tonight, relationships from hell. aspen, land of snow. socialites and now -- >> found beaten to death. >> murder. >> my friend is in her closet ded! >> a trust fund baby running low on funds and making enemies. >> so, this is a toxic mix. >> this is about as tox six as it can get. >> who hated her enough to do her in? her down on the luck tenants, suddenly forced out by her. >> did you ever say, i could kill this woman. >> i said, i could wring earl neck. >> or a put upon assistant taken advantage of once too often? >> we found the mudder rep. >> or could it be all three? >> to leave so little evidence

at the scene would have taken multiple people. >> tonight, foul local the footprints. fingerprints. a bloody smear on the bed. explosive interrogation tapes. >> i'm letting you know, that's a lie. >> and a grisly find in the trash. >> i said, am i dreaming? you're not dreaming, there's a dead body. >> with life, and now death in a posh resort, who is guilty? >> money is the thread running through all of this. >> who has it and who wants it? enough to kill? >> people say it just doesn't add up. >> tonight, relationships from hell. here's deborah roberts. >> reporter: the chilly charm of a winter evening in aspen, colorado, shatters like ice. at a home, high up on west buttermilk road, upstairs in a bedroom, locked in a walk-in close element, wrapped with care, a body. a battered, bloody, and very much dead body.

>> oh my god. >> 911. >> my friend! >> ma'am, tell me exactly what happened. >> i found my friend in the closet. she's dead! >> reporter: that shrieking voice on the phone, a woman in all-out panic is kathy carpenter. fearing for her life, afraid the killer is still nearby. her frantic, sometimes garbled 911 call comes from behind the wheel of her car as she bolts down the mountain, away from the body in the closet to safety. >> okay, ma'am, i need you to take a deep breath. >> i -- >> so that i can send you help. >> i can't. my friend is in her closet dead, full of blood, wrapped in a thing! >> reporter: seconds later, this dash cam video shows a police officer at the side of the road, trying to calm her down. >> try and relax, okay? >> reporter: the woman she just discovered is nancy pfister, one of her closest friends.

>> kathy carpenter drives up to nancy's house and she looks around and she notices, number one, the bed is made. and she said, this is not right. nancy pfister never made a bed in her life. something doesn't add up here. >> the master bedroom closet door was locked and that the key was not in the lock to that closet, which she said was unusual. >> developing story out of aspen. >> found dead. >> the aspen community is horrified. >> there is a lot of concern. >> reporter: aspen is not the murder capital of anywhere. >> very rare, yes. this was the first murder in over a decade in aspen. >> reporter: in this playground made of snow and money, the rich and famous, billionaires by the dozen, come for the scene and to be seen. sometimes there's even skiing. and now, on this february night

in 2014, a dead body in a closet, of all places. what happened only slightly more shocking than who it happened to. nancy pfister, the woman in the closet, was a prominent jet-set heiress. her family, one of the oldest, most respected names in colorado. ski mountain pioneers. >> give me a sense of what the pfisters meant to that town. >> they were often referred to as aspen royalty. these were some of the founding families that actually got aspen on the map as a ski resort. >> my grandparents were there very long ago before aspen was aspen. >> reporter: nancy's 28-year-old daughter julianna says freedom was the hallmark of her mother's life, fitting since nancy was born on independence day. >> she loved that fact. that she was forth on the 4th of july. she's like, you guys, you're throwing all these parties for me. fireworks are for me for sure. >> reporter: high-flying

celebrations would become a tradition. with that face, that family, that trust fund, it was clear even from an early age that for nancy pfister, the sky was the limit. >> there was something about her that just really drew people to her. moth to the flame. >> reporter: she never had a career, perse, but sometimes it seemed that being nancy pfister was a full-time job. >> she was not the run of the mi mill, what, i guess what you think aspen has become kind of person. >> she was cute. >> reporter: unanimous sip's aspen high classmate, david cuffin. >> nancy was a presence. a light. >> i don't think i ever have melt a person in my life quite like nancy. >> reporter: local spa owner rita bolino says nancy wasn't one for manicures, but she knew her well. >> her whole life was about travel and fun. that was her life mantra, i think. >> reporter: she sold herself as

aspen's ambassador to the world. acting as a tour guide for a french tv show. chauffeuring the dalai lama when he came to town. hanging out with the likes of goldie hawn and hunter s. thompson. hollywood's leading men like michael douglas and jack nicholson were rumored to be part of nancy's romantic life. >> i went up there one day, i knocked on the door and jack nicholson answers the door. i was like, hi, jack. nancy here? >> reporter: nancy lived an played like a classic trust fund kid. but with a catch that will soon become significant. in truth, the heiress lived on a budget. the money was controlled tightly? >> the interesting thing about when she's referred to as a socialite, someone who is very wealthy, it's much more complicated than that. the money was controlled by a law firm in aspen and it was basically dolled out as an allowance.

>> reporter: that allowance reportedly $7,000 a month. to pay for some of her jet-setting holidays, nancy decided to rent out her spacious, multi-million dollar mountain home. >> she needed the money. >> reporter: which is how she met trey styler and his wife nancy. they were moving to down from denver and happy to rent nancy's house while she wintered in australia. it was classic nancy pfister. unpredictable, spur of the moment. yet there were those that worried one day unanimous sip's carefree lifestyle would get her into trouble. all those men and her busy love life. could one of them be a killer? >> sometimes these weren't people she knew very well. >> reporter: in the days after her death, there was plenty of room for that kind of speculation, because police weren't talking. >> what matters is that my mom is gone. and we need to figure out who did it. >> reporter: investigators left with a wrapped body in a closet and so many questions.

who was this careful killer? >> we were investigating the case and trying to figure out who nancy pfister was, trying to figure out who could have harbored a motive and who could have done this to her. >> reporter: it was a stunning moment sure to bring bad press for this quaint old town of fewer than 7,000 people. how ready was the town for this kind of explosion? >> this is a story of a very wealthy town that doesn't want its dirt made public. >> reporter: when we come back, the hunt for nancy pfister's killer. an investigation with all the hair pin turns. and more danger than any of aspen's famous black diamond ski trails. who locked that closet door and threw away the key? >> the key is sort of a big deal. >> the key is sort of a big deal. >> reporter: stay with us. ♪ [ male announcer ] we could talk about its refined, >> the key is sort of a big deal. >> reporter: stay with us. class-leading, luxurious interior. or its more than 70 available safety and security features, and optional best-in-class 30 highway mpg.

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we continue with relationships from hell. once again, deborah roberts.

>> pfister's body was found badly beaten. >> reporter: the murderle of one of aspen, colorado, most prominent residents, nancy pfister, goes national. >> now we move to the latest on that murder mystery in aspen, colorado. the first murder there in 12 years. >> reporter: and leaves the celebrity hot spot on edge. a battered body representing an enigma wrapped up in a mystery. >> it was almost kind of like aspen dying. it was apart of aspen. how could someone do that? >> reporter: deputy d.a. andrea bryan is among the first on the scene. >> you walked into the closet, it took a little while to realize that you were looking at a body. r >> reporter: police documenting fingerprints, a bloody smear on the bed. but the house is selfish with its secrets. the body left in the closet, the door locked, the key missing. and so is the murder weapon. >> there was not a lot of

forensic evidence on the crime scene itself. >> reporter: an autopsy determined nancy pfister died of blunt force trauma, repeated blows to the head. the weapon, possibly something like a hammer. nancy had been sleeping, wearing eye shades and ear plugs. shell never s she never saw it coming. the medical examiner estimated she had been dead a day or two before she was discovered. >> the crime itself was very violent, but the crime scene did not contain very much blood at all. >> reporter: in fact, the only obvious trace, that smear, see it, right there on the headboard. then, police lift the mattress and find a drewso sogruesome su the other side. the kill earl trying to hide their handiwork. >> the mattress was flipped to hide the blood. >> reporter: these crime scene photos revealing the killer wrapped the body in towels, bed

sheets and garbage bags. then dragged nancy's body into the closet, perhaps hoping to dispose of it later. >> reporter: ea >> early on, we believed whoever committed this crime had intended for her body not to be found for quite some time and make it look as if she had traveled somewhere, left the country, left the area. >> reporter: investigators also conclude they're looking for more than once suspect. >> crime committed in such a violent manner would have taken some planning and multiple people. >> reporter: more than one murderer? how can that be when many have trouble imagining even one person who would want to kill aspen's party princess? then, thoughts turn to that nice couple renting nancy's house. remember them? dr. trey styler and his wife, also named nancy? what's their story? what kind of a life had the stylers led before this? >> he was a very prominent anesthesiologist in denver. >> reporter: but he's burning

through money. >> burning through money. and there's this long arc of starting to go downhill. his wife has medical problems. he has medical problems. >> reporter: down on their luck, strapped for cash, the style earls hoped to change their fortunes in aspen. were you coming to aspen in a way as sort of broken people? who needed a new start? >> broken people who needed a new start. but with a lot of energy. >> reporter: for nancy pfister, the needy heiress, the house with its desirable slopestyle location is an asset. she's happy to rent it to the stylers for $4,000 a month in cash. >> we go up to the house and she's in a bathrobe with pearls on and a glass of pink champagne and i said, this is too good to be true. and she looked at me, and he said, it's karma, darling. >> reporter: after nancy's death, attention also swirls around her friend and assistant, kathy carpenter.

what about the relationship between kathy and nancy? >> unanimous snancy was known f people around. and it was part of this aspen princess syndrome, let's call it. it crept into the relationship between kathy and nancy. >> reporter: was there tension? >> there was tension. and there was resentment. you're taking me to parties and introducing my to fancy people, but you want me to wait on you, you know, you want me to be your servant. >> kathy, hi, it's nance. >> reporter: just listen to the last voicemail nancy pfister left kathy, the day before police believed she sdied. >> i couldn't get any toothpaste here, so, i'm just having colgate, it's horrible. i would like to have some would floral ride. that would be great. thank you so much. >> reporter: kathy carpenter developed a bit of a friendship with the style earl rs and mayb bonded a little bit over some mutual resentment toward nancy pfister. >> reporter: were you and kathy getting closer as nancy was in

australia? >> absolutely. she would come over three times a week. i was doing spa treatments on her. yeah. i got very close with kathy. >> reporter: but the stylers' relationship with nancy pfister turned sour from day one. and continued long distance while she was in australia. with her complaining that they weren't paying rent or taking care of the place. >> she would send e-mails and say horrible things. >> reporter: in one e-mail pfister says, quote, i have never known anybody worse than you. very bad karma. why would she say that? >> because we weren't paying her the money that she wanted. she wanted more and more money. >> reporter: finally, pfister sends word that she's jetting home from her winter getaway in sydney and wants the stylers out. >> kathy comes over and says, nancy is coming home in four days and she wants you out of here. >> reporter: how did you react? >> it was like, how are we going to do this in four days? >> reporter: the couple now

jammed into a small motel room with their possessions and a festering grudge against nancy pfister. did you ever say anything? i'd love to have this woman out of my hair, i'd love to kill this woman. >> i said, this is a woman that i dislike, i hate this woman. i said, i could wring her neck. >> reporter: did you ever say, i could kill this woman? >> i did. >> reporter: so, you were that angry? >> yeah, i said that. and i prefaced it by saying, i've never said this before. but i could kill this woman. >> reporter: and soon, someone did. on february 26th, four days after nancy had returned home, kany carpenter discovers her battered body and calls 911. later, there's one more thick she'd tell police. as she pulled up to the house, she'd seen someone leaving, driving right past her. had she caught a glimpse of the killer leaving the scene of the crime? and was it someone she could identify? stay with us. ♪

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once again, deborah roberts. >> reporter: the investigation into the murder of nancy pfister in aspen, colorado, goes into overdrive. dr. trey styler, wearing his wife's bathrobe and not much else, barely awake as police arrest the couple at a lowell budget motel. >> 5:30 in the morning, i hear this banging on the door. and i looked out the door and all i saw was cops. >> reporter: what's going through your head? >> i looked at my husband, who was sleeping and i said, trey, am i dreaming? one of the guys says, you're not dreaming, there's a dead body. >> reporter: kathy carpenter, who found the body, was already pointing a finger at the stylers even before she got off the phone with 911.

>> my friend came back from australia, nancy pfister, and she had some people living there and she really -- them off and she made threats to them about owing money and -- i don't know. >> reporter: everything is pointing to the stylers at this point. >> basically, the focus is on the stylers. >> reporter: the stylers had just been evicted by nancy pfister and she demanded more money from them just before she died. now, authorities are working overtime in the interview room. >> if somebody snaps, we just need to know. >> i don't know what happened to her. when it happened. >> reporter: as the interrogations drag on and on for hours and then days, the style earl rs don't try to hide answerer. >> we were mad at nancy. she had screwed us up big time. >> do you feel bad about that

she's dead. >> a little. >> reporter: you've got two groups of people here who are very desperate for money. nancy and the stylers. >> money is the thread running through all of this. >> reporter: you've got two different lives that have been losing their grip on their status. >> yes. nancy pfister is not an a-list party girl as much as she once was in aspen. and the stylers have virtually lost everything by 2013, so, it's a volatile mixture. it's just building and building and building. >> reporter: did that volatile situation lead to murder? >> i didn't do it. my husband didn't do it. and instart p start putting tog my small little courtroom mind that kathy did this. >> reporter: so, you're convinced that kathy killed her friend? >> absolutely convinced. >> reporter: detectives, too, are convinced that kathy carpenter, the long suffering personal assistant was somehow

involved. they bring her in for questioning. >> i need to know exactly what you saw. >> i keep having flashbacks of that. >> reporter: investigators say she soon slips off, offering a little too much information. details about the appearance of the body only a killer or an accomplice would know. >> i just saw the head because it was right when i opened it. i went to walk in and i saw the he head, i don't remember the position, but i knew the blond hair and the length of her hair and then there was, like -- >> reporter: how could she have seen blood if the body was bundled up? >> how much blood did you see? >> on the head. i just remember on the head. >> reporter: police confront kathy was crime scene photos showing the body completely covered. >> reporter: we have you say egg, i saw hair. impossible. >> no hair. >> impossible to see the hair.

>> impossible to see the hair. >> you want to look again? >> no. >> no, look again. >> there's known. >> reporter: it seems like an ah-ha moment that can only mean one thing. >> that she had to have seen that body before it was placed in the closet and covered. >> sorry about that. >> reporter: investigators zero in on other perceived inconsistencies in kathy's statements. first, she told them as she arrived to check on nancy, she'd seen the stylers leave the driveway. but then she said she hadn't. >> it shouldn't be that hard to remember if you just saw two people at the crime scene or you didn't. >> reporter: and more suspicious behavior. kathy eventually admits taking valuables from pfister's safe deposit box after her death. jewelry and thousands in cash. >> where did that $6,000 go? >> i have it. >> okay, where? >> i have it stashed at home. >> reporter: and, oh, yes, there was a ring, too. >> it belonged to her mother and

her sisters were all fighting for it. nancy got it and nancy told me if anything should happen, make sure this goes to julianna. >> reporter: she stole from nancy when she was dead. >> but what really got them was her description of what she saw in the closet. that was probably the turning point. their conclusion was, she saw the body after the murder and before it went into the bag. >> reporter: so maybe that she didn't necessarily kill her or she was aware of it? even as police pushed kathy, they lean on their other suspects, the doctor and his wife. they take note of trey style earl's apparent physical decline. he walks into the first interview, but then begins using a wheelchair. >> i'm [ bleep ] disabled. i can't do [ bleep ]. >> reporter: he repeatedly tries to impress upon them he's too weak to hurt a fly. >> i'm a sick [ bleep ]. i couldn't beat up a kid.

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suspects. just days after the killing, investigation tomorrows are focusing on dr. trey and nancy styler. and her friend and assistant, kathy carpenr. now, also a suspect. outside the interrogation room, the investigation breaks wide open. mostly because of good luck. an important find just steps from the stylers motel room. a key piece of evidence. literally. that missing key, possibly taken by the killer. >> the key was to the closet in which nancy pfister's body was found. >> reporter: an easy find, maybe too easy, police suspect. was someone trying to frame the stylers? >> the key really just seemed to appear out of nowhere. >> was it possible that kathy carpenter even planted that key? >> reporter: and a few yards from the stylers rented room,

another precious find by a zealous garbage man rooting through a trash can. >> by really sheer luck in the end, someone doing their job in the city of basalt and checking the city trash cans to make sure that someone wasn't dumping their personal trash. >> and what's in the bag? prescription bottles from nancy pfister, the pearls that she had gotten from her mother. >> reporter: and that's not all. there's also some of the styler's belongings. oh, and another little item. heavy, steel, stained with flakes of blood, a hammer. >> in a bag, no more than half a block or so from where thesteel stylers were staying. >> that hammer was sent off to the lab where they were able to determine that that was nancy pfister's blood on the hammer. >> reporter: detect dives confront kathy carpenter and trey styler with that evidence. >> we found the murder weapon.

it was a hammer. >> reporter: but it'll take more than that bloody hammer to nail down an airtight case. police begin the mind games, trying to get one suspect to turn on the other. >> absolutely need to come clean now. here is, like, an opportunity. this is a life-changing opportunity. >> what i want to do is give you a real opportunity to help yourself, okay? let me finish, okay? this is an opportunity for you to help yourself. this is an opportunity that only comes along once. >> now is the time to be first to the plate before anyone else because, once two other people -- and you know who i'm talking about -- know that you're here, it's going to come down to, "holy crap, we have to save ourselves." >> i know you're responsible for this death. we are going to prosecute you for it. i'm just trying to make it an easy road instead of a bumpy road. >> we have the stylers, and they're saying some stuff.

do you think that they're saying, "gee, yes, john. i did all this." or do you think they might be saying something else? >> reporter: nancy styler isn't talking, because she has an attorney who is keeping her quiet. >> i said, they have no evidence. the only thing they're holding you for is that, they're thinking that this couldn't have been done alone. and that either you and kathy, or kathy and trey, have done this, or they thought all three of us conspired. >> reporter: did you all three conspire? >> heck no. >> reporter: but eventually prosecutors charge all three suspects. and you were charged with? >> first degree murder. >> reporter: what did you make of that when you heard those charges? >> surreal. like, a nightmare. i've never even had a parking ticket. they're making a big mistake. i knew i had nothing to do with it. and i knew in my heart that my husband had nothing to do with it.

>> reporter: but the game of poker fails. the stylers and kathy carpenter refuse to fold, insisting they are innocent. >> so, are you telling me that -- >> i will tell you right now, i have never seen the woman since she came back from australia. >> that's a lie. >> i'll tell you eye to eye. 100%, eye to eye, i'm letting you know, that is, hands down, a lie. >> reporter: not even a suspicious polygraph test can shake trey orca think's story. >> i'm telling you right now, you failed the polygraf. i told you i felt in here that you were absolutely not being honest. >> on the polygraph, you did not do well. you failed the polygraph. with what means you know what happened. >> i don't. >> you do. and here's the deal. we will find what's going on.

we will find what we need. >> reporter: is it possible that kathy maybe knew more about this than she wanted to let on? >> no. no. kathy is 100% innocent. >> reporter: greg greer is kathy carpenter's attorney. >> she didn't know anything. she wanted to help find the person who did this to her friend. >> reporter: yes, police have recovered the wandering closet key. and they now have the murder weapon in hand, that bloody hammer. but the case is far from a slam dunk. prosecutors admit, it's largely circumstantial and much weaker than they'd like. >> in this day and age, juries expect to see that smoking gun, that dna evidence. and this was a very clean crime scene. >> reporter: but then, a surprise message from a jailhouse cell changes everything. the doctor says he can identify the killer.

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♪ (dad) there's nothing i can't reach in my subaru. (vo) introducing the all-new subaru outback. love. it's what makes a subaru,a subaru. once again, deborah roberts. >> reporter: you could say the murder of aspen golden girl nancy pfister is the story of three rooms. the bedroom where her battered body was dumped in a closet like so much laundry. the interrogation room, where police spent so many hours with three suspects.

and, a courtroom, where prosecutors now expect to make their case. but it never gets that far. from the jail, where murder suspects kathy carpenter, nancy styler and dr. trey styler are locked up, awaiting their day in court, an urgent message. the doctor has something to get off his chest. something that will shock everyone, including police and his wife. >> i need to feel very comfortable that you are telling me the truth today. all right? >> i intend to tell you the truth. >> the complete truth. >> ah, yes. >> reporter: the former renowned anesthesiologist who proclaimed innocence from the beginning, refusing to admit anything, now, matter of factually, telling a horrifying story. >> i went and got the hammer, came back and struck her in the held with the hammer. >> reporter: and there it is. the murder of nancy pfister, solved. >> now, to a break in the mysterious murder case in aspen.

>> reporter: the good doctor, the medical man who once took an oath to do no harm, now confessing he'd done just that. >> at that point, i then stepped back and basically had the thought, oh [ bleep ], what the hell have i done and what do i do now? >> reporter: styler says he put her body into trash bags, wraps it in bedding and draks sdrags the closet. >> i had some vague thoughts that i would return at some other time to get the body and put it some place else besides the house, but i never did. >> reporter: investigator lisa miller and another officer take styler's confession. she presses him. was it premeditated? >> you're telling me you're standing over her sleeping body and you made this snap decision to bash her head in? >> that's the best way i know to

describe it. >> reporter: at times, miller seems to lose patience with the doctor. >> look at me. we're talking about the end of someone's life here. we can at least look at other in the eye when we're having this conversation. >> reporter: on the other hand, styler is now willing, even eager, to talk about killing nancy pfister. >> i hit her with the hammer. >> where? >> the top of her head, which would have -- if you don't mind -- >> i do mind. >> in that case, i'll point to it on me. right there. but on this side. >> reporter: your husband is confessing to skiller nancy pfister. >> correct. >> reporter: did you believe he was capable of it? >> now i do. because i made him explain. >> reporter: what did he say? >> he said, i looked at her there peacefully while our life was being torn apart and he said, i lost it. i totally lost it. and i said, trey, you know, i can't even imagine this. and i said, you actually hit her

with a hammer? and he said yes. >> reporter: and what are you thinking and feeling at this moment? >> disbelief. and that i had slept next to this man for six nights after he did the murder and i didn't notice it. >> reporter: didn't notice she was sleeping with a killer. but nancy styler and kathy carpenter are also charged in the mudder. so, now officers taking the doctor's confession come to a critical question. what role did those two women play in the killing? styler says none. >> neither one of them were involved in any way. they, in fact, had nothing to do with it. they were completely unaware of it to the best of my knowledge. >> he was steadfast in saying that kathy carpenter was not present for the murder. did not help in the murder. and same for his wife. >> reporter: but wait a minute. isn't the doctor practically an

he's sitting on the bad floor, struggling to get up. complaining he was physically incapable of committing a brutal crime. >> my condition is such that i don't think i could beat up a kid. >> reporter: how is it possible that this man, to frail, he now relies on a wheelchair, to go up and down stairs, move a body and flip a queen sized mattress, all on his own? >> we're thinking, you know, how could he physically do that? >> reporter: miller says, pay close attention to this moment when they take a break during styler's confession. >> we will stretch our legs, do you need to stand and streshl yours, are you fine? >> i can't stand. >> reporter: we took a break and i asked mr. styler if he wanted to stand up and he informed me he couldn't stand up. he didn't have the strength to. and you want me to believe you had no help in that room? you were physically capable of doing everything that you told me that you have done to this point? >> i'm reminded of those stories of women lifting cars off of

their children. >> mr. styler, i will do a lot of things in an interview room, but i'm not going to compare a mother saving a child with you murdering nancy fister. >> reporter: trey styler is diminished physically. is it possible he could have committed this brutal crime and dragged this woman into a closet when he can barely stand? >> a major question running through the whole case was trey styler, physically capable of doing this crime by himself. if he was, then everything else was an act. >> reporter: after so many months in jail and so many denials, why does the doctor decide to give himself up? police now wonder, was styler lying before as the degree of his disability to protect himself or is he lying now to protect his wife? some people believe that he had to have had help. >> right. >> reporter: some people believe that help had to be you? >> right.

>> reporter: did you help him? >> not at all. >> reporter: were you apart of this? >> nothing like that. and if he had come to me and said, i've just done something horrible, i would have called the police right away and -- >> reporter: but nancy, you were just as angry with nancy as he was. >> yeah. >> reporter: you had even said, i'd like to kill that woman. >> yeah. >> reporter: why wouldn't you do it together? >> that's just -- that's not my nature. it's not my nature to do something like that. i can't imagine killing a person. >> reporter: but what troubles people, nancy, is that there are things in here that just don't add up. you know, your husband is physic little diminished, he pleads guilty, not only to killing this woman, but moving the dead weight of her body into a closet. people say it just doesn't add up. >> and all i can say is, i sleep at night. >> reporter: the doctor has confessed. two other suspects, his wife, nancy, and kathy carpenter, aren't out of the woods yet. don't go anywhere.

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we continue with relationships from hell. once again, deborah roberts. >> reporter: the county courthouse in aspen, colorado, has an unusual and unsettling feature. unlike most other statues of justice, this one wears no blindfold. in aspen, justice looks over the town. and the town is looking for justice. questioning dr. trey styler's surprise confession that he alone brutally murdered nancy pfister. >> the case is resolved and i don't think we really know what happened. we have a situation where the police and the legal authorities accepted a confession from

somebody and there are lots of holes inside this confession. >> it's very accurate to say that it's going to be an open question in a lot of people's minds as to whether or not he did take sole responsibility because he didn't have much to lose and because he wanted to protect his wife and kathy. >> reporter: some people think that you and kathy somehow got away with murder and that your husband is paying the price. >> yeah. it's so wrong. it's so wrong. >> reporter: if styler's plan was to take the wrap for his wife, it worked. after three months in jail, nancy styler and kathy carpenter are free women tonight. >> we're not going to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that nancy styler orca think k carpenter were responsible for that murder. >> the jail part was a day at the beach compared to learning that the person that you've been with for 32 years committed such an awful crime. i mean, i would take time in

jail over that any time. >> reporter: as for kathy carpenter, in aspen, she still wearing a stain of suspicion. >> her whole image had been destroyed. her concern was, how will i ever walk in this town again? she's still very broken over it. >> reporter: kathy faces an uncertain feature. with new evidence, prosecutors say they could, in theory, refile charges at any time. dr. styler got 20 years for his crime and at his age, quite likely a life sentence. as for nancy, her case was dismissed with prejudice. meaning that in new evidence were to emerge tomorrow, nancy styler can never be tried in pfister's murder. recently, i caught up with nancy styler as she headed back behind bars. this time, as a visitor to see her husband. do you ask yourself, how did i get here?

how did i go from my upper middle class life in denver to my husband being behind bars for murder? >> i ask myself that every day. >> reporter: there are people that feel like he's in here because he sacrificed his life for you. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: that maybe the two of you were in this together and that he's taking the fall. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: what do you say? >> i had absolutely nothing to do with this. >> was justice served? i think we got the right result, given the circumstances in the case. and in that sense, yes, we have someone who has confessed to a very brutal crime who is behind bars for a very long time. >> reporter: and back in the mountains of aspen, another winter is on the way. getting ready for the rush, eager to get back to the serious business of having fun. do you think we'll ever know what really happened in this case? >> no. i think that the aspen legal system, for their own reasons, decided to take the best deal they thought they could get.

and the contradictions and the complexities and all the other things went out the window. >> reporter: tonight, only the natives know what's missing, from the house, high up on buttermilk road. aspen's leading lady and world traveler, some of her last images seen on french tv. nancy pfister, the vibrant heiress and mom, gone. >> i think that aspen is not the important part of this. i think that my mom is the important part and i think that she will be remembered exactly as she lived, which is just as a very loving, kind, breaking news x 18 square

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