A luxury car is left burning in the desert outside of Las Vegas. What looks like just another insurance scam turns grim when firefighters make a grisly discovery: In the trunk of the burned Jaguar there’s a body. A young woman . . . duct-taped over what’s left of her face . . .
Fire in the Desert follows the real Las Vegas CSI as they unravel the mystery surrounding the dead woman, Melissa James . . . a murder investigation that leads straight to the door of Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan, the golden couple of the fitness world. James is their “personal assistant.” From the outside, Titus and Ryan seem to have it all. Titus is a nationally known bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia competitor, and Ryan is a legend in the world of women’s fitness and a guru to young champions. But what detectives find behind the image are three lives careening quickly out of control in a sordid reality of violence, videotaped sex, and hardcore drug addiction.
In Fire in the Desert, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Glenn Puit has gained access to never-before-seen witness statements and police records that will give true-crime readers the inside story behind the one of the most high-profile murder investigations in the files of the Las Vegas CSI.