New details emerge from Hong Kong murder trial

American Nancy Ann Kissel, 40, right, and her relatives walk out of Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

An American woman accused of killing her executive husband asked maintenance workers at her Hong Kong luxury apartment complex to help her haul away a bulky roll of carpet that contained the man's body, a prosecutor said yesterday.

The allegation was among several new details -- including claims of wife abuse -- presented during the second day of Nancy Ann Kissel's murder trial -- a case that has riveted Hong Kong. Prosecutor Peter Chapman alleged that 41-year-old Kissel killed her husband, Robert Kissel, on Nov. 2, 2003 -- the same day the Merrill Lynch investment banker planned to discuss the couple's divorce with his wife.

Nancy Kissel of Minnesota is accused of drugging her husband with a milkshake laced with sedatives before fatally beating him on the head with a metal ornament. The woman, who pleaded innocent, faces a mandatory life prison term if convicted. The prosecution alleged that the wife had a lover in the US and that her husband, a New York native, had hired a private detective to investigate the affair.

Chapman said the day after the alleged killing, Nancy Kissel went on a shopping spree, buying bedding and a carpet. She also told her Filipino maid not to clean the master bedroom.

Three days after the alleged killing, Kissel asked maintenance workers at her apartment complex to help her haul a thick roll of carpet to a storage area, Chapman said. When the maid noted that the roll seemed unusually bulky, the wife said it contained pillows and blankets. The workers who moved the carpet said it smelled like rotting fish.

One of Robert Kissel's colleagues was the first to report the man was missing, the prosecutor said. The colleague called the wife and she said the couple had a dispute, her husband had left and she didn't know where he was. Police found the body on Nov. 6, 2003.

She later went to the police and said her husband pushed her against a wall and beat her on Nov. 2. Chapman said a doctor examined her and reported that she was tearful, visibly in pain and slow to move.