Craig Michael Titus (born January 14, 1965,[1] in Wyandotte, Michigan) is an American convicted murderer. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and arson in the death on December 14, 2005 of 28-year-old Melissa James, a personal assistant to him and his wife, Kelly Ryan, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was sentenced in 2008 to 21 to 55 years in prison.
He was a former professional bodybuilder.
Titus was born in 1965 in Wyandotte, Michigan and lived most of his early life in Riverview, near Detroit. He is of Greek descent.[2] He has a younger brother, Kevin, and a younger sister, Nicole. Titus went to public schools. He played high school football but quit because he felt he was too small, at 5'6". He also wrestled in high school.
When Titus graduated from high school, he was 5'6" and 140 lbs. By the age of 21, he was 5'8" and 185 lbs. He began to see good results from weight training and decided to become a bodybuilder.
His first bodybuilding competition was the 1988 Houston Bodybuilding Championships. He won the Men's Open middleweight class and the overall title. Over the next several years of placing among top finishers in competitions, he established himself by 1996 and was accepted into the professional ranks of the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation. He continued to compete into the 2000s, often placing among the top ten in his class. (See list below.)
Titus had difficulties with controlled substances. In April 1995 in Louisiana, Titus pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute ecstasy. He was sentenced to 16 months' house arrest via monitoring with an electronic anklet. In July 1997, Titus was sentenced to 21 months in prison for violating his probation by using anabolic steroids.
In 2000, he remarried, to Kelly Ryan, a fitness competitor, in Clark County, Nevada. They had gotten to know each other through competitions. For a time, they had lived in Southern California.
On December 14, 2005, the charred, gagged and bound body of 28-year-old Melissa James was found in the trunk of a burning Jaguar in the Nevada desert. A trucker had reported the car to authorities, who put out the fire before all evidence was destroyed.
After tracing the car to Kelly Ryan, the police interviewed both her and her husband Titus. Melissa James was their live-in personal assistant. The police released the couple, pending more investigation. They fled across country to Massachusetts. Titus had admitted to detectives of having had an affair with James, but said he and his wife had ended their working relationship with her, claiming she had embezzled from them.
After a nine-day investigation and manhunt, police apprehended the couple and their alleged accomplice, Anthony Gross, near Boston. They were promptly extradited to Las Vegas, Nevada and arrested on charges of murder of James, kidnapping, and arson.[3]
In February 2006, Titus and Ryan were denied bail. On March 29, each pled not guilty to a felony charge of killing Melissa James. The charge carried the possibility of the death penalty.
Days before their murder trial was set to begin in Las Vegas in June 2008, Titus and Ryan each pled guilty on May 30, 2008 to various charges related to James's death. They had made plea deals with the prosecutor to avoid capital charges that risked the death penalty. Titus pled guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and arson.[4]
On August 22, 2008, Titus was recorded as convicted of second-degree murder, kidnapping, and arson.[5] He was sentenced to 21 to 55 years in prison. He is incarcerated at Lovelock Correctional Center, a state prison in Nevada.
Ryan had pled guilty to arson and battery with a deadly weapon with significant bodily harm. She was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 3–13 years in prison.[6] [7] [8] [9]