20/20 Relationships from Hell: A Downward Slope - The Nancy Pfister Murder

“RELATIONSHIPS FROM HELL: A DOWNHILL SLOPE”
Who Killed One of Aspen, Colorado’s Most Beloved and Beautiful Free Spirits?

“20/20” Unravels Details Behind the First Murder in the Upscale Colorado Town in a Decade

Airing on Tuesday, September 16 on ABC

When Nancy Pfister, one of Aspen, Colorado’s most beloved and prominent free spirits, was found bludgeoned to death in the master bedroom closest of her multimillion dollar home, the list of suspects sent the mountain town into a real life game of Clue. Could it be the local bank teller and Nancy's Best friend? Or her subletters -- a prominent physician and his renowned horticulturalist wife?  Was it greed, jealousy, or something more sinister behind the slope side tragedy that shook this mountain town to its core? Deborah Roberts’ riveting report includes an interview with Nancy Styler, the first time one of the main suspects in the case speaks. “Relationships from Hell: A Downhill Slope” airs on “20/20” on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, (10:00–11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“20/20” is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and David Muir.  David Sloan is senior executive producer.

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MORE:  Former Suspect in Aspen Philanthropist’s Murder Denies Helping Husband Kill Her
FROM ASPEN:  Pfister Murder  Case Hits Prime Time Tonight

Deborah Roberts and Nancy Styler

Deborah Roberts and Steve Singular

Chief Investigator, Lisa Miller

Dominic Frederico

Camera Crew:  Dominic Frederico and Shannon Reed
Producers: Carrie Cook and Scott Engle
Correspondent:  Deborah Roberts
Air Date:  16 September 2014 (20/20)

Aspen is so beautiful - of course I had to do a little Instagramming (click on the flower to see the gallery) ")

Aspen Security Forum | July 23-24, 2014

ABC News’ Brian Ross Thanks US Officials 32 Years After Hostage Crisis

ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross today gave a public, yet personal thanks to two U.S. officials who were involved ina dramatic incident more than three decades ago in which Ross and dozens of others were held captive aboard a hijacked airline in Central America.

“On a point of personal privilege, let me just say that my first experience with counter-terrorism took place 32 years ago when I was held hostage by terrorists in Honduras for three days on a flight in Tegucigalpa,” Ross said today during the introduction to a counter-terrorism discussion at the Aspen Security Forum. “[Panelist] Mike [Vickers] was the Special Forces operator who came here to save me and John Negroponte, who’s here in the audience, was the ambassador at the time. I never had a chance to thank you publicly, but I wanted to say it publicly to both of you.”

As a secret commando at the time, Vickers’ role was unknown to Ross until today when Ross said Vickers brought up the decades-old incident just before the panel discussion began. Vickers had been on hand to plan a military rescue, should it have come to that. “He was just another selfless American hero like so many who never get credit for all they do,” Ross said after the panel.

(ABC News, inset UPI)

Ross, then a correspondent for NBC News, was aboard a domestic flight in late April 1982 when the plane was stormed by four armed men who identified themselves as from the leftist group Lorenzo Zelaya Revolutionary Popular Forces.

For three days the kidnappers held the passengers on the plane until one morning Ross led an escape of several of the hostages, most of them Americans, by diving through a smashed window and making a run for it, according to contemporary news reports. The terrorists fired a shot at the hostages but missed. The rest of the hostages were released hours later.

In a black and white photo hanging in ABC News offices, a 33-year-old Ross is seen bleeding from the head but smiling shortly after he had made it to freedom.

Mike Vickers, currently the Under Secretary for Defense Intelligence, was on the ground with U.S. Army Special Forces at the time of the hijacking. Vickers’ Defense Department biography says he later served as an operations officer in the CIA for years before climbing the Pentagon ladder.

John Negroponte, the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras at the time, went on to serve as a career diplomatfor the U.S., twice earning the State Department’s Distinguished Service Medal before leaving the government in 2009. He now serves as vice-chairman at the D.C.-based international strategy firm McLarty Associates.

LINK to story with video.

Camera Crew: Dominic Frederico and Shannon Reed
Correspondent: Brian Ross
Producer: Carol McKinley  

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Aspen Socialite Murder

Aspen Murder Story - March 2014  (with video; Affiliate KMGH Channel 7, Denver; Air date - March 17, 2014) ASPEN, Colo. - Prosecutors have filed first-degree murder charges against a couple arrested in the killing of a prominent Aspen woman.

Authorities said 65-year-old William F. Styler III and 62-year-old Nancy Christine Styler were charged Monday in connection with the death of 57-year-old Nancy Pfister.

Over the weekend, police arrested a third suspect in Pfister's death -- 56-year-old Katherine M. Carpenter.

Pfister was the daughter of the late Betty and Art Pfister, longtime prominent Aspen residents who co-founded the Buttermilk ski area west of town. Officials still haven't revealed how Pfister was killed.

The Stylers rented Pfister's home until she returned home from traveling in Australia last month.

In January, Pfister wrote on her Facebook wall: "I'd like to stay in Australia but the people that were supposedly taking care of my house are not doing what they said they would do and they're not paying rent and they haven't paid utilities."

Carpenter called police to report finding Pfister's body in a closet in the home on Feb. 26.  She is a local Alpine Bank employee who handled Pfister's property rentals.

Nancy Pfister’s daughter, Juliana, attended the proceedings Monday.

She told ABC News that she couldn't believe someone would kill her fun-loving mother because of an alleged rent dispute.

"How could someone just be so angry that they got kicked out of a house?" Juliana said. "There's got to be something more. It's hard to understand that."

District Attorney Sherry Caloia wouldn't rule out more arrests.

"The case is still open to looking at every possibility out there. Yes it is," said Caloia. "It just doesn't happen in Aspen. It just doesn't happen."

In addition, defense investigators removed boxes of evidence from Pfister’s home in the mountains.

Camera Crew: Dominic Frederico and Shannon Reed
Correspondent: Bazi Kunani
Producer: Carol McKinley
Air Date: 17 March 2014