BODY IN BURNED CAR: Conflicting statements
Pair accused of killing personal assistant told different stories about sex, drugs
By GLENN PUIT
© 2006 REVIEW-JOURNAL
Kelly Ryan and Craig Titus
Craig Titus and his wife, Kelly Ryan, during a preliminary hearing Friday at Clark County Justice Court. They are accused in the slaying and burning of Melissa James. Photo by Jeff Scheid.
In their first statements to police, slaying suspects Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan said they didn't know how the charred body of their personal assistant, Melissa James, ended up in the trunk of Ryan's car.
But in two subsequent statements to authorities, the fitness champions changed their story, saying James died of a drug overdose at their house, and that they burned James' body to avoid negative publicity from the accidental death.
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"Found her (James) in the (expletive) car dead, stinking up my (expletive) car," Titus told detectives in a Dec. 24 taped interview in Boston.
"I panicked. That gets in the newspaper, we're ruined. Dead girl, car, OD'd, Craig Titus, Kelly Ryan. We're (expletive) ruined," Titus said.
"Plus, not to mention that my car's ruined ... so I think OK, let's put her in the trunk and burn it and play stupid. That's what we did. Period. Finito. End of story."
In a third statement, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, Titus agreed with an FBI agent's suggestion that perhaps he was having rough sex with James and she died.
"Yeah, we were having sex and she OD'd," the FBI agent quoted Titus as saying. "Let's go with that. That's a good story."
The conflicting statements about James' death are contained in nearly 500 pages of voluntary statements given by Titus and Ryan to Las Vegas homicide detectives. Titus and Ryan are charged with murder in the December death of James, and copies of the couple's statements were obtained by the Review-Journal this week.
Titus' attorney, Richard Schonfeld, wouldn't discuss specifics of his client's statements. But he said the statements Titus and Ryan gave to police in Massachusetts will be suppressed because police never notified Titus or Ryan they were recording them, as required by law in that state.
"No doubt in my mind it will be suppressed," Schonfeld said. "It was illegal what they did."
Ryan's attorney, Thomas Pitaro, could not be reached for comment.
Louis Palazzo, a defense attorney for a third defendant charged in the case, Anthony Gross, wouldn't comment.
Clark County prosecutor Robert Daskas also wouldn't comment on this story.
Titus is a past place-winner of the international Mr. Olympia competitions, and Ryan is a past Ms. Fitness America and Ms. Olympia runner-up.
Hours after James' body was found burning in the desert in Ryan's car on Dec. 14, Titus and Ryan each gave police lengthy taped statements. In their first statements, the couple said they suspected James might be stealing from them and perhaps was planning to steal their identities.
"OK, one example, she went online and changed my pass codes," Ryan said. "OK. She requested new security information be sent to her and new banking cards sent to her."
Ryan said she confronted James about her suspicions that James was stealing, and James decided she was going to leave and head home to New Jersey for Christmas. The day before James was found murdered, Ryan said, she gave James a ride to a convenience store and dropped her off.
Ryan and Titus then speculated to police that James somehow returned to their house, snuck into their garage and stole Ryan's car.
Titus and Ryan said they didn't know what happened to James after that. But Titus suggested James was using methamphetamine and that a drug dealer named Eddie could be responsible for her death.
"He's real cool, drug dealer, you know, 'Pay me, I'll kill ya' type, (expletive) idiot," Titus told police.
Titus told police that if he found out who killed James before the detectives did, he would hunt the person down and harm them.
"I'll tell ya something right now," Titus said. "If I find this (expletive) guy before you guys do, I'm gonna (expletive) him up. I'll call you when I do."
After their statements were given, authorities said, Titus and Ryan fled across country.
They were arrested outside Boston and, on Dec. 24, gave more statements to the FBI and Las Vegas police.
This time, Titus and Ryan said they had found James dead of an overdose in Ryan's car, a needle sticking out of her arm, and, instead of simply calling police, they panicked.
"Craig and I started thinking, ah, she's got drugs in the house, ah, he (Titus is) a felon," Ryan said. "Well, there's steroids."
Ryan and Titus said they dragged James' body into their house, wrapped James' face with duct tape and put her body in blankets, and then put her in the trunk of Ryan's Jaguar.
"She wasn't stiff," Ryan said. "She was very heavy. Very heavy. Very, very. And I remember that she, she was (a) mess, and so heavy I think I probably ended up dropping her."
"So, ah, it's real simple, guys," Titus told detectives. "We took her out of the car and put her in the fetal positionand put her in the trunk of my car and we burned it.
"Drug her in the house," Titus said. "This is (expletive) gross, man. Put her in a fetal position, wrapped her up, put her in the trunk."
Titus said they decided to dispose of James' body to avoid negative publicity that could ruin their fitness careers.
"She (Ryan) is the number one fitness athlete in the world," Titus said. "Highly respected in the sport, and if you think of fitness, Kelly Ryan. Period. ... And here we walk in our garage and our friend's OD'd in our (expletive) car. So if that gets out to the public, we're ruined."
Ryan said she bought lighter fluid at a Wal-Mart, and her husband called Gross. The trio then went to the desert off state Route 160, where Ryan said Titus set Ryan's car on fire with James' body in the trunk.
"We just basically got rid of a body, and how we gonna explain it," Ryan said. "Um, you know, obviously if we thought that, you know, by burning the car it would get rid of ah, of the person completely. Um, I don't know, I don't know why."
At one point during the interview, Titus said he and Ryan couldn't have murdered James because if they had, they wouldn't be dumb enough to burn the body in a car registered to Ryan.
"If I really wanted to ... burn her and it was a murder, I would of dug a hole out in the desert and dumped her in the hole, and burned my car myself," Titus said. "You know what I mean?
"It's that simple," Titus said. "Nobody ever found her. My car would be burned and stolen. End of story.
"So I mean ... it doesn't take a (expletive) genius to know, well, you know, if you're gonna murder somebody, you don't put her in your car and burn her," Titus said.
"Unless somebody panics," a detective tells Titus.
"Yeah, well, unless they're really stupid," Titus said.
At another point in the interview, Titus asks police if they found steroids in his house.
"Did you guys find my steroids?" Titus asks the detectives.
"Yeah," a detective responds.
"You did find it?" Titus said. "(Expletive,) man. That's pretty good investigation."
Ryan acknowledges to police that she once used methamphetamine with James. And Titus tells police he, his wife and James also used a painkiller called Nubane, which is commonly used by fitness athletes.
Titus denied he was having an affair with James, although he acknowledged having sex with her years ago.
But in yet another statement to authorities, an FBI agent said Titus told him that, he, James and Ryan had all had sex together in the past.
The FBI agent then poses a possible scenario of Titus having rough sex with James and her dying.
"You admitted to placing a ligature around (James') neck and placing duct tape around her face," the FBI agent said he told Titus. "You'd previously admitted that the three of you had sex together. Also, you did drugs together. Could this have been a sex act gone bad?
"You were having kinky sex together and something went wrong," the agent said he told Titus. "You were having sex. You had her tied up. You were using drugs and maybe she OD'd."
The FBI agent then summarized in a report Titus's response to the scenario.
"Titus responded words to the effect, 'Yeah, we were having sex and she OD'd. Let's go with that. That's a good story.' "
"After making this statement, Titus paused for a moment and then stated 'No more questions.' "
