True Crime

Anna Kepner's cell phone turned into a key piece of evidence that led to the arrest of her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson, after the 18-year-old was sexually assaulted and strangled aboard a Carnival Cruise ship in 2025, according to a new report.

People obtained a transcript of testimony given by FBI Agent Andrew del Valle, who told the court that Hudson, 16, tried to destroy and dispose of Kepner's phone, but he failed to do so.   

Del Valle testified that FBI agents started looking for the missing phone on November 8, 2025, after they launched an investigation into Kepner's sexual assault and murder aboard Carnival's Horizon cruise ship in Miami, Florida.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is cracking down on alleged unlawful behavior near Nancy Guthrie's upscale Arizona home ... and his department just arrested 3 streamers for allegedly causing problems in the area, including one who was caught urinating in public.

Alexander Zabel, who runs the true crime account "Criminal Network," was arrested and charged with 2 counts of obstructing a highway or thoroughfare and one count of public nuisance ... the sheriff's department tells TMZ.

Troy Bradshaw, who heads the "DAA JUICE" YouTube channel, was arrested and charged with public nuisance. He was livestreaming when authorities let him know he was being taken into custody. He and Zabel were booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Complex.

Savannah Guthrie is speaking out again about the kidnapping of her mom, Nancy Guthrie, as police and FBI agents continue their desperate search for her after 4 grueling months.

The "Today" show co-host posted a snapshot of a painting of Jesus Christ's ascension on her Instagram stories, tying it to Nancy's February 1 abduction from her home in Tucson, Arizona.

Savannah wrote, "Oh my, my soul, it cries out, soul, it cries out, bring her home." That last part is a clear reference to Nancy, who is 84 and in poor health.

The car Mackenzie Shirilla was driving when she crashed into a wall, killing Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan, was listed as an asset in her parents' bankruptcy just a couple of months earlier ... TMZ has learned.

Mackenzie’s parents, Natalie and Steve, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May 2022, listing $398K in assets and $173K in liabilities.

According to the bankruptcy documents, one of their assets was a 2018 Toyota Camry, which was the same car involved in Mackenzie’s fatal car crash on July 31, 2022. The car, which apparently had 32,000 miles on it, was listed at $18K.

O.J. Simpson's longtime attorney is ripping into Tanya Brown, blasting her idea to cancel The Juice's famous No. 32 NFL jersey as "weak-minded" and "flawed."

In fact, "weak-minded" was exactly how O.J. viewed Tanya when he was still alive ... O.J.'s estate executor Malcolm LaVergne tells TMZ.

LaVergne says O.J. felt Nicole Brown Simpson's sister didn't have much of a career, which made him sad for her.

Tanya floated the idea of the NFL benching O.J.'s No. 32 jersey earlier this week, when she spoke to TMZ ahead of the June 12 anniversary of Nicole and Ron Goldman's 1994 murders. Tanya says the number remains deeply tied to trauma for lots of folks connected to the case.

LaVergne says Tanya trying to cancel the jersey number O.J. wore for 11 years in the NFL as a star running back with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers is just utterly ridiculous.

Update in the suspected murder-suicide down in Florida ... officials say Ryan Whiten slaughtered his ex-wife and their daughters before killing himself.

As we reported ... Ryan, his ex-wife, Melanie Hyer, and their daughters Savannah and  Sienna, were found dead with stab wounds in their Doral home Tuesday after deputies from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office responded to a welfare check.

MDSO suspected a murder-suicide but didn't know who did the stabbing ... and now they've determined it was Ryan.

Police have not released a motive for the heinous act or detailed how long they were dead before being found.

The investigation is ongoing.

Melanie and Ryan were previously married and were co-parenting their daughters at the time of their deaths. They had each remarried after their split, though Melanie had finalized a divorce in March, per court records obtained by TMZ.

Ryan’s ex-wife, who divorced him in 2024, told 7 News Miami Melanie and Ryan had a toxic relationship and often fought over their kids, but was shocked to hear about their murders.

She recalled ... "He was always so sweet with his girls and loved them deeply. I don’t know what happened."

Police in Tanzania say Ashlee Jenae was depressed and asked ChatGPT questions related to ending one's life, leading up to her April suicide.

Check out the translated clip -- Zanzibar Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation Zuberi Chembera says their investigation led them to ChatGPT searches by Ashley ahead of her death, including one in March that read ... "How much Valium would kill me?"

Chembera also said text messages sent by Ashlee to family and friends proved she was experiencing depression and distress about her life, and some messages seemed like farewell texts.

The mystery surrounding influencer Ashlee Jenae's death has officially come to a close ... because authorities in Tanzania have ruled the 31-year-old died by suicide days after getting engaged.

Police say the investigation is now complete after Ashlee -- whose real name was Ashly Robinson -- was found unconscious inside her villa at a luxury resort in April during what was supposed to be a birthday getaway with fiancé Joe McCann.

The Tanzania Police Force says a hotel employee entered Ashlee's villa during a routine evening check after getting no response at the door and found her hanging inside a wardrobe. Investigators say she was suspended from the closet's clothing rail using a robe belt the hotel provides for guests.

Initial documents from April listed her immediate cause of death as cerebral hypoxia caused by strangulation and suffocation.

Steve Shirilla's contract for his teaching job has not been renewed, TMZ has learned. And Steve tells us he's the one who wanted out.

He told TMZ ... "I wouldn’t resign a contract with them for the simple fact of how they handled this situation… the school and the diocese showed their true colors…"

Steve also says, "I’m done talking about this or anything that’s not about the injustice my daughter has been put through my only focus is her."

Remember, Mackenzie Shirilla's dad had been put on leave after the Netflix documentary "The Crash" dropped ... because of comments he made about his daughter smoking weed.

Mackenzie Shirilla's mom, Natalie, has some harsh words for Dominic Russo's grieving family ... blasting them as "evil" in a conversation with her daughter.

TMZ obtained audio from a prison phone call between Mackenzie and her mother ... with Natalie telling Mackenzie her late boyfriend's family is full of "evil people."

Natalie's harsh comment came as the two rehashed court testimony from Mackenzie's murder trial.

At one point, you can hear Natalie say, "Dom would be beside his frickin' self" over what was said in court.

Mackenzie Shirilla says she's bored to tears behind bars ... but she might want to get used to it, considering she's serving 2 concurrent life sentences.

TMZ obtained audio from a prison phone call between Mackenzie and her mom, Natalie, where the convicted killer complains about how slowly time is passing in lockup.

You can hear Mackenzie's annoyance ... she doesn't have access to her commissary and complains about having one book she doesn't want to keep reading over and over.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is reacting to Mackenzie Shirilla having hookups and getting hickeys behind bars ... saying kissing women is one way to make the days go by.

Gypsy sat down with TMZ's Charlie Neff on The TMZ Podcast and told us Mackenzie Shirilla having girlfriends in prison is pretty standard, but it's good for one thing only ... passing time.

Check it out ... Gypsy says Mackenzie needs more than a hookup ... telling us it would do a lot of good if an older inmate took Mackenzie under her wing. After all, it worked for Gypsy.

Celeste Beard Johnson saw red when she was getting grilled behind bars ... to the point that she freaked out on interviewer David Scott.

In a clip from the upcoming season 4 finale of "Interview with a Killer," you can see her start to shake when he accuses her of living in an "alternate reality."

As David's talking, Celeste -- who's serving a life sentence over the death of her late husband, Steven Beard -- gets so mad that she hangs up and turns around ... declaring to the guard that she's done with the conversation. But it doesn't end there ...

Mackenzie Shirilla hasn't been a model prisoner in her last few years behind bars ... at least according to prison officials, who say she's committed a number of rule violations -- including several of a sexual nature.

We've obtained conduct reports about a bunch of alleged rule violations during Shirilla's time behind bars ... including altering prison clothes and possessing contraband.

For example, officials say they caught Shirilla with a prescription medication that wasn't hers in January 2025 ... as well as "a personal photo of herself containing drug use." In her statement on the incident, cops say Shirilla told them the photo didn't have drug use in it -- and insisted the pills they found with her were actually prenatal vitamins she got from someone else.

"The Crash" victim Dominic Russo’s sister Christine is ripping Mackenzie Shirilla and her mom, Natalie Shirilla, for yakking about Mackenzie's male admirers while she sits in prison.

Christine's listened to the jail calls and is NOT pleased, telling TMZ ... "She knows now her calls are recorded and that people have been reviewing them, you can tell how she’s carefully using her words."

Dominic's sister adds ... "And I think it’s sad her mother condones her talking to strange men she doesn’t know. Like I said 100 times, and I’ll say it again till the day I die, that woman needs to tell her daughter to pick up a Bible and beg the Lord to save her soul, NOT WORRY ABOUT STRANGE OLDER MEN. GO TO THERAPY, GET HELP FOR YOUR KID.”

Mackenzie Shirilla says the fatal car crash that landed her in prison haunts her ... telling her mom the mere thought of it makes her want to vomit.

In undated jail audio, obtained by TMZ, Mackenzie talks with her mother, Natalie, about the deadly 2022 wreck that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan ... and it's emotional and graphic.

Mackenzie says she still struggles to process why she survived the crash while the two young men didn't ... wondering, "How did I not die?" before revealing she regularly has intrusive thoughts about Dom and Davion's fatal injuries.