Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

Timothy Hudson's defense team requested the adult transfer themselves. They entered a not guilty plea without their client in the courtroom. They are pushing for the same judge who released him in February — when this was still a sealed juvenile case — to decide whether he stays free now that he faces first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse charges as an adult in federal court. Every one of those decisions tells you something. Former prosecutor and defense attorney Eric Faddis reads each move and explains what trial strategy is being assembled.
Anna Kepner was eighteen. She was found dead aboard the Carnival Horizon inside a stateroom she shared with Hudson and another sibling — concealed under a bed, wrapped in a blanket, covered with life jackets. The medical examiner ruled mechanical asphyxiation. Bruising on her neck was consistent with an arm held across it. Surveillance reportedly shows no one else entered or exited that cabin the night she was allegedly killed. Her fourteen-year-old brother reportedly heard yelling and violent sounds from the locked room the night before her body was found.
Hudson, sixteen, is on pre-trial release — living with a relative under GPS monitoring, cleared to work at his father's landscaping business. Prosecutors have moved to revoke that release, arguing the conditions were set under juvenile law and should not carry over now that he is being prosecuted as an adult. Anna's father, Christopher Kepner, has publicly stated the family is "deeply troubled" that Hudson has not been taken into custody.
The discovery file is open. Prosecutors have turned over the autopsy, body cam footage, and a cellphone data extraction from a device identified only as "C.K." — not the accused's phone. Anna's father is Christopher Kepner. Faddis examines what it means when the government extracts data from a victim's parent's phone and turns it over to the defense, and what that signals about the scope of this investigation.
Prosecutors estimate a seven-day trial. For a first-degree murder case carrying aggravated sexual abuse charges, Faddis assesses whether that timeline reflects a prosecution that knows exactly what it has — or one working with less than it needs. Hudson's mother told a court in December that her son "keeps repeating over and over he can't remember anything." That claim, combined with disclosed medication history, may be where this defense makes its stand.
Hudson has pled not guilty. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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#AnnaKepner #TimothyHudson #CarnivalHorizon #CruiseShipMurder #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #FederalCourt #JusticeForAnna #DefenseStrategy #EricFaddis

Three grand juries. Months of proceedings. Subpoena power. Witness testimony. And not one of them produced an indictment against David Anthony Burke in the alleged murder of fourteen-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. So the DA filed a criminal complaint instead — and defense attorney Blair Berk made sure the courtroom heard that distinction loud and clear before pushing for the fastest possible preliminary hearing.
That is not a detail. That is the fault line this entire case may crack along.
Trial attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis — who has sat on both sides of a murder case — breaks down what it means when a grand jury cannot or will not indict, what changes when prosecutors proceed on a complaint, and why Berk's aggressive timeline signals a defense that wants the evidence tested publicly, not protected behind sealed proceedings. Faddis has seen what happens when a prosecution builds a case on volume rather than precision, and he examines whether over forty terabytes of digital evidence is strength or a warning sign that investigators cast an extraordinarily wide net.
The felony complaint charges Burke with first-degree murder carrying three special circumstances — including financial gain, which DA Nathan Hochman tied to Burke allegedly protecting an existing music career Celeste reportedly threatened to expose. Faddis challenges whether that framing meets the legal standard or whether prosecutors are stretching a definition to reach death-penalty eligibility. He also dissects the defense's carefully constructed statement — "did not murder" and "was not the cause of her death" as two separate claims — and explains what trial strategy that dual denial sets up.
The unsealed autopsy confirmed Celeste died from penetrating wounds to her torso. Prosecutors allege exploitation material was found on Burke's phone and that the abuse began when she was thirteen. Her dismembered remains were found in a Tesla registered to Burke that had been towed from the Hollywood Hills while he was on tour.
Robin Dreeke, retired FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program Chief, takes listener questions on the investigative timeline, the year between Celeste's disappearance and Burke's arrest, and what behavioral indicators investigators likely tracked while building a case against someone with significant public visibility. Celeste was reported missing three times. The system had chances. It didn't act.
Burke has pled not guilty and is held without bail.
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#D4vd #CelesteRivasHernandez #DavidAnthonyBurke #GrandJury #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #JusticeForCeleste #BlairBerk #FelonyComplaint #DeathPenalty

For years, Sandra Birchmore’s family held vigils outside buildings that didn’t want them there. They held signs at the Stoughton Police Department. They demanded answers from a system that had already decided Sandra did this to herself. Then the FBI came.
On August 28, 2024, agents arrested Matthew Farwell and charged him with killing Sandra to prevent her from exposing his crimes. A superseding indictment added a charge under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act for the death of her unborn baby boy. Farwell has pleaded not guilty. His trial begins October 5, 2026 in Boston federal court.
The defense has tried everything. They moved to dismiss the charges. Denied. They moved to relocate the trial. Denied. They sought bail, presenting Farwell as a war hero. Prosecutors responded with new DNA evidence: Farwell’s genetic material on the strap used to strangle Sandra, his sperm cells in her underwear contradicting his statements. Their filing also revealed that months after Sandra’s death, Farwell allegedly bought a drink for a woman at a bar who woke up naked while he searched her room for his keys.
All three officers connected to Sandra’s exploitation have been permanently barred from law enforcement. The DA who oversaw the initial investigation won’t seek reelection. Sandra’s family has endorsed his potential replacement. The political fallout has been seismic.
Sandra Birchmore was born in 1997. She lost her mother, grandmother, and aunt before turning twenty-three. She worked with children. She was studying nursing. She wanted to be a police officer. She wanted to be a mother. Everything taken from her began with trust. The trial begins in October.
This is Part 5 of a five-part series on the Sandra Birchmore case.
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Eric Faddis — criminal defense attorney and former felony prosecutor — joins Hidden Killers for an extended session covering three major cases demanding attention. 
In the Kohberger case, defense-retained forensic scientist Brent Turvey is publicly alleging chain of custody deficiencies with the knife sheath — the sole piece of physical evidence carrying Kohberger's DNA — that he says could have been challenged at trial. A new book by former FBI agent Christopher Whitcomb surfaces untested crime scene evidence the FBI lab confirmed wasn't Kohberger's. The defense team has responded by attacking Turvey for speaking while simultaneously preparing a paid conference presentation about the case. Kohberger pled guilty on July 2, 2025, to four counts of first-degree murder and waived all appeal rights. None of the evidence questions can be relitigated. 
In the Reiner case, Nick Reiner's preliminary hearing was pushed to September 15 after the court confirmed autopsy reports on Rob and Michele Reiner remain incomplete over four months after their deaths. Nick faces two counts of first-degree murder with death penalty eligibility. His public defender Kimberly Greene has entered a not guilty plea but has not addressed whether a mental health defense is forthcoming despite Nick's documented history of schizoaffective disorder and a prior conservatorship. 
And in the Tupac Shakur case, Mopreme Shakur filed a wrongful death lawsuit naming Keffe D and John Does 1 through 100, alleging a conspiracy that goes beyond the individuals in the white Cadillac. The lawsuit is built around civil discovery — the power to compel testimony and documents from individuals who have never been subpoenaed. Keffe D's criminal trial is set for August 10, 2026. The complaint cites grand jury transcripts and the Netflix documentary "Sean Combs: The Reckoning." Faddis analyzes the legal implications, the strategic decisions, and the family impact across all three cases.
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This episode is about the machinery. The subpoenas, the indictment, the pretrial legal battles, and the courtroom moments that shaped this case before a single juror was seated.
The prosecution subpoenaed the FBI Lab at Quantico, the Ohio BCI, Apple, Verizon, WhatsApp, Meta, Google, Microsoft, social media platforms, financial institutions, and software companies. They filed motions to compel compliance from tech giants that resisted or delayed. An expert report arrived on April 11  --  its contents undisclosed  --  and triggered a four-day trial continuance that the defense fought hard to block.
On the defense side: a gag order motion filed, then abruptly withdrawn at the hearing without explanation. A conflict of interest with the judge's new staff attorney, waived by both sides. A motion for jurors to physically walk through 932 Cunningham Court and assess entry points for themselves. And the refusal of the prosecution's plea offer  --  which was no negotiation at all: plead guilty as charged, all 11 counts.
Part 4 of our pre-trial series. On May 4, a jury will be asked to weigh everything the prosecution has spent two months building. This is what they'll walk into.
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#CalebFlynn #AshleyFlynn #CalebFlynnTrial #MiamiCounty #Ohio #TrueCrime #FBI #NoPleaDeal #HiddenKillers #JusticeForAshley