December 4, 2014

Woman Convicted of Murdering Her Husband For Money



Pam Phillips and Gary Triano
David Bean Photography 

[From article]
But all that glitters is not, well, you know the story. After seven years of marriage, things fell apart. Gary Triano was pushed out of Indian bingo and his personal gambling debts skyrocketed.
"Your husband, he owed a casino in Las Vegas several millions dollars, $1.8 million to an ex-wife, $91,000 to an attorney ... hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of Mexican investors who people said were involved in criminal activity," Van Sant commented to Phillips.
"Probably" she replied.
In 1993, Pam and Gary separated and eventually divorced. She moved to Aspen.
He stayed in Tucson until Nov. 1, 1996 - the day when Triano was murdered in an explosion just five days before his 53rd birthday.
[. . .]
They were socialites with connections, like their celebrity pals Donald and Marla Trump.
[. . .]
Gene Reedy is a Pima County investigator.
"Gary was definitely was a target," Reedy said. "Gary suspected he was being followed ... he told people he was being followed by an individual that was driving a green Jeep-type SUV."
[. . .]
But the Tucson detective had another lead. In December 1996, just weeks after Gary Triano's murder, his ex-wife, Pam Phillips, filed a life insurance claim -- a big one.
"There was a $2 million insurance policy," said Gamber.
[. . .]
Gamber questioned Phillips. She told him she divorced Gary Triano, escaped from Tucson and fled to Aspen all because she was terrified.
"There was things happening with him that I couldn't understand," Phillips explained. "He was off the wall. Off the wall."
"And you moved because?" Van Sant asked.
"Because our lives were threatened. I mean, our lives were threatened," Phillips replied. "Gary feared everything. Gary was totally in fear, goin' around with a gun."
[. . .]
For nine years the case languished. Then, in 2005, it heated up. Bomb expert Tony May and Agent Tom Mangan of the ATF were reviewing cold cases and took another look at murder of Gary Triano.
[. . .]


Pima County Sheriff's Department 

For Detective Gamber, this case was becoming one of sex, lies and audiotape. But it all came together when an obscure police report from 1996 turned up - that was the same year Gary Triano was blown up.
Back then, a rented van was found abandoned in Southern California. No one knew it at the time, but that van would contain some important circumstantial evidence. The van was rented by Ron Young.
"They find, basically, a map of Tucson ... as far as we know Ron Young has no relationship to Tucson," Gamber explained. "There were several notes -- one that lists out ... people that are very close to Gary Triano. We find a receipt for a local hotel ... we find where he stayed there for 18 days under the name of Phillip Desmond. ... Then we find some of the divorce paperwork from Pam and Gary's divorce."
With this new evidence that Young was in Tucson prior to the bombing stalking Triano, Gamber now believed he had a case. In October 2008, 12 years after the bombing, Ron Young was charged with Gary Triano's murder. And Pam Phillips was next in Gamber's sights.
[. . .]
It would take a year before Phillips was tracked down in Europe -- now in Austria -- and arrested. It would be another year before she was extradited to the United States in 2010.
As all this was happening, Pam's partner, Ron Young, stood trial. He denied everything, and never implicated Phillips. But in the end, those records and audio tapes did him in. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Now back in Arizona, it was Pam Phillips' turn. But then, there was a major delay. Her lawyers claimed she was mentally unfit to stand trial.
"Pam, is it true that you once believed that you have some sort of computer chip or brain implants put in that was controlling your thoughts and actions?" Van Sant asked.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-hit/

The Hit
48 Hours
CBS News

OCTOBER 11, 2014, 10:00 PM
Why was a colorful entrepreneur with powerful friends blown up in his car? His ex-wife speaks out for the first time to "48 Hours" Peter Van Sant.

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