Blood And Money

"48 Hours" Looks At The Killing Of Two Brothers Thousands Of Miles Apart

(CBS)  This story originally aired Nov. 18, 2006. It was updated July 12, 2007.

Forty-six-year-old Andrew Kissel hoped to make his name in real estate in Greenwich, Conn., but instead, as correspondent Erin Moriarty reports, he earned the dubious distinction as the town’s first murder victim in 2006.

Seven months after the murder, with no one yet in custody, Police Chief James Walters remains optimistic. "Everyone that was in Mr. Kissel’s circle is being is being investigated," he says.

But in this tony town, it’s not easy to get people to talk. "Within a few days after the murder everybody we wanted to talk had a lawyer," the police chief explains.

Andrew Kissel’s violent death brought to an end a life once brimming with promise. He grew up in New Jersey, the oldest of three children in an upwardly mobile family. Andrew’s brother, Robert, was four years younger and there was a baby sister, Jane.

The Kissels made an impression wherever they went: an intense passion for life permeated everything they did and it was most evident, perhaps, on the ski slopes.

"Skiing was basically everything to them and Rob was an amazing skier. It seemed that whatever Rob did, he did it well," remembers Carol Horton, who was Robert's high school sweetheart.

And Robert had no trouble keeping up with his older brother, Andrew. "They were competitive. Who could go faster, who could jump the highest moguls," Carol recalls

Both boys had to answer to their father, Bill Kissel, who had turned his hard work and smarts into his own successful business and expected no less from his sons.

"He expected them to do their homework. He expected them to be polite. He expected them to do their chores," says Carol. "He set down rules and expected them to be followed."

Danny Williams lived just around the corner, and says Robert was his best friend, almost like a brother. Back then, Danny remembers, Robert was already acting out the role he would later assume for real.

"If it was Monopoly, he had to be the banker," Danny explains. "Always, and Andy would have to be the real estate guy."

At the same time, Andrew was building an image that would become increasingly important to him. "He liked to show off what he had, you know, status, he liked to show status," Danny remembers.

There was no denying Andrew was ambitious. Just out of high school, he started his own auto parts business and hired Danny.

Eventually, Andrew went on to bigger ventures, becoming a real estate developer in New York. In 1990, he had the perfect woman at his side, Hayley Wolff, a world champion skier who became a financial analyst. Ten years later, they had it all: two children, a ski house in Vermont, and an apartment in a New York co-op, where Andrew served as treasurer.

Andrew, once outshined by his younger brother’s charisma, soon had his hand and cash in everything: horses, an olive oil business, and he even invested in a play produced by Brian Howie.

Andrew spared no expense to amuse himself and his friends and was living large. Brian says Andrew had 85-90 foot yacht, a couple of jet skis and "30-some" cars.

If Andrew was thrust into overdrive by pressure from his father and competition with his brother, Robert took a more modest and methodical approach to getting ahead.