Jun 7, 2005 9:03 am US/Central
Prosecutors: Murder Suspect Drugged Husband's Milkshake
Hong Kong (AP) ―
An American woman accused of killing her executive husband asked maintenance workers at her Hong Kong luxury apartment complex to help her haul away a bulky roll of carpet that contained the man's body, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
The allegation was among several new details -- including claims of wife abuse -- presented during the second day of Nancy Ann Kissel's murder trial -- a case that has riveted Hong Kong, making the front pages of the city's major newspapers.
Prosecutor Peter Chapman alleged that 41-year-old Kissel killed her husband, Robert Kissel, on Nov. 2, 2003 -- the same day the Merrill Lynch investment banker planned to discuss the couple's divorce with his wife.
Nancy Kissel, a native of Michigan, is accused of drugging her husband with a strawberry milkshake laced with sedatives before fatally beating him on the head with a metal ornament. The woman, who has pleaded innocent, faces a mandatory life prison term if convicted.
A forensic pathologist confirmed later that Kissel had a fractured skull and died from "multiple heavy impacts with a blunt hard object."
The prosecution alleged that the wife had a lover in the United States and that her husband, a New York native, had hired a private detective to investigate the affair.
Chapman said that the day after the alleged killing, Nancy Kissel went on a shopping spree, buying sheets, cushions and a carpet, and told her Filipino maids not to clean the master bedroom.
She also went to a family doctor claiming that she had been assaulted by her husband, saying he had been drinking at home and "kicked and grabbed her," Chapman said. The doctor noted in a medical report that Nancy Kissel had bruising on her shoulder, puncture wounds on her right hand and was visibly "in pain and tearful."
Three days after the alleged killing, the wife asked maintenance workers at her apartment complex to help her haul a thick roll of carpet to a storage area, Chapman said. When the maid noted that the roll seemed unusually bulky, the wife said it contained pillows and blankets, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said Kissel, accompanied by her father Ira Keeshin, went to the police on Nov. 6 and reported that her husband went missing after he pushed her against a wall and beat her.
One of Robert Kissel's colleagues, David Noh, also reported to police on the same day that the man was missing.
Late that night, police discovered Robert Kissel's body in a storeroom rented by the couple near their apartment. Chapman said the body, wrapped with towels and placed inside a sleeping bag, was "showing obvious sign of decomposition."
Police later went to the couple's apartment and found blood stains in the bedroom and blood-soaked carpets, towels and cushions packed and sealed in cardboard boxes, Chapman said.
He alleged that Nancy Kissel was researching the use of sleeping pills and a sedative drug on the Internet months before the alleged murder took place.
Chapman said Robert Kissel became aware of his wife's activity after installing surveillance software on two computers at home and expressed fears to a friend that his wife might kill him: "If anything happens to me, make sure my kids are taken care of."
Robert Kissel's younger sister, Jane Clayton, was the first witness to give evidence in court Wednesday and broke down in tears several times as she recalled her close relationship with her brother.
She spoke of the Kissels' deteriorating marriage and her brother's plan for a divorce. The hearing will continue Thursday.
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