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True Crime Today
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Hidden Killers Live! is your daily true crime podcast delivering two hours of nonstop coverage every weekday. Hosted by Tony Brueski & Robin Dreeke this show dives into the most compelling stories in the true crime world — from murder trials and cold cases to criminal psychology, investigations, and the dark motives behind real-life crimes. Each episode brings a mix of breaking crime news, courtroom analysis, and raw conversation that takes you beyond the headlines. Whether it’s exploring how investigators crack cases, uncovering the psychology of killers, or following the twists of ongoing trials, you’ll get sharp, unfiltered insight every time. Unlike recap shows, Hidden Killers Live! is true crime talk in real time — asking the tough questions, cutting through the noise, and giving listeners the context they need to understand today’s biggest cases. If you crave smart, binge-worthy true crime content with expert commentary, emotional depth, and daily updates that keep you ahead of the story, this is the podcast for you. Follow now on Apple Podcasts and join Tony Brueski & Robin Dreeke inside Hidden Killers Live! — where the truth is always in the details.

  1. HOW TO LISTEN to PREMIUM PLUS AD-FREE, ADVANCE Episodes!

    Jan 22

    HOW TO LISTEN to PREMIUM PLUS AD-FREE, ADVANCE Episodes!

    How to Get Ad-Free, Advance Content from True Crime Today and Hidden Killers Podcasts Do you want to enjoy all the content from True Crime Today and Hidden Killers podcasts without ads and before everyone else? Here’s exactly how to do it: Subscribe to True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS on Apple Podcasts. Choose either a monthly or yearly subscription. Make sure you select True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS—this is the channel that gives you all the ad-free and advance content. Important: If you’re hearing ads, it means you’re not on the right channel. Double-check that you’ve subscribed to True Crime Today Premium Plus. Follow the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel on Apple Podcasts. This is a separate channel where all the ad-free and early-access episodes are uploaded. Remember: Regular episodes with ads will still be available on the main channels. To get the ad-free and advance episodes, you must subscribe and follow the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel. If you’re still getting ads, head over to the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel and ensure you’re subscribed there! Enjoy your exclusive content!

    1 min
  2. The Crash: Is Mackenzie Shirilla's Memory Loss Real — And What About Everyone Else's Certainty?

    54m ago

    The Crash: Is Mackenzie Shirilla's Memory Loss Real — And What About Everyone Else's Certainty?

    A fellow inmate says the Mackenzie Shirilla in the Netflix documentary — soft-spoken, remorseful, insisting she can't remember — isn't the person she spent six months with in prison. She described someone doing her makeup, playing social games, navigating the hierarchy. The prosecution says she's been performing from day one. The families say she knows exactly what happened and chooses not to say it. But psychotherapist Shavaun Scott, who has treated trauma patients for over thirty years, says the clinical picture of dissociative amnesia — real, involuntary memory loss triggered by catastrophic events — looks almost exactly like what Mackenzie describes. Someone can genuinely not remember. Someone can also be genuinely remorseful and simultaneously performing for the cameras. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. The human mind is messier than the courtroom allows. Shirilla was convicted of four counts of murder for the Strongsville, Ohio crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. She's serving fifteen years to life. Netflix's The Crash has the country arguing about whether she's a monster or an innocent girl who blacked out behind the wheel. But the psychological reality might be neither — and both. Scott examines the memory claim clinically, the grief that drives the families' need for certainty, the dueling public narratives between Mackenzie and Dominic's sister, and a question that hangs over the entire case — what if this was never premeditated murder, and the system isn't built to recognize what it actually was? 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Netflix #CriminalPsychology

    23 min
  3. The Crash: Why the Mackenzie Shirilla Relationship Matters More Than the Video

    6h ago

    The Crash: Why the Mackenzie Shirilla Relationship Matters More Than the Video

    Everyone's focused on the surveillance footage — the car turning, accelerating, hitting the wall. But psychotherapist Shavaun Scott says the real evidence in the Mackenzie Shirilla case isn't on that video. It's in the relationship. And the prosecution used the relationship as a weapon without ever understanding what it was actually showing them. Shirilla was convicted of four counts of murder for the Strongsville, Ohio crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. The case was built partly on ninety-three thousand text messages documenting a volatile relationship full of threats, ultimatums, breakups, and reconciliations. The prosecution argued the relationship was Mackenzie's motive — she was losing control of Dominic, and the crash was her response. But the relationship dynamics tell a more complicated story. Dominic tried to break up with Mackenzie less than a month before the crash. She sent messages threatening to hurt herself during fights. The couple was locked in a cycle that neither could break. And the I-71 incident that prosecutors called a rehearsal has two competing versions — the prosecution's witness says Mackenzie threatened to crash; Mackenzie's texts say Dominic grabbed the wheel. Shavaun Scott has worked in domestic violence shelters, forensic settings, and crisis intervention for over thirty years. She brings that clinical expertise to the dynamics between Mackenzie and Dominic — the attachment patterns, what a breakup means to someone built around control, how self-harm threats function inside volatile relationships, and why warning signs like these get missed until it's too late. The relationship was the prosecution's case. The question is whether they understood what they were presenting. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Netflix #CriminalPsychology

    15 min
  4. The Crash: What the Prosecution Got Wrong About Mackenzie Shirilla's Psychology

    8h ago

    The Crash: What the Prosecution Got Wrong About Mackenzie Shirilla's Psychology

    A judge called Mackenzie Shirilla's actions "controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful." Five adjectives that describe a cold, calculating mind. But what if every one of those words is a misread — what if the behavior that looked like calculation was actually the opposite? Shavaun Scott is a psychotherapist who has spent more than thirty years working with people on both sides of violence. She's treated perpetrators in forensic mental health programs. She's worked crisis teams and domestic violence shelters. And when she looks at the personality profile the prosecution built around Mackenzie Shirilla, she doesn't see a calculated killer. She sees a seventeen-year-old with no stable identity, profound fragility behind the image obsession, and the kind of emotional volatility that can produce catastrophic outcomes without anything resembling a plan. Shirilla was convicted of four counts of murder for the crash in Strongsville, Ohio that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. Netflix's The Crash features her speaking from prison for the first time. The documentary gives you the texts, the threats, the persona — and lets you draw the conclusion the prosecution wanted. But the clinical reality underneath that personality is far more complicated than "she's evil." This conversation examines what self-obsession actually means clinically, why threats and ultimatums in a relationship almost never indicate the kind of intent prosecutors argued, and whether the system can even distinguish between a personality disorder and an undeveloped adolescent brain. The distinction matters — because one is evidence and the other is a misread that sent a teenager to prison for life. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Netflix #CriminalPsychology

    21 min
  5. The Crash: A Defense Attorney's Full Breakdown of the Mackenzie Shirilla Disaster

    20h ago

    The Crash: A Defense Attorney's Full Breakdown of the Mackenzie Shirilla Disaster

    The Mackenzie Shirilla case is a catalog of failures. A defense that raised a medical condition and never proved it. A prosecution that charged murder without a confession and won in front of a single judge. A post-conviction system that rejected new evidence over a calendar technicality. And a defendant who agreed to a Netflix documentary that gave her critics more ammunition than her supporters. Bob Motta is a criminal defense trial attorney and host of the Defense Diaries podcast. He sat down to examine every layer of the Shirilla case — the legal decisions that were made, the ones that should have been made, and the post-conviction choices that are shaping whether this seventeen-year-old will spend the next decade in prison with any realistic hope of getting out. The defense needed an accident reconstruction expert and a medical witness to support the POTS theory. It had neither. The prosecution needed to prove premeditated intent beyond a reasonable doubt with no confession and no witnesses. A single judge agreed it did. The post-conviction petition needed to arrive one day earlier. It didn't. And the Netflix documentary needed to generate sympathy without giving critics an opening. A fellow inmate made sure that didn't happen. Shirilla is serving fifteen years to life for the crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan in Strongsville, Ohio. Every decision in this case — by the defense, the prosecution, the system, and Mackenzie herself — has brought her to where she is now. This conversation examines whether any of those decisions can be undone, and what she should be doing with the ones she still controls. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    59 min
  6. The Crash: What Should Mackenzie Shirilla Be Doing Right Now to Get Out?

    1d ago

    The Crash: What Should Mackenzie Shirilla Be Doing Right Now to Get Out?

    Mackenzie Shirilla's legal options are essentially gone. The conviction stands. The appeals are exhausted. The post-conviction petition was denied. She's serving fifteen years to life and won't see a parole board until 2037. So the question shifts from "can she win legally" to "what does she do now" — and criminal defense attorney Bob Motta says the answer to that question matters more than most people realize. The Netflix documentary put her back in the public eye, and the result was mixed at best. She came across as remorseful on camera, but a fellow inmate immediately undercut that image. Her pre-crash social media — the TikTok persona, the image obsession — is still circulating and being used to characterize her. The families remain publicly active and opposed to any leniency. And her consistent claim of memory loss, whether true or not, gives a parole board nothing to work with. Parole boards don't just look at the crime. They look at what you've done since. Accountability. Growth. Rehabilitation. Evidence that you understand the impact of what happened. "I don't remember" doesn't check any of those boxes — even if it's the truth. Bob Motta has advised clients on post-conviction strategy throughout his career. He examines what Mackenzie should be doing inside prison right now — the programs, the accountability posture, the decisions about public exposure — and whether there's a realistic path to parole for someone whose public image has become as much of a prison as the facility she's in. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    16 min
  7. The Crash: Was Murder the Right Charge for Mackenzie Shirilla?

    1d ago

    The Crash: Was Murder the Right Charge for Mackenzie Shirilla?

    Murder requires intent. Not recklessness. Not negligence. Not bad judgment. Intent — formed beforehand and carried out deliberately. That's the bar the prosecution set for itself when it charged Mackenzie Shirilla with four counts of murder for the crash in Strongsville, Ohio that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. And criminal defense attorney Bob Motta says the evidence doesn't clear it. The surveillance footage is compelling but limited — it shows the car, not the person driving it. The black box data proves acceleration and no braking, but that pattern is consistent with multiple scenarios, not just premeditation. The prosecution reviewed ninety-three thousand text messages and presented the most inflammatory ones, while the final messages before the crash were mundane. And the prior incident the prosecution treated as a rehearsal — Mackenzie reportedly saying "I will crash this car" on I-71 — has a competing account in text messages where she told Dominic's mother it was Dom who grabbed the steering wheel. Prosecutor Tim Troup called this a "mission of death." That's powerful language. But powerful language isn't proof, and when a prosecutor reaches that hard for narrative, it sometimes signals that the evidence needs help. Bob Motta examines the charging decision, the bench trial strategy, the evidence vulnerabilities, and whether reckless homicide or vehicular manslaughter would have been the more honest charge — and a more certain conviction. Sometimes the biggest prosecutorial mistake isn't losing a case. It's winning one you overcharged. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    15 min
  8. The Crash: What Should Mackenzie Shirilla's Defense Have Actually Looked Like?

    1d ago

    The Crash: What Should Mackenzie Shirilla's Defense Have Actually Looked Like?

    If Mackenzie Shirilla had walked into Bob Motta's office instead of her actual attorney's, the case might look very different right now. That's not speculation — it's a function of what was missed, what was never pursued, and what was fumbled at every critical turn. The POTS defense should have been the centerpiece of the trial. A medical condition that can cause sudden loss of consciousness in a seventeen-year-old driver at five-thirty in the morning is not a throwaway detail. It's the case. But Shirilla's attorney mentioned it and moved on. No medical expert. No records connecting the condition to the crash. No explanation for the jury — except there was no jury either, because this was a bench trial in front of a single judge. After the conviction, a neurologist found evidence supporting the medical episode theory. The defense team filed a post-conviction petition containing that opinion — one day past the deadline. One day that foreclosed the court from considering expert evidence that might have changed everything. And the prosecution's key prior incident — the I-71 threat — had a competing version in text messages that the defense never introduced. Bob Motta is a criminal defense trial attorney and host of the Defense Diaries podcast. He rebuilds the Mackenzie Shirilla defense from scratch — what he would have done differently, which experts he would have called, how he would have handled the memory claim, and whether the cumulative failures in this case cross the line into ineffective assistance of counsel. 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/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This 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.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    29 min
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Hidden Killers Live! is your daily true crime podcast delivering two hours of nonstop coverage every weekday. Hosted by Tony Brueski & Robin Dreeke this show dives into the most compelling stories in the true crime world — from murder trials and cold cases to criminal psychology, investigations, and the dark motives behind real-life crimes. Each episode brings a mix of breaking crime news, courtroom analysis, and raw conversation that takes you beyond the headlines. Whether it’s exploring how investigators crack cases, uncovering the psychology of killers, or following the twists of ongoing trials, you’ll get sharp, unfiltered insight every time. Unlike recap shows, Hidden Killers Live! is true crime talk in real time — asking the tough questions, cutting through the noise, and giving listeners the context they need to understand today’s biggest cases. If you crave smart, binge-worthy true crime content with expert commentary, emotional depth, and daily updates that keep you ahead of the story, this is the podcast for you. Follow now on Apple Podcasts and join Tony Brueski & Robin Dreeke inside Hidden Killers Live! — where the truth is always in the details.

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