Couple held without bond in bloody saw slaying


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cKy0V3oxvQ

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge ruled Wednesday that a couple charged with
killing a neighbor whose body was found outside in a box will be
jailed without bond until an evidentiary hearing.

Anthony Stiger and Melanie Costantini, both 20, said nothing Wednesday
during their appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court, where a judge
accepted not guilty pleas on their behalf.

They were arrested Nov. 14 in Southern California after the body of 58-
year-old Harold Myles Shilberg was found Nov. 9 outside an apartment
building on East Fremont Street in Las Vegas. His body had multiple
cuts.

Authorities said a bloody saw and clothing were found in the apartment
of the suspects.

The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Dec. 19 on felony murder
and conspiracy charges that could carry the death penalty if they are
convicted.

Prosecutor Pam Weckerly said outside court that a decision had not
been made about whether the Clark County district attorney would seek
the death penalty.

Public defenders Dan Silverstein, representing Stiger, and David
Schieck, representing Costantini, declined comment about the case.

Police said the couple was videotaped at a rental store in Las Vegas
buying a garment-sized box like the one in which Shilberg was found.

Stiger claimed self-defense in a jailhouse interview with ABC
affiliate KTNV-TV in Las Vegas (http://bit.ly/uHAKVc ).

Police Officer Laura Meltzer said Wednesday that Stiger declined an
interview request by The Associated Press.

He told KTNV he and Costantini are married and have a 2-year-old
daughter, they moved from Houston to Las Vegas in August, and he
worked as a maintenance man for Shilberg at the apartment complex in a
transient neighborhood a few blocks east of downtown Las Vegas.

Stiger said he and Shilberg argued about needed repairs at the
complex, and that Stiger approached him with an electric saw.

The two men fought in the bathroom of Stiger's apartment, according to
Stiger, before Shilberg's neck was sliced by the saw. Shilberg died in
the bathtub, Stiger said.

Stiger told KTNV that someone else moved Shilberg's body, and that he
and Costantini went to the Los Angeles area to drop off their daughter
with his mother.
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