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Nancy Pfister was found dead after two days inside her walk-in closet wrapped inside a plastic bag on February 26, 2014. She had just returned after a holiday in Australia when she met with her death.
After being unresponsive for two days, Pfister's friend, Katherine Carpenter, visited her Buttermilk Mountain residence where she detected a foul smell from the closet and mentioned details over a panicked 911 call which led investigators to suspect her involvement in the murder. However, the other easy targets were Pfister's Aspen residence tenants who shared a bitter relationship with her - William Trey Styler and his wife, Nancy Styler.
The Dateline: Secrets Uncovered Season 11 Episode 21 episode While She Was Sleeping re-airs on December 27, 2023, at 10 p.m. EST and the synopsis reads,
"She was an A-lister in a town famous for glitzy ski resorts and celebrities; when socialite Nancy Phister was murdered, the news reverberated around Aspen; Nancy had a long list of friends, but she also had enemies."
The Stylers and Katherine Carpenter were suspected of Nancy Pfister's murder in 2014
The officers recovered Nancy Pfister's body from the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office on February 26, 2014. She was allegedly murdered two days ago and the autopsy determined blunt force trauma to the head and exsanguination as the cause of the death.
However, the investigators were puzzled with the evidence at hand before a critical tip came in from a Basalt city worker informing them of a hammer covered in blood, Pfister's pills and a vehicle registration plate for the Stylers' car. The hammer was allegedly used to hit her in the head three or four times and the axe was used to leave a gash on her chest.
William Trey Styler and Nancy Styler
Trey Styler and Nancy met in Wichita, Kansas and got married in 1985. Nancy spent her time at the medical school but worked as a nurse. Nancy Tyler was known for her expertise in growing Victoria lilies throughout the world.
William Trey Styler was an anesthesiologist at Denver. He was the chairman of St. Joseph Hospital's Department of Anesthesiology. The couple resided at Greenwood Village, Valley Center, Kansas. A chronic illness led Trey to quit his practice and become a stay-at-home father which resulted in money problems.
A difficult lawsuit drained the Stylers and they looked to start afresh in Aspen. With training in botox and laser, Nancy Styler wanted to set up a spa in Colorado. This is when the Stylers moved into Nancy Pfister's home in Aspen for three months when she would be off to Australia on a trip.
The Stylers paid $12,000 in cash for the secluded log home but ended up with a dispute with Nancy Pfister as she demanded $14,000 for utilities and damages, per CBS News. She kept the Stylers' spa equipment in her garage as security for the money and threatened them with a restraining order. The escalating bitterness of the relationship served as a possible motive for the couple to kill Pfister.
Trey Styler's DNA was recovered from the plastic bag that carried the bloodied hammer.
Katherine Carpenter
Nancy Pfister's friend Katherine Carpenter was taken under arrest with charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy as investigations revealed a strained relationship between the two as well. Pfister allegedly treated Carpenter, a bank teller at Aspen, like her personal assistant. Carpenter was tasked with the care of the house and Pfister's Labradoodle, Gabe, in her absence.
Even though Katherine Carpenter went looking for Pfister on February 26, 2014, she bonded with the Stylers over their collective frustration of being poorly treated by Pfister.
The Pitkin County Sheriff's Office made Carpenter take a polygraph test which she failed. Her call to 911 which reported Nancy Pfister's body allegedly contained 39 "indicators of guilt" according to the investigators.
Eventually, Trey Styler took a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for the release of Nancy Styler and Kathy Carpenter in June 2014, according to ABC News. Trey Styler received a life sentence, which was later commuted to 20 years for second-degree murder.
