The Horrific Murder Of Nancy Merle PfisterThe Horrific Murder Of Nancy Merle Pfister

American Nancy Merle Pfister was murdered on February 26, 2014, and her body was discovered in a walk-in closet of her remote home in the Rocky Mountains. With a hammer, an ax, and a lantern, she had been struck in the head and the chest.

Pfister's friend Kathy Carpenter became worried on the evening of February 26, 2014, after Pfister failed to return her call after two days.

Carpenter drove to Pfister's remote log house on the north side of Buttermilk Mountain after she learnt her friend had not shown up for work for two days. When she entered her apartment, she met the room in disorder.

Carpenter discovered a closed bedroom closet. Pfister had provided her with a Skeleton key, which she used to open the door and find Nancy Pfister's lifeless body. She immediately called 911. She had a large open wound on her torso which was ripped open with an axe.

Pfister

The wounds on her face were determined to have been caused with hammer. The lack of defense wounds on her body made the medical examiner conclude she had been killed while she was sleeping. The cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head and blood loss.

Crime Investigation

A week before her murder, Nancy and her 16-year-old son made an unplanned return from their vacation. Pfister had asked Kathy if she could spend the weekend at the house after she had picked up the two from the airport and taken them home. Nancy made plans for her son to spend the weekend with his father almost as soon as she got home by calling him. She did not explain to her son why he was unable to spend the weekend at her residence.

Carpenter had spent the weekend with Pfister, but on Monday morning she got up early and left for work, leaving Pfister home alone. Pfister was asleep when Carpenter left a note on the door for visitors, asking them to call first to verify if she was awake enough to speak before entering the home. Billy Clayton, another one of Nancy's acquaintances, stated he didn't want to disturb Pfister when she was asleep, so he emailed her instead. Pfister didn't respond.

Katty Carpenter

Things became even stranger on Wednesday, when Pfister's housemates Trey and Nancy Styler called Kathy Carpenter to inform her that they had just moved out. They told her that they had moved into a motel in Basalt, Colorado, and that they had merely returned to the house to clear away their possessions.

Pfister had been dead since Monday morning, according to investigators, and had been in the closet for two days before Carpenter discovered her. Investigators think she was attacked by two persons who moved her body to the closet based on where her body was found. They focused on Trey and Nancy Styler, the couple who had been renting her residence, because there were no traces of forced entry.

Trey Styler had two daughters from a previous marriage. The Stylers married in 1985 and had no children together.

The Stylers

Authorities had no reason to suspect the two until they learned that they were involved in a financial dispute with Pfister. The disagreement arose from Pfister's failure to repair minor faulty utilities in the home, such as a leaky faucet and several power outlets that no longer worked.

Pfister had told them to vacate her building by February 22. But when she returned from her vacation they were still in the building.

Pfister began locking the house throughout the day when she went to work after the couple failed to do so on time. Following the discovery of Pfister's death, the two were questioned separately by police, and both denied any involvement in the crime. Trey however failed a polygraph test.

A bloodied hammer, pill bottles with Nancy Pfister's name printed on them, and a vehicle registration for Trey and Nancy Styler's Jaguar X-Type were discovered a few days later as a Basalt municipal worker was sifting through a public trash bin. 

The city employee promptly called the police. The trash bin was discovered behind the motel where the Stylers were staying, according to police. On March 3, 2014, the Stylers were arrested.

Kathy was also arrested as an accomplice to the murder based on the way she made the 911 call. It was believed she helped the Stylers kill Pfister but called 911 out of guilt.

The Killer Confesses

Trey Styler told police that he wanted to make a statement about the murder less than two weeks before the preliminary hearing.

Trey Styler later committed suicide in prison

He had accepted a plea bargain: confess and plead guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for the freedom of both his wife Nancy and Kathy Carpenter. Trey Styler began his statement by telling the cops "I lost my mind, or at least my rational mind. It was me. It was all me".

Trey Styler reported sneaking out of his motel room while his wife Nancy slept. He immediately proceeded to Nancy Pfister's house in his Jaguar to confront her about how she treated his wife while they rented her house.

Styler went into depth about what transpired that morning. He told investigators that he silently entered the bedroom and, as he watched Nancy Pfister sleep, all the hatred that had built up inside him since his health began to deteriorate, erupted all at once. He began to direct his rage onto Pfister and all of the problems she had caused.

He returned downstairs and grabbed a hammer and an ax. He also got some orange extension wires and a plastic rubbish bag, which he used to tie her up later. He then recalled repeatedly striking her in the face with the hammer until she stopped moving.

Styler plunged the ax into her chest, murdering her, when he saw she was still breathing. Pfister's body was subsequently wrapped in her bed sheet and many plastic bags and placed in the closet by Styler. He took some of her items, such as her prescription and cigarettes, to make it appear as if she had left. He claimed he never informed his wife. Kathy Carpenter was eliminated as a suspect. Nancy Styler's charges were withdrawn as part of the plea agreement.

Trey Styler pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, which was eventually reduced to 20 years. Styler was discovered dead in his cell at Arrowhead Correctional Institution in Caon City, Colorado, on August 6, 2015. An autopsy later revealed that he had committed suicide by choking on small fragments of plastic from a broken pen. He was 67 years old at the time.