MurderForHire #CultCrimes #PsychologyOfEvil #TonyBrueski 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

28 Okt 1h 9min

For more than twenty years, the name Scott Peterson has been synonymous with guilt. A husband who smiled on camera, a pregnant wife who vanished on Christmas Eve, and a nation that decided — almost instantly — that he was the killer. But now, the Los Angeles Innocence Project has filed a 2,600-page petition that could force the courts — and the public — to look again. Their filing doesn’t claim Scott Peterson is innocent. It asks a harder question: What if the story we all accepted isn’t the whole truth? Inside the petition are four explosive claims: 🔸 The Orange Van Theory — New evidence suggests a burglary across the street from the Petersons’ home happened on December 24, 2002, not two days later. Witnesses say a pregnant woman matching Laci’s description was seen confronting men near an orange van that morning. 🔸 The Burned Mattress — That same van was later found on fire, less than a mile away. Inside, investigators found a mattress soaked in blood. Testing confirmed it was human, but the case file shows it was never fully DNA-typed. 🔸 The Science That Doesn’t Add Up — New hydrodynamic analysis argues the bodies could not have drifted from Scott’s fishing location to where they were found. The tides, currents, and physics simply don’t match the prosecution’s 2004 theory. 🔸 The 126-Page Declaration — Scott Peterson himself has finally spoken, dismantling the case point-by-point. He maintains, “There was no direct or forensic evidence ever linking me to the crime.” Could this be the first real crack in one of America’s most famous murder convictions — or just the latest illusion from a man who’s been lying since day one? In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we take the objective view almost no one dares to ask: What if Scott Peterson didn’t do it? #ScottPeterson #LaciPeterson #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #LosAngelesInnocenceProject #TrueCrime #WrongfulConviction #DNAEvidence #OrangeVan #JusticeForLaci 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

27 Okt 16min

Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly woke up in his Brooklyn prison cell with a knife pressed against his throat. According to a close friend, it was a warning — a scare that could’ve ended with blood on the floor. But here’s the question that needs to be asked: why is this the story everyone’s talking about? Because if even half of what’s been alleged about Diddy is true, then the real horror didn’t start behind bars. It started long before — behind locked hotel doors, studio walls, and a decade of silence. In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down why sympathy for Diddy’s so-called “brush with danger” feels misplaced. The federal indictment, the civil lawsuits, the survivors — their stories paint a picture of inhuman treatment that makes one prison scare seem like poetic irony. Cassie Ventura’s decade of abuse allegations. The infamous 2016 hotel video. Claims of “freak-off” sex parties, drugging, beating, coercion, and threats. Lawsuits describing a pattern of violence, humiliation, and control that allegedly spanned decades. The minors. The staffers who say they were forced to procure drugs or keep secrets. The federal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. The witnesses. The verdicts. This isn’t about celebrity gossip. It’s about power — the kind that corrodes every soul it touches.  And it’s about what happens when the man who allegedly used fear as a weapon finally feels it himself. If you came here looking for a redemption story, you won’t find one.  Because waking up to a knife at your throat isn’t the same as living years with one metaphorically pressed against your soul. This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski — where we stop pretending that predators deserve sympathy, and start remembering the victims who were never headline news. #Diddy #SeanCombs #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #TrueCrime #CassieVentura #DiddyTrial #DiddyPrison #CelebrityCrime #Justice 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

27 Okt 12min

Power protects itself. That’s the unspoken rule inside elite institutions — and it’s what former FBI agent Robin Dreeke and Tony Brueski expose in this gripping episode of Hidden Killers. From Jeffrey Epstein’s library of blackmail tapes to the Department of Justice’s locked files, the evidence is there — and yet, nothing happens. Why? Because predators protect predators. In this extended, unsparing interview, Robin and Tony go beyond the headlines to uncover the psychology of protection: how abusers recruit other enablers, how fear and leverage turn good people into silent accomplices, and how institutions like the FBI evolve into self-preserving organisms that prize reputation over truth. They unpack the idea of “institutional psychopathy,” explain how collective narcissism fuels corruption, and ask the hardest question of all — what happens when the watchdog starts loving the wolf? If you’ve ever wondered why the powerful never fall, this episode will leave you furious, informed, and unwilling to look away. #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #RobinDreeke #Epstein #FBI #Power #Predators #Corruption #Accountability #TrueCrimePodcast 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

27 Okt 26min