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.
