Titus and The Burning Body


Just an update. Titus and Ryan have been denied bail while they await the trial that determines exactly how their assistant’s body ended up drugged, bound, shocked with a stun gun, strangled and burned. Some might say, “damn, was all of that necessary to kill someone?” To that I say, “Hey, if you are going to do something, do it right.”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/04/18/bodybuilding_couple_denied_bail_pending_trial_in_vegas_slaying/

[quote]Titus and Ryan have pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping and third-degree arson. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty.

An alleged accomplice, Anthony Gross, 23, is accused of helping Titus and Ryan dispose of James’ body in Ryan’s car off a highway outside Las Vegas. Gross pleaded not guilty to accessory to murder and third-degree arson. He remains on house arrest after posting $13,000 bail.
[/quote]

My question is, exactly how bad of an assistant was she and will bodybuilding survive in the midst of this much drama? And will Titus find out what happened to the other 50lbs of muscle he has apparently lost? Tune in next time…same Bat time…same Bat channel.

Did it just dawn on him he is in trouble? Cause I’ll be damned if thats not one hell of a shocked look on his face.

When was the last time he competed? I’m just wondering, cuz you cant even tell he lifts in that photo. Yes, he’s clothed and all, but as was siad above, he’s missing 50# of muscle

While you could certainly attribute the muscle loss to a lack of access to anabolics, I’ll bet part of it is he just isn’t even eating these days. I know I wouldn’t be able to eat anything if I was on trial for murder.

Either way, I know I’ll be following this one closely.

[quote]Bodyguard wrote:
Did it just dawn on him he is in trouble? Cause I’ll be damned if thats not one hell of a shocked look on his face.[/quote]

That’s the look of, “damn it, I should have used SOMEONE ELSE’S car!”.

Titus and Ryan had a reputation for partying a lot, and a “close friend” cited as a source in one report I read said that they had been using “ice”, a.k.a. crystal meth. I thought this when I first saw their mug shots before I read that particular report, having been a tweeker for about a year or so in my early 20s. Get strung out on meth for a few days and see what kind of crazy shit you might think, or worse, do.

How can their lawyers not get an insanity defense believed? I mean, the crime is done with such absurdity, only someone out of their mind would come up with it, follow it and expect to get away with it.

I don’t give advice on how to dispose of bodies, but the easiest way to do it would have been to just bury “her” using an ordinary shovel out in the middle of the desert, transporting to the site with a rented pick up truck that you’d wash afterwards using Isopropanol and then following up with a report to missing persons. Simple beats complicated all the time.

[quote]kroby wrote:
How can their lawyers not get an insanity defense believed? I mean, the crime is done with such absurdity, only someone out of their mind would come up with it, follow it and expect to get away with it.

I don’t give advice on how to dispose of bodies, but the easiest way to do it would have been to just bury “her” using an ordinary shovel out in the middle of the desert, transporting to the site with a rented pick up truck that you’d wash afterwards using Isopropanol and then following up with a report to missing persons. Simple beats complicated all the time.[/quote]

From:
http://vegasblog.latimes.com/vegas/2006/03/titus_now_sound.html

“[quote]Craig Titus has not demonstrated himself to be the most clever of accused murderers. After all, he allegedly hid his victim’s body in his own car. Then there was all that talking to police in which he allegedly offered conflicting accounts of how his former assistant, Melissa James, 28, died…More evidence of Titus intellectual limitations were on display yesterday in court, if the witness testimony is to be believed. According to today’s Review-Journal, James’ mother in testimony revealed that Titus tried to convince her that her daughter had faked her death and was not the corpse found in Titus’ burned car. In fact, Titus even magnanimously informed Mrs. James that he was not angry at the 28 year old for burning his Jaguar. Yet, when Mrs. James told Titus that DNA tests would soon clear that issue up she testified that Titus seemed caught off guard as if he had not anticipated that possibility.
Leaving aside Titus’ intellect, also in court yesterday Titus demonstrated an eerie lack of originality with his imitation of a far more famous athlete charged in murder. Entering his plea, OJ Simpson style, Titus told the judge in a loud voice that he was: “100 percent not guilty.”
[/quote]”

Oops.

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
When was the last time he competed? I’m just wondering, cuz you cant even tell he lifts in that photo. Yes, he’s clothed and all, but as was siad above, he’s missing 50# of muscle[/quote]

50lbs sounds right. If his off season weight was somewhere around 265, a 50# loss would put him right around my weight and I am an inch shorter. My build currently looks similar to that photo (if I am wearing the same loose clothing), except my shoulders look a little broader. I probably carry a little more fat though. He looks around 210 to 215.
I agree with the meth comment, they both look strung out in their booking photos. I have seen several people absolutely ruin good lives with that stuff, and it happens unbelievably fast.

[quote]kroby wrote:
How can their lawyers not get an insanity defense believed? I mean, the crime is done with such absurdity, only someone out of their mind would come up with it, follow it and expect to get away with it.[/quote]

The insanity defense does not have a stupidity clause in it, hence Mr. Titus is outta luck.

This isnt going to help the “dumb muscle head” stigma much…!

[quote]Kuz wrote:
kroby wrote:
How can their lawyers not get an insanity defense believed? I mean, the crime is done with such absurdity, only someone out of their mind would come up with it, follow it and expect to get away with it.

The insanity defense does not have a stupidity clause in it, hence Mr. Titus is outta luck.[/quote]

I’m sure they will go for the “Steroid’s made me do it” defense.

Supposing he’s found guilty - does the state he’s in have the death penalty?
Could you imagine his last meal?
20 egg whites, 3 chicken breast, quart of Met-Rx strawberry protein shake etc etc.

Being serious though does bodybuilding really need much more bad press. Is the story being spoken about/reported more than a murder case with your normal run of the mill non-bodybuilder killer type?

[quote]Kuz wrote:
The insanity defense does not have a stupidity clause in it, hence Mr. Titus is outta luck.[/quote]

LMAOOL. Stupidity defense. “My client is so stoopid, he didn’t know killing someone was illegal.”

As to the stigma of dumb BBers or muscleheads in general… if anyones preconception of me is as such… let it be. My analytical prediliction will leave them slack-jawed and rather glassy eyed. I love the stereotypers. They end up looking ignorant.

BEFORE

Not to turn this into a drug thread but that methamphetamine is some nasty shit.

These two have got to be some of the stupidest people to ever put on the Pro-Tan.

My first guess would be that maybe Titus tried a bit of Crystal Methamphetamine, which is becoming the problem on the mainland that it was in Hawaii a couple of years ago.

These kinds of unexpected newsstories- where seemingly good people do bizarre evil things-- started to show up in Hawaii a few years ago as the drug was gaining popularity in Hawaii. Then the drug took hold of many of our beautiful people and these kinds of things became more commonplace…and then from the ill effects, destruction of families, etc… the people here started to become aware of the problem. Now our islands have seen the worst of it and so many people are very aware.

I put this out there as the mainland is a couple of years behind Hawaii with this drug and we’ve learned from our experiences with it and I hope to increase awareness there on the Mainland…hopefully people will look at what our islands have gone through and how our community has been educated and is seemingly starting to recover, and maybe the states can learn from it and not let it go that far.

Too bad such blessed people became involved with something like this crime and have to lose everything. Too bad for the victim to have had to lose her life.

Actually, I heard that he was going to tell the judge that this whole incident was just a huge misunderstanding.

Apparently the person they found in the trunk of the car was not burned to death, but rather was cutting up via DNP.

His lawyer advised against this, citing that the judge may not know what “striated glutes” means.

Crystal meth is a helluva drug.