Rage On The Run

An American Bodybuilder Becomes An International Fugitive

(CBS)  David Bieber should have been easy to find. He was huge, being a former professional bodybuilder, 220 pounds of muscle.

"He could’ve been a model. He was a good looking guy," says Bobby Ammons, who grew up with Bieber in Fort Myers. "The kinda shape he was in is phenomenal. Of course, he drove around in, you know, a nice car. And he always had money."

And it had always been that way, recalls pal Greg Martin.

"When I went over to his house, it was full of swimming trophies," he says. "That really, that kinda started his physique, 'cause even as an 11-year-old he had a better body than the rest of us. He was stronger than us."

In high school, Bieber’s lean swimmer’s physique became more muscular. He and Martin joined the football team and started lifting weights.

"David was getting bigger than a lot of us. He really was starting to get really good size on him," says Martin. "And some of us were starting to rumor, 'Hey, maybe David is using steroids.' ”

In fact, Ammons says he and Bieber did start taking steroids. He remembers that there was an obvious change. "He got even bigger and stronger than he already was."

By the time he graduated in 1984, Bieber had morphed into a He-Man, ready for the Marines. But military life handed him a setback.

"He realized, 'This ain’t for me. People here actually tell me what to do.' He didn’t like that. The authority thing didn’t really fly with him," says Ammons.

After 18 months, he was less-than-honorably discharged. In 1986, he moved back to Fort Myers and focused on bodybuilding full-time.

His friends say that, as his physique grew, so did his appetite for steroids. After all, he now was winning contests.

But competing costs money and Bieber began selling steroids, as well as using them. And he was moving with a new crowd.

"We kinda took different roads," says Ammons. "I was working 50, 60 hours a week and trying to fit the gym in. Where he would, you know, he would go in the gym in the morning and in the afternoon."

That’s when Bieber met fellow bodybuilder Markus Mueller, a German immigrant.

Appearances aside, Mueller's little sister Nancy says Markus had a big heart.

"He was probably the coolest brother you can really imagine," she says. "I could stay over at his place at night and watch the scary movies. He was always funny, always happy. I’ve never seen a sad side of him."

In the 1990s, Mueller flirted with an acting career, playing the tough guy in several low budget movies.

He may have dreamed of stardom, but unbeknownst to his sister, he already had one lucrative career: importing steroids from Europe.

In October 1994, Mueller and his girlfriend Danielle Labelle were arrested on steroid charges. They pled guilty.

David Bieber was also part of their operation, says Bieber’s friend John Saladino.

"He would come down from Germany. That was like his main, one of his main sources of getting it," says Saladino.

But Saladino says Bieber eventually wanted to control the business. "He’d got into a couple of arguments with Markus Mueller over the steroids."

And it turns out, Bieber also wanted Mueller's girlfriend, Danielle. They started an affair and, to the shock of his friends, got married just weeks later.

“I could just tell her heart wasn’t in the right place," says Ammons. "You know, you hear all these stories about how she was so in love with Markus.”

When she spoke Fox TV's "America's Most Wanted," Danielle Labelle said, "I was seeing both Markus and David. I loved Markus but David was just fun to hang out with.”

[jabailo]

One thing that bothered me...isn''t it standard procedure for a suspect to be "patted down" to look for weapons (guns, billy clubs) by police even in Britain.