The Perfect Crime

I recently watched an episode of the CBS mystery show 48 Hours about the 2014 murder in Aspen, Colorado of Nancy Pfister.  The hour-long show had lots of twists and turns in it, and at the conclusion, the "culprit" - at least the one who took the blame and is doing the time - turned out to be the old man, Trey Styler.  Needless to say, I was disappointed with the outcome, but it did bring to mind a column that I wrote a couple of years ago.

I believe that we have here an example of the perfect crime, one that I proposed in the satirical column I wrote titled, The Ideal Solution.  Namely, commit a crime in your senior years that will net you a life  prison sentence, but not a death sentence.  Then you can live out your life with free room and board and healthcare and never have to worry about running out of money.

If you don't care to watch the whole show, the first link above, but just want a summary of the crime and its aftermath, you can read a fairly quick recap on Wikipedia at this link.  Or, I can just relate that there were three suspects, Trey and Nancy Styler, and Kathy Carpenter.  All were arrested and held for trial, but before the case ever went to trial, Trey confessed to being the lone perpetrator.  He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, a virtual life sentence for a man of his age and health.  He pled guilty to the charges on the condition that his wife, Nancy, would not be tried for the crime at any time in the future, and that both women would be immediately released from prison.

If you watch the program, you should see what I saw as a flaw in the confession: namely, that Trey Styler was physically incapable of committing the crime in the manner which it occurred.  We are to believe that a man who is in his late 60s and has a neurological disorder could beat a woman to death with a hammer, drag her lifeless and bloody body across the room to a closet, cover and wrap it completely with a sheet, go back and flip a queen-sized mattress to hide the blood evidence, and then clean up the room to a point where only a small smear of blood remained on the headboard of the bed.

I, for one, am totally unconvinced.  There had to have been more than one person in that bedroom, and the cleanup of the crime scene had to have been performed by at least two or more people.  The multiple blows from the hammer should have produced copious blood spatter, yet there was none visible in the crime scene photos, nor was there any on the carpet between the bed and the closet.  A male, especially one of that age, wouldn't be able to do that good a job of cleaning up that room.

However, give the Stylers credit for a wonderful solution to their other underlying and briefly reported problem of half a million dollars in debt and possible bankruptcy, by commission of this horrible act.  Nancy got a divorce and moved on with her life within a year of the conviction and sentencing of Trey.  She is the embodiment of the term, "scott free", since her financial woes were likely also erased in the divorce.  And Trey is now in an institution where he will receive elderly care for the rest of his life and probably won't have to suffer the mental and physical deprivations and tortures of younger prisoners. 

Yes, this is the best of both worlds for Trey and Nancy Styler, although the third party in the murder of Nancy Pfister, her friend and personal assistant, Kathy Carpenter, is still in jeopardy of being prosecuted for the crime if more evidence points to her involvement.  She is the only one I feel sorry for, since I do believe she was used by the Stylers as a pawn and quite possibly has some blood on her hands, as well.