LAS VEGAS -- Two married professional bodybuilders were charged Wednesday with using a stun gun on their live-in personal assistant and drugging and suffocating her before her charred body was found in a charred Jaguar off a remote desert highway.
Images
Craig Titus and his wife, Kelly Ryan, appeared in court Wednesday to face charges that were upgraded to include kidnapping against Titus and murder and kidnapping against Ryan.
They are accused of killing 28-year-old Melissa James, a former fitness instructor who moved last year from New Jersey to live with the couple. Her body was found Dec. 14.
Titus, 41, who won a 1996 bodybuilding championship and competed in Mr. Olympia events, previously faced murder, accessory to murder and third-degree arson charges.
Ryan, 33, a past Fitness America and Fitness International winner, had appeared Tuesday on accessory and arson charges.
Neither Titus nor Ryan was asked Wednesday to enter a plea to the amended complaint.
Clark County prosecutor Robert Daskas declined Wednesday to describe a motive for the slaying. The complaint accuses Titus and Ryan of using a Taser stun gun, administering morphine or a related drug, and asphyxiating or suffocating James with a fabric or wire around her neck.
Titus and Ryan were arrested Dec. 23 in Stoughton, Mass., near Boston, and returned last week to Clark County jail.
Their lawyers have maintained Titus and Ryan are innocent.
"On behalf of our client, he is 100 percent not guilty," said Steven Boozang, a Boston-based lawyer representing Titus.
Ryan's lawyer, Tom Pitaro, was not immediately available for comment.
A formal bond hearing was set for Feb. 10, and a preliminary hearing for March 29.
An alleged accomplice is under house arrest after pleading not guilty to accessory to murder and third-degree arson.
