Blood And Money

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

(CBS)  It was a trial about much more than a marriage gone bad. "I think it really hit home with a lot of people in Hong Kong," Wong explains. "It was a glimpse of a world that they’re not used to."

As the prosecution’s case unfolded before a Chinese jury, the evidence against Nancy seemed overwhelming.

The seemingly perfect Kissel marriage had actually been in trouble. In the spring of 2003, during Asia’s pneumonia-like SARS epidemic, Nancy and the children fled to Vermont. Robert, who remained in Hong Kong, became suspicious of his wife, so he hired private investigator Frank Shea to spy on her.

"About 10 o'clock, a van would arrive parked on a dark deserted road. This man would get out of the van, go through the bushes, and then enter the house," Shea says.

The man was Michael Del Priore, a local TV equipment installer. "Rob Kissel was devastated," Shea says. "All he wanted to do was get his marriage back together. He loved Nancy Kissel. And he loved his children."

Nancy returned to her husband in Hong Kong but secretly continued to communicate with her lover via e-mail; Robert found out through a spyware system he had installed on the family computer.

Shea says Robert was planning to obtain a divorce. He intended to tell her that on Nov. 2, 2003, the very night he was murdered.

Asked what he believes happened on the night Robert was killed, Shea says, "I think he was drugged. I think that he went into his bedroom. I think he passed out. I think Nancy Kissel then took a bronze statue and murdered him."

Robert's head was bashed five times. "Each time would have been fatal," says journalist Albert Wong. "The force of the blow actually left marks on her own hand."

Prosecutors said they knew Robert had been drugged because they had a witness: Andrew Tanzer. He testified at trial about the strange concoction that Nancy had made for them. "It was a very thick, sweet milkshake. It was pink, and it had ground up cookies in it. I thought it had this odd taste. And she said 'It’s a special recipe,'" Tanzer recalls.

And it may not have been the first time that Nancy doctored Robert’s drink. "When he would get home from work he enjoyed a little bit of scotch, as he called the two fingers," Shea says. "But the last few times that he had the scotch he felt totally different. Very woozy. "

Shea had become so worried that he flew to Hong Kong to warn his client. Asked if Robert believed his warnings, Shea says, "I think Rob Kissel was in denial. I don’t think he believed his wife was trying to kill him."

At trial, it was revealed that Nancy had been researching various sedatives on the Internet and stockpiling pills.

The most compelling moment came when Nancy took the stand, and the prosecutor asked the question everyone wanted to know. "And he just sort of went, 'Let’s just get this out of the way. Of course you do admit you killed your husband right?' And she said, 'Yes,'" Wong explains.

But Nancy maintains she’s innocent of murder. She claimed he attacked her first and it was self defense. She testified that behind closed doors her life was hell; that for years Robert had subjected her to the worst kind of physical and sexual abuse. On the day Robert died, Nancy claimed there was a huge argument.

"He came at her with a baseball bat. There was a struggle. He turns her around and it’s at this point that she just swings back. And he kind of sits back and looks at the blood and says, 'You bitch.' And then charges at her with the baseball bat. 'I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you.' And she said, then she just blanks out," Wong says.