A shackled Craig Titus enters district court in downtown Las Vegas for his arraignment on charges of murder and arson on Thursday. Photos by John Locher.
Kelly Ryan stands in district court during her arraignment Thursday on charges of murder and arson in the death of 28-year-old Melissa James.
Craig Titus announced with emphasis Thursday that he is innocent of charges he killed 28-year-old Melissa James.
When asked by District Judge Jackie Glass for his plea to the murder charge he faces, Titus, a 41-year-old professional bodybuilder, replied in a loud, deep, raspy voice: "100 percent not guilty."
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Titus' 33-year-old wife, fitness champion Kelly Ryan, was more low-key, responding with a simple "not guilty." When the judge asked Ryan for her education level, Ryan noted that she has a bachelor's degree in journalism. Titus told the judge that he is a high school graduate.
Glass set a trial date of Jan. 22, prompting Titus to shake his head in apparent disappointment about how long it will take his case to go to trial.
Afterward, defense attorney Richard Schonfeld said he will file court motions asking Glass to set bail for his client so Titus can have a chance of awaiting trial outside the confines of the Clark County Detention Center.
"He's got a very good character, and he's confident ... he's very adamant that he's not guilty," Schonfeld said.
Titus does not have access to his weightlifting equipment and nutritional supplements, and he appeared noticeably smaller than in prior court appearances.
Anthony Gross, who is accused of being an accomplice in the case, pleaded not guilty to helping Titus and Ryan burn James' body, which was found early Dec. 14 in the trunk of Ryan's burned-out Jaguar sedan off a desert highway southwest of Las Vegas. Gross, 23, remains under house arrest after posting $13,000 bail. Gross was charged with accessory to murder and third-degree arson.
Titus and Ryan could be convicted if they are found to have killed James in one or several ways, including suffocation, an overdose of morphine, duct tape on James' face and several shocks with a Taser stun gun. They are alleged to have done all of that to James.
A county coroner's autopsy in December left the cause of death undetermined and listed opiate intoxication as a contributing factor.
Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty in the case.
The grand jury indicted Titus and Ryan in the slaying after prosecutors presented evidence that James was drugged, bound, shocked with a Taser gun and strangled.
In grand jury testimony that led to the couple's indictment, the victim's mother, Maura James, said she last heard from her daughter on Dec. 13, the day police allege Melissa James was killed. During that cell phone call, from the drive-through of a KFC restaurant, Melissa James was "her usual upbeat self," her mother told the grand jury.
Melissa James was scheduled to fly home to New Jersey the next morning, and Maura James went to pick her up at the airport, but her daughter never arrived.
Maura James said she repeatedly called Craig Titus during the next couple of days seeking answers, but he didn't call back. In the meantime, Las Vegas authorities called Maura James and told her they suspected it was her daughter's body found in the back of Ryan's car.
Titus finally called Maura James on Dec. 17.
"He told me that the police had spoken to him and that he didn't have anything to do with it," Maura James said.
"He also said that he didn't believe it was her in the trunk of the car and that he felt like she staged the whole thing to (get) herself a new identity," she said.
"He told me he wasn't mad at her for burning the car, that he would get the money back from the insurance company," Maura James said. "When he said that he didn't think it was her in the car, I told him that they were going to do DNA (testing,) and he seemed surprised.
"I could tell, sense in his voice, that he was he was not expecting me to say that," she said.
A friend of Ryan, Megan Pierson, testified to the grand jury that Ryan and Titus confessed to brutalizing and ultimately killing Melissa James after they discovered she was stealing from them and possibly planning to steal their identities. Pierson said Ryan used the Taser on James, Ryan and Titus both beat the victim, they injected her with a large quantity of morphine, then Titus killed her with a chokehold.
Police said the couple also said that James overdosed on drugs, and they panicked and burned her body -- worried that publicity about the death would hurt their careers.
Titus initially told police that he had an affair with James. Later, Titus and Ryan told police they had evicted James from their house after discovering she was stealing from them, and that she stole Ryan's car.
Titus and Ryan were arrested Dec. 23 at a nail salon in Stoughton, Mass. Police accused them of fleeing to avoid prosecution. Their lawyers said they were visiting friends for the holidays.
