1 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,411 - I'm Kate Snow, and this is Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. 2 00:00:12,412 --> 00:00:17,117 - This was personal to so many people in Aspen. 3 00:00:17,150 --> 00:00:22,922 We had a brutal murder in a small town. 4 00:00:22,956 --> 00:00:25,759 That house has this story to tell. 5 00:00:25,792 --> 00:00:29,329 Are we going to be able to figure out what that story is? 6 00:00:29,362 --> 00:00:32,298 - It's the playground of snow and gold, 7 00:00:32,332 --> 00:00:34,034 and she was at its heart-- 8 00:00:34,067 --> 00:00:37,370 beautiful, privileged, and magnetic. 9 00:00:37,404 --> 00:00:39,105 - Whether it was the taxi driver 10 00:00:39,139 --> 00:00:40,874 or her movie star friends, 11 00:00:40,907 --> 00:00:43,977 she had a very genuine connection with people. 12 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:47,113 - But what happened one night in her secluded chalet 13 00:00:47,147 --> 00:00:50,150 sent shivers through this glamorous ski town. 14 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,256 - I was going in shock, hyperventilating. 15 00:00:56,289 --> 00:00:58,124 - Murdered in her sleep. 16 00:00:58,158 --> 00:01:00,627 - It did appear that it was a crime of rage. 17 00:01:00,660 --> 00:01:02,762 - Where would investigators start? 18 00:01:02,796 --> 00:01:04,230 An ex-boyfriend? 19 00:01:04,264 --> 00:01:06,700 - There were some stories about there was a jilted lover. 20 00:01:06,733 --> 00:01:08,134 - Her new tenants? 21 00:01:08,168 --> 00:01:10,570 - They were a couple that had been pushed over the edge. 22 00:01:10,603 --> 00:01:12,172 - Her old friend? 23 00:01:15,375 --> 00:01:18,678 - There's no way she saw what she said she saw. 24 00:01:18,712 --> 00:01:21,581 - The real killer would stun them all. 25 00:01:21,614 --> 00:01:24,317 - Took my world and just flipped it upside down. 26 00:01:24,351 --> 00:01:25,452 - We were all wrong. 27 00:01:25,485 --> 00:01:27,420 Everybody was wrong in this case. 28 00:01:27,454 --> 00:01:35,662 ** 29 00:01:35,695 --> 00:01:38,965 - Hello, and welcome to Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. 30 00:01:38,998 --> 00:01:41,801 She was an A-lister in a town famous 31 00:01:41,835 --> 00:01:44,871 for its high-end ski resorts and celebrities. 32 00:01:44,904 --> 00:01:48,108 Nancy Pfister lived life with all the advantages 33 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:50,577 a family fortune afforded her. 34 00:01:50,610 --> 00:01:54,748 As news of her brutal killing sent shockwaves across Aspen, 35 00:01:54,781 --> 00:01:57,384 investigators entered her mountain home 36 00:01:57,417 --> 00:01:59,285 to unlock its secrets. 37 00:01:59,319 --> 00:02:03,289 Here's Keith Morrison with "While She Was Sleeping." 38 00:02:03,323 --> 00:02:06,960 - Please, my friend-- oh, my friend. 39 00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:09,262 Oh, my god! 40 00:02:09,295 --> 00:02:10,697 My-- My friend. 41 00:02:10,730 --> 00:02:13,967 - A cold night, February 2014. 42 00:02:14,067 --> 00:02:16,770 - [indistinct shouting]. 43 00:02:16,803 --> 00:02:19,706 - 911 callers can often be hysterical, 44 00:02:19,739 --> 00:02:23,943 this one was all but incomprehensible. 45 00:02:23,977 --> 00:02:25,378 - I found my friend in the closet. 46 00:02:25,412 --> 00:02:28,481 And she's dead! 47 00:02:28,515 --> 00:02:31,484 - But then this sort of thing just doesn't happen 48 00:02:31,518 --> 00:02:34,587 to people like the one now lying dead in the closet. 49 00:02:34,621 --> 00:02:36,322 - She's dead, full of blood, 50 00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:39,192 wrapped in a thing! 51 00:02:39,225 --> 00:02:42,562 - And certainly not in the caller's zip code. 52 00:02:42,595 --> 00:02:45,231 - We don't see very many homicides in Pitkin County. 53 00:02:45,265 --> 00:02:47,534 - But there are moments when no place is safe, 54 00:02:47,567 --> 00:02:50,570 no person, not this storied victim, 55 00:02:50,603 --> 00:02:54,007 not her secure and pampered Shangri-La in the snow. 56 00:02:54,107 --> 00:02:55,475 - There are no words for it, 57 00:02:55,508 --> 00:02:58,745 you know, when a childhood friend dies. 58 00:03:02,782 --> 00:03:06,052 - Aspen, Colorado. 59 00:03:06,052 --> 00:03:09,122 The tiny municipal airport here tells a story 60 00:03:09,155 --> 00:03:11,358 in the long line of private jets 61 00:03:11,391 --> 00:03:13,760 parked and waiting for their well-heeled owners 62 00:03:13,793 --> 00:03:16,830 to come down from their mountainside chalets, 63 00:03:16,863 --> 00:03:19,299 their beginner castles, 64 00:03:19,332 --> 00:03:22,769 as the late Nancy Pfister used to call them, 65 00:03:22,802 --> 00:03:24,938 half playfully, of course. 66 00:03:24,971 --> 00:03:28,074 These were her friends, as were the passing tourists, 67 00:03:28,074 --> 00:03:33,747 and ski bums, and busboys, and just about everybody. 68 00:03:33,780 --> 00:03:37,117 Mary Conover met Nancy when they were both teenagers. 69 00:03:37,150 --> 00:03:40,854 - You cannot come to this town without meeting Nancy. 70 00:03:40,887 --> 00:03:42,088 I mean-- - Come on, really? 71 00:03:42,088 --> 00:03:44,991 - Everybody met Nancy at one point or another. 72 00:03:45,091 --> 00:03:47,660 I've never known another person like her. 73 00:03:47,694 --> 00:03:51,398 As joyful and outsized personality 74 00:03:51,431 --> 00:03:53,667 and all of that that she was, 75 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:57,937 she had a very deep and soulful connection 76 00:03:57,971 --> 00:04:00,573 to the world. 77 00:04:00,607 --> 00:04:04,044 - Some special sauce in Nancy Pfister. 78 00:04:04,077 --> 00:04:05,478 And when she smiled... 79 00:04:05,512 --> 00:04:07,347 - It was just pure radiance, you know. 80 00:04:07,380 --> 00:04:08,882 It was just beaming. 81 00:04:08,915 --> 00:04:12,052 - Billy Clayton was perhaps closer to Nancy than anybody, 82 00:04:12,085 --> 00:04:13,653 almost like a brother. 83 00:04:13,687 --> 00:04:15,055 - It was like she had a secret 84 00:04:15,055 --> 00:04:16,523 and she wanted to share it with you. 85 00:04:16,556 --> 00:04:18,925 And that secret was, let's all lighten up, 86 00:04:18,958 --> 00:04:22,729 and have fun, and enjoy life, and be grateful. 87 00:04:22,762 --> 00:04:24,831 - Nancy had reason to be grateful. 88 00:04:24,864 --> 00:04:27,767 She was born into a legendary Aspen family, 89 00:04:27,801 --> 00:04:29,336 bit like local royalty. 90 00:04:29,369 --> 00:04:31,838 Her father, Art Pfister, made a fortune 91 00:04:31,871 --> 00:04:35,175 when he turned his ranch into the Buttermilk Ski Resort. 92 00:04:35,208 --> 00:04:38,178 And her mother, Betty, was a World War II pilot 93 00:04:38,211 --> 00:04:41,214 who, in later years, flew a helicopter, 94 00:04:41,247 --> 00:04:44,784 parked it in her driveway. And Nancy? 95 00:04:44,818 --> 00:04:47,087 Stories about Nancy would fill a book 96 00:04:47,087 --> 00:04:50,390 like the one about how she met Jack Nicholson. 97 00:04:50,423 --> 00:04:54,094 - A convertible pulled up and asked them directions. 98 00:04:54,094 --> 00:04:55,995 And Nancy said, well, I'll take you there, 99 00:04:56,096 --> 00:04:58,365 but I want to ride in that nice car of yours. 100 00:04:58,398 --> 00:04:59,666 And the next thing you know, she's-- 101 00:04:59,699 --> 00:05:01,401 she and Jack are best friends. 102 00:05:04,537 --> 00:05:08,408 - Nancy could and did live any way she wanted-- 103 00:05:08,441 --> 00:05:09,743 out loud. 104 00:05:09,776 --> 00:05:11,745 - Many, many times when I just thought we were going to have 105 00:05:11,778 --> 00:05:14,381 a normal day, she would say, let's go to St. Barts, 106 00:05:14,414 --> 00:05:15,615 or let's go to Hawaii, 107 00:05:15,648 --> 00:05:18,051 or let's go somewhere. And I'd go, okay. 108 00:05:18,051 --> 00:05:20,920 - But a relationship with the impulsive 109 00:05:20,954 --> 00:05:23,256 and gregarious Nancy, Billy had to admit, 110 00:05:23,289 --> 00:05:26,126 came with a price. Your business was her business. 111 00:05:26,159 --> 00:05:27,527 Your stuff was her stuff. 112 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,865 - It was quite a job to love Nancy. 113 00:05:31,898 --> 00:05:34,501 - So, after what happened to her, 114 00:05:34,534 --> 00:05:36,469 flies on a carcass. 115 00:05:36,503 --> 00:05:39,339 The tabloids feasted on the gossip and half truths 116 00:05:39,372 --> 00:05:40,874 that flew around town. 117 00:05:40,907 --> 00:05:43,643 She was a spoiled, wild child, they howled. 118 00:05:43,677 --> 00:05:45,345 Jack Nicholson's party girl. 119 00:05:45,378 --> 00:05:47,447 Hunter S. Thompson's drinking buddy. 120 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,082 An incurable flirt 121 00:05:49,082 --> 00:05:51,785 once engaged to Michael Douglas. 122 00:05:51,818 --> 00:05:54,287 All very breathless, these stories about the, 123 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,591 quote, "Aspen socialite." 124 00:05:58,625 --> 00:06:00,760 And insulting, said her friends. 125 00:06:00,794 --> 00:06:04,097 Didn't paint Nancy's character accurately at all. 126 00:06:04,130 --> 00:06:07,500 Some people collect famous people as friends, 127 00:06:07,534 --> 00:06:10,136 and it's important to them to be able to talk about them. 128 00:06:10,170 --> 00:06:12,072 - Definitely not her. - Show them off. No? 129 00:06:12,105 --> 00:06:14,040 - Nuh-uh. She had a lot of famous friends. 130 00:06:14,074 --> 00:06:17,043 She had a lot of friends who were not famous. 131 00:06:17,077 --> 00:06:19,546 She treated everyone the same way. 132 00:06:19,579 --> 00:06:23,416 She had a very genuine connection with people. 133 00:06:23,450 --> 00:06:25,485 - Nancy was a traveling philanthropist, 134 00:06:25,518 --> 00:06:28,054 a devoted environmentalist. 135 00:06:28,054 --> 00:06:30,056 She had a daughter, too, Juliana, 136 00:06:30,090 --> 00:06:32,625 born when Nancy was 29. 137 00:06:32,659 --> 00:06:35,695 - Nancy had a lot of very close friends 138 00:06:35,729 --> 00:06:37,497 and people who loved Juliana. 139 00:06:37,530 --> 00:06:40,967 And we all raised our children together. 140 00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:44,170 - Unusual? Oh, certainly. But-- 141 00:06:44,204 --> 00:06:47,073 - She just truly, deeply loved Juliana 142 00:06:47,107 --> 00:06:51,177 and did feel that this was her greatest role of her life 143 00:06:51,211 --> 00:06:54,447 was to be a mother. 144 00:06:54,481 --> 00:06:57,150 - The thing is, Nancy Pfister trusted people, 145 00:06:57,183 --> 00:06:59,686 even with the care of her own daughter, 146 00:06:59,719 --> 00:07:02,055 with her house, with her money. 147 00:07:02,088 --> 00:07:04,858 Like the teller she happened to meet in her local bank. 148 00:07:04,891 --> 00:07:07,927 - She loved people. You know, all kinds. 149 00:07:08,028 --> 00:07:10,030 It didn't matter who you were. 150 00:07:10,030 --> 00:07:12,399 - Kathy Carpenter was that teller, 151 00:07:12,432 --> 00:07:14,167 and one day, seven years ago 152 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,237 out of the blue, Nancy asked her to lunch. 153 00:07:17,270 --> 00:07:20,040 Kathy accepted and learned firsthand 154 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,043 another of Nancy's hallmark traits. 155 00:07:23,043 --> 00:07:25,745 - She was sometimes brutally honest. 156 00:07:25,779 --> 00:07:27,447 - No edit button. - No edit button. 157 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,051 I like that. Yes. No edit button. 158 00:07:31,051 --> 00:07:32,352 She actually-- when I first met her-- 159 00:07:32,385 --> 00:07:34,054 told me that I was very fat. 160 00:07:34,054 --> 00:07:36,056 That's-- what a thing to say to somebody 161 00:07:36,056 --> 00:07:37,190 when you first meet them. 162 00:07:37,223 --> 00:07:38,692 Hi, be my friend. You're fat. 163 00:07:38,725 --> 00:07:40,493 - Yeah. You're fat. 164 00:07:40,527 --> 00:07:43,396 You're beautiful, but you're fat. 165 00:07:43,430 --> 00:07:46,099 - Though she was blunt, undiplomatic, 166 00:07:46,132 --> 00:07:48,168 but irresistible. 167 00:07:48,201 --> 00:07:49,502 By the time lunch was over, 168 00:07:49,536 --> 00:07:52,439 Nancy and Kathy were fast friends. 169 00:07:52,472 --> 00:07:54,174 It's just how Nancy was. 170 00:07:54,207 --> 00:07:57,077 Like when she made plans to leave town for the winter. 171 00:07:57,110 --> 00:07:59,746 She decided to rent her house to a retired doctor 172 00:07:59,779 --> 00:08:01,514 and his horticulturalist wife. 173 00:08:01,548 --> 00:08:04,751 Total strangers whom she befriended in a heartbeat. 174 00:08:04,784 --> 00:08:08,021 Actually invited them to move in a month early. 175 00:08:08,054 --> 00:08:11,391 And so she and Dr. Trey Styler and his wife, 176 00:08:11,424 --> 00:08:13,526 who also happened to be named Nancy, 177 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:15,895 they all lived together like roommates. 178 00:08:15,929 --> 00:08:18,098 - She kind of said, I'm going to take you under my wing 179 00:08:18,131 --> 00:08:19,666 and have you meet all my friends 180 00:08:19,699 --> 00:08:21,568 and I know a lot of people around here. 181 00:08:21,601 --> 00:08:24,037 [suspenseful music] 182 00:08:24,037 --> 00:08:28,208 - But now, in February 2014, at just 57, 183 00:08:28,241 --> 00:08:31,478 Nancy Pfister was gone. Murdered. 184 00:08:31,511 --> 00:08:34,581 Apparently, in her own bed. 185 00:08:34,614 --> 00:08:36,816 While the grief was still very fresh, 186 00:08:36,850 --> 00:08:38,885 much of Aspen crowded into the storied 187 00:08:38,918 --> 00:08:42,055 Hotel Jerome for a memorial 188 00:08:42,055 --> 00:08:44,691 that was more like a goodbye party. 189 00:08:44,724 --> 00:08:47,794 However she died, we need to celebrate her life. 190 00:08:47,827 --> 00:08:49,662 That's what she would have wanted 191 00:08:49,696 --> 00:08:51,598 because her life was a celebration. 192 00:08:51,631 --> 00:08:54,234 - Except one person, notably absent 193 00:08:54,267 --> 00:08:57,937 from the overflow crowd in the Jerome, wasn't celebrating. 194 00:08:57,971 --> 00:09:00,807 But certainly could hear the music and laughter 195 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,043 that burst out of hotel windows that night 196 00:09:03,076 --> 00:09:05,378 and drifted down the street 197 00:09:05,412 --> 00:09:10,717 and into a particular cell in the county jail. 198 00:09:10,750 --> 00:09:13,386 - What had happened to Nancy Pfister? 199 00:09:13,420 --> 00:09:16,289 Soon, investigators will take a close look 200 00:09:16,322 --> 00:09:20,160 at the awful discovery that launched this Aspen mystery. 201 00:09:25,632 --> 00:09:28,635 - That house has this story to tell 202 00:09:28,668 --> 00:09:30,670 and are we going to be able to figure out 203 00:09:30,704 --> 00:09:32,572 what that story is? 204 00:09:38,178 --> 00:09:44,250 ** 205 00:09:45,218 --> 00:09:48,254 - Aspen, Colorado is the center of the universe, 206 00:09:48,288 --> 00:09:50,323 for a certain crowd that is. 207 00:09:50,357 --> 00:09:54,394 In 2014, as always, an avalanche of skiers 208 00:09:54,427 --> 00:09:56,796 crowded onto lifts and filled the restaurants 209 00:09:56,830 --> 00:09:58,198 and bars and shops 210 00:09:58,231 --> 00:10:01,434 that line Aspen's carefully tended avenues. 211 00:10:01,468 --> 00:10:05,071 A lovely, if pricey, skiing heaven. 212 00:10:05,105 --> 00:10:08,408 Except that is for Nancy Pfister. 213 00:10:08,441 --> 00:10:10,477 - Did she ever think of leaving here permanently? 214 00:10:10,510 --> 00:10:12,145 I know she was away a lot. 215 00:10:12,178 --> 00:10:14,214 - She thought of it all the time. 216 00:10:14,247 --> 00:10:16,483 She thought about-- because Aspen's changed so much. 217 00:10:16,516 --> 00:10:18,051 It's not that sleepy little town. 218 00:10:18,084 --> 00:10:21,187 There's traffic. I got stuck in traffic today. 219 00:10:21,221 --> 00:10:22,989 - With her daughter Juliana grown 220 00:10:23,023 --> 00:10:24,424 and out of the house by then, 221 00:10:24,457 --> 00:10:26,226 Nancy at the peak of ski season, 222 00:10:26,259 --> 00:10:28,862 had no reason to winter in Aspen 223 00:10:28,895 --> 00:10:30,697 which is why she rented her house 224 00:10:30,730 --> 00:10:33,800 to that retired doctor and his wife from Denver. 225 00:10:33,833 --> 00:10:36,536 While she sipped her champagne in warmer climes. 226 00:10:36,569 --> 00:10:38,505 This year, Australia. 227 00:10:38,538 --> 00:10:41,307 So it was a surprise when this February 228 00:10:41,341 --> 00:10:45,412 she notified her friends she was coming home early. 229 00:10:45,445 --> 00:10:48,314 She arrived in Aspen, Saturday, 22nd of February. 230 00:10:48,348 --> 00:10:51,084 Kathy Carpenter picked her up at the airport. 231 00:10:51,117 --> 00:10:52,519 - I hung out with her that evening. 232 00:10:52,552 --> 00:10:55,622 Helped her unpack and get organized. 233 00:10:55,655 --> 00:10:56,723 - How was it to have her back? 234 00:10:56,756 --> 00:10:58,992 - It was wonderful. It was fun. 235 00:10:59,025 --> 00:11:01,094 She shared a lot of her video clips 236 00:11:01,127 --> 00:11:03,530 that she took on her trip. 237 00:11:03,563 --> 00:11:05,165 - Did you stay over the weekend, or-- 238 00:11:05,198 --> 00:11:07,634 - I did. She asked me if I would stay with her, 239 00:11:07,667 --> 00:11:09,502 um, so I did. 240 00:11:09,536 --> 00:11:11,204 - On Monday morning, February 24th, 241 00:11:11,237 --> 00:11:13,340 Kathy got up early and left for work 242 00:11:13,373 --> 00:11:17,077 leaving Nancy and her dog, Gabe, at the house. 243 00:11:17,110 --> 00:11:18,945 Knowing Nancy would need peace and quiet 244 00:11:18,978 --> 00:11:20,580 to get over her jet lag, 245 00:11:20,613 --> 00:11:22,515 she put a note on the front door 246 00:11:22,549 --> 00:11:25,785 asking would-be visitors to leave Nancy alone. 247 00:11:25,819 --> 00:11:27,320 She did not want to be disturbed. 248 00:11:27,354 --> 00:11:30,957 Nancy Pfister never wanted to be disturbed when she slept. 249 00:11:30,990 --> 00:11:32,692 - Right. - You do not call her. 250 00:11:32,726 --> 00:11:34,160 You do not wake her. 251 00:11:34,194 --> 00:11:37,097 She always slept with her earplugs and her eye mask. 252 00:11:37,097 --> 00:11:40,100 Everything shut. Close the door. 253 00:11:40,133 --> 00:11:41,835 And do not disturb. 254 00:11:41,868 --> 00:11:45,238 - Billy Clayton also left Nancy alone 255 00:11:45,271 --> 00:11:48,141 but felt much better just knowing she was home. 256 00:11:48,174 --> 00:11:49,376 - I worried about her constantly 257 00:11:49,409 --> 00:11:51,111 when she was away from Aspen. 258 00:11:51,111 --> 00:11:53,113 But when she returned to Aspen, 259 00:11:53,113 --> 00:11:55,715 I didn't worry about her. I would relax. 260 00:11:55,749 --> 00:11:57,517 I sent her an email-- there was a photo 261 00:11:57,550 --> 00:12:01,788 of my four-year-old son to Aunt Nancy. 262 00:12:01,821 --> 00:12:04,457 "We're so glad you're home because when you're home 263 00:12:04,491 --> 00:12:08,061 we don't worry about you and everything's good." 264 00:12:08,061 --> 00:12:10,964 - But Billy didn't hear back. Not a word. 265 00:12:11,064 --> 00:12:12,265 And then on Wednesday, 266 00:12:12,298 --> 00:12:14,934 the people who'd been renting Nancy's house called Kathy. 267 00:12:14,968 --> 00:12:17,170 They'd moved out quickly on Nancy's return 268 00:12:17,203 --> 00:12:19,339 had been going back and forth to the house all week 269 00:12:19,372 --> 00:12:22,075 clearing out the last of their stuff. 270 00:12:22,075 --> 00:12:25,345 And they found it odd that they hadn't seen Nancy. 271 00:12:25,378 --> 00:12:26,880 Not once. 272 00:12:26,913 --> 00:12:30,216 - So this is Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday 273 00:12:30,250 --> 00:12:31,551 and you still hadn't seen her? 274 00:12:31,584 --> 00:12:32,719 - Still hadn't seen her. 275 00:12:32,752 --> 00:12:35,855 - But they did see Nancy's dog, Gabe. 276 00:12:35,889 --> 00:12:38,992 - And then I went and called Kathy 277 00:12:39,092 --> 00:12:41,661 and said this dog has been alone for two days. 278 00:12:41,695 --> 00:12:43,830 It's clear that she hasn't been back. 279 00:12:43,863 --> 00:12:44,998 - I was concerned 280 00:12:45,098 --> 00:12:48,234 because normally that's not Nancy's behavior. 281 00:12:48,268 --> 00:12:51,404 She would call me and ask me to pick the dog up. 282 00:12:51,438 --> 00:12:53,673 - So after work, Kathy drove up to Nancy's place 283 00:12:53,707 --> 00:12:56,343 in Buttermilk Mountain to check on her friend. 284 00:12:56,376 --> 00:12:58,912 - What was it like when you went inside the house? 285 00:12:58,945 --> 00:13:00,780 - I called her name out, and Gabe was there. 286 00:13:00,814 --> 00:13:02,349 He was happy to see me. 287 00:13:02,382 --> 00:13:06,886 - But Nancy wasn't there. Kathy checked her bedroom. 288 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:11,758 - You know, stuff that was there that I unpacked. 289 00:13:11,791 --> 00:13:14,928 It was clear. Cleaned up. 290 00:13:14,961 --> 00:13:18,898 And when I turned, went to the closet, it was locked. 291 00:13:18,932 --> 00:13:21,468 - Was it usually locked? - No. 292 00:13:21,501 --> 00:13:23,737 Not-- I mean, not with Nancy Pfister home. 293 00:13:23,770 --> 00:13:26,539 - Kathy knew that when Nancy rented her house, 294 00:13:26,573 --> 00:13:29,142 she kept her personal belongings locked in a closet 295 00:13:29,175 --> 00:13:30,910 in the master bedroom. 296 00:13:30,944 --> 00:13:33,313 But she and Kathy had unlocked it 297 00:13:33,346 --> 00:13:34,848 when she got home. 298 00:13:34,881 --> 00:13:36,649 - At that point I just-- I was not feeling comfortable. 299 00:13:36,683 --> 00:13:38,084 Something was not right. 300 00:13:38,084 --> 00:13:39,886 - Kathy, who often house sat for Nancy, 301 00:13:39,919 --> 00:13:42,689 had a spare key but it was back at her house. 302 00:13:42,722 --> 00:13:45,825 So she went home, got the key, returned, 303 00:13:45,859 --> 00:13:47,894 opened the closet door. 304 00:13:47,927 --> 00:13:52,966 - When I opened that door-- that odor is so overwhelming. 305 00:13:52,999 --> 00:13:55,368 It hit me in the face and I looked down 306 00:13:55,402 --> 00:14:00,040 and I could see the shape. 307 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,309 - A shape hidden under a pile of blankets and coverings. 308 00:14:03,343 --> 00:14:06,413 But with one glimpse, Kathy just knew, she said, 309 00:14:06,446 --> 00:14:09,916 it was Nancy Pfister. 310 00:14:09,949 --> 00:14:13,119 - Hard to get that image out of your mind. 311 00:14:13,153 --> 00:14:15,722 - It is. 312 00:14:15,755 --> 00:14:19,793 - Kind of stuck there. - It is. It's... 313 00:14:22,862 --> 00:14:26,066 - Kathy fled the house. Got in her car. Called 911. 314 00:14:30,103 --> 00:14:31,171 It's pretty desolate up there, 315 00:14:31,204 --> 00:14:32,672 so I jumped in the car and I thought, 316 00:14:32,706 --> 00:14:33,840 I'll just drive down the hill 317 00:14:33,873 --> 00:14:37,077 and get to the police department. 318 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,515 - Her hysterics made it very hard for the dispatcher 319 00:14:42,549 --> 00:14:44,851 to comprehend exactly what was going on. 320 00:14:49,856 --> 00:14:51,858 Then finally, understandingly, 321 00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:53,960 the dispatcher told Kathy, pull over. 322 00:14:53,993 --> 00:14:55,962 Wait for the first responders. 323 00:15:00,066 --> 00:15:02,268 - When the police arrived, they-- 324 00:15:02,302 --> 00:15:04,037 I stepped out of the vehicle. 325 00:15:04,070 --> 00:15:06,740 I think I was going into shock-- hyperventilating. 326 00:15:06,773 --> 00:15:09,509 - Dashcam video shows a distraught Kathy 327 00:15:09,542 --> 00:15:11,778 as she was taken to the hospital. 328 00:15:11,811 --> 00:15:15,315 And Sheriff's deputies arrived on Buttermilk Mountain 329 00:15:15,348 --> 00:15:19,219 to look in that room and confront a mystery. 330 00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:21,488 - That house, and that room in particular, 331 00:15:21,521 --> 00:15:23,590 has this story to tell. 332 00:15:23,623 --> 00:15:25,658 And are we going to be able to figure out 333 00:15:25,692 --> 00:15:27,460 what that story is? 334 00:15:30,363 --> 00:15:31,564 - Hard to do that alone. 335 00:15:31,598 --> 00:15:35,335 - It is awkward and difficult to move a body. 336 00:15:35,368 --> 00:15:39,539 - More than one suspect and maybe more than one killer. 337 00:15:46,312 --> 00:15:50,383 ** 338 00:15:51,251 --> 00:15:53,486 - Lisa Miller, then the DA's investigator 339 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:55,455 for the county that includes Aspen, 340 00:15:55,488 --> 00:15:58,625 is a tall, rangy woman with an impish grin 341 00:15:58,658 --> 00:16:01,561 that looks like it's hiding a secret. 342 00:16:01,594 --> 00:16:04,097 Investigator Miller was in an unfamiliar situation 343 00:16:04,130 --> 00:16:06,166 up here on Buttermilk Mountain. 344 00:16:06,199 --> 00:16:08,635 Murder in Aspen? 345 00:16:08,668 --> 00:16:10,070 Just doesn't happen, 346 00:16:10,103 --> 00:16:13,840 or hadn't at least in more than a decade. 347 00:16:13,873 --> 00:16:16,943 - I was a little surprised that we had a murder in Aspen. 348 00:16:17,043 --> 00:16:18,845 - And being called to a person's home 349 00:16:18,878 --> 00:16:22,048 like Nancy Pfister, I should think, especially so. 350 00:16:22,082 --> 00:16:23,249 - Correct. 351 00:16:23,283 --> 00:16:26,052 - And yet here she was in Nancy's living room, 352 00:16:26,086 --> 00:16:28,221 looking out the big picture window. 353 00:16:28,254 --> 00:16:32,258 - The juxtaposition of arriving at that house 354 00:16:32,292 --> 00:16:35,328 and taking a look at this beautiful scenery 355 00:16:35,362 --> 00:16:39,299 and then knowing an act of terrible violence had occurred 356 00:16:39,332 --> 00:16:41,067 just down the hallway. 357 00:16:41,067 --> 00:16:42,535 - Though in the bedroom 358 00:16:42,569 --> 00:16:45,372 she saw surprisingly little evidence of it. 359 00:16:45,405 --> 00:16:48,141 - There was a small blood smear on the headboard. 360 00:16:48,174 --> 00:16:52,412 There was a couple small droplets of blood 361 00:16:52,445 --> 00:16:58,218 on the carpet and a little bit of spatter on the wall. 362 00:16:58,251 --> 00:17:00,220 - And the body in the closet? 363 00:17:00,253 --> 00:17:03,790 Well, when first responders opened the door... 364 00:17:03,823 --> 00:17:06,026 - They knew they were looking for a body. 365 00:17:06,059 --> 00:17:07,660 And they open the door and they look inside 366 00:17:07,694 --> 00:17:11,631 and they didn't immediately recognize the body. 367 00:17:11,664 --> 00:17:15,769 You just looked down and you saw white coverings. 368 00:17:15,802 --> 00:17:18,171 - And underneath those coverings-- 369 00:17:18,204 --> 00:17:22,275 - Ms. Pfister had been bound with extension cord. 370 00:17:22,308 --> 00:17:26,112 She had multiple plastic bags over her head 371 00:17:26,146 --> 00:17:28,715 that had been bound and secured tightly. 372 00:17:28,748 --> 00:17:32,786 And then another large, one of the tear resistant, 373 00:17:32,819 --> 00:17:35,889 darker colored bags over her body also. 374 00:17:35,922 --> 00:17:38,258 - With blankets wrapped all around that. 375 00:17:38,291 --> 00:17:40,393 Investigator Miller could clearly see that the killer, 376 00:17:40,427 --> 00:17:41,861 whoever it was, 377 00:17:41,895 --> 00:17:43,430 had gone to a lot of trouble 378 00:17:43,463 --> 00:17:46,332 to hide what he or she had done 379 00:17:46,366 --> 00:17:48,501 but there was no hiding now. 380 00:17:48,535 --> 00:17:51,604 - When the crime scene personnel started taking a look, 381 00:17:51,638 --> 00:17:55,642 they flip the mattress and found blood 382 00:17:55,675 --> 00:17:58,945 on the bottom part of the mattress. 383 00:17:58,978 --> 00:18:02,482 - So it was clear Nancy was killed on the bed, 384 00:18:02,515 --> 00:18:05,218 dragged to the closet, stashed there, 385 00:18:05,251 --> 00:18:06,886 wrapped up like a mummy. 386 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:08,521 Then whoever did it took the extra trouble 387 00:18:08,555 --> 00:18:10,023 to flip the mattress 388 00:18:10,023 --> 00:18:13,827 in an effort to hide the soaked in pool of blood. 389 00:18:13,860 --> 00:18:16,062 Andrea Bryan was the Deputy District Attorney 390 00:18:16,096 --> 00:18:17,664 and started working on the case 391 00:18:17,697 --> 00:18:19,899 the night Nancy's body was found. 392 00:18:19,933 --> 00:18:23,036 - We learned that she had died from blunt force trauma 393 00:18:23,069 --> 00:18:24,037 to the head and it appeared 394 00:18:24,037 --> 00:18:26,039 she had had several blows to the head. 395 00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:27,807 - Any defensive wounds? - No. 396 00:18:27,841 --> 00:18:30,744 - So this appeared to come out of the blue for her? 397 00:18:30,777 --> 00:18:33,513 - It did appear to be-- yes, a premeditated crime 398 00:18:33,546 --> 00:18:35,849 that occurred while she was sleeping. 399 00:18:35,882 --> 00:18:38,351 - It looked as if it happened early Monday morning. 400 00:18:38,385 --> 00:18:40,520 And then the body lay in the closet undiscovered 401 00:18:40,553 --> 00:18:42,956 until Wednesday evening. 402 00:18:43,056 --> 00:18:44,791 The investigators began compiling a list 403 00:18:44,824 --> 00:18:48,661 of possible suspects. A long list. 404 00:18:48,695 --> 00:18:51,931 - None of us really lived like Nancy-- so open. 405 00:18:51,965 --> 00:18:55,068 I mean, she was totally open to strangers. 406 00:18:55,068 --> 00:18:57,771 - That openness made Nancy friends everywhere she went, 407 00:18:57,804 --> 00:18:59,105 said Billy. 408 00:18:59,139 --> 00:19:00,874 But when Nancy opened herself up, 409 00:19:00,907 --> 00:19:03,777 people didn't always like what came out. 410 00:19:03,810 --> 00:19:06,312 - Say whatever she thought. - Say what she thought. 411 00:19:06,346 --> 00:19:08,748 - Did she realize she was going to maybe 412 00:19:08,782 --> 00:19:12,752 make a negative impression sometimes when she did that? 413 00:19:12,786 --> 00:19:14,888 - Well, she definitely pissed people off. 414 00:19:14,921 --> 00:19:16,256 There's no doubt about that. 415 00:19:16,289 --> 00:19:18,191 She-- you know, many times, I could just see 416 00:19:18,224 --> 00:19:20,560 people's steam coming out of their ears 417 00:19:20,593 --> 00:19:21,728 and they're thinking, 418 00:19:21,761 --> 00:19:24,164 no one's ever talked to me like that before. 419 00:19:24,197 --> 00:19:28,034 But her thinking was, someone should have a long time ago. 420 00:19:28,034 --> 00:19:30,704 - No question Nancy rubbed some people the wrong way. 421 00:19:30,737 --> 00:19:32,839 Spoke her mind a bit too often maybe. 422 00:19:32,872 --> 00:19:35,375 Treated friends a little like her personal servants, 423 00:19:35,408 --> 00:19:38,511 sometimes-- Like Kathy, for example. 424 00:19:38,545 --> 00:19:40,280 - Did she treat you more like a friend 425 00:19:40,313 --> 00:19:42,682 or like she was your boss? 426 00:19:42,716 --> 00:19:46,419 - You know, friends and just depending on the day. 427 00:19:46,453 --> 00:19:48,755 And some days, you know, she would boss me around 428 00:19:48,788 --> 00:19:53,360 and I would express how I felt and she always apologized. 429 00:19:53,393 --> 00:19:55,428 - And her friends forgave 430 00:19:55,462 --> 00:19:58,231 because they loved Nancy for who she was. 431 00:19:58,264 --> 00:19:59,766 But investigators now had to figure out 432 00:19:59,799 --> 00:20:03,436 if someone in Nancy's life had stopped loving her 433 00:20:03,470 --> 00:20:06,806 or if she had simply opened herself up 434 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,075 to the wrong person. 435 00:20:09,109 --> 00:20:11,511 - We're working diligently at that point 436 00:20:11,544 --> 00:20:13,947 to follow up on other leads that were coming in. 437 00:20:13,980 --> 00:20:16,883 - Like? - Leads of other people 438 00:20:16,916 --> 00:20:19,986 in the community that may have had some resentment 439 00:20:20,020 --> 00:20:22,422 towards Nancy Pfister. 440 00:20:22,455 --> 00:20:24,624 - Like perhaps a jilted lover. 441 00:20:24,657 --> 00:20:28,128 Like one of them have harbored some hidden rage. 442 00:20:28,161 --> 00:20:30,530 Her friends knew that the irrepressible Nancy 443 00:20:30,563 --> 00:20:35,602 was also a woman who fell in and out of love, often. 444 00:20:35,635 --> 00:20:40,674 - Usually Nancy's affairs or romances 445 00:20:40,707 --> 00:20:43,510 didn't last a long time. - Yeah. 446 00:20:43,543 --> 00:20:44,577 - Because there were some stories 447 00:20:44,611 --> 00:20:46,479 about there was a jilted lover somewhere that-- 448 00:20:46,513 --> 00:20:47,847 somebody I didn't know. 449 00:20:47,881 --> 00:20:51,051 So when I heard that I thought there's crazy people out there, 450 00:20:51,084 --> 00:20:52,752 and I said let's follow it up 451 00:20:52,786 --> 00:20:55,822 because you never know. It could be, you know. 452 00:20:55,855 --> 00:20:57,157 - But no. 453 00:20:57,190 --> 00:20:59,492 No actual jilted lovers in Nancy's past. 454 00:20:59,526 --> 00:21:02,829 Just rumor and unfounded innuendo. 455 00:21:02,862 --> 00:21:06,166 And besides, after taking in the bedroom crime scene, 456 00:21:06,199 --> 00:21:10,570 investigators decided they were not looking for a killer. 457 00:21:10,603 --> 00:21:13,740 - Hard to do that alone. Carry a body around like that. 458 00:21:13,773 --> 00:21:16,376 Flip a queen sized mattress. 459 00:21:16,409 --> 00:21:19,079 - The mattress is doable, but it would be awkward 460 00:21:19,112 --> 00:21:23,316 for a single person to flip the mattress on their own. 461 00:21:23,350 --> 00:21:27,120 And they use the term dead weight for a reason. 462 00:21:27,153 --> 00:21:31,825 I mean it is awkward and difficult to move a body. 463 00:21:31,858 --> 00:21:34,361 - But it seemed like a pretty clear indication 464 00:21:34,394 --> 00:21:36,162 of more than one person? 465 00:21:36,196 --> 00:21:39,099 - Yes, that was our conclusion. 466 00:21:39,132 --> 00:21:40,500 - Something else, 467 00:21:40,533 --> 00:21:42,202 since there was no sign of forced entry, 468 00:21:42,235 --> 00:21:45,972 her killer or killers, as they now believed, 469 00:21:46,006 --> 00:21:48,742 must have had a house key. 470 00:21:48,775 --> 00:21:51,378 Now, who might that be? 471 00:21:54,114 --> 00:21:56,850 The new renters-- the doctor and his wife. 472 00:21:56,883 --> 00:22:01,354 - It just seemed perfect. - What did they see? 473 00:22:07,127 --> 00:22:10,697 ** 474 00:22:11,664 --> 00:22:14,334 - Welcome back to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered". 475 00:22:14,367 --> 00:22:15,735 I'm Kate Snow. 476 00:22:15,769 --> 00:22:19,205 It was an overturned mattress and Nancy Pfister's body 477 00:22:19,239 --> 00:22:22,142 secreted in a closet that led investigators 478 00:22:22,175 --> 00:22:24,077 to believe they should be looking for 479 00:22:24,110 --> 00:22:25,945 more than one killer. 480 00:22:25,979 --> 00:22:28,081 And with no evidence of a break in, 481 00:22:28,114 --> 00:22:30,483 police thought Nancy must have known 482 00:22:30,517 --> 00:22:32,652 those responsible for the crime. 483 00:22:32,686 --> 00:22:36,723 But fun loving Nancy seemed to be adored by everyone. 484 00:22:36,756 --> 00:22:41,227 Well, detectives knew it couldn't have been everyone. 485 00:22:41,261 --> 00:22:44,464 Back to Keith Morrison with "While She Was Sleeping". 486 00:22:46,099 --> 00:22:49,502 - The investigation was literally closer to home now. 487 00:22:49,536 --> 00:22:51,304 That is to say the detectives investigating 488 00:22:51,338 --> 00:22:53,206 the murder of Nancy Pfister 489 00:22:53,239 --> 00:22:55,475 began looking at anybody who had access, 490 00:22:55,508 --> 00:22:58,211 without permission, to Nancy's house. 491 00:22:58,244 --> 00:23:00,547 That is, people with a key. 492 00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:02,916 For example, the couple who had been renting the place 493 00:23:02,949 --> 00:23:05,385 while Nancy was in Australia. 494 00:23:05,418 --> 00:23:08,321 Dr. William Trey Styler and his wife, 495 00:23:08,355 --> 00:23:11,725 also named Nancy, were hardly likely suspects, 496 00:23:11,758 --> 00:23:13,760 but they had to start somewhere. 497 00:23:13,793 --> 00:23:16,096 - Mr. Styler is anesthesiologist. 498 00:23:16,129 --> 00:23:17,530 Mrs. Styler, from all accounts, 499 00:23:17,564 --> 00:23:20,266 was an intelligent woman herself. 500 00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:22,902 - Trey and Nancy met in the anesthesiology department 501 00:23:22,936 --> 00:23:24,337 at a Denver hospital. 502 00:23:24,371 --> 00:23:27,941 He a resident and she an instructor. 503 00:23:27,974 --> 00:23:31,077 - I heard him go up to a woman on a gurney 504 00:23:31,077 --> 00:23:33,413 and say, hello, I'm Dr. Styler. 505 00:23:33,446 --> 00:23:34,381 I'll take care of you 506 00:23:34,414 --> 00:23:36,149 as though I were taking care of my mother, 507 00:23:36,182 --> 00:23:37,717 and I love my mother. 508 00:23:37,751 --> 00:23:41,087 - The gentle doctor chaired his anesthesiology department 509 00:23:41,087 --> 00:23:43,089 by the time he retired. 510 00:23:43,089 --> 00:23:45,992 They lived in an upscale area of Denver. 511 00:23:46,092 --> 00:23:47,727 Their shared hobby was growing 512 00:23:47,761 --> 00:23:51,765 the gasp-inducing giant Victoria waterlily. 513 00:23:51,798 --> 00:23:55,335 Their unusual level of success at that or skill, 514 00:23:55,368 --> 00:23:56,770 brought them world renown 515 00:23:56,803 --> 00:24:00,573 within the rarefied world of specialized botany. 516 00:24:00,607 --> 00:24:02,942 - In fact, the two of you lived, kind of, 517 00:24:03,043 --> 00:24:04,244 a charmed existence for quite a while. 518 00:24:04,277 --> 00:24:05,345 - We did. 519 00:24:05,378 --> 00:24:08,615 Had 25 years of a life that I used to say, 520 00:24:08,648 --> 00:24:11,384 I would never trade with anyone. 521 00:24:11,418 --> 00:24:13,620 - But right around the year 2000, 522 00:24:13,653 --> 00:24:15,922 it all began to fall apart. 523 00:24:15,955 --> 00:24:18,925 Trey got sick and had to quit practicing medicine. 524 00:24:18,958 --> 00:24:22,362 His attempt to start a medical support business failed. 525 00:24:22,395 --> 00:24:25,265 He sued his medical group and lost. 526 00:24:25,298 --> 00:24:27,634 He sued the lawyer who took his life savings 527 00:24:27,667 --> 00:24:29,969 and got nothing. 528 00:24:30,070 --> 00:24:31,705 He had to sell his house. 529 00:24:31,738 --> 00:24:33,807 He moved with Nancy into a rental 530 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:35,575 where they were poisoned, said Nancy, 531 00:24:35,608 --> 00:24:38,912 and very nearly fatally by carbon monoxide. 532 00:24:38,945 --> 00:24:41,581 Again, they tried to sue but were too broke 533 00:24:41,614 --> 00:24:43,116 to hire an attorney. 534 00:24:43,149 --> 00:24:47,287 - And he was beside himself. Suicidal. 535 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,089 Just, you know, 536 00:24:49,089 --> 00:24:51,624 I can't believe what I did to the family, 537 00:24:51,658 --> 00:24:53,193 losing all this income. 538 00:24:53,226 --> 00:24:58,098 And-and I said, you know, we can do this. 539 00:24:58,131 --> 00:25:00,233 And so I thought of Aspen. 540 00:25:00,266 --> 00:25:02,869 That we loved Aspen. 541 00:25:02,902 --> 00:25:05,071 - Aspen, fresh mountain air. 542 00:25:05,105 --> 00:25:06,740 A fresh start. 543 00:25:06,773 --> 00:25:09,609 They could open a spa, they decided. 544 00:25:09,642 --> 00:25:11,644 And that's when Nancy Styler picked up the phone 545 00:25:11,678 --> 00:25:14,047 to answer another Nancy's real estate ad 546 00:25:14,047 --> 00:25:15,448 in the local newspaper. 547 00:25:15,482 --> 00:25:17,517 Nancy Pfister's ad. 548 00:25:17,550 --> 00:25:19,085 - She said, oh, excuse me. 549 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,354 I was just watering my greenhouse. 550 00:25:21,388 --> 00:25:24,190 I said, you know, I would love to have a greenhouse. 551 00:25:25,392 --> 00:25:29,062 And so we went up there, and it just seemed perfect. 552 00:25:29,095 --> 00:25:31,731 - Seemed perfect to Nancy Pfister too. 553 00:25:31,765 --> 00:25:33,867 Her share of the family fortune was doled out 554 00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:35,835 in regular, but limited, allowances 555 00:25:35,869 --> 00:25:38,571 and by renting her multi-million dollar house, 556 00:25:38,605 --> 00:25:40,573 with the billion dollar views, 557 00:25:40,607 --> 00:25:44,077 she would have extra cash for her upcoming trip to Australia. 558 00:25:44,077 --> 00:25:47,080 So no formal lease, just a handshake. 559 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,416 The rent was $4,000 a month. 560 00:25:49,449 --> 00:25:52,752 - It was a lot of money but not for Aspen. 561 00:25:52,786 --> 00:25:54,421 - Nancy asked her good friend Kathy 562 00:25:54,454 --> 00:25:56,556 to help the renters take care of her dog 563 00:25:56,589 --> 00:25:57,691 while she was away. 564 00:25:57,724 --> 00:26:00,927 Collect the rent and be her general go between. 565 00:26:01,027 --> 00:26:03,563 - She really like these people. 566 00:26:03,596 --> 00:26:07,500 She said that she felt that they had really great karma. 567 00:26:07,534 --> 00:26:09,869 - And that's part of the reason why she invited them 568 00:26:09,903 --> 00:26:13,406 to move in a full month before she left. 569 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,809 But it wasn't long before the Stylers discovered 570 00:26:15,842 --> 00:26:17,744 that living with Nancy Pfister 571 00:26:17,777 --> 00:26:21,114 was not quite like they thought it might be. 572 00:26:21,147 --> 00:26:23,350 - After the first couple of days, 573 00:26:23,383 --> 00:26:26,119 she treated me like a slave. 574 00:26:26,152 --> 00:26:30,223 Like, get my cigarettes, get this, get my drink. 575 00:26:30,256 --> 00:26:34,227 And I was not used to being so disrespected. 576 00:26:34,260 --> 00:26:35,628 - Treated like a slave, though? 577 00:26:35,662 --> 00:26:37,397 I mean... - A slave. 578 00:26:37,430 --> 00:26:40,133 It was not pretty. 579 00:26:40,166 --> 00:26:43,436 - You know, I told her that is how Nancy is. 580 00:26:43,470 --> 00:26:45,205 Don't take it personal. 581 00:26:45,238 --> 00:26:46,940 She comes off this way 582 00:26:46,973 --> 00:26:50,510 and that, you know, she-she really has a good heart. 583 00:26:50,543 --> 00:26:54,214 - Anyway, Nancy left soon enough for Australia 584 00:26:54,247 --> 00:26:55,648 but then the Stylers discovered 585 00:26:55,682 --> 00:26:58,651 the house wasn't so perfect after all. 586 00:26:58,685 --> 00:26:59,819 - So when I went to clean out 587 00:26:59,853 --> 00:27:02,689 the master bedroom and bathroom 588 00:27:02,722 --> 00:27:06,059 I realized the hot water was rusty. 589 00:27:06,092 --> 00:27:10,230 Um, the dishwasher didn't work. The stove didn't work. 590 00:27:10,263 --> 00:27:13,400 - Once again, the Stylers sought redress. 591 00:27:13,433 --> 00:27:17,737 They decided to withhold rent until those things were fixed. 592 00:27:17,771 --> 00:27:20,206 Nancy Pfister, half a world away, 593 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,042 was not happy. 594 00:27:22,075 --> 00:27:23,710 - What she say? 595 00:27:23,743 --> 00:27:27,147 - That she felt that these people were cons, 596 00:27:27,180 --> 00:27:29,349 squatters, and she wanted them out. 597 00:27:29,382 --> 00:27:31,117 - Kathy was caught in the middle. 598 00:27:31,151 --> 00:27:32,752 She arranged the repairs. 599 00:27:32,786 --> 00:27:34,654 The Stylers paid the money they owed. 600 00:27:34,688 --> 00:27:37,057 Gave Kathy $6,000 in cash 601 00:27:37,057 --> 00:27:39,626 that she put in a safe deposit box for Nancy. 602 00:27:39,659 --> 00:27:42,429 But the relationship between landlord and tenants 603 00:27:42,462 --> 00:27:44,831 had soured to the point that no amount of karma 604 00:27:44,864 --> 00:27:46,566 could preserve it. 605 00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:49,402 - At that point, Nancy Styler said I don't want to stay. 606 00:27:49,436 --> 00:27:53,239 We will be out February 22nd. 607 00:27:53,273 --> 00:27:56,810 - How did Nancy Pfister feel about that? 608 00:27:56,843 --> 00:27:59,879 - She was fine with it. She wanted them out. 609 00:27:59,913 --> 00:28:02,082 - Unable to find new tenants now, 610 00:28:02,115 --> 00:28:04,017 Nancy Pfister was faced with doing 611 00:28:04,017 --> 00:28:06,252 exactly what she hoped to avoid 612 00:28:06,286 --> 00:28:07,921 when she went to Australia. 613 00:28:08,021 --> 00:28:10,824 Spending peak ski season in Aspen. 614 00:28:10,857 --> 00:28:14,661 She got home February 22nd, the very day the Stylers said 615 00:28:14,694 --> 00:28:17,030 they'd be done moving their stuff out. 616 00:28:17,030 --> 00:28:19,799 The problem was they weren't. 617 00:28:19,833 --> 00:28:21,434 She was not happy. 618 00:28:21,468 --> 00:28:24,137 You know, she had a few choice words, 619 00:28:24,170 --> 00:28:25,672 but she accepted it. 620 00:28:25,705 --> 00:28:27,507 She was tired, jet lag. 621 00:28:27,540 --> 00:28:29,709 She wanted to come home, see her dog. 622 00:28:29,743 --> 00:28:32,278 - The Stylers ended up in a motel in Basalt. 623 00:28:32,312 --> 00:28:34,347 About 25 minutes away. 624 00:28:34,381 --> 00:28:36,316 They stopped by the house again a few times 625 00:28:36,349 --> 00:28:38,351 during the week to get their things. 626 00:28:38,385 --> 00:28:40,687 Saw the dog, but not Nancy 627 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,423 and made that first alarming call to Kathy 628 00:28:43,456 --> 00:28:46,059 that something seemed wrong. 629 00:28:46,059 --> 00:28:48,061 And when Kathy found the body, 630 00:28:48,061 --> 00:28:49,763 knowing better than anyone about the tension 631 00:28:49,796 --> 00:28:52,298 between the Stylers and Nancy Pfister, 632 00:28:52,332 --> 00:28:54,334 she made sure to clue in investigators. 633 00:29:05,311 --> 00:29:09,849 - So time for investigators to visit that motel 634 00:29:09,883 --> 00:29:12,519 and meet the Stylers. 635 00:29:12,552 --> 00:29:13,887 - Coming up... 636 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,289 - I said, I haven't done anything wrong. 637 00:29:16,322 --> 00:29:19,392 - From motel room to interrogation room. 638 00:29:19,426 --> 00:29:21,194 Investigators were fishing. 639 00:29:24,264 --> 00:29:26,166 - What would they catch? 640 00:29:38,545 --> 00:29:41,047 - Basalt, Colorado is just down the highway from Aspen. 641 00:29:41,748 --> 00:29:43,216 You could see the same mountains. 642 00:29:43,249 --> 00:29:45,151 Breathe the same air. 643 00:29:45,185 --> 00:29:48,555 But when Trey and Nancy Styler checked into their motel, 644 00:29:48,588 --> 00:29:49,889 they were entering a world 645 00:29:49,923 --> 00:29:51,891 far beneath the rarefied heights 646 00:29:51,925 --> 00:29:54,761 of Nancy Pfister's mountainside retreat. 647 00:29:54,794 --> 00:29:57,897 No billionaire starter castles here. 648 00:29:57,931 --> 00:30:01,534 This is where many of the people who work in Aspen live. 649 00:30:01,568 --> 00:30:03,670 And here the Stylers thought they were done 650 00:30:03,703 --> 00:30:06,840 with Nancy Pfister, moving on. 651 00:30:06,873 --> 00:30:10,243 And then there was a knock at the door at 5:30 AM. 652 00:30:10,276 --> 00:30:11,745 It was Sheriff's deputies. 653 00:30:11,778 --> 00:30:15,615 They had questions, they said, about a dead body. 654 00:30:15,648 --> 00:30:17,851 - And I said, what dead body? 655 00:30:17,884 --> 00:30:20,754 And he wouldn't tell me. 656 00:30:20,787 --> 00:30:23,690 Who died? Wouldn't say a word. 657 00:30:23,723 --> 00:30:25,091 - The deputies escorted them 658 00:30:25,125 --> 00:30:27,427 to the back seats of separate cars 659 00:30:27,460 --> 00:30:30,730 but said not a word as they drove down to the station. 660 00:30:30,764 --> 00:30:33,433 - Nancy listened to the chatter on the radio. 661 00:30:33,466 --> 00:30:36,469 - I heard her sister's names being mentioned 662 00:30:36,503 --> 00:30:38,204 on the police radio. 663 00:30:38,238 --> 00:30:40,807 Nancy's sister's names. 664 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,244 And I thought, well it must be something to do with Nancy. 665 00:30:44,277 --> 00:30:46,046 - At the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, 666 00:30:46,079 --> 00:30:49,916 deputies put Nancy and Trey in different interview rooms. 667 00:30:49,949 --> 00:30:54,220 - And he hadn't read me my Miranda rights beforehand 668 00:30:54,254 --> 00:30:56,823 and I said, I don't need an attorney. 669 00:30:56,856 --> 00:30:59,259 I said, I-I haven't done anything wrong. 670 00:30:59,292 --> 00:31:01,628 I said, I'll be happy to answer questions. 671 00:31:01,661 --> 00:31:04,698 - Which were, at least to begin with, pretty basic. 672 00:31:13,139 --> 00:31:15,241 They asked me if I knew 673 00:31:15,275 --> 00:31:19,279 any of the men that she, you know, had dated. 674 00:31:19,312 --> 00:31:22,615 If I knew anyone that would want her dead. 675 00:31:22,649 --> 00:31:23,683 - But she didn't think 676 00:31:23,717 --> 00:31:25,685 it was that sort of thing at all, said Nancy. 677 00:31:25,719 --> 00:31:27,287 She told the detective she was pretty sure 678 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,090 she knew exactly what happened to Nancy Pfister. 679 00:31:30,090 --> 00:31:31,991 I said you're going to find the tox report 680 00:31:32,092 --> 00:31:35,462 you're going to find out that she committed suicide. 681 00:31:35,495 --> 00:31:39,265 I was absolutely sure that that's what happened. 682 00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:42,302 - But of course, investigators knew Nancy Pfister 683 00:31:42,335 --> 00:31:44,471 did not die by suicide. 684 00:31:44,504 --> 00:31:46,373 They knew someone beat her to death. 685 00:31:46,406 --> 00:31:48,241 Attacked her as she slept. 686 00:31:48,274 --> 00:31:50,110 And they knew all about the rental arrangement 687 00:31:50,143 --> 00:31:53,747 that started well and went to hell. 688 00:31:53,780 --> 00:31:55,582 And about the Stylers' rapid fall 689 00:31:55,615 --> 00:31:58,385 from success to ruination. 690 00:31:58,418 --> 00:32:01,254 - Their financial situation was dire, 691 00:32:01,287 --> 00:32:03,490 and he was trying to pawn a very nice ring. 692 00:32:03,523 --> 00:32:04,858 - He was a desperate man. 693 00:32:04,891 --> 00:32:07,093 - He was very desperate. 694 00:32:07,127 --> 00:32:10,096 - They also knew, from Kathy Carpenter, 695 00:32:10,130 --> 00:32:13,800 how angry Nancy Styler was at Nancy Pfister. 696 00:32:13,833 --> 00:32:15,402 - What kinds of things did she say? 697 00:32:15,435 --> 00:32:17,270 - Just that I hate that woman. 698 00:32:17,303 --> 00:32:19,873 You know, Nancy Styler was upset. 699 00:32:19,906 --> 00:32:21,741 - I could kill her? - She did say that. 700 00:32:21,775 --> 00:32:23,209 Oh, I could just kill that woman. 701 00:32:23,243 --> 00:32:25,378 - Did Nancy Styler admit 702 00:32:25,412 --> 00:32:30,083 that she had threatened, uh, Nancy Pfister? 703 00:32:30,083 --> 00:32:32,619 That she had said, you know, I-I'd like to kill her? 704 00:32:32,652 --> 00:32:34,554 - She was, I think, pretty open about 705 00:32:34,587 --> 00:32:36,856 her feelings for Nancy Pfister 706 00:32:36,890 --> 00:32:38,625 and she made some statements 707 00:32:38,658 --> 00:32:41,428 that were certainly con-consistent with that. 708 00:32:50,003 --> 00:32:52,238 - Nancy Styler's personal opinion 709 00:32:52,272 --> 00:32:55,108 of Nancy Pfister had soured to such a degree 710 00:32:55,108 --> 00:32:57,877 she did not hesitate to speak ill of the dead. 711 00:32:57,911 --> 00:32:59,879 Whether true or not. 712 00:33:05,685 --> 00:33:08,521 - Investigators put Dr. Styler in a separate room. 713 00:33:08,555 --> 00:33:10,557 They dressed him in an orange jumpsuit 714 00:33:10,590 --> 00:33:13,059 even though he wasn't under arrest. 715 00:33:13,093 --> 00:33:15,929 And they asked a few softball questions. 716 00:33:21,735 --> 00:33:24,404 - But it wasn't long before the tone changed. 717 00:33:24,437 --> 00:33:26,940 The accusations began. 718 00:33:33,580 --> 00:33:35,081 - The Sheriff himself, 719 00:33:35,081 --> 00:33:37,083 a close friend of the late Nancy Pfister, 720 00:33:37,117 --> 00:33:38,918 tried to get Trey Styler to admit that, 721 00:33:38,952 --> 00:33:41,654 in a desperate rage, he killed Nancy. 722 00:33:49,095 --> 00:33:52,298 - But Trey insisted, they were going after the wrong guy. 723 00:33:52,332 --> 00:33:53,466 He was innocent. 724 00:33:55,902 --> 00:33:59,105 - Over and over Trey stressed and demonstrated 725 00:33:59,139 --> 00:34:02,442 how his 65-year-old body, ravaged by disease, 726 00:34:02,475 --> 00:34:04,644 was far too frail to have done 727 00:34:04,678 --> 00:34:06,446 what was done to Nancy. 728 00:34:11,484 --> 00:34:14,854 - But, it had already dawned on detectives, 729 00:34:14,888 --> 00:34:18,058 the more Trey claimed to be physically incapable... 730 00:34:22,362 --> 00:34:24,931 the worse it looked for his wife. 731 00:34:24,964 --> 00:34:26,666 - We definitely had to look at the fact 732 00:34:26,700 --> 00:34:30,170 that he had assistance, potentially. 733 00:34:36,976 --> 00:34:40,246 - Trey still insisted. Took a polygraph. 734 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,115 Maybe he shouldn't have. 735 00:34:42,148 --> 00:34:43,917 - And he failed his polygraph? 736 00:34:43,950 --> 00:34:46,753 - Yes, he did fail his polygraph. 737 00:34:46,786 --> 00:34:48,388 - You're smiling. 738 00:34:48,421 --> 00:34:49,622 Failed it badly or what? 739 00:34:49,656 --> 00:34:52,092 - My understanding, from the, uh, polygrapher 740 00:34:52,125 --> 00:34:54,861 that, uh, ran the test, he did fail it badly. 741 00:34:54,894 --> 00:34:56,229 - Not admissible in court, 742 00:34:56,262 --> 00:34:58,865 but an investigative tool, they say. 743 00:34:58,898 --> 00:35:00,567 Didn't look good for the Stylers. 744 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,503 But desperation and anger do not, by themselves, 745 00:35:03,536 --> 00:35:05,472 a murder case make. 746 00:35:05,505 --> 00:35:08,041 And to make things a little extra difficult, 747 00:35:08,041 --> 00:35:09,376 investigators knew they couldn't count on 748 00:35:09,409 --> 00:35:13,046 DNA at the scene to link the Stylers to the crime. 749 00:35:13,046 --> 00:35:14,381 - It could easily be explained 750 00:35:14,414 --> 00:35:16,583 because of where they were living. 751 00:35:16,616 --> 00:35:20,086 They were staying in that bedroom. 752 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:21,488 - So the investigators drove the Stylers 753 00:35:21,521 --> 00:35:23,056 back to their motel 754 00:35:23,056 --> 00:35:24,524 and went on with the hard work 755 00:35:24,557 --> 00:35:26,593 of a murder investigation. 756 00:35:26,626 --> 00:35:29,496 They'd have to find a piece of good, solid evidence 757 00:35:29,529 --> 00:35:33,299 to tie someone, maybe the Stylers, to the crime. 758 00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:36,536 Didn't look, so far, as if such a thing existed. 759 00:35:36,569 --> 00:35:38,271 And then... 760 00:35:38,304 --> 00:35:41,074 - Occasionally, uh, something fortuitous happens 761 00:35:41,107 --> 00:35:43,076 to law enforcement. 762 00:35:43,109 --> 00:35:45,345 - How does that old saying go? 763 00:35:45,378 --> 00:35:49,149 One man's trash is another man's treasure. 764 00:35:50,984 --> 00:35:52,519 - Coming up... 765 00:35:52,552 --> 00:35:55,188 - This broke the case. 766 00:35:55,221 --> 00:35:58,992 - What was this stuff and where did it come from? 767 00:36:10,537 --> 00:36:12,272 - Something was wrong with the equation. 768 00:36:12,639 --> 00:36:13,907 Didn't add up. 769 00:36:13,940 --> 00:36:16,543 Here in Aspen, in the house on Buttermilk Mountain, 770 00:36:16,576 --> 00:36:19,245 the crime scene around Nancy Pfister's body 771 00:36:19,279 --> 00:36:20,780 spoke in a way. 772 00:36:20,814 --> 00:36:22,415 It told a story. 773 00:36:22,449 --> 00:36:26,152 And what it said was that at least two able-bodied people 774 00:36:26,186 --> 00:36:27,687 committed the murder. 775 00:36:27,721 --> 00:36:30,290 How else would a heavy mattress get flipped 776 00:36:30,323 --> 00:36:32,559 and Nancy's body get dragged across the room 777 00:36:32,592 --> 00:36:34,728 and into the closet and get packaged in bags 778 00:36:34,761 --> 00:36:37,063 and wrapped up in blankets? 779 00:36:37,063 --> 00:36:40,066 And yet their suspects, Nancy's former tenants, 780 00:36:40,066 --> 00:36:42,235 were not able-bodied, spring chickens, 781 00:36:42,268 --> 00:36:44,170 anything but athletic. 782 00:36:44,204 --> 00:36:47,207 And besides, there was zero physical evidence 783 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:51,211 that would tie either one of them to the crime. 784 00:36:51,244 --> 00:36:54,080 - I think we-we were faced with the reality that 785 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:58,218 this was always going to be a circumstantial case. 786 00:36:58,251 --> 00:37:01,521 - So that bedroom was keeping its secrets 787 00:37:01,554 --> 00:37:03,890 and might be keeping them still. 788 00:37:03,923 --> 00:37:06,426 Except for one total fluke. 789 00:37:06,459 --> 00:37:09,162 Couple of days later, one of those little gifts 790 00:37:09,195 --> 00:37:13,767 that chance or fate or something just drops 791 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,536 at a frustrated investigator's feet. 792 00:37:16,569 --> 00:37:20,473 All tied up with a neat little bow. 793 00:37:20,507 --> 00:37:22,609 - What do you got here? 794 00:37:22,642 --> 00:37:26,279 This is not just a standard trash thing. 795 00:37:26,312 --> 00:37:31,484 - No, um, this broke the case. 796 00:37:31,518 --> 00:37:33,787 - How weirdly flukey was this? 797 00:37:33,820 --> 00:37:35,755 The town of Basalt, who knew, 798 00:37:35,789 --> 00:37:38,291 had a rule that you can't put personal garbage 799 00:37:38,324 --> 00:37:40,160 in public trash cans. 800 00:37:40,193 --> 00:37:42,862 And a city worker, a little extra diligent, 801 00:37:42,896 --> 00:37:45,065 happened to be poking around in the trash, 802 00:37:45,098 --> 00:37:49,969 just randomly checking for illegal garbage disposal. 803 00:37:50,070 --> 00:37:51,171 - Tell me what this guy did 804 00:37:51,204 --> 00:37:53,106 and how he came across this stuff? 805 00:37:53,139 --> 00:37:54,341 - He pulls the trash 806 00:37:54,374 --> 00:37:55,809 and then he goes to another location. 807 00:37:55,842 --> 00:37:57,077 He was going to actually check it 808 00:37:57,077 --> 00:37:58,978 to see if there was any-- 809 00:37:59,079 --> 00:38:00,714 if something stood out about it. 810 00:38:00,747 --> 00:38:02,415 - He actually does this stuff? 811 00:38:02,449 --> 00:38:04,484 - People check it. - Opens a bag? 812 00:38:04,517 --> 00:38:06,252 - And he did. And thank goodness he did, 813 00:38:06,286 --> 00:38:08,188 because when he opened the bag, 814 00:38:08,221 --> 00:38:11,825 he looks inside and he sees a prescription pill bottle, 815 00:38:11,858 --> 00:38:14,828 and what was special about this prescription pill bottle 816 00:38:14,861 --> 00:38:17,797 is it had Nancy Pfister's name on it. 817 00:38:17,831 --> 00:38:20,633 - Of course the city worker recognized the name. 818 00:38:20,667 --> 00:38:23,336 Aspen and the towns around it were buzzing with news 819 00:38:23,370 --> 00:38:25,672 about Nancy Pfister's murder. 820 00:38:25,705 --> 00:38:27,440 In addition to that pill bottle, 821 00:38:27,474 --> 00:38:29,042 after which he phoned the police, 822 00:38:29,042 --> 00:38:31,611 what did you guys find in that bag? 823 00:38:31,644 --> 00:38:32,912 - Well, in addition to the pill bottle, 824 00:38:32,946 --> 00:38:36,549 the big one was a hammer. A bloody hammer. 825 00:38:36,583 --> 00:38:39,052 - A bloody hammer? Found in the same trash 826 00:38:39,052 --> 00:38:42,255 as medication belonging to Nancy Pfister. 827 00:38:42,288 --> 00:38:44,858 That simply couldn't be a coincidence. 828 00:38:44,891 --> 00:38:49,162 Police were 99% sure they'd stumbled on the murder weapon. 829 00:38:49,195 --> 00:38:50,463 They sent it off to the crime lab 830 00:38:50,497 --> 00:38:52,699 to be tested ASAP. 831 00:38:52,732 --> 00:38:55,869 But the trash bag wasn't done divulging 832 00:38:55,902 --> 00:38:58,505 its investigative gifts. 833 00:38:58,538 --> 00:39:01,408 - Another thing that we found that was, um, concerning to us 834 00:39:01,441 --> 00:39:03,510 was the, uh, vehicle registration 835 00:39:03,543 --> 00:39:06,713 for William and Nancy Styler's Jaguar. 836 00:39:06,746 --> 00:39:09,049 - What's more, the trash bin was located 837 00:39:09,082 --> 00:39:12,819 just behind the motel where the Stylers were staying. 838 00:39:12,852 --> 00:39:14,587 And that was miles and miles away 839 00:39:14,621 --> 00:39:16,790 from Nancy Pfister's house. 840 00:39:16,823 --> 00:39:19,392 Again, as we say, a little gift-- 841 00:39:19,426 --> 00:39:21,528 actually, a big, fat, juicy gift 842 00:39:21,561 --> 00:39:23,697 dropped right into investigators' laps, 843 00:39:23,730 --> 00:39:28,034 and it, no question, linked the Stylers to the crime. 844 00:39:28,034 --> 00:39:30,136 I cannot think of any other time, 845 00:39:30,170 --> 00:39:32,205 any other case I've ever heard about, 846 00:39:32,238 --> 00:39:36,710 where such obvious evidence is just kind of there. 847 00:39:36,743 --> 00:39:39,045 - Thrown-thrown out carelessly, 848 00:39:39,079 --> 00:39:42,682 so close to where suspects are staying, yeah. 849 00:39:42,716 --> 00:39:44,217 - Deputies hovered around the motel 850 00:39:44,250 --> 00:39:45,752 to keep an eye on the Stylers 851 00:39:45,785 --> 00:39:47,854 to make sure they didn't do a disappearing act. 852 00:39:47,887 --> 00:39:50,557 Well, they and the DA waited for the lab 853 00:39:50,590 --> 00:39:52,592 to test the hammer. 854 00:39:52,625 --> 00:39:55,061 And then, three days later, 855 00:39:55,095 --> 00:39:58,732 another insanely improbable discovery. 856 00:39:58,765 --> 00:40:00,066 - The key was found on the ground. 857 00:40:00,066 --> 00:40:02,068 It was right before the trash can. 858 00:40:02,102 --> 00:40:04,304 - Right there, just a few feet from the door 859 00:40:04,337 --> 00:40:07,574 of the Stylers' motel room was the owner's key 860 00:40:07,607 --> 00:40:10,944 to the closet in which Nancy Pfister's body was found. 861 00:40:10,977 --> 00:40:12,645 Lying around as if the Stylers intended 862 00:40:12,679 --> 00:40:15,849 to throw it in the trash but dropped it by mistake. 863 00:40:16,850 --> 00:40:18,218 - Just lying on the ground? 864 00:40:18,251 --> 00:40:19,252 - On the ground. 865 00:40:19,285 --> 00:40:21,254 On the-the lighter portion of the concrete 866 00:40:21,287 --> 00:40:22,489 is where it was found. 867 00:40:22,522 --> 00:40:23,990 - And then that very same day, 868 00:40:24,024 --> 00:40:26,793 as if to punctuate the whole strange affair, 869 00:40:26,826 --> 00:40:29,362 the DNA results came back. 870 00:40:29,396 --> 00:40:30,497 And... 871 00:40:30,530 --> 00:40:33,833 - Nancy Pfister's DNA was on the-on the hammer. 872 00:40:33,867 --> 00:40:37,337 Um, so we were able to pretty clearly say that, 873 00:40:37,370 --> 00:40:39,406 that was-was the murder weapon. 874 00:40:39,439 --> 00:40:42,509 - The murder weapon, the key, and the motive, 875 00:40:42,542 --> 00:40:43,877 pretty much everything they needed 876 00:40:43,910 --> 00:40:46,479 to pin the crime on the Stylers. 877 00:40:46,513 --> 00:40:50,016 It was March 3rd, 2014, not even a week 878 00:40:50,050 --> 00:40:53,119 since Nancy Pfister's body was found. 879 00:40:53,153 --> 00:40:54,821 - They knocked on the door. 880 00:40:54,854 --> 00:40:56,589 I stepped out of the door and they said 881 00:40:56,623 --> 00:40:58,825 we're arresting you for murder one. 882 00:40:58,858 --> 00:41:02,762 And slapped the cuffs on me and took me away. 883 00:41:02,796 --> 00:41:06,066 They led my husband out in my bathrobe. 884 00:41:06,066 --> 00:41:08,068 - What is it like for a woman 885 00:41:08,068 --> 00:41:09,869 who had led a very successful life, 886 00:41:09,903 --> 00:41:12,072 who-who traveled around doing lectures 887 00:41:12,105 --> 00:41:14,374 on Victoria lilies... - Mm-hmm. 888 00:41:14,407 --> 00:41:18,878 - ...to societies of like-minded horticulturalists-- 889 00:41:18,912 --> 00:41:21,348 - To be in jail? - To be in jail. 890 00:41:21,381 --> 00:41:24,351 For murder. 891 00:41:24,384 --> 00:41:25,819 - It was a shock. 892 00:41:25,852 --> 00:41:29,089 - It was a shock for some of Nancy Pfister's friends, too. 893 00:41:29,122 --> 00:41:30,890 Like Mary Conover. 894 00:41:30,924 --> 00:41:33,460 The Stylers, really? 895 00:41:33,493 --> 00:41:34,728 - It was just a big surprise, 896 00:41:34,761 --> 00:41:37,330 and-and not knowing anything about these people, 897 00:41:37,364 --> 00:41:39,632 it just seemed outrageous 898 00:41:39,666 --> 00:41:41,668 why you would do something like that. 899 00:41:41,701 --> 00:41:43,103 - But Kathy Carpenter, 900 00:41:43,103 --> 00:41:45,205 who pointed her suspicious finger at the Stylers 901 00:41:45,238 --> 00:41:49,109 right after the murder, practically jumped for joy. 902 00:41:49,142 --> 00:41:51,011 - When I heard that, I was joyful 903 00:41:51,111 --> 00:41:54,414 that they found the person who murdered Nancy 904 00:41:54,447 --> 00:41:58,251 and, you know, I just felt that there was justice. 905 00:41:58,284 --> 00:42:00,353 - And swift justice at that. 906 00:42:00,387 --> 00:42:03,056 What a relief to all those souls Nancy collected, 907 00:42:03,056 --> 00:42:04,758 who loved her like family. 908 00:42:04,791 --> 00:42:09,496 - I was relieved that, you know, this is done. 909 00:42:09,529 --> 00:42:12,832 - But could one of the biggest crimes in Aspen history 910 00:42:12,866 --> 00:42:14,834 really be solved that fast? 911 00:42:14,868 --> 00:42:16,870 With so little drama. 912 00:42:16,903 --> 00:42:19,139 Of course not. 913 00:42:19,172 --> 00:42:20,407 It looked like a setup to you? 914 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:21,775 - It looked like a setup. 915 00:42:21,808 --> 00:42:24,244 It really did look like a setup. 916 00:42:24,277 --> 00:42:25,945 - Coming up... 917 00:42:25,979 --> 00:42:27,514 Rethinking the case. 918 00:42:27,547 --> 00:42:29,182 Something doesn't add up. 919 00:42:31,818 --> 00:42:33,687 - Bizarre is the only way I can characterize 920 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:35,155 that 911 call. 921 00:42:35,188 --> 00:42:37,090 - A call now becomes a clue. 922 00:42:39,659 --> 00:42:43,096 - There's no way she saw what she said she saw. 923 00:42:53,707 --> 00:42:55,975 - Welcome back to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered". 924 00:42:56,343 --> 00:42:57,777 I'm Kate Snow. 925 00:42:57,811 --> 00:42:59,579 Nancy Pfister, who grew up 926 00:42:59,612 --> 00:43:02,248 in one of Aspen's most prominent families, 927 00:43:02,282 --> 00:43:06,052 was found in her home stuffed in a closet, dead. 928 00:43:06,086 --> 00:43:08,955 Police didn't just have suspicions that the couple 929 00:43:09,055 --> 00:43:11,124 renting Nancy's home killed her, 930 00:43:11,157 --> 00:43:14,327 hard evidence had just landed in their laps. 931 00:43:14,361 --> 00:43:18,164 The case against them had come together perfectly. 932 00:43:18,198 --> 00:43:21,101 Perhaps a bit too perfectly. 933 00:43:21,134 --> 00:43:24,070 Back to Keith Morrison with "While She Was Sleeping". 934 00:43:26,506 --> 00:43:29,175 - It was a quick business here in Aspen, Colorado. 935 00:43:29,209 --> 00:43:31,344 Not even a week after Nancy Pfister's body 936 00:43:31,378 --> 00:43:33,580 was found in her own closet. 937 00:43:33,613 --> 00:43:36,082 Her renters were led away in handcuffs. 938 00:43:36,116 --> 00:43:39,452 But was it too quick, too easy? 939 00:43:39,486 --> 00:43:42,655 - It looked fishy to me. 940 00:43:42,689 --> 00:43:44,190 - Fishy? - Fishy. 941 00:43:44,224 --> 00:43:46,826 - Nancy Styler's attorney, Beth Krulewitch. 942 00:43:46,860 --> 00:43:48,228 Fishy how? 943 00:43:48,261 --> 00:43:51,431 - In terms of you've got a-a very 944 00:43:51,464 --> 00:43:53,967 well-respected physician. - Yeah. 945 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,403 - Who's now being accused of murder 946 00:43:56,436 --> 00:44:00,407 and it didn't-- it was inconceivable to me 947 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,376 that he would have killed somebody. 948 00:44:03,410 --> 00:44:05,111 - Plus, the elderly man they led away 949 00:44:05,145 --> 00:44:07,647 wrapped in his wife's blue bathrobe, 950 00:44:07,681 --> 00:44:09,749 looked far too frail and weak 951 00:44:09,783 --> 00:44:11,418 to bludgeon a woman to death, 952 00:44:11,451 --> 00:44:13,219 carry her body, wrap it up, 953 00:44:13,253 --> 00:44:14,487 flip the mattress. 954 00:44:14,521 --> 00:44:19,492 - And then been stupid enough to take the murder weapon, 955 00:44:19,526 --> 00:44:22,395 some pill bottles with the victim's name on them, 956 00:44:22,429 --> 00:44:25,298 his vehicle registration and insurance, 957 00:44:25,331 --> 00:44:28,535 package it all up in one bag, and then put it in a dumpster 958 00:44:28,568 --> 00:44:30,837 that was close to the motel he was staying at. 959 00:44:30,870 --> 00:44:33,306 Made zero sense to me. 960 00:44:33,340 --> 00:44:36,843 - It also made zero sense that Trey's accomplice was 961 00:44:36,876 --> 00:44:40,080 his diminutive 62-year-old wife, Nancy. 962 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:41,915 Even though she did actually say 963 00:44:41,948 --> 00:44:44,284 she could just kill that Nancy Pfister. 964 00:44:44,317 --> 00:44:46,453 But then lots of people around town 965 00:44:46,486 --> 00:44:49,155 said similar things about the outspoken Ms. Pfister 966 00:44:49,189 --> 00:44:50,890 at some point or another. 967 00:44:50,924 --> 00:44:52,726 Not meaning it literally. 968 00:44:52,759 --> 00:44:54,661 - I could see where she could be sitting around 969 00:44:54,694 --> 00:44:56,830 with Kathy Carpenter and they could be commiserating 970 00:44:56,863 --> 00:45:00,400 about, you know, what Nancy Pfister did or didn't do 971 00:45:00,433 --> 00:45:03,403 or what she had said or the way they had been treated. 972 00:45:03,436 --> 00:45:04,904 And she could have said something like 973 00:45:04,938 --> 00:45:07,107 "Gee, you know, I'd like to kill her." 974 00:45:07,140 --> 00:45:12,178 But, you know, listen, uh, t-that's not evidence 975 00:45:12,212 --> 00:45:13,780 of first degree murder. 976 00:45:13,813 --> 00:45:17,384 - Besides, Nancy Styler was more than open about it. 977 00:45:17,417 --> 00:45:21,121 - We've all said that about someone at some other-- 978 00:45:21,154 --> 00:45:23,723 you know, I'd like to kill him or something like that 979 00:45:23,757 --> 00:45:28,495 but n-not ever thinking-- you know, taking it that far. 980 00:45:28,528 --> 00:45:31,965 Yes, I did say that but no, I didn't kill her. 981 00:45:32,065 --> 00:45:35,101 - And if it wasn't Nancy, couldn't have been Trey either 982 00:45:35,135 --> 00:45:37,904 because he was frail, yes, said Nancy, 983 00:45:37,937 --> 00:45:41,274 but also because he was never alone to do it. 984 00:45:41,307 --> 00:45:42,776 You were never without him? You're always together? 985 00:45:42,809 --> 00:45:45,812 - Yeah, I said we were always together. 986 00:45:45,845 --> 00:45:48,214 - What did make sense, said Attorney Krulewitch, 987 00:45:48,248 --> 00:45:50,784 is that someone else killed Nancy Pfister 988 00:45:50,817 --> 00:45:53,319 and planted the evidence against the Stylers 989 00:45:53,353 --> 00:45:55,188 in an attempt to frame them. 990 00:45:55,221 --> 00:45:59,659 - The final piece of it was that the owner's closet key, 991 00:45:59,693 --> 00:46:02,228 kind of, magically appears on the sidewalk 992 00:46:02,262 --> 00:46:05,498 near the Stylers' motel room the day they get arrested. 993 00:46:05,532 --> 00:46:06,900 - It was a thought that crossed 994 00:46:06,933 --> 00:46:09,035 investigators' minds as well. 995 00:46:09,069 --> 00:46:11,071 - We would have been amiss had we not looked at 996 00:46:11,104 --> 00:46:15,742 the possibility that someone was setting these people up. 997 00:46:15,775 --> 00:46:18,478 - And so, even with the Stylers in jail, 998 00:46:18,511 --> 00:46:19,946 charged with murder, 999 00:46:20,046 --> 00:46:22,182 investigators were still quietly looking for 1000 00:46:22,215 --> 00:46:23,883 other suspects. 1001 00:46:23,917 --> 00:46:27,087 For someone with motive and means to kill Nancy 1002 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,056 and the foresight to frame the Stylers. 1003 00:46:30,090 --> 00:46:31,858 Someone close to Nancy. 1004 00:46:31,891 --> 00:46:35,395 Someone Nancy trusted, even loved. 1005 00:46:35,428 --> 00:46:38,798 Like the person who pointed the finger of blame 1006 00:46:38,832 --> 00:46:42,068 right in the middle of that 911 call. 1007 00:46:42,068 --> 00:46:45,238 Kathy Carpenter. 1008 00:46:50,477 --> 00:46:54,414 - Kathy Carpenter, she said she was Nancy Pfister's dear friend 1009 00:46:54,447 --> 00:46:57,817 but investigators were hearing a different story. 1010 00:46:57,851 --> 00:47:01,021 - Their relationship had been a roller coaster. 1011 00:47:01,021 --> 00:47:08,661 So we knew that there had been this cycle of the ladies 1012 00:47:08,695 --> 00:47:11,431 having a good relationship and the things would go south 1013 00:47:11,464 --> 00:47:12,932 and they would have a bad relationship 1014 00:47:13,033 --> 00:47:14,467 for a period of time. 1015 00:47:14,501 --> 00:47:17,937 - And so with all that in mind, Deputy D.A., Andrea Bryan, 1016 00:47:18,038 --> 00:47:22,375 went back to that hysterical phone call from Kathy to 911. 1017 00:47:22,409 --> 00:47:24,077 - What did you make of it? 1018 00:47:24,110 --> 00:47:26,913 - You know, I think bizarre is the only way 1019 00:47:26,946 --> 00:47:29,049 I can characterize that 911 call. 1020 00:47:29,049 --> 00:47:31,885 Immediately identifying suspects. 1021 00:47:31,918 --> 00:47:34,788 It was not getting help for Nancy Pfister. 1022 00:47:34,821 --> 00:47:37,290 It was oh, you should be looking at 1023 00:47:37,323 --> 00:47:38,692 these two people immediately. 1024 00:47:38,725 --> 00:47:41,261 So that was interesting. - So it was. 1025 00:47:41,294 --> 00:47:45,265 And just as interesting, what Kathy told 911 1026 00:47:45,298 --> 00:47:48,768 about seeing Nancy Pfister's body. 1027 00:47:48,802 --> 00:47:51,671 - The fact that immediately 1028 00:47:51,705 --> 00:47:56,176 the deceased is identified as Nancy Pfister, um, 1029 00:47:56,209 --> 00:47:58,378 would have been impossible to do. 1030 00:47:58,411 --> 00:48:00,580 - Impossible, said investigator Lisa Miller, 1031 00:48:00,613 --> 00:48:02,282 because Nancy's body 1032 00:48:02,315 --> 00:48:04,918 was completely covered head to toe 1033 00:48:05,018 --> 00:48:08,154 when Kathy saw it in the closet. 1034 00:48:09,589 --> 00:48:12,058 - We're looking at photos of the crime scene 1035 00:48:12,092 --> 00:48:17,030 and we knew there's no way she saw what she said she saw. 1036 00:48:17,063 --> 00:48:18,498 - There was more. 1037 00:48:18,531 --> 00:48:21,101 Kathy, of course, had keys to Nancy's house, 1038 00:48:21,134 --> 00:48:22,936 including a key to the closet. 1039 00:48:23,036 --> 00:48:26,406 Was the last person to admit seeing Nancy alive 1040 00:48:26,439 --> 00:48:27,540 and when she left, 1041 00:48:27,574 --> 00:48:31,911 pinned up that do not disturb sign on Nancy's door. 1042 00:48:31,945 --> 00:48:35,715 Supposedly because her friend needed to get over her jet lag. 1043 00:48:35,749 --> 00:48:37,083 - She ended up making a statement 1044 00:48:37,117 --> 00:48:39,786 to another individual that Nancy would be sleeping 1045 00:48:39,819 --> 00:48:42,222 and resting for the next three days. 1046 00:48:42,255 --> 00:48:44,724 - And the three days later the body was found? 1047 00:48:44,758 --> 00:48:46,059 - Correct. 1048 00:48:46,059 --> 00:48:49,195 - And, the day that closet key magically appeared 1049 00:48:49,229 --> 00:48:51,865 so close to the Stylers' motel room, 1050 00:48:51,898 --> 00:48:55,068 Kathy Carpenter was known to be in the very same neighborhood, 1051 00:48:55,101 --> 00:48:58,438 right around that time, meeting with her therapist. 1052 00:48:58,471 --> 00:49:01,741 So next question, was Kathy Carpenter 1053 00:49:01,775 --> 00:49:06,279 truly Nancy's friend and helper or her murderer 1054 00:49:06,312 --> 00:49:09,883 trying to pin the blame on someone else? 1055 00:49:09,916 --> 00:49:12,886 - Coming up... 1056 00:49:12,919 --> 00:49:15,622 - The interrogation. Probing questions. 1057 00:49:15,655 --> 00:49:17,891 Puzzling actions. 1058 00:49:23,830 --> 00:49:26,132 - There was no tears during the time 1059 00:49:26,166 --> 00:49:29,769 that she was trying to portray herself as crying. 1060 00:49:36,176 --> 00:49:42,148 ** 1061 00:49:43,183 --> 00:49:46,653 - Ski season in Aspen is a time to see and be seen 1062 00:49:46,686 --> 00:49:49,556 in crowded watering holes beneath carefully groomed 1063 00:49:49,589 --> 00:49:51,591 world class slopes. 1064 00:49:51,624 --> 00:49:55,662 But in late winter 2014, attention was diverted 1065 00:49:55,695 --> 00:49:58,898 from the fashionable pursuits. 1066 00:49:58,932 --> 00:50:01,701 Now the subject was Nancy Pfister's murder 1067 00:50:01,735 --> 00:50:04,337 and also her free wheeling life. 1068 00:50:04,371 --> 00:50:07,073 And in death, her reputation 1069 00:50:07,107 --> 00:50:09,109 to the consternation of her closest friends 1070 00:50:09,142 --> 00:50:12,512 was gleefully amplified by some media outlets 1071 00:50:12,545 --> 00:50:15,215 and not in a good way. 1072 00:50:15,248 --> 00:50:17,450 - Why do we need to throw rocks at her, you know, 1073 00:50:17,484 --> 00:50:21,054 just because, uh, she had too much fun really? 1074 00:50:21,087 --> 00:50:24,424 - Billy and the others defended their remarkable departed friend 1075 00:50:24,457 --> 00:50:25,959 and devoted their energy 1076 00:50:25,992 --> 00:50:28,595 to plans for a special memorial event, 1077 00:50:28,628 --> 00:50:31,197 which they decided would be a party. 1078 00:50:31,231 --> 00:50:33,600 A sort of thing Nancy would have loved. 1079 00:50:33,633 --> 00:50:35,702 What did she mean to you, personally? 1080 00:50:35,735 --> 00:50:40,440 - She meant, um, duration and consistency. 1081 00:50:40,473 --> 00:50:42,042 She was the godmother of my children. 1082 00:50:42,075 --> 00:50:45,045 I was the godfather of Juliana. 1083 00:50:45,078 --> 00:50:49,349 Um, sorry. [crying] 1084 00:50:52,886 --> 00:50:54,454 I'm trying. 1085 00:50:54,487 --> 00:50:57,490 - But while Billy and the others worked through their grief, 1086 00:50:57,524 --> 00:50:59,259 Nancy's buddy, Kathy Carpenter, 1087 00:50:59,292 --> 00:51:01,061 was at the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office 1088 00:51:01,094 --> 00:51:03,730 answering questions. 1089 00:51:17,844 --> 00:51:21,314 - We were still giving her the benefit of the doubt. 1090 00:51:21,348 --> 00:51:24,184 She thought something was up. 1091 00:51:24,217 --> 00:51:26,486 She had been worried about her friend. 1092 00:51:26,519 --> 00:51:28,922 - So was there an innocent explanation for 1093 00:51:28,955 --> 00:51:32,392 why Kathy seemed to see things she could not have seen? 1094 00:51:32,425 --> 00:51:34,728 Why she knew it was Nancy's bloodied body 1095 00:51:34,761 --> 00:51:37,163 that was in the closet, even though the first responders 1096 00:51:37,197 --> 00:51:39,733 saw what looked like just a pile of blankets 1097 00:51:39,766 --> 00:51:40,867 when they arrived? 1098 00:51:40,900 --> 00:51:43,136 Could she have lifted up those blankets? 1099 00:51:43,169 --> 00:51:45,739 - She could have. - And seen? 1100 00:51:45,772 --> 00:51:47,207 - She could have. 1101 00:51:47,240 --> 00:51:51,578 And during the interviews, I specifically asked her, 1102 00:51:51,611 --> 00:51:52,812 did you step into the closet? 1103 00:51:52,846 --> 00:51:54,114 Did you lift any of the blankets? 1104 00:51:54,147 --> 00:51:56,716 Did you touch? Did you manipulate in any way? 1105 00:51:56,750 --> 00:51:58,752 And her answers repeatedly were no. 1106 00:51:58,785 --> 00:52:00,453 She had not touched, she had not moved, 1107 00:52:00,487 --> 00:52:03,423 she had not manipulated. 1108 00:52:05,592 --> 00:52:09,062 - And yet, at the same time, Kathy gave specific details 1109 00:52:09,062 --> 00:52:10,797 about the body. 1110 00:52:17,771 --> 00:52:19,606 - And she tells me she immediately 1111 00:52:19,639 --> 00:52:23,376 recognized her friend because of the blonde hair 1112 00:52:23,410 --> 00:52:25,311 and the length of that hair. 1113 00:52:25,345 --> 00:52:28,515 How much hair did you see, I would ask Ms. Carpenter. 1114 00:52:50,103 --> 00:52:52,238 - If you've seen the crime scene photographs 1115 00:52:52,272 --> 00:52:56,443 of how that body was found and how that body was in the closet, 1116 00:52:56,476 --> 00:52:58,378 she did not see that. 1117 00:52:58,411 --> 00:53:00,747 - The more Kathy talked-- 1118 00:53:13,059 --> 00:53:15,762 - The more suspicious the investigators became. 1119 00:53:15,795 --> 00:53:19,165 - She's describing, in the interviews, how were-- 1120 00:53:19,199 --> 00:53:20,934 the injuries were to the forehead. 1121 00:53:20,967 --> 00:53:24,337 I went and I reviewed the autopsy photos 1122 00:53:24,371 --> 00:53:28,074 and she was exactly spot on where she indicated 1123 00:53:28,074 --> 00:53:29,943 the injury to the forehead. 1124 00:53:29,976 --> 00:53:33,146 - It wasn't just Kathy's words, said investigator Miller. 1125 00:53:33,179 --> 00:53:35,682 It looked to her like Kathy's grief 1126 00:53:35,715 --> 00:53:38,084 was more act than real. 1127 00:53:44,090 --> 00:53:45,592 - And a bad act at that. 1128 00:53:45,625 --> 00:53:48,461 - There was no tears during the time 1129 00:53:48,495 --> 00:53:53,099 that she was trying to portray herself as crying. 1130 00:53:53,099 --> 00:53:56,369 - Some people cry without tears, surely. 1131 00:53:56,403 --> 00:53:57,971 - I'm sure some people do. 1132 00:53:58,004 --> 00:54:00,040 - What can you tell from a thing like that? 1133 00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:02,242 - It's just always interesting 1134 00:54:02,275 --> 00:54:05,945 when someone is going to such lengths 1135 00:54:06,046 --> 00:54:08,815 to act like they're emotionally distraught 1136 00:54:08,848 --> 00:54:11,584 and the body doesn't respond. 1137 00:54:11,618 --> 00:54:13,687 - But then she discovered what Kathy did 1138 00:54:13,720 --> 00:54:16,589 the day after she said she found Nancy's body. 1139 00:54:16,623 --> 00:54:19,659 She went to the bank where Nancy had trusted Kathy 1140 00:54:19,693 --> 00:54:22,862 with access to her safety deposit box. 1141 00:54:22,896 --> 00:54:27,100 And Kathy, took from that box, the Stylers' last rent payment, 1142 00:54:27,133 --> 00:54:30,737 $6,000 in cash and an heirloom ring 1143 00:54:30,770 --> 00:54:33,273 Nancy had inherited from her mother. 1144 00:54:33,306 --> 00:54:36,309 - Within 24 hours, or actually it was a little less 1145 00:54:36,343 --> 00:54:40,547 than 24 hours, of her friend being found, by her, 1146 00:54:40,580 --> 00:54:42,749 she's going into that safety deposit box 1147 00:54:42,782 --> 00:54:46,086 taking $6,000 and jewelry from it. 1148 00:54:46,086 --> 00:54:47,887 - So investigators now had an idea, 1149 00:54:47,921 --> 00:54:49,656 fast gathering strength, 1150 00:54:49,689 --> 00:54:52,492 that Kathy Carpenter was far more involved 1151 00:54:52,525 --> 00:54:54,394 than she claimed to have been. 1152 00:54:54,427 --> 00:54:57,731 - She just made some very detailed descriptions 1153 00:54:57,764 --> 00:55:00,533 of that body that she couldn't have made 1154 00:55:00,567 --> 00:55:02,068 unless she had seen her 1155 00:55:02,102 --> 00:55:04,738 before she was put in that closet. 1156 00:55:04,771 --> 00:55:08,308 Meaning right after she was actually murdered. 1157 00:55:08,341 --> 00:55:11,311 - Did she provide a rational explanation 1158 00:55:11,344 --> 00:55:15,048 f-for being able to do that? - No. 1159 00:55:15,048 --> 00:55:18,051 - They brought Kathy back again and again for questioning. 1160 00:55:18,051 --> 00:55:21,054 Five days, almost 20 hours, of questioning. 1161 00:55:21,087 --> 00:55:23,123 During one interrogation, detectives read back 1162 00:55:23,156 --> 00:55:25,358 the transcript of the 9/11 call. 1163 00:55:33,867 --> 00:55:38,071 - Threw her own words at her, the blood she reported seeing. 1164 00:55:40,540 --> 00:55:44,077 - And how she so quickly accused the Stylers. 1165 00:55:46,780 --> 00:55:50,984 - And they told her they just knew she was lying. 1166 00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:08,802 - Kathy Carpenter, like Trey Styler, 1167 00:56:08,835 --> 00:56:11,338 submitted to a polygraph test. 1168 00:56:11,371 --> 00:56:14,307 But if he failed his-- 1169 00:56:14,341 --> 00:56:16,643 - Kathy Carpenter failed hers worse. 1170 00:56:30,557 --> 00:56:32,692 - So for detectives, the only question left 1171 00:56:32,726 --> 00:56:35,228 was did Kathy Carpenter kill Nancy 1172 00:56:35,261 --> 00:56:40,800 and try to frame the Stylers, or were they all in it together? 1173 00:56:43,536 --> 00:56:44,738 - Coming up... 1174 00:56:44,771 --> 00:56:47,741 - I don't think anyone wanted that to be found. 1175 00:56:47,774 --> 00:56:49,442 - Another turn in the case. 1176 00:56:49,476 --> 00:56:51,745 - This has been one of the more frightening 1177 00:56:51,778 --> 00:56:54,347 experiences of my career. 1178 00:57:00,286 --> 00:57:07,727 ** 1179 00:57:08,161 --> 00:57:09,662 - Hour after hour, 1180 00:57:09,696 --> 00:57:11,731 Kathy Carpenter talked to the detectives 1181 00:57:11,765 --> 00:57:15,368 investigating the murder of her friend, Nancy Pfister. 1182 00:57:22,809 --> 00:57:24,411 - She was alone with them. 1183 00:57:24,444 --> 00:57:26,713 She could have asked for an attorney. 1184 00:57:26,746 --> 00:57:28,081 She did not. 1185 00:57:28,114 --> 00:57:30,216 She told the detective she didn't need a lawyer 1186 00:57:30,250 --> 00:57:32,552 because she was innocent. 1187 00:57:32,585 --> 00:57:36,456 But as Kathy went on and on, those detectives became more 1188 00:57:36,489 --> 00:57:40,126 and more sure she killed her friend Nancy 1189 00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:42,662 or helped at least. 1190 00:57:51,338 --> 00:57:52,706 - The question now, 1191 00:57:52,739 --> 00:57:55,642 was Kathy trying to frame the Stylers? 1192 00:57:55,675 --> 00:57:58,278 At first blush, it certainly looked that way. 1193 00:57:58,311 --> 00:58:00,046 And yet the more they thought about it, 1194 00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:03,383 the more unlikely it seemed. Why? 1195 00:58:03,416 --> 00:58:05,485 Well, the trash bag containing so much 1196 00:58:05,518 --> 00:58:07,087 incriminating evidence, for example. 1197 00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:08,822 The one the diligent city worker 1198 00:58:08,855 --> 00:58:11,024 just happened to stumble on. 1199 00:58:11,057 --> 00:58:13,927 - I really think that this was actually pure luck. 1200 00:58:14,027 --> 00:58:17,030 I don't think anyone wanted that to be found. 1201 00:58:17,030 --> 00:58:19,599 I think really the simple explanation here 1202 00:58:19,632 --> 00:58:21,668 is really the right explanation, which is that 1203 00:58:21,701 --> 00:58:24,404 we had a great break in the case 1204 00:58:24,437 --> 00:58:28,308 and, um, you know, thank goodness for that. 1205 00:58:28,341 --> 00:58:31,544 - The only conspiracy theory assistant D.A. Andrea Bryan 1206 00:58:31,578 --> 00:58:33,747 was buying, was one that involved 1207 00:58:33,780 --> 00:58:36,249 the Stylers and Kathy Carpenter. 1208 00:58:36,282 --> 00:58:39,052 All of them together committing the murder. 1209 00:58:39,085 --> 00:58:41,955 The two women perhaps bonding over their shared frustration 1210 00:58:42,055 --> 00:58:43,757 with Nancy Pfister's behaviors. 1211 00:58:43,790 --> 00:58:47,127 - It appears that they, um, almost built, at times, 1212 00:58:47,160 --> 00:58:50,764 a bit of a friendship around that mutual anger 1213 00:58:50,797 --> 00:58:53,233 toward Nancy Pfister. 1214 00:58:53,266 --> 00:58:55,735 - And Trey, pushed to his financial 1215 00:58:55,769 --> 00:58:56,836 and emotional limits, 1216 00:58:56,870 --> 00:58:58,772 was most likely the one to wield the hammer, 1217 00:58:58,805 --> 00:59:00,140 reasoned the assistant D.A., 1218 00:59:00,173 --> 00:59:02,008 while the women helped hide the body 1219 00:59:02,008 --> 00:59:03,710 and clean up the bedroom. 1220 00:59:03,743 --> 00:59:05,712 But if that theory was right, 1221 00:59:05,745 --> 00:59:08,448 something went wrong after the murder. 1222 00:59:08,481 --> 00:59:10,483 The conspiracy did not hold. 1223 00:59:10,517 --> 00:59:13,420 - When Kathy Carpenter realized the gravity 1224 00:59:13,453 --> 00:59:16,022 of what she had gotten herself into, 1225 00:59:16,022 --> 00:59:22,028 she got worried and worried that she would be fingered. 1226 00:59:22,062 --> 00:59:25,031 - So Kathy struck first, the D.A.'s theory went. 1227 00:59:25,031 --> 00:59:27,033 Called 911 and fingered the Stylers 1228 00:59:27,067 --> 00:59:29,469 to deflect attention from herself. 1229 00:59:29,502 --> 00:59:31,638 In the interrogation room, investigators had tried to 1230 00:59:31,671 --> 00:59:34,374 get Trey to turn on his wife or Kathy. 1231 00:59:43,950 --> 00:59:48,188 - And they also tried to get Kathy to flip on the Stylers. 1232 00:59:59,265 --> 01:00:01,801 - But it didn't work. 1233 01:00:07,307 --> 01:00:09,042 - On March 14th, three weeks after 1234 01:00:09,075 --> 01:00:10,944 Nancy Pfister was murdered, 1235 01:00:10,977 --> 01:00:13,480 Kathy Carpenter, like the Stylers before her, 1236 01:00:13,513 --> 01:00:15,515 was charged with first degree murder 1237 01:00:15,548 --> 01:00:17,050 and put in the County jail. 1238 01:00:17,083 --> 01:00:19,719 - The newest suspect arrested was Katherine Carpenter. 1239 01:00:19,753 --> 01:00:21,988 - Billy Clayton had been on the phone with Kathy 1240 01:00:22,022 --> 01:00:25,892 just the day before discussing Nancy's memorial service. 1241 01:00:25,925 --> 01:00:28,328 - And I think I was supposed to get something for her 1242 01:00:28,361 --> 01:00:29,763 to wear to the memorial. 1243 01:00:29,796 --> 01:00:33,733 - And now she was behind bars. Seemed crazy. 1244 01:00:33,767 --> 01:00:35,702 But in a town that could barely believe 1245 01:00:35,735 --> 01:00:37,837 one of its own had been murdered, 1246 01:00:37,871 --> 01:00:40,473 anything seemed possible now. 1247 01:00:40,507 --> 01:00:44,611 - I should have been surprised or shocked or something. 1248 01:00:44,644 --> 01:00:51,785 But at that moment I just-- I was like, you know, who knows. 1249 01:00:51,818 --> 01:00:53,386 Anything could happen. I just-- 1250 01:00:53,420 --> 01:00:55,221 I-I-- it didn't make any sense at all 1251 01:00:55,255 --> 01:00:56,990 why anyone would kill her. 1252 01:00:57,023 --> 01:00:58,591 - And so, as Billy and the others 1253 01:00:58,625 --> 01:01:01,394 went on finalizing memorial plans, 1254 01:01:01,428 --> 01:01:04,631 Kathy, a bit late, got a lawyer. 1255 01:01:04,664 --> 01:01:06,099 Greg Greer. 1256 01:01:06,132 --> 01:01:09,703 - This has been one of the more frightening experiences 1257 01:01:09,736 --> 01:01:14,074 of my career, to represent a person 1258 01:01:14,074 --> 01:01:18,111 who is so totally and completely innocent. 1259 01:01:18,144 --> 01:01:20,613 - As Greer and the lawyers representing the Stylers 1260 01:01:20,647 --> 01:01:22,415 waded through the evidence trying to sort out 1261 01:01:22,449 --> 01:01:25,385 who did what, it became pretty clear, 1262 01:01:25,418 --> 01:01:27,587 to them at least, that the truth about 1263 01:01:27,620 --> 01:01:31,124 what happened in that bedroom on Buttermilk Mountain 1264 01:01:31,157 --> 01:01:33,993 was still very much hidden. 1265 01:01:34,094 --> 01:01:36,763 - We were all wrong about what happened. 1266 01:01:36,796 --> 01:01:39,599 I mean, everybody was wrong in this case. 1267 01:01:39,632 --> 01:01:41,501 - Coming up... 1268 01:01:41,534 --> 01:01:44,371 Wrong about what or about whom? 1269 01:01:44,404 --> 01:01:48,608 - I started praying that the truth would be revealed. 1270 01:01:48,641 --> 01:01:52,112 That's what I wanted. Is the truth to be revealed. 1271 01:01:58,385 --> 01:02:02,355 ** 1272 01:02:02,756 --> 01:02:03,757 - Welcome back. 1273 01:02:03,790 --> 01:02:06,259 Kathy Carpenter was one of Nancy Pfister's 1274 01:02:06,292 --> 01:02:07,827 closest confidants 1275 01:02:07,861 --> 01:02:10,430 and also the person who found her body. 1276 01:02:10,463 --> 01:02:14,067 Now, Kathy found herself in a jail cell 1277 01:02:14,067 --> 01:02:16,169 in connection with Nancy's murder. 1278 01:02:16,202 --> 01:02:18,471 Investigators were about to scrutinize 1279 01:02:18,505 --> 01:02:20,674 every one of Kathy's words 1280 01:02:20,707 --> 01:02:24,577 hoping to find a secret hiding in plain sight. 1281 01:02:24,611 --> 01:02:28,281 Back to Keith Morrison with "While She Was Sleeping." 1282 01:02:28,314 --> 01:02:30,450 ** 1283 01:02:30,483 --> 01:02:32,152 - It was just where she would have wanted 1284 01:02:32,185 --> 01:02:36,623 her last party, Aspen's historic Hotel Jerome. 1285 01:02:36,656 --> 01:02:39,092 And by their hundreds, locals crowded in 1286 01:02:39,092 --> 01:02:40,627 out of the frigid March night 1287 01:02:40,660 --> 01:02:42,829 two and a half weeks after the murder 1288 01:02:42,862 --> 01:02:46,466 to tell crazy stories and remember the amazing life 1289 01:02:46,499 --> 01:02:48,535 of Nancy Pfister. 1290 01:02:48,568 --> 01:02:51,371 - There were so many people that they couldn't all fit 1291 01:02:51,404 --> 01:02:54,474 in the Jerome Hotel ballroom. 1292 01:02:54,507 --> 01:02:58,111 They went out the door into the hallways. 1293 01:02:58,144 --> 01:03:01,348 - What do you say to a crowd like that? 1294 01:03:01,381 --> 01:03:08,054 - I just basically wanted to celebrate her life 1295 01:03:08,054 --> 01:03:12,559 and her spirit of adventure. 1296 01:03:12,592 --> 01:03:16,062 - Billy Clayton got up too. Said what was in his heart. 1297 01:03:16,096 --> 01:03:18,932 - I said that if you've known me over the last 40 years 1298 01:03:18,965 --> 01:03:21,801 or so you know me because of Nancy. 1299 01:03:21,835 --> 01:03:25,071 When you see me, you think of Nancy. 1300 01:03:25,071 --> 01:03:26,606 Um, she was a connector. 1301 01:03:26,639 --> 01:03:29,776 That was her real main role, I think, in everyone's life. 1302 01:03:29,809 --> 01:03:31,678 - And when you look down there in that crowd, 1303 01:03:31,711 --> 01:03:36,349 how were they reacting? - A lot of tears. 1304 01:03:36,383 --> 01:03:38,685 A lot of laughter-- certain stories. 1305 01:03:38,718 --> 01:03:43,223 And they were all just solidly there in that space 1306 01:03:43,256 --> 01:03:45,158 at that moment. 1307 01:03:45,191 --> 01:03:47,961 - But at that very same moment, 1308 01:03:47,994 --> 01:03:50,230 in a far different space just down the street 1309 01:03:50,263 --> 01:03:53,099 from the final Hotel Jerome, 1310 01:03:53,133 --> 01:03:55,702 Kathy Carpenter wept in her cell 1311 01:03:55,735 --> 01:03:58,905 at the Pitkin County jail and listened. 1312 01:03:58,938 --> 01:04:01,875 - I could hear the music-- the band-- 1313 01:04:01,908 --> 01:04:07,380 and, um, I just-- I cried. I cried a lot. 1314 01:04:07,414 --> 01:04:10,150 I wanted to be there. 1315 01:04:10,183 --> 01:04:14,487 I should have been there and, um, it hurt. 1316 01:04:15,555 --> 01:04:18,425 - How could they think she had anything to do with it? 1317 01:04:18,458 --> 01:04:21,261 There was some suggestion that you had a motive 1318 01:04:21,294 --> 01:04:25,665 to harm Nancy. - Absolutely not. 1319 01:04:25,699 --> 01:04:29,402 What was my motive? There is no motive. 1320 01:04:29,436 --> 01:04:31,805 - A shared frustration with Nancy Styler 1321 01:04:31,838 --> 01:04:33,940 about how difficult-- - Oh heavens, no. 1322 01:04:33,973 --> 01:04:37,410 No. Not at all. 1323 01:04:37,444 --> 01:04:40,080 - Nancy was her best friend, she said. 1324 01:04:40,080 --> 01:04:41,781 - I loved her. - Yeah. 1325 01:04:41,815 --> 01:04:44,384 - She was-- I loved Nancy Pfister. 1326 01:04:44,417 --> 01:04:47,153 - That's why she sat through all those hours of interrogation 1327 01:04:47,187 --> 01:04:48,388 without a lawyer. 1328 01:04:48,421 --> 01:04:51,524 She said she wanted to help them understand the truth. 1329 01:04:51,558 --> 01:04:54,294 Like, for example, how it wasn't at all suspicious 1330 01:04:54,327 --> 01:04:57,897 that she knew right away it was Nancy in that closet. 1331 01:04:57,931 --> 01:05:02,135 - You know, the odor just about knocked me over. 1332 01:05:02,168 --> 01:05:03,837 And to me it was very apparent that wasn't just 1333 01:05:03,870 --> 01:05:06,706 a pile of clothes in the closet. 1334 01:05:06,740 --> 01:05:09,843 Who else but Nancy would be in that closet? 1335 01:05:09,876 --> 01:05:11,044 - If you weren't a complete idiot 1336 01:05:11,044 --> 01:05:13,046 you understood that had to be Nancy. 1337 01:05:13,079 --> 01:05:15,782 - Right. Who else would it be? 1338 01:05:15,815 --> 01:05:18,051 And when she so quickly fingered the Stylers, 1339 01:05:18,084 --> 01:05:20,620 she said, it was just common sense. 1340 01:05:20,653 --> 01:05:22,655 - They were in the house. 1341 01:05:22,689 --> 01:05:24,391 - You knew that they were pretty mad at Nancy. 1342 01:05:24,424 --> 01:05:26,526 - They were mad. They were upset with her. 1343 01:05:26,559 --> 01:05:29,295 - But what about those suspicious little details 1344 01:05:29,329 --> 01:05:32,065 like saying she saw blood on Nancy's forehead 1345 01:05:32,065 --> 01:05:34,801 when Nancy's forehead was completely covered up? 1346 01:05:38,538 --> 01:05:41,241 - That's easy to explain, said Kathy, 1347 01:05:41,274 --> 01:05:43,743 she never actually said that. 1348 01:05:43,777 --> 01:05:45,545 - They said that I saw her forehead. 1349 01:05:45,578 --> 01:05:47,414 - Yes. - I did not see her forehead. 1350 01:05:47,447 --> 01:05:51,685 I saw blood on the headboard. - Headboard? 1351 01:05:51,718 --> 01:05:53,586 In fact, crime scene techs did find blood 1352 01:05:53,620 --> 01:05:56,823 on Nancy Pfister's headboard, but headboard is not the word 1353 01:05:56,856 --> 01:05:58,191 that appears in the typed transcript 1354 01:05:58,224 --> 01:06:00,026 of the 911 call. 1355 01:06:00,026 --> 01:06:03,930 - And on page three of that transcript it says, 1356 01:06:04,030 --> 01:06:07,167 "I saw blood on her forehead." 1357 01:06:07,200 --> 01:06:09,569 - Kathy's attorney, Greg Greer. 1358 01:06:09,602 --> 01:06:13,306 - I go home and listen to the tape 1359 01:06:13,340 --> 01:06:15,308 and I hear headboard. 1360 01:06:15,342 --> 01:06:16,343 But I listened to it, I bet, 1361 01:06:16,376 --> 01:06:19,646 10 times by myself before I told anybody else. 1362 01:06:24,551 --> 01:06:27,253 - Sure enough, Kathy, in that 911 call, 1363 01:06:27,287 --> 01:06:30,090 did actually say headboard. 1364 01:06:30,123 --> 01:06:31,591 Not forehead. 1365 01:06:35,762 --> 01:06:37,664 - A transcription error. 1366 01:06:37,697 --> 01:06:40,900 Although investigators said that made no real difference to them, 1367 01:06:40,934 --> 01:06:43,737 Kathy's attorney is sure the little error 1368 01:06:43,770 --> 01:06:46,539 planted suspicion of Kathy from the very beginning 1369 01:06:46,573 --> 01:06:49,476 and started investigators off in an inaccurate 1370 01:06:49,509 --> 01:06:51,611 and inappropriate direction. 1371 01:06:51,644 --> 01:06:54,748 - They used every technique in the book on her. 1372 01:06:54,781 --> 01:06:59,152 And honestly, as I watched those interrogations, 1373 01:06:59,185 --> 01:07:03,890 I started thinking I might have confessed to doing something 1374 01:07:03,923 --> 01:07:06,593 just to make it stop. 1375 01:07:10,263 --> 01:07:12,399 - And they told you, you did it? 1376 01:07:12,432 --> 01:07:14,567 - Yes. 1377 01:07:14,601 --> 01:07:16,036 - Repeatedly? 1378 01:07:16,036 --> 01:07:17,404 - Yes. 1379 01:07:17,437 --> 01:07:19,406 - And each time what would you say? 1380 01:07:19,439 --> 01:07:22,042 - I did not do it. 1381 01:07:22,042 --> 01:07:24,177 - And even though it appears, from the interrogation tapes, 1382 01:07:24,210 --> 01:07:26,946 that Kathy did say some improbable things-- 1383 01:07:34,054 --> 01:07:36,756 - She was on doctor prescribed anxiety medication 1384 01:07:36,790 --> 01:07:38,692 the whole time, she said. 1385 01:07:38,725 --> 01:07:40,627 So in her confused fog 1386 01:07:40,660 --> 01:07:43,129 and prompted by the investigators, said Cathy, 1387 01:07:43,163 --> 01:07:45,331 her descriptions were unclear. 1388 01:07:45,365 --> 01:07:47,634 She may even have imagined things 1389 01:07:47,667 --> 01:07:49,269 she could not have seen. 1390 01:07:49,302 --> 01:07:51,137 Is it possible that you were led 1391 01:07:51,171 --> 01:07:52,706 into saying something like that? 1392 01:07:52,739 --> 01:07:54,174 - Absolutely. 1393 01:07:54,207 --> 01:07:56,242 Absolutely. 1394 01:07:56,276 --> 01:08:00,847 You know, she was in a plastic bag 1395 01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:03,683 and I saw, just through the transparency of the bag, 1396 01:08:03,717 --> 01:08:06,353 I saw a little bit of her hair. 1397 01:08:06,386 --> 01:08:10,223 - So why did she fail the polygraph? 1398 01:08:10,256 --> 01:08:12,625 - I was very upset. 1399 01:08:12,659 --> 01:08:14,327 It was very emotional, 1400 01:08:14,361 --> 01:08:20,300 and they did tell me that in order for me to 1401 01:08:20,333 --> 01:08:23,069 take this test properly, 1402 01:08:23,103 --> 01:08:26,873 I could not feel any emotions. 1403 01:08:26,906 --> 01:08:31,444 Just hearing the words, just hearing her name... 1404 01:08:35,348 --> 01:08:37,584 it's very emotional. 1405 01:08:37,617 --> 01:08:39,252 - But it was true, she said. 1406 01:08:39,285 --> 01:08:40,453 No denying it. 1407 01:08:40,487 --> 01:08:43,823 She did take $6,000 in cash and an heirloom ring 1408 01:08:43,857 --> 01:08:46,459 from Nancy Pfister's safe deposit box 1409 01:08:46,493 --> 01:08:48,728 the day after she found the body. 1410 01:08:48,762 --> 01:08:51,464 But it wasn't for her, she said. 1411 01:08:51,498 --> 01:08:55,168 Rather it was to fulfill a promise to Nancy. 1412 01:08:55,201 --> 01:08:56,870 - She often would say if anything happens to me 1413 01:08:56,903 --> 01:08:58,972 in my travels, make sure you do this, 1414 01:08:59,072 --> 01:09:02,509 can you do that, and make sure-- my little to-do list. 1415 01:09:02,542 --> 01:09:05,445 - And on to do list, that ring. 1416 01:09:05,478 --> 01:09:09,015 She inherited a family ring from her mother 1417 01:09:09,015 --> 01:09:10,550 and her sisters wanted it. 1418 01:09:10,583 --> 01:09:13,420 And she had asked me, you make sure that Juliana, 1419 01:09:13,453 --> 01:09:16,189 if anything would happen to me, that she would get this ring. 1420 01:09:16,222 --> 01:09:18,425 - That was my intention-- was to fulfill her wish. 1421 01:09:18,458 --> 01:09:20,293 - To give it to Juliana? - To give it to Juliana. 1422 01:09:20,326 --> 01:09:23,296 - Just as she had every intention of giving the money 1423 01:09:23,329 --> 01:09:25,565 directly to Juliana, too. 1424 01:09:25,598 --> 01:09:29,035 So it wouldn't disappear into some disputed family trust. 1425 01:09:29,035 --> 01:09:30,770 But then she said the investigators 1426 01:09:30,804 --> 01:09:34,274 used everything she said and did against her. 1427 01:09:34,307 --> 01:09:36,142 - I just thought no, this is not happening. 1428 01:09:36,176 --> 01:09:39,179 How can they... 1429 01:09:39,212 --> 01:09:40,747 be so wrong? 1430 01:09:40,780 --> 01:09:43,550 I had-- have had-- I had nothing to do with this. 1431 01:09:43,583 --> 01:09:45,485 She was my dear friend. 1432 01:09:45,518 --> 01:09:46,920 I loved her. 1433 01:09:46,953 --> 01:09:49,089 - Kathy's attorney told her, don't worry. 1434 01:09:49,122 --> 01:09:51,391 The case won't hold up in court. 1435 01:09:51,424 --> 01:09:55,528 But even if he was right, the trial might be years away. 1436 01:09:55,562 --> 01:09:58,565 And so she did all that was left to her. 1437 01:09:58,598 --> 01:10:00,166 - And I started praying. 1438 01:10:00,200 --> 01:10:03,403 Praying that the truth would be revealed. 1439 01:10:03,436 --> 01:10:05,005 That's what I wanted. 1440 01:10:05,038 --> 01:10:07,407 Is the truth to be revealed. 1441 01:10:07,440 --> 01:10:11,544 - And then, suddenly, it appeared that it was. 1442 01:10:11,578 --> 01:10:13,513 The truth that is. 1443 01:10:13,546 --> 01:10:17,317 But would anyone believe it? 1444 01:10:18,918 --> 01:10:21,121 - A stunner from Mr. Styler. 1445 01:10:21,154 --> 01:10:24,891 - Mr. Styler, I'm going to have you right here, sir. 1446 01:10:32,065 --> 01:10:38,838 ** 1447 01:10:39,873 --> 01:10:42,809 - It went the way it often does in criminal cases. 1448 01:10:42,842 --> 01:10:44,611 A period of frenetic activity 1449 01:10:44,644 --> 01:10:47,380 followed by a sort of calm stasis. 1450 01:10:47,414 --> 01:10:50,383 So it was with the murder case of Nancy Pfister. 1451 01:10:50,417 --> 01:10:53,053 The flurry of action loosed from the moment her body 1452 01:10:53,086 --> 01:10:55,855 was found in February 2014, to the arrest of the third 1453 01:10:55,889 --> 01:11:00,060 and final suspect Kathy Carpenter in mid-march, 1454 01:11:00,060 --> 01:11:02,762 dissipated with the spring thaw. 1455 01:11:02,796 --> 01:11:06,066 The case now slouch towards summer. 1456 01:11:06,066 --> 01:11:09,069 Nancy's friend Billy, missing her more than ever-- 1457 01:11:09,069 --> 01:11:11,071 - The last time I spoke with her, 1458 01:11:11,071 --> 01:11:12,672 all we talked about were plans. 1459 01:11:12,706 --> 01:11:14,074 Everything we were going to do this summer 1460 01:11:14,074 --> 01:11:16,076 and all the different ideas she had. 1461 01:11:16,109 --> 01:11:18,345 - But the only thing on the calendar now 1462 01:11:18,378 --> 01:11:20,847 was a preliminary hearing scheduled for late June. 1463 01:11:20,880 --> 01:11:23,516 All three defendants had pleaded not guilty 1464 01:11:23,550 --> 01:11:25,785 and their respective attorneys, Beth Krulewitch 1465 01:11:25,819 --> 01:11:28,688 for Nancy Styler, Greg Greer for Kathy Carpenter, 1466 01:11:28,722 --> 01:11:30,390 were deciding their strategies. 1467 01:11:30,423 --> 01:11:32,392 Analyzing the evidence. 1468 01:11:32,425 --> 01:11:34,327 - The evidence, as I was seeing it, 1469 01:11:34,361 --> 01:11:38,098 suggested to me very strongly that Kathy Carpenter 1470 01:11:38,098 --> 01:11:41,001 may have done this and that she was setting up the Stylers. 1471 01:11:41,101 --> 01:11:44,137 - Kathy Carpenter is innocent, 1472 01:11:44,170 --> 01:11:47,540 innocent, innocent. I can't say that enough. 1473 01:11:47,574 --> 01:11:49,576 - But Deputy DA Andrea Bryan 1474 01:11:49,609 --> 01:11:51,811 and her investigator Lisa Miller, 1475 01:11:51,845 --> 01:11:54,381 were preparing to argue it was a conspiracy 1476 01:11:54,414 --> 01:11:56,816 involving all three. 1477 01:11:56,850 --> 01:11:59,686 And then, less than two weeks before that hearing-- 1478 01:11:59,719 --> 01:12:02,522 In the process of getting all of your material together 1479 01:12:02,555 --> 01:12:05,625 for the preliminary hearing, what happened? 1480 01:12:05,658 --> 01:12:08,862 - I got a phone call from my assistant district attorney 1481 01:12:08,895 --> 01:12:11,965 one afternoon. - Saying... 1482 01:12:12,065 --> 01:12:16,336 - Saying that he had spoken with a defense attorney-- 1483 01:12:16,369 --> 01:12:19,439 specifically, Williams Styler's defense attorney. 1484 01:12:19,472 --> 01:12:24,144 And that William Styler wanted to make a statement. 1485 01:12:24,177 --> 01:12:26,279 - Now that could be interesting. 1486 01:12:26,312 --> 01:12:29,082 The good doctor was wheeled into the interview room 1487 01:12:29,082 --> 01:12:32,118 where Lisa Miller was waiting for him. 1488 01:12:37,090 --> 01:12:40,093 - Oh, but it was far more than just a statement. 1489 01:12:40,126 --> 01:12:42,295 Trey Styler dropped a bombshell 1490 01:12:42,328 --> 01:12:46,266 and blew the DA's meticulously assembled case wide open. 1491 01:12:50,937 --> 01:12:52,572 - It was a confession. 1492 01:12:52,605 --> 01:12:55,608 After months of strenuous denials, 1493 01:12:55,642 --> 01:12:57,177 Trey Styler told them-- 1494 01:12:59,479 --> 01:13:00,780 - Detail by detail, 1495 01:13:00,814 --> 01:13:02,349 Trey took them through the killing. 1496 01:13:02,382 --> 01:13:03,917 How he slipped out of his motel room 1497 01:13:03,950 --> 01:13:06,953 while his unknowing wife was sleeping and drove 1498 01:13:07,053 --> 01:13:09,956 to Nancy Pfister's house intending to confront her. 1499 01:13:23,436 --> 01:13:25,171 - Then, he said, as he stood over 1500 01:13:25,205 --> 01:13:27,374 the still sleeping Nancy Pfister, 1501 01:13:27,407 --> 01:13:29,676 all the rage that built up inside him 1502 01:13:29,709 --> 01:13:32,779 during his dreadful physical and financial decline 1503 01:13:32,812 --> 01:13:35,849 suddenly focused on a singular idea. 1504 01:13:39,219 --> 01:13:41,187 - So he went down the stairs, got a hammer, 1505 01:13:41,221 --> 01:13:43,123 climbed back up to the bedroom. 1506 01:13:50,397 --> 01:13:52,866 - Then, strengthened by a rush of adrenaline, he said, 1507 01:13:52,899 --> 01:13:55,301 he single-handedly wrapped Nancy Pfister up, 1508 01:13:55,335 --> 01:13:58,471 dragged her into the closet, and covered her up. 1509 01:14:04,310 --> 01:14:05,745 - And then he grabbed and took away 1510 01:14:05,779 --> 01:14:10,050 some of Nancy's belongings to make it look like she was gone. 1511 01:14:10,083 --> 01:14:13,586 - He was very clear about what he did, how he did it, 1512 01:14:13,620 --> 01:14:17,257 when he did it, and in-- in very specific detail. 1513 01:14:35,375 --> 01:14:38,411 - As for his wife or Kathy Carpenter-- 1514 01:14:42,082 --> 01:14:43,083 - And until this moment, 1515 01:14:43,083 --> 01:14:46,252 he insisted he hadn't told either one of them 1516 01:14:46,286 --> 01:14:49,089 a single thing about what he did. 1517 01:14:49,089 --> 01:14:52,892 He not only limited his wife's participation 1518 01:14:52,926 --> 01:14:53,827 in that statement. 1519 01:14:53,860 --> 01:14:56,129 He said she wasn't involved at all. 1520 01:14:56,162 --> 01:14:58,732 And that Kathy Carpenter wasn't involved at all. 1521 01:14:58,765 --> 01:15:00,333 That he did the whole thing himself. 1522 01:15:00,367 --> 01:15:03,236 That he had a burst of energy and he was able 1523 01:15:03,269 --> 01:15:06,906 to do all of those things on his own. 1524 01:15:06,940 --> 01:15:08,541 You have a skeptical look on your face. 1525 01:15:08,575 --> 01:15:10,310 - That's what he told me, yes. 1526 01:15:10,343 --> 01:15:12,412 - What did you think? 1527 01:15:12,445 --> 01:15:14,180 Having you heard that, investigator Miller 1528 01:15:14,214 --> 01:15:16,716 told Dr. Styler exactly what she thought. 1529 01:15:30,497 --> 01:15:31,464 - At this time, investigator Miller 1530 01:15:31,498 --> 01:15:34,067 was convinced all three were in it together. 1531 01:15:34,100 --> 01:15:36,870 She looked straight at Trey Styler and confronted him. 1532 01:15:36,903 --> 01:15:39,072 He was a frail old man. 1533 01:15:39,105 --> 01:15:41,074 Surely he didn't expect she'd believe 1534 01:15:41,074 --> 01:15:42,442 he did it all alone. 1535 01:16:18,178 --> 01:16:19,813 - But Trey remained resolute. 1536 01:16:19,846 --> 01:16:22,048 He was the lone killer. 1537 01:16:44,738 --> 01:16:45,872 - How concerned are you that he decided 1538 01:16:45,905 --> 01:16:50,577 that he was going down anyway, 1539 01:16:50,610 --> 01:16:53,413 he might as well get them off the hook? 1540 01:16:53,446 --> 01:16:54,814 And that's really what was going on here. 1541 01:16:54,848 --> 01:16:58,084 - That's a concern in any case like this. 1542 01:16:58,084 --> 01:17:00,020 - So now it was decision time. 1543 01:17:00,020 --> 01:17:02,922 Take Trey Styler's confession at face value 1544 01:17:03,023 --> 01:17:06,026 and release both Nancy Styler and Kathy Carpenter, 1545 01:17:06,059 --> 01:17:09,429 or send him back to his cell 1546 01:17:09,462 --> 01:17:13,466 and proceed with the prosecution of all three. 1547 01:17:13,500 --> 01:17:16,036 - Whose story would prosecutors believe 1548 01:17:16,036 --> 01:17:19,606 and what will happen when the truth is revealed? 1549 01:17:21,608 --> 01:17:24,344 - Took my world and just flipped it upside down. 1550 01:17:24,377 --> 01:17:27,781 - I just hope that she would find forgiveness in her heart. 1551 01:17:28,682 --> 01:17:32,052 - What does she have to forgive you for? 1552 01:17:38,058 --> 01:17:45,098 ** 1553 01:17:48,501 --> 01:17:50,136 - A full confession. 1554 01:17:50,170 --> 01:17:52,872 The best possible solution for a murder case. 1555 01:17:52,906 --> 01:17:54,174 If they could believe it, that is. 1556 01:17:59,145 --> 01:18:02,415 - But are you comfortable with that explanation of this crime? 1557 01:18:02,449 --> 01:18:05,218 Are you comfortable that is the whole thing? 1558 01:18:05,251 --> 01:18:08,455 - I don't know if we'll ever know the whole thing. 1559 01:18:08,488 --> 01:18:10,657 - Around the Pitkin County DA's office 1560 01:18:10,690 --> 01:18:12,459 was a nagging worry. 1561 01:18:12,492 --> 01:18:15,562 Dr. Trey Styler demanded, and the DA approved, 1562 01:18:15,595 --> 01:18:17,630 a quid pro quo. 1563 01:18:17,664 --> 01:18:20,333 His full confession in exchange 1564 01:18:20,367 --> 01:18:23,503 for his wife's unconditional release. 1565 01:18:31,044 --> 01:18:32,946 - But what if he was lying? 1566 01:18:33,046 --> 01:18:35,115 How would they ever prove it? 1567 01:18:35,148 --> 01:18:38,785 - We had no facts to refute his-- 1568 01:18:38,818 --> 01:18:40,186 his statement to me. 1569 01:18:40,220 --> 01:18:43,823 We weren't in that room that night that Nancy Pfister 1570 01:18:43,857 --> 01:18:46,826 was murdered so we had no facts to refute 1571 01:18:46,860 --> 01:18:49,329 what William Styler was saying. 1572 01:18:49,362 --> 01:18:52,399 - So you're saying to me that Kathy Carpenter 1573 01:18:52,432 --> 01:18:54,868 and Nancy Styler are both innocent? 1574 01:18:54,901 --> 01:18:57,737 Neither one participated in this crime? 1575 01:18:57,771 --> 01:18:59,572 - William Styler said that. 1576 01:18:59,606 --> 01:19:01,307 I'm not saying that. 1577 01:19:01,341 --> 01:19:03,376 - But despite investigator Miller's doubts, 1578 01:19:03,410 --> 01:19:07,514 on June 17, 2014, after three and half months in jail, 1579 01:19:07,547 --> 01:19:10,150 Nancy Styler was released. 1580 01:19:10,183 --> 01:19:12,819 - And my attorney Beth was there and she said, 1581 01:19:12,852 --> 01:19:14,087 "Good news, you're getting out." 1582 01:19:14,120 --> 01:19:16,856 And I said, "Great." You know, they figured it out. 1583 01:19:16,890 --> 01:19:19,859 And then she said, "But there's a catch." 1584 01:19:19,893 --> 01:19:21,461 - She gave Nancy a letter. 1585 01:19:21,494 --> 01:19:24,397 It was a private note from Trey. 1586 01:19:24,431 --> 01:19:27,033 - And in this letter he tells me about the plea bargain 1587 01:19:27,033 --> 01:19:29,602 that he took and one of the sentences 1588 01:19:29,636 --> 01:19:32,539 that I've read a million times over said, 1589 01:19:32,572 --> 01:19:34,908 "I know you're innocent, 1590 01:19:34,941 --> 01:19:37,510 "and you should believe I am too." 1591 01:19:37,544 --> 01:19:41,047 - Trey wrote that he was only pleading guilty to save her. 1592 01:19:41,047 --> 01:19:43,883 He didn't actually kill Nancy Pfister, he wrote. 1593 01:19:43,917 --> 01:19:48,221 He was falling on his sword for love. 1594 01:19:48,254 --> 01:19:51,391 - I cried that whole day even though I was getting out. 1595 01:19:51,424 --> 01:19:53,226 It should have been a great time. 1596 01:19:53,259 --> 01:19:55,495 I can't believe he's having to do this. 1597 01:19:55,528 --> 01:19:57,364 This system is sick. 1598 01:19:57,397 --> 01:20:00,066 It's, you know, messed up. 1599 01:20:00,066 --> 01:20:02,802 - Three days later, June 20, Dr. Trey Styler 1600 01:20:02,836 --> 01:20:05,805 formally pleaded guilty to second degree murder 1601 01:20:05,839 --> 01:20:08,074 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 1602 01:20:09,709 --> 01:20:13,279 That same day, the DA dropped charges against Kathy Carpenter 1603 01:20:13,313 --> 01:20:16,683 and she walked out of jail a free woman. 1604 01:20:16,716 --> 01:20:22,088 - I was very grateful, very thankful and I felt God 1605 01:20:22,122 --> 01:20:25,925 answered my prayers and-- but at the same time 1606 01:20:25,959 --> 01:20:28,261 it was still scary. 1607 01:20:28,294 --> 01:20:32,465 I'm leaving jail 1608 01:20:32,499 --> 01:20:34,367 after being locked up. 1609 01:20:34,401 --> 01:20:35,535 What will people think? 1610 01:20:35,568 --> 01:20:37,504 How will I be judged? 1611 01:20:37,537 --> 01:20:41,808 - She is grateful, scared, also sad. 1612 01:20:41,841 --> 01:20:44,444 - But there was sorrow for still thinking 1613 01:20:44,477 --> 01:20:46,112 of the loss of Nancy. 1614 01:20:46,146 --> 01:20:49,883 And that he did something like this, 1615 01:20:49,916 --> 01:20:51,885 that he did it. 1616 01:20:51,918 --> 01:20:54,888 You know, that was still hurtful. 1617 01:20:54,921 --> 01:20:57,557 - But Nancy Styler added a bitter anger 1618 01:20:57,590 --> 01:21:00,694 to her whirlwind of grief and relief. 1619 01:21:00,727 --> 01:21:03,963 If Trey was innocent, as he told his wife he was, 1620 01:21:04,064 --> 01:21:08,735 then had the real killer just walked free? 1621 01:21:08,768 --> 01:21:11,338 - I had Kathy Carpenter pegged 1622 01:21:11,371 --> 01:21:13,940 in my own little courtroom and every little piece 1623 01:21:13,973 --> 01:21:17,977 of evidence that was given to me corroborated that. 1624 01:21:18,078 --> 01:21:20,847 - And then, it was just over two weeks later, 1625 01:21:20,880 --> 01:21:22,415 Nancy took a call. 1626 01:21:22,449 --> 01:21:24,517 Trey had something to tell her. 1627 01:21:24,551 --> 01:21:28,088 His letter wasn't quite true, he said. 1628 01:21:28,088 --> 01:21:33,093 In fact, he and he alone murdered Nancy Pfister. 1629 01:21:33,093 --> 01:21:36,696 Kathy Carpenter had nothing to do with it. 1630 01:21:36,730 --> 01:21:38,765 - It was... 1631 01:21:38,798 --> 01:21:41,835 took my world and just flipped it upside down. 1632 01:21:41,868 --> 01:21:47,374 Felt like my whole life had been a lie. 1633 01:21:47,407 --> 01:21:51,378 My whole life with him had been a lie. 1634 01:21:51,411 --> 01:21:53,346 - Nancy tried to rebuild her life, 1635 01:21:53,380 --> 01:21:56,182 move back to the East Coast where she grew up 1636 01:21:56,216 --> 01:21:58,918 and reclaimed her maiden name. 1637 01:21:58,952 --> 01:22:01,154 She filed for divorce. 1638 01:22:02,222 --> 01:22:03,323 - Do you love him at all anymore? 1639 01:22:03,356 --> 01:22:04,491 - I love him. 1640 01:22:04,524 --> 01:22:06,459 I love him. I love the man that was. 1641 01:22:06,493 --> 01:22:08,862 I don't love this monster. 1642 01:22:08,895 --> 01:22:12,065 - In 2015, William Trey Styler 1643 01:22:12,065 --> 01:22:15,068 was found hanging in his prison cell. 1644 01:22:15,068 --> 01:22:18,138 His death officially ruled a suicide. 1645 01:22:18,171 --> 01:22:20,740 Nancy Styler said she hopes people will remember him 1646 01:22:20,774 --> 01:22:23,677 for the man he once was before physical 1647 01:22:23,710 --> 01:22:27,480 and mental illness took over his life. 1648 01:22:27,514 --> 01:22:30,250 It was then that Nancy Styler's attorney Beth Krulewitch 1649 01:22:30,283 --> 01:22:33,219 had to admit that she had been completely wrong to think 1650 01:22:33,253 --> 01:22:35,422 Kathy Carpenter was involved in the murder 1651 01:22:35,455 --> 01:22:37,090 and set up the Stylers. 1652 01:22:37,090 --> 01:22:39,292 - Had Trey Styler not confessed, 1653 01:22:39,325 --> 01:22:41,094 I think there's a very decent chance, 1654 01:22:41,127 --> 01:22:43,797 the Kathy Carpenter could have ended up convicted, 1655 01:22:43,830 --> 01:22:45,865 and what a tragedy that would have been. 1656 01:22:45,899 --> 01:22:47,500 - And still I think they're a little suspicious 1657 01:22:47,534 --> 01:22:49,302 of you, you know? 1658 01:22:49,336 --> 01:22:51,871 - I've heard that there's still some questions 1659 01:22:51,905 --> 01:22:53,540 in people's minds. 1660 01:22:53,573 --> 01:22:56,409 - She knows, all too personally, 1661 01:22:56,443 --> 01:22:59,145 what it's like to lose the trust of her community. 1662 01:22:59,179 --> 01:23:02,082 She's also lost her job, her home, 1663 01:23:02,115 --> 01:23:05,452 and she's lost her very best friend, she said. 1664 01:23:05,485 --> 01:23:08,421 And she told us she feels guilty. 1665 01:23:08,455 --> 01:23:13,093 - That's why I wish that I could have helped her 1666 01:23:13,126 --> 01:23:15,428 had I been there. 1667 01:23:15,462 --> 01:23:19,265 What could I have done differently? 1668 01:23:19,299 --> 01:23:23,436 Talked her into staying there, not coming home. 1669 01:23:26,773 --> 01:23:28,708 - Nobody can know the future. 1670 01:23:28,742 --> 01:23:31,745 - Right. 1671 01:23:31,778 --> 01:23:34,848 But I do blame myself. 1672 01:23:34,881 --> 01:23:39,252 You know, it's something that I'll have to work through but-- 1673 01:23:39,285 --> 01:23:41,955 - One person with whom Kathy had not spoken with 1674 01:23:41,988 --> 01:23:43,456 after all this happened 1675 01:23:43,490 --> 01:23:46,760 was Nancy Pfister's daughter, Juliana. 1676 01:23:46,793 --> 01:23:48,762 What would you want to say to Juliana? 1677 01:23:48,795 --> 01:23:52,699 - That I just hope that she knows the truth. 1678 01:23:52,732 --> 01:23:56,736 I had nothing to do with the murder of her mother. 1679 01:23:56,770 --> 01:24:00,774 I was never-- would still-- 1680 01:24:00,807 --> 01:24:05,945 I just-- you know, I was looking out for her 1681 01:24:06,046 --> 01:24:08,048 and her mother's wishes. 1682 01:24:08,081 --> 01:24:12,952 And that I just hope that she would find forgiveness 1683 01:24:13,053 --> 01:24:14,421 in her heart. 1684 01:24:14,454 --> 01:24:18,358 And know that I love her and her mother very much. 1685 01:24:18,391 --> 01:24:20,593 - What does she have to forgive you for? 1686 01:24:20,627 --> 01:24:24,798 - I don't know why I would even say forgive but-- 1687 01:24:24,831 --> 01:24:28,935 - It's curious, huh? - Yeah. 1688 01:24:28,968 --> 01:24:32,872 Just, I've been portrayed as this thief, 1689 01:24:32,906 --> 01:24:34,874 this bad person. 1690 01:24:34,908 --> 01:24:39,079 Untrusting, and I don't know why. 1691 01:24:42,382 --> 01:24:43,516 - Trust. 1692 01:24:43,550 --> 01:24:46,219 Something Nancy Pfister was known for. 1693 01:24:46,252 --> 01:24:48,088 Not so much of it these days. 1694 01:24:48,121 --> 01:24:49,856 - Aspen will never be the same. 1695 01:24:49,889 --> 01:24:51,491 My life will never be the same. 1696 01:24:51,524 --> 01:24:54,394 - So what has Aspen lost? 1697 01:24:54,427 --> 01:24:57,297 - A lot of history, you know? 1698 01:24:57,330 --> 01:25:01,468 Nancy was part of Aspen's history. 1699 01:25:01,501 --> 01:25:03,603 It's a huge loss for the community. 1700 01:25:03,636 --> 01:25:06,039 - Some members of which will be telling stories 1701 01:25:06,039 --> 01:25:09,709 about Nancy Pfister for a very long time. 1702 01:25:09,743 --> 01:25:12,278 - Nancy lived a fantastic life. 1703 01:25:12,312 --> 01:25:16,082 And I think we all need 1704 01:25:16,116 --> 01:25:17,884 a little more dreaming like that. 1705 01:25:17,917 --> 01:25:19,686 A little more-- - A little more Nancy. 1706 01:25:19,719 --> 01:25:22,322 - A little more Nancy, that's true. 1707 01:25:22,355 --> 01:25:23,390 - That's all for this edition 1708 01:25:23,423 --> 01:25:25,825 of "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 1709 01:25:25,859 --> 01:25:27,127 I'm Kate Snow. 1710 01:25:27,160 --> 01:25:27,727 Thank you for watching.