AN ASPEN LEGEND IS FOUND DEAD, AND EVERYBODY IN TOWN WANTS TO KNOW WHY AND WHO DID IT

"48 HOURS: MURDER IN ASPEN" INVESTIGATES THE DEATH OF NANCY PFISTER

SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2015

When an Aspen legend who once dated Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas is killed in her sleep, everyone in the upscale resort town wants to know why and who did it.

Maureen Maher and 48 HOURS investigate the murder of Aspen socialite and ski resort heiress Nancy Pfister and the quest to find her killer in "Murder in Aspen" to be broadcast March 7 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. It's a story steeped in the high society set of Aspen and features a family that is as much a part of the landscape as the trees for which the city is named.

"Everybody wanted to know why," says Vanity Fair writer and 48 HOURS consultant Mark Seal. "Everybody wanted to know what. Everybody wanted to know how. And everybody wanted to know who."

Pfister was found dead in her bedroom closet by friend Kathy Carpenter, who had been alerted that something was amiss in the Pfister home by Nancy Styler, a woman who, along with her husband, had rented Pfister's home. Pfister died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

Pfister's murder was big news in Aspen. She was well known and came from a family of high achievers. Her mother was a legendary World War II pilot. Her father was a larger-than-life land owner who helped develop Buttermilk Mountain, one of Aspen's famous ski hills. Nancy Pfister was also known for her adventurous spirit, as well as her occasionally demanding demeanor.

"As beloved as Nancy Pfister was in this community," says Assistant District Attorney Andrea Bryan, "You didn't want to be on Nancy's bad side."

Investigators had some suspects, however, starting with Nancy Styler and her husband, Trey. Pfister had publicly claimed the couple owed her money. And at the time Pfister was found dead the Stylers were in the process of moving out. Nancy Styler, police said, harbored anger over the way Pfister treated the couple. Trey, who suffered from a neurological disorder, didn't look capable of killing anyone, District Attorney Chief Investigator Lisa Miller tells 48 HOURS.

But then, just 100 yards from where the Stylers were staying, a trash collector found items belonging to Pfister, plus the murder weapon, a hammer with Nancy Pfister's blood on it.

Police questioned the new evidence find, suggesting maybe it was too good to be true. They also had a hunch the early finger pointing at the Stylers may have been a little too convenient.

Then, four days after the couple was questioned by police, they were arrested and charged with murder. "I kept thinking I would wake up from this horrible dream, being treated like a criminal, being shackled, wearing orange, being paraded in front of media with cameras like I was walking down the red carpet," Nancy Styler tells 48 HOURS. "Every piece of my dignity was taken away."

Soon after the Stylers were charged, Carpenter was arrested, too, and was also charged with murdering Pfister. Instead of attending her friend's memorial, Carpenter was sitting in a jail cell. "It was just so hurtful," Carpenter tells 48 HOURS. "I just cried."

"A common thread of information that we were receiving is that anyone who had ever met Nancy Pfister was a potential suspect," Styler's attorney, Garth McCarty, tells 48 HOURS.

"There was anticipation of the trial when everything would come out," Seal says. "People were eager to hear exactly what happened and why. And then, all of a sudden, another bombshell."

One person confessed to committing the crime, claiming to have acted alone. The others were released, with all charges dropped.

That news would change everything. Was the confession true? Maher and 48 HOURS piece together the murder and the investigation through interviews with Pfister's daughter, Nancy Styler, Kathy Carpenter, prosecutors, investigators and defense attorneys. 48 HOURS: "Murder in Aspen" is produced by Liza Finley. Ryan Smith is the field producer. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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