Socialite’s Daughter Says ‘There’s Got to Be Something More’ to Slaying
Juliana Pfister doesn't believe mom died over simple rent dispute.
March 5, 2014— -- The daughter of a slain Colorado socialite can’t fathom why 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 Pfister told ABC News. “There’s got to be something more. It’s hard to understand that.”
Nancy Pfister, 57, was found dead in her mountain chalet last Wednesday, four days after returning to Aspen from an extended trip to Australia. A husband and wife who had lived there – William Styler III, 65, and Nancy Styler, 62 – are behind bars, accused of killing her.
READ: Couple Arrested in Aspen Woman's Slaying
Still stunned by her mother’s death, Juliana Pfister sat behind the suspects in court Tuesday during their bond hearing.
Attorneys for the defendants waived formal advisement of the charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and a Pitkin County District Court judge ruled that the couple continue to be held without bond for the time being.
The judge also denied prosecutors’ request for a six-week extension to file charges. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 17.
County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo has released few details about the resort town’s first murder investigation in more than a decade, saying only that the Stylers had moved into Pfister’s home last fall.
Pfister had been renting her home to the Stylers while on her trip, officials said. She returned home days before her body was found, writing on her Facebook wall in January, “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.”
Pfister’s death remains an open investigation. The autopsy report is not complete and all records in the case have been sealed.
Officials are also investigating whether anyone else was potentially involved with the crime.
“I’m not going to close the door on any possible suspects,” Sheriff DiSalvo said.