True Crime

Kouri Richins, the Utah mother and children's book author convicted of killing her husband with a poisoned cocktail, had some chilling advice for their three children before being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In a Utah courtroom, Kouri stood up and told the three sons, had with her husband she has been convicted of killing ... "Be like your dad."

During the sentencing hearing, the boys' paternal grandfather told the judge Kouri deserved a life sentence without parole so his grandsons would "never have to live with the fear that the person responsible for taking their father could ever harm them again."

Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who wrote a children's book about grief following the death of her husband, was just sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of parole ... after being convicted of murdering him.

Kouri was convicted of aggravated murder in her husband's March 2022 death ... for lacing his drink with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl.

A Utah jury also found her guilty of attempted aggravated murder for trying to kill her husband on Valentine's Day 2022 with a fentanyl-laced sandwich ... plus insurance fraud and forgery related to his life insurance policy.

Nancy Guthrie is Khloé Kardashian's latest true crime obsession ... and doesn't understand how there are so few leads about her tragic disappearance.

On Wednesday's episode of her "Khloé In Wonder Land" podcast, the reality star sat down with true-crime podcaster Ashley Flowers to talk about Savannah Guthrie's missing mother.

Khloé said it's "mind-blowing" that police don't have any info about what happened, explaining that she was fascinated by the since-debunked theory that Nancy's son-in-law could have been involved in her abduction.

A registered nurse was savagely murdered by her boyfriend in Illinois ... and the suspect recorded more than 7 hours of her being tortured, sexually assaulted and strangled, according to police.

The grisly recording was discovered on April 30 when police took Kevin Motykie into custody in the garage of the suburban Chicago home he shared with former longtime partner, Katherine Torbick, who was found dead at the scene.

Schaumburg Police detectives reportedly discovered an audio recording device in Motykie's pocket as he was being arrested -- which allegedly holds evidence of the murder.

Investigators searching for Kristin Smart’s remains wrapped up operations Saturday at a California property connected to the family of the man convicted in her killing -- but officials say the evidence of human remains recovered did not belong to Kristin.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed deputies completed their search at a home belonging to Susan Flores in Arroyo Grande -- a Central Coast community located northwest of Los Angeles -- her son, Paul Flores, was found guilty in 2022 of murdering Smart. Her body has never been located.

Authorities have not released many additional details about the search, though officials previously said evidence led investigators to believe human remains may once have been present on the property.

Betty Broderick -- the woman who fatally shot her ex-husband and his new wife back in 1989 -- died in the ICU Friday following a number of health issues, TMZ has learned.

Betty's son, Daniel Broderick, tells TMZ ... she had a number of septic infections -- including one infection that she had years ago and came back. Plus, she had a serious fall at the Californian Institute for Women where she was locked away about 3 weeks ago ... which resulted in broken ribs.

Daniel says Betty ended up in the ICU at a hospital off the prison grounds. She was on life support at the end of her life and unable to communicate.

Investigators looking into the 1996 disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart say they've found evidence of human remains on a property linked to her convicted killer.

This is a potentially huge deal ... because Kristin's body was never found.

She was declared legally dead in 2002, and Paul Flores -- who went to school with her and was the last person to see her alive -- was found guilty of first-degree murder 20 years later.

Investigators have been running soil tests on the home of Paul's mom, Susan Flores, for the past couple days ... and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson told reporters they found compounds related to a human, decomposing body.

A tiny dog's nightmare played out in full view of surveillance cameras ... and what Florida deputies say happened next is hard to watch.

According to a Hillsborough County arrest affidavit, obtained by TMZ, 33-year-old Imania Davis was seen carrying a small Maltese -- weighing roughly 5 pounds -- by the scruff of its neck before things turned violent.

You can see the video for yourself ... the woman throws the dog onto the asphalt multiple times before kicking the defenseless pup on the ground.

Chandra Levy -- the slain Federal Bureau of Prisons intern who went missing back in 2001 -- may have been killed because she knew too much about UFOs ... so say her parents.

Robert and Susan Levy talked about their daughter's death on NewsNation's "Jesse Weber Live" ... and they mentioned that Chandra indicated to them she knew information about UFOs because of her relationship with Representative Gary Condit shortly before she went missing.

The pair mentions the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe's drug overdose as more possible examples of people being killed for knowing too much.

Brian Hooker calmly ... very calmly ... explained what happened to his wife just days after she went missing near the Bahamas in a new video obtained by TMZ.

The clip -- taken on Monday, April 6 -- two days after Lynette disappeared and two days before Hooker was questioned by the Royal Bahamas Police Force -- shows a fellow seafarer engaging in a conversation with Hooker.

The two have a conversation from their separate ships ... with Brian standing on "Soulmate."

Bryan Kohberger's mom called her son an "angel" after FBI agents arrested him for the slaughter of 4 Idaho college students -- and she even claimed the authorities got the wrong guy, according to a new report.

Maryann Kohberger was interviewed by 3 FBI agents following the 2022 raid on her Pennsylvania family home, during which Bryan was taken away in handcuffs, the Daily Mail reports.

Bryan was charged with murdering University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He later pleaded guilty to butchering the students with a Ka-bar knife as they slept in beds inside an Idaho home. Under a plea deal, Bryan was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison.

The parents of Anna Kepner's stepbrother T.H., accused of murdering her on a cruise ship, are now fighting over child support for him ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs obtained by TMZ, T.H.'s dad, Thomas Hudson, is making moves to pay less monthly child support to T.H.'s mom, Shauntel Hudson.

Thomas said Shauntel kicked T.H. out of her home, saying the child was not welcome in the home due to him being accused of Anna's murder. Thomas claims that because T.H. no longer resided with Shauntel, his child support obligations should be reduced for the amounts allocated to him.

A California man was charged with murder Thursday in the stabbing death of a beloved Burbank 1st-grade teacher earlier this week.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is charging Sergio Fraire with murder, with a special circumstance of lying in wait, for allegedly attacking and killing Arti Varma in a Burbank, CA home early Monday morning.

Arti’s daughter -- identified by neighbors as 25-year-old mental health activist Meera Varma -- was also stabbed in the attack ... she was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

On top of the murder charge, Fraire has also been hit with one felony count of attempted murder and one felony count of first-degree residential burglary.

Elizabeth Smart has gone from kidnap victim to child safety advocate — and now to professional bodybuilder with the mother of 3 looking absolutely stunning!

Smart posted an Instagram message Tuesday with a photo of herself wearing a bikini while showing off her perfectly sculpted body during a bodybuilding competition last weekend.

In her message, Smart said it would shock many of us to learn that she has now competed in a total of 4 bodybuilding competitions. She said she was frightened at first to post her muscle pics, thinking she would not be taken seriously or perceived as someone unworthy to continue helping survivors like herself. 

The hunt for Nancy Guthrie in her cold case may have just hit a turning point ... because the FBI is using new technology to zero in on DNA evidence.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that agents are analyzing what could be a crucial sample recovered from the 84-year-old’s Tucson, Arizona home ... and it’s already been sent through a private lab working with the Pima County Sheriff's Department before landing in federal hands.

This is the same DNA evidence that was recovered from Nancy’s home earlier in the probe. But here’s the catch ... the DNA isn’t clean. Investigators say it’s a mixed sample from multiple people, meaning it’ll take time to separate and figure out what actually matters.

Brian Hooker hightailed it out of the Bahamas to visit his ailing mother, leaving behind the yacht named "Soulmate." His wife Lynette's location is still a mystery nearly two weeks after she allegedly fell overboard on a dinghy as it was traveling to the larger boat.

Brian's attorney, Terrel Butler, tells TMZ ... Brian left the Bahamas Wednesday to attend to his mother, who is sick.

While he's gone, Brian's keeping his boat anchored in Marsh Harbour, a town in the Abaco Islands, Bahamas, while police and the U.S. Coast Guard continue their search for Lynette. TMZ just obtained photos of Brian's "Soulmate" yacht parked at a dock.

A Coast Guard official told TMZ Tuesday ... they are still "conducting a criminal investigation into the disappearance of Mrs. Hooker." And the Royal Bahamas Police Force says Brian remains a suspect in the case.