Donna Adelson Trial: Prosecution Rebuttal Hammers Final Blows | Hidden Killers Live

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

1 Nov 13min

Before Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, his defense team was quietly preparing a courtroom strategy that would have shocked the nation. According to newly unsealed court filings, Kohberger planned to call friends of the victims — and even the survivors themselves — as defense witnesses. Among them: Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the two young women who lived through that horrific night in November 2022. Also on the list were Emily Alandt, Hunter Johnson, and Kaylee Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur. Imagine it — the two surviving roommates, who lost four of their closest friends, being forced to testify for the man accused of killing them. That was the reality Kohberger’s defense was preparing for before he struck a plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty. In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down what that trial might have looked like — and how Kohberger’s strategy reveals far more about his psychology than any confession ever could. Why would a killer want his survivors on the stand? What kinds of questions would they have faced? And what kind of manipulation drives someone to keep controlling people even after their arrest? This deep-dive dissects the legal and psychological layers of the case: from the 138 witnesses Kohberger planned to call, to the devastating emotional toll that trial would have inflicted on every surviving friend and family member. Because for Kohberger, control wasn’t just about life and death — it was about owning the story. And this time, he lost it. 🎧 Watch the full analysis now on Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski. Subscribe for daily deep-dives into real crime, courtroom psychology, and the hidden human stories behind the headlines. #BryanKohberger #IdahoMurders #DylanMortensen #BethanyFunke #HiddenKillersPodcast #TrueCrime #TonyBrueski #UniversityOfIdaho #JusticeForTheFour #CrimeAnalysis 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

1 Nov 13min

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

1 Nov 1h 9min

Four people murdered in cold blood. A baby left sitting in a car seat in a stranger’s yard, alone. And somehow, the man accused of doing it — Austin Drummond — is still trying to control the narrative from behind bars. This is what happens when evil gets too comfortable with itself. Drummond isn’t some unhinged mystery; he’s a career predator who’s been testing limits since the day the system let him out early. Robbery. Attempted murder. Released in 2024. On bond when he wiped out nearly an entire family in Lake County, Tennessee. He killed the people closest to him — his girlfriend’s family — and then abandoned their baby forty miles away like an afterthought. Now he’s behind bars, and still performing. Guards say he’s been caught with narcotics, covering his cell door in paper and feces, causing chaos every way he can. He’s not losing his mind — he’s working the room. This is how narcissistic psychopaths survive: they create chaos, force the world to orbit around them, and call it control. You can take away the gun. You can lock the cell. But you can’t cage the ego. Drummond has turned his cell into a stage. Every disgusting act, every tantrum, every outburst is another move in his game. Because if you’re talking about him, he’s still winning. The same control he exercised with a trigger, he now wields through manipulation. You can see it in every report, every court motion, every moment he refuses to act human. He’s not insane. He’s addicted — not to drugs, but to dominance. This is the man who’s learned that if he can’t rule the outside world, he’ll rule the one inside his cell. He’ll make guards disgusted, psychologists confused, and the public fascinated. Because to him, that’s oxygen. That’s relevance. And the system? It keeps giving him what he wants. The headlines. The coverage. The spotlight. The endless “what went wrong?” debates. What went wrong is simple: we keep mistaking performance for psychosis. We call it mental illness when it’s just manipulation with better lighting. Austin Drummond isn’t broken. He’s hollow. He’s the kind of human shell that feeds off outrage and fear. He’s the same man who once looked at a baby and saw disposable evidence. That’s not insanity — that’s the pure absence of empathy. This isn’t a story about one killer. It’s about how a system so obsessed with “second chances” keeps handing them to people who only use them to destroy. He was already on bond for attempted murder. He should’ve been locked away. Instead, four lives were wiped out, and a child will grow up knowing the only reason they’re still alive is because the killer got bored of holding them. And now, that killer sits in a state prison cell, convinced he’s still in control. This is what narcissistic collapse looks like — a man whose only identity is the chaos he can still create. Every time we give him airtime, every time a headline drops, he gets what he wants. But what he’ll never get again is freedom. And that’s the one thing his ego can’t perform its way out of. Four people are gone. A baby grows up without a family. And the monster who did it still thinks he’s writing the script. He’s not. He’s the ending. #AustinDrummond #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #TonyBrueski #Murder #Psychopath #CriminalMind #JusticeSystem #Control #PrisonPsychology #Narcissism #Manipulation #Ego #DeathPenalty #LakeCounty #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

31 Okt 14min

It sounds impossible — but in Idaho, it’s not. Bryan Kohberger, the convicted killer of four University of Idaho students, could one day profit from his crimes. Why? Because Idaho has no “Son of Sam” law — no statute that blocks criminals from turning their infamy into income. In this episode, Tony Brueski exposes the gaping legal loophole that could let a murderer make money off murder. While most states have laws that stop convicted felons from profiting off books, interviews, or documentaries about their crimes, Idaho never passed one. That means that even behind bars, Kohberger could legally sell his “story,” write a memoir, or partner with a producer on a so-called “tell-all” — and keep the profits. This isn’t theory. It’s a constitutional gap that’s been exploited before, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down New York’s original Son of Sam law on First Amendment grounds. Since then, states have tried to rewrite the rules — but Idaho simply never wrote them. The result? Victims’ families would have to fight in civil court just to stop a killer from cashing checks tied to their loved one’s deaths. Tony breaks down how this could actually play out, how media companies skirt the rules by routing money through shell deals and “consulting” fees, and what lawmakers must do now to close the door before Kohberger or anyone like him turns infamy into profit. Justice isn’t just about a sentence — it’s about who owns the story afterward. And right now, in Idaho, that story could pay. #BryanKohberger #HiddenKillers #UniversityOfIdahoMurders #TrueCrime #Idaho #SonOfSamLaw #JusticeForVictims #CrimeProfits #BryanKohbergerCase #TonyBrueski #TrueCrimePodcast #LegalLoopholes #VictimsRights #Kohberger 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

31 Okt 20min

A six-year-old brought a gun to class. Four adults sounded the alarm. The assistant principal said the boy’s pockets were too small to hold a gun. Hours later, teacher Abby Zwerner was bleeding on a classroom floor. The bullet came from a child’s hand — but the failure came from the adults who didn’t listen. In this episode, Tony Brueski and former prosecutor Eric Faddis dig into The Price of Ignorance — the $40-million civil trial that exposes how bureaucracy, denial, and institutional cowardice nearly cost a teacher her life. They break down the legal concept of foreseeability — how repeated warnings establish negligence — and the difference between a bad decision and reckless disregard for human safety. Abby Zwerner’s case reveals the rot inside American education: administrators afraid of optics, systems paralyzed by fear of lawsuits, and a culture that prioritizes image over action. Tony and Eric walk through every failure: the ignored warnings, the denied bag search, the “too small” comment, and the claim that being shot is a “normal occupational risk.” They also unpack the emotional and psychological damage to teachers nationwide who watch the case wondering, Would my school protect me? This episode asks the questions that cut through legal jargon: When does negligence become moral crime? How many warnings are enough before inaction becomes guilt? And if a jury rules that a teacher’s shooting was “unforeseeable,” what message does that send to every educator still waiting to be heard? In a country with 344 school shootings since Columbine, this trial isn’t an exception — it’s a mirror. #AbbyZwerner #SchoolShooting #Negligence #TrueCrime #JusticeSystem #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #EducationReform #VictimsRights #TeacherSafety #ZwernerTrial #Accountability 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

31 Okt 18min

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that’s forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day’s proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You’ll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. 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

31 Okt 1h 18min

This episode features continuing coverage from inside the civil trial of Abby Zwerner v. Ebony Parker — the case that’s forcing a Virginia courtroom to confront how many warnings were ignored before a teacher was shot by her six-year-old student. Each day’s proceedings bring new testimony, evidence, and revelations about what happened inside Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023 — and the administrative failures that followed. You’ll hear unfiltered courtroom audio, direct from the trial, as attorneys for Abby Zwerner seek $40 million in damages against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of negligence so severe it nearly cost a teacher her life. Hidden Killers brings you the voices, the arguments, and the raw sound of justice in progress — as a jury decides whether silence and inaction inside a public school can rise to the level of legal accountability. 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

31 Okt 1h 21min