Charlie Adelson Appeal Goes to Court — Did a Tainted Jury Pool Doom His Defense? | Dan Markel Murder

Mica Miller tried to leave. She filed for divorce. She called police fourteen times. She reported GPS trackers on her car. Slashed tires. Harassment. She told officers she was afraid for her life. Two days after serving JP Miller divorce papers, she was dead. Ruled a suicide.The federal indictment against Pastor JP Miller alleges a pattern that psychotherapist Shavaun Scott calls textbook coercive control: tracking devices, a nude photo posted online without consent, over fifty contacts in a single day, financial interference, and lies to federal investigators. People always ask why victims don't just leave. Mica did try to leave. Scott explains why the most dangerous time for a victim is often the escape attempt itself — and why every system designed to protect Mica failed her.Mica said JP "groomed" her starting at age ten. In February 2024, she was involuntarily committed for forty-eight hours. When she was released, her car was gone, accounts locked, and according to family, JP had removed evidence she'd been collecting. JP publicly called her mentally ill, said she needed lithium, told his congregation that sick people "don't know they're sick" and need to "trust people around them." Scott breaks down how abusers weaponize mental health narratives to make sure no one believes their victims. South Carolina still has no standalone coercive control law. This case shows why that matters.#MicaMiller #JPMiller #HiddenKillers #CoerciveControl #FederalIndictment #ShavaunScott #DomesticViolence #PastorAbuse #Grooming #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.

Charlie Adelson wasn't in the courtroom today. He's sitting in a South Dakota prison while his appellate attorneys argued that his murder conviction should be reversed. The hearing before Florida's First District Court of Appeal lasted 40 minutes and centered on one core question: Was the Tallahassee jury pool so poisoned by pretrial publicity that a fair trial was impossible? Defense attorney Michael Ufferman laid out the numbers. Of 130 prospective jurors questioned during voir dire, 54 had formed an opinion about the case. Fifty-three of them believed Charlie was guilty. Jurors were caught talking about the case after being instructed not to. Ufferman argued the fix was simple — strike the panel, move the trial, start over. Instead, the trial proceeded and Charlie was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation in the 2014 killing of his former brother-in-law, FSU law professor Dan Markel. The state pushed back forcefully. Assistant Attorney General Robert Charles Lee argued Charlie accepted the jury, never filed a written venue motion, and waived his right to complain. His blunt assessment: any jury in Florida would have reached the same verdict. The judges questioned both sides but issued no ruling. Charlie's mother Donna Adelson also has an appeal pending following her own conviction last year. The Markel case now moves into its final legal chapter.#CharlieAdelson #DanMarkel #AdelsonAppeal #TrueCrime #MurderForHire #DonnaAdelson #FloridaAppeal #AdelsonTrial #MarkelMurder #JusticeForDanJoin 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.

Michael McKee didn't negotiate. He didn't collapse. With surveillance footage, a ballistics match, and years of documented threats on the table, he pleaded not guilty and waived his bail hearing while reserving the right to revisit it. That's a chess move from a defendant who apparently thinks he can win.Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott — author of "The Minds of Mass Killers" — has spent three decades studying violent offenders. She explains the psychology of defendants who refuse to fold. Ted Bundy represented himself. Scott Peterson watched his trial like it was happening to someone else. Chris Watts tried to manipulate homicide detectives while his family's bodies were still being recovered. These aren't isolated behaviors — they're patterns.What is narcissistic grandiosity and where does it come from? Is it developed or innate? McKee completed over a decade of elite medical training as a surgeon. Scott analyzes whether that professional background — the ability to compartmentalize, to view complex situations as problems to be solved, to operate with precision under extreme pressure — potentially feeds into the kind of detachment we see in certain courtroom defendants. For someone like this, what does "winning" even mean if conviction is likely? And as this case moves toward trial, what courtroom behaviors would confirm we're dealing with this psychological profile?#MichaelMcKee #TrueCrimeToday #ShavaunScott #NotGuiltyPlea #TedBundy #ScottPeterson #ChrisWatts #NarcissisticGrandiosity #TepeMurders #ForensicPsychologyJoin 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.

Nancy Guthrie vanished from her own home at eighty-four years old. She didn't wander. She didn't leave voluntarily. Investigators arrived to find blood at the entry and inside the house — and immediately treated the residence as a crime scene.Then came a sequence that defies easy explanation. The scene was released after roughly thirty hours. Activity stopped. And then investigators surged back. Crime scene tape went up a second time. Canine units deployed. Grid searches expanded. And attention locked onto the garage.You don't reopen a crime scene without new information forcing your hand. That reversal is one of the most significant signals in this case — and law enforcement hasn't publicly explained what triggered it.Nancy's children stepped forward with a public video plea. Savannah Guthrie and her siblings spoke about their mother with love and restraint, describing her faith, her resilience, and her bond with her grandchildren. But buried in that plea was a pointed request — proof of life. That phrase carries weight. It signals uncertainty about whether communications claiming to involve Nancy are legitimate.Reports of ransom-style messages have surfaced — references to cryptocurrency, claims about the crime scene, descriptions of clothing. Law enforcement acknowledges awareness but has verified nothing. The authenticity gap is wide, and it matters. Genuine kidnapping operations establish leverage fast. The timeline here doesn't track with a straightforward abduction.Federal resources have poured in. Specialized units handling digital forensics, communication tracing, and kidnapping dynamics are now involved. That escalation says everything about how seriously this is being treated.Nancy Guthrie depends on daily medication and lives with chronic pain. She is vulnerable in ways that make every passing hour more dangerous. Her family isn't asking for theories. They're asking for their mother back. Tony Brueski breaks down the full picture — the evidence, the patterns, and the questions that remain unanswered.Join 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.

Strangulation during the marriage. Forced sex. Direct death threats. According to the unsealed affidavit, witnesses told investigators Monique Tepe experienced all of this — and divorced Michael McKee after just seven months. But she never filed a public police report. She never obtained a restraining order. She rebuilt her life, married Spencer, had two children, and kept carrying the weight of knowing someone had promised to kill her.Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott has worked with domestic violence survivors for over thirty years — in shelters, clinical settings, and courtrooms. She's also a survivor. Her ex-husband died by revenge suicide after she asked for divorce. She knows what living under that kind of threat actually costs in ways clinical training alone cannot teach.People always ask why victims don't report. The answers don't fit into a news segment. Scott breaks down the actual reasons — the ones grounded in how the system works, how abusers manipulate, and how survival mode changes what's possible. She explains why strangulation is one of the most significant lethality predictors in DV research, what it means that Monique got out in just seven months, and why Rob Misleh said the family didn't fully understand the threats were real. The gap between what victims communicate and what loved ones hear is where cases like this fall through.#MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #HiddenKillers #DomesticViolence #ShavaunScott #Strangulation #CoerciveControl #TepeMurders #DVSurvivor #ProtectiveOrdersJoin 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.

Breaking testimony from the Paul Caneiro quadruple murder trial. New Jersey State Police forensic analysts confirmed DNA from both Sophia Caneiro, age 8, and Jesse Caneiro, age 11, was found on clothing in their uncle Paul's basement. The children were stabbed to death fourteen miles away in Colts Neck. Sophia's blood appeared in three separate locations on a pair of jeans — shin, calf, thigh. Her DNA was also on a black surgical glove frozen to the denim. Jesse's DNA showed up as part of a mixed sample. Prosecutors argue Paul Caneiro wore those items when he allegedly killed his brother Keith's entire family, then brought them home. Sophia was stabbed seventeen times. Court findings suggest she may have still been breathing when the fire was set beneath her. Keith Caneiro was shot execution-style — a contact or near-contact wound through his hood while he lay face-down on his lawn. The night before, he'd confronted Paul about $77,000 missing from a trust account and demanded answers by 8 p.m. Prosecutors say what happened next was Paul's response. The defense is raising contamination questions, but the physical evidence linking Paul to the murders is now before the jury. The trial continues through mid-March.#PaulCaneiro #TrueCrimeToday #CaneiroTrial #ColtsNeckMurders #DNATestimony #QuadrupleMurder #KeithCaneiro #SophiaCaneiro #JesseCaneiro #MurderTrialJoin 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/tonybpodThis 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.

Defense attorney Bob Motta joins Hidden Killers for a deep examination of two major murder cases — the Brendan Banfield conviction and the Michael McKee arrest in the Tepe murders.We start with Banfield. The former IRS agent just got convicted of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife Christine and Ryan Banfield. The jury deliberated nine hours and came back guilty on everything. They believed the au pair — the woman who got murder dropped to manslaughter and walked free in exchange for her testimony. The defense hammered her credibility. It didn't matter.Bob breaks down exactly where the defense went wrong. The strategy of attacking the prosecution's story without offering an alternative. Banfield's decision to take the stand and tell the jury this whole thing was "absolutely crazy." The DNA that wasn't on the knife. The digital forensics fight that went nowhere. Every decision that led to this verdict.Then we examine the appeal. Life without parole in Virginia means exactly what it sounds like. Banfield is 40. Unless something changes, he dies in prison. Bob explains what his appellate team will argue — the coercive witness deal, the potentially buried evidence, the reassigned forensic investigator — and why most of it probably won't work.Finally, we shift to Michael McKee, charged with murdering his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband. Bob examines the surveillance footage, the hearsay testimony, and the phone evidence prosecutors are relying on. What looks like an open-and-shut case has complications a defense attorney will exploit.#BrendanBanfield #MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #BobMotta #BanfieldAppeal #TepeMurders #AggravatedMurder #HiddenKillers #DefenseAttorney #TrueCrimeJoin 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/tonybpodThis 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.

Michael McKee faces two counts of aggravated murder for the shooting deaths of Spencer and Monique Tepe. The evidence against him — according to court filings and police statements — includes surveillance footage, ballistics evidence, a cell phone that went dark during the murder window, and years of documented threats against his ex-wife Monique.He pleaded not guilty.This episode explores a psychological pattern that emerges in cases where evidence is overwhelming but defendants refuse to fold. Forensic psychologists call it narcissistic grandiosity with antisocial features. We call it the game player. These are defendants who view prosecution not as consequence but as competition — the final arena to prove they're the smartest person in the room.We examine the parallels to Scott Peterson's detached courtroom demeanor, Chris Watts treating investigators like marks he could con, and Ted Bundy transforming his trial into performance art. The common thread: a fundamental inability to view other people as fully real. Victims become obstacles. Murder becomes a move. Trial becomes the championship round.According to the unsealed affidavit, McKee allegedly told Monique he could "kill her at any time," that he would "find her and buy the house next to her," and that she would "always be his wife." If prosecutors' allegations are accurate, the game started long before December 30th, 2025.The same psychology that allows someone to treat their murder trial as a puzzle may be the same psychology that allowed them to allegedly commit the crime.McKee is presumed innocent until proven guilty. All claims are sourced from public records.#HiddenKillers #MichaelMcKee #SpencerTepe #MoniqueTepe #TrueCrimePodcast #ForensicPsychology #GamePlayer #ColumbusHomicide #DomesticViolenceMurder #CriminalPsychologyJoin 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/tonybpodThis 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.

Michael McKee has been charged with murdering his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband. The surveillance footage, the phone records, the witnesses claiming Monique said he'd threatened her for years — it all looks like an open-and-shut case. The public has already decided he's guilty.But defense attorney Bob Motta looks at cases differently. His job is to examine evidence the way a courtroom will, not the way cable news does. And when he looks at this case, he sees questions that haven't been answered yet.The surveillance footage is one thing. Prosecutors are leaning hard on video showing McKee's car allegedly coming and going, him supposedly walking through their yard weeks earlier. Bob explains what people get wrong about video evidence — resolution issues, identification problems, the difference between "looks like" and "proof beyond reasonable doubt."Then there's the hearsay. Monique allegedly told friends that McKee threatened her. She's not alive to testify to that. Can prosecutors just use what other people say she said? Bob breaks down how hearsay exceptions work, when those statements get in, and what a defense attorney does to challenge them.The phone going silent during the murders sounds damning. But digital evidence is more complicated than prosecutors make it seem. Phones die. People leave them places. Bob explains the other side of that story.Eight years passed between the divorce and the murders. No restraining orders that we know of, no recent documented incidents. Does that gap help McKee or hurt him? Bob examines the timeline and what it means for proving premeditation.#MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #TepeMurders #BobMotta #DefenseAttorney #SurveillanceEvidence #HearsayTestimony #AggravatedMurder #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimeJoin 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/tonybpodThis 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.

Randy Powell went to the morgue. He viewed his daughter's body. And he's telling Hidden Killers what he saw.According to Powell, Charity Beallis was shot twice — in the chest and between the eyes. If accurate, two gunshot wounds makes self-infliction essentially impossible. Two months after Charity and her six-year-old twins Eliana and Maverick were found dead in their Bonanza, Arkansas home, no one has been arrested. No official autopsy has been released.December 2nd, 2025: Charity's divorce from Dr. Randall Beallis is finalized. According to his attorney, joint custody was awarded and the twins were to return to their father December 5th. December 3rd: all three found dead.In February 2025, Randall Beallis was arrested and charged with aggravated assault involving choking, domestic battery, and two counts of child endangerment. Charity emailed the Arkansas State Medical Board three days later: "I had to call 911 on Sunday night for choking & beating me up. My two 6 year olds saw everything. We are traumatized."In July 2025, Arkansas State Police substantiated child maltreatment against Randall Beallis — finding "abuse with or without physical injury" for both children. In October, his charges were reduced and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery. Suspended sentence.Three days after the bodies were found, family photos, children's artwork, and a necklace engraved with the twins' names were discovered in a dumpster at an apartment complex tied to Randall Beallis through court records.Randall Beallis has not been arrested or charged in connection with the deaths. His attorney Michael Pierce says he was not responsible and is cooperating fully with investigators.Someone knows what happened. Two months of silence.#CharityBeallis #BeallisTwins #RandallBeallis #BonanzaArkansas #TrueCrimePodcast #HiddenKillers #ArkansasCrime #MurderInvestigation #DomesticViolence #TrueCrime2025Join 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodThis 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.