On the morning of December 14, 2005, Las Vegas police and firefighters were called to the desert outside of Las Vegas. A 2003 Jaguar was in flames, and inside the trunk of the vehicle was the badly burned body of a young Las Vegas woman named Melissa James. The 28-year-old had suffered a horrifying fate -- she was restrained, her face was covered with duct-tape, and she was set on fire.
The disturbing discovery prompted a massive police investigation, and within hours, detectives were standing at the front doorstep of two of the nation's most recognized fitness celebrities - Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan.
Titus is a past place finisher in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, and his antics appropriately earned him the nickname the "Bad Boy of Bodybuilding." Meanwhile, his elegant wife, Ryan, is widely recognized as one of the premier womens' fitness competitors in the country.
But within the week, the two would be known as something else: murder suspects in the death of James, who was their live-in personal assistant.
* Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter and true crime author Glenn Puit has the inside scoop on the evidence gathered by Las Vegas police against the couple.
* Fire in the Desert serves as an evidentiary handbook for those following the case, providing a detailed legal analysis by Las Vegas courtroom experts.
* The book offers an independent examination of the fitness couple's sordid lifestyle, their actions before and after their personal assistant was found dead.
About the Author
Glenn Puit covers the criminal justice system in Las Vegas for the Review-Journal. He was the first reporter in the nation to document the identity of John Doe #2 in the Oklahoma City bombing while working as a reporter in Florence, South Carolina.
He is also the author of Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas' Most Notorious Female Killer.
You can get a copy of the book by clicking here: Fire in the Desert
