Editorial by Juan Carlos Lopez

The last year issue of the year and last editorial of 2005, of course now that you read it is already 2006. I have developed new software that will make contest coverage much faster and will leave others in the dust.
Just when this was about to be a generic editorial and would have a recap of some 2005 events the Craig Titus/Kelly Ryan case popped up. As far as 2005 there are some interesting events but the mentioned case has taken our industry by storm. I know Kelly Ryan and she is from my experience a wonderful person and also very lively and fun to talk to. My last contact with her was October 19, 2005 when I was about to head out to the Sacrament Pro show a few days later...

Murder?

It all began with a man who was driving a Vegas highway/road on Dec. 14th early around 5am. The man noticed a fire and reported it to local authorities. Authorities found out it was a Jaguar burning and in the trunk of the car was the body of a person. The whole account can be seen on the link below, rather than repeat the whole story you can check it out here.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Dec-23-Fri-
2005/news/5034653.html

Assuming you have read the link above or have knowledge from the case then you probably have made up your own opinion of the case. This case is an isolated case and should have no impact on the bodybuilding industry which means no shows will be cancelled by the IFBB/NPC or FAP. WPI will probably suffer even when the site is still up and things might seem to be normal.

Hundreds of channels and news stations have made this top news on their agendas as the case features sensationalist tones. Bodybuilders, fit people killing someone is nothing you see everyday. For the common person reading or watching the case the good bodies can attract visually and will probably want to know more about the actors in this case. Most of the photos/video, text available to us is almost the same. Some photos taken by reporters, interviews, and accounts are all similar and have just increased the interest in the case. Even two or three web sites have attempted to cash in on the victim's death.
One website attempted to sell the site on ebay for $200 as opening bid and pulled it from ebay as someone else bought it. The total amount was not revealed but it shouldn't be much given that there is no product to sell only advertising space. If the website owner's family member died or was murdered guaranteed he/she would not be selling the domain name and trying to cash in on it. Please people have some shame and respect...

Also boards have been bombarded by opinions and senseless posts and arguments. Everyone is posting their opinion even when never ever meeting Kelly, Craig or the victim Melissa James. Worst of it all everyone is making assumptions based on news reports and information the media has provided. Given what we know it all points to an unorganized crime, a crime of passion. I spoke to an expert forensic psychiatrist who had convicted some serial killers in the 80's regarding the case and his opinion was the same. It is possible that Melissa James who was planning to leave Mr. Titus made him commit the crime as he had a secret affair with her. But this is only a theory that would be reinforced if we had further information from the forensics department. There are signs of strangulation in her body but where was she strangled? Perhaps in the hotel but we don't know for sure given that even if Titus fibers' were found he already admitted being at the hotel. Blood wasn't probably even spilled and traces of other human fluids would be normal in an affair. This is like a Columbo case where the possible person who committed the crime is known but proof needs to be shown in order to convict them. And the police has not released that type of information to the media and probably won't come out until the trial.

A few other actors were involved in this case. Anthony Gross who allegedly helped Titus set the car on fire is now eligible for bail and will remain under house arrest. Matt Cline a friend of Titus had spoken to authorities and knew of the couple's whereabouts assured he didn't aid the FBI in the Titus capture. Mandy Polk fitness competitor who has been on earlier issue's pictorials spoke to Kelly and Craig after the incident. According to Kelly Melissa was dead from an overdose. Mandy made the mistake in posting information on the musclemayhem.com boards after speaking with authorities and then later deleting the posts. But she finally made the right decision in talking to authorities regarding the case otherwise she could be charged with abetting and aiding.

The Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case in Ontario had Paul as the possible murderer but no proof was found except for his DNA linked to an isolated rape case. What made Bernardo's conviction a reality was the shady deal the authorities made with Karla where she confessed their crimes. After that the names of victims were officially linked to Bernardo. Check the link below for the interesting Bernardo-Homolka case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bernardo

We don't know the whole story regarding the Ryan/Titus case, the first person who needs to know the outcome/evidence of the case is Maura James, Melissa's mother. All we can do is wait or see if the police will actually reveal all their forensic findings to the press.

JC
jc@hardfitness.com

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