http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_357170204.html
(CBS4) CANTON Professional bodybuilder Craig Titus and his wife,
Kelly Ryan, were arrested Friday in Stoughton as fugitives in the slaying
of a woman whose body was found last week in Ryan's burned-out luxury
car abandoned off a remote desert highway.
Titus, 40, and Ryan, 33, were arrested by federal agents and local police
at the Shaw's Plaza in Stoughton and were being held in nearby Canton,
FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said. The two towns are about
15 miles south of Boston.
Members of the FBI stormed into a Stoughton nail salon Friday
afternoon -- where Ryan had planned to get her pedicure -- and
arrested Titus and Ryan, who looked vastly different from the
way they normally appear.
An FBI spokesman in Las Vegas said the two are expected to
be returned to Las Vegas next week.
Titus and Ryan were being held on a federal charge of unlawful flight
to avoid prosecution on a warrant issued Dec. 20 in Las Vegas. Titus
is wanted on state murder charges, and Ryan was sought as an
accessory to murder. Titus and Ryan also are charged with
third-degree arson.
Titus told Las Vegas police that he'd had a secret romance with
the dead woman, Melissa James, 28, court records show.
In an interview with police before they disappeared, neither Titus
nor Ryan admitted any involvement with James' slaying.
She had worked as a live-in personal assistant to the couple at
their Las Vegas home. Her charred body was discovered Dec.
14 in the trunk of Ryan's burned red 2003 Jaguar in a remote
spot southwest of Las Vegas.
Titus and Ryan told a friend last week that they planned to go
to a country that does not extradite people to the United States,
according to a police report submitted to Las Vegas Justice
Court. Titus told a business partner that he intended to meet
a friend in Boston, liquidate his assets and leave the country,
police said.
Details of police interviews with the bodybuilding couple were
provided in a document seeking an arrest warrant for Titus,
Ryan and Anthony Gross, 23.
Gross was arrested Wednesday in Las Vegas and charged
with accessory to murder and third-degree arson. He is
scheduled for an initial court appearance Tuesday.
The married bodybuilding couple remained free after telling
detectives that James had been fired and evicted Dec. 13
because they believed she had been embezzling from them,
and that they suspected James stole Ryan's car.
According to court records, the couple claimed James was
embezzling money from their bodybuilding business in Vegas.
Titus and Ryan had not previously reported the financial theft
nor the missing vehicle, police said.
Titus told a detective that his wife was not aware of his affair
with James. He told police he booked a hotel room Dec. 12
for two nights and spent most of one night there with James.
James was last heard from when she spoke with her mother
in New Jersey by cell phone shortly before noon Dec. 13.
Four days later, Amanda Polk, a bodybuilder who trained
with Ryan, told police that Ryan told her she'd found James
dead from a drug overdose and that she thought Titus had
someone get rid of the body.
Credit card receipts and security videotapes show that Ryan
bought seven half-gallon bottles of charcoal starter fluid and
a barbecue tool set at a Wal-Mart store in Las Vegas about
3:30 a.m. Dec. 14. The videotape shows her and a man
putting the items in the back seat of a red mid-sized car
similar to a Jaguar.
Phone records showed Titus called Gross early Dec. 14,
police said. Gross told investigators he met Titus, who
drove the red Jaguar while Gross bought a can of gasoline
and followed in his pickup to a remote area off state Highway 160.
Gross told police Titus took the gas can, disappeared,
and then jumped in the pickup. Gross said he drove
back to Las Vegas, but the two never discussed what
happened.
Authorities later found James' body in the trunk of the
burned Jaguar with white fabric around her neck and
duct tape across the face. A suitcase was found in the
back seat, along with the charred remains of a barbecue
tool set. Police said James was found dashed with lighter
fluid and duct tape on her face.
The Clark County coroner determined James was
probably asphyxiated, police said.
The 5-foot-9-inch, 250-pound Titus won titles at the
June 1996 National Physique Committee USA Championships
and competed in Mr. Olympia events.
Titus pleaded guilty in Louisiana in April 1995 to conspiracy
to possess with intent to distribute the party drug ecstasy, and
served two years in jail for steroid-related offenses
from 1997 to 1999.
Ryan is a past Fitness America and Fitness International
winner and Fitness Olympia runner-up, who worked as
a loan officer for Silver State Mortgage in Las Vegas.
Titus and Ryan will be sent back to Las Vegas to face
the murder charge.
