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Bankruptcy winds down for former Nancy Styler

Courtesy photo

The court-appointed trustee in the personal bankruptcy case for a woman once accused of conspiring to kill Aspen native Nancy Pfister will disperse nearly $150,000 to creditors under a proposal submitted last month.

Trustee David Madoff has overseen the financial affairs of Nancy C. Masson, who was known as Nancy Styler at the time of the February 2014 murder of Pfister.

On Sept. 22, Madoff submitted an application with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern Division of Massachusetts that details how Masson plans to make good on her debts.



Under the plan, Masson will fully satisfy her debts to credit-card companies, collection agencies and professional services firms. But the biggest portion — $103,143.71 — is proposed to be paid to Juliana Pfister, the lone daughter of Nancy Pfister.

That amount is in addition to a confidential settlement Masson struck with Juliana Pfister, who in February introduced an adversary action in the form of a wrongful-death claim to Masson’s bankruptcy case.




The younger Pfister had sought more than $25 million, though Masson’s bankruptcy estate’s assets didn’t come close to that amount.

Still, Pfister filed the adversary action after the bankruptcy case revealed Masson had collected a $1 million insurance payment after her ex-husband, William Styler, hanged himself in a Canon City prison cell in August 2014. The suicide came one month after Masson filed for bankruptcy protection; Styler was serving a 20-year sentence for Pfister’s death.

Madoff did not return telephone messages seeking explanation of the status of the remaining $850,000 of the $1 million insurance claim. In March, bankruptcy Judge Joan N. Feeney froze the $850,000 in response to Pfister’s wrongful death claim.

The claim was settled on private terms in August, court records show.

Aspen attorney David Bovino, a member of Pfister’s legal team that filed the claim, said, “I can’t speak about it because of the terms of the settlement.”

Masson and a third suspect, Kathy Carpenter, who was Pfister’s personal assistant, were freed from custody in June 2014 after Styler confessed to authorities that he acted alone.

Pfister’s wrongful-death suit alleged Masson was involved in the murder because Styler was too feeble to pull off the murder. Nancy Pfister was found beaten to death from hammer strikes to her head. She was 57.

The Styler couple had rented Pfister’s home while she was in Australia. Pfister returned to Aspen because of a dispute with her tenants, whom she evicted because they were not paying rent.

Styler was 67 when he killed himself. Masson currently resides in Massachusetts.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com