The Misery Machine - The Milkshake Murderer: Nancy Ann Kissel [Wednesday Mini Episode]

Episode Date: January 13, 2021

One of Hong Kong's very few murder cases that gained national attention took place between two American expatriates, one of those being a Merrill Lynch investment banker (Robert Peter Kissel), a bored housewife, and an uncommon instrument to commit the murder. A very special thank you to Levi for supporting our show as our highest tier patron! Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Robert_Kissel https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/milkshake-murder-millionaire-banker-robert-kissel-killed-in-hong-kong

Hi, we're the Miser Machine. I'm Yergy. I'm Drewby, and this is Prada. We call her little beans sometimes. And as promised, it's Wednesday. So now for part two of our Hong Kong double feature. So hey guys, if you're returning from Monday's Jars Killer episode, you know that we're doing two episodes this week, too many ones.

We did this because there's not a whole lot of information or material to cover for the Jars Killer or this one, the milkshake murder. We did as much as we could, but I still think that these are... They're interesting. They are interesting in their cases that still should be put out there because they're surprisingly not covered that often. I thought there would be more about this, considering two of the main people in it are from the U.S., but there's really not that much. So we figured we'd cover what we can and get this out to you at a double Hong Kong murder week. to speak. If you're listening on YouTube, please drop us a like and here we go, the milkshake murder.

The Nancy Kessel murder case dubbed the milkshake murder was a highly publicized criminal trial held in the High Court of Hong Kong where American expatriate, Nancy Ann Kessel, was convicted of the murder of her husband, 40-year-old Merrill Lynch investment banker Robert Peter Kessel, in their apartment on November 2, 2003. It is the most high-profile criminal case involving an Patriot in Hong Kong's history and was closely covered by the media. On the surface, the couple appeared to have it all. Nancy and her three children had moved from New York to Hong Kong in 1998 when her husband took a top banking job that afforded them a luxury lifestyle, including a $20,000 a month

Ocean View apartment and servants to tend to her every need. So Kissel worked as a volunteer at the Hong Kong International School, but mainly spent her days shopping near the Posh Parkview residential complex where the family lived. I've seen pictures of this and I'll try to get some for the video. This is a huge complex. It looks like a casino. Wow. Okay. Like up in the trees. It's really, really, really nice. So despite the life of luxury, Nancy, who had once dreamt of pursuing an acting career, was unhappy and bored. Of course she was. She spent her day spending money, but soon began to resent her husband's long absences. In an email to a friend, Nancy said the relationship was a sham.

Ascarating as the best marriage in the universe. Sounds like you need a hobby, girl. My goodness. In 2003, the SARS crisis broke out, and Nancy and the children were evacuated back to the United States. She soon began an affair with Michael Del Priory, a TV repair man. After they later returned to Hong Kong, Robert became suspicious and installed software on her computer so that all of her emails were copied to him. He soon found messages from her lover, including one that read, I love you when you call my name, it makes me melt. On the day he was killed, her husband had told friends that he would discuss a legal separation

on the grounds of infidelity. Prosecutors alleged that Nancy was motivated by money. They said that she had been afraid to lose her luxurious lifestyle in the divorce, including the hefty life insurance payments on her husband. But Nancy claimed that Robert had always been abusive. She said that he took cocaine, drank excessively, and forcibly sodomized her, and that Robert had assaulted her on the day of his death. But prosecutors hit back by detailing how Nancy had tried to her.

tried to cover her tracks after the murder. The day after she killed Robert, she wrote emails to cancel appointments and explain her husband's absence from work. Quote, my husband is not well, end quote, she said in one email to a friend, according to the prosecution. So what actually happened? Well, Nancy's kind of a monster here, and I'll tell you a little bit what she did. She drugged Robert by having their six-year-old daughter give him a strawberry milkshake

laced with a cocktail of sedatives. Hence the name the milkshake murder. When the drugs had taken effect, the children went to. out of the apartment and then Nancy bludgeoned her husband to death with a statue. She then rolled up his body in a carpet and had it placed in their storeroom at their Parkview apartment complex. Okay, so he was passed out. So she drugged with sedatives.

And then while he was passed out, she just beat his head in with a statue. Yes, and then rolled him up in a carpet. Okay. Probably a very expensive carpet. Probably. And then had her servants bring it out to a storage unit. Hey, would you like to just take this fancy rug and dump it into the Hudson? That's basically what's going on here.

Jeez. I want a $20 tip, though. Yeah. It's a little throwback to our Michael Allick episode. Watch it if you haven't. Yes. Anyway, so at trial, it emerged that Robert had consulted divorce attorneys a few months before his death, but had ignored advice to change the main beneficiary of his will.

In September 2003, Robert told a New York-based private detective whom he hired to spy on Nancy that he believed she was trying to poison him. The investigator urged him to go to the police with blood and urine samples, but he not because he felt guilty for suspecting his wife. So Nancy was convicted of Robert's murder, but in 2010, the conviction was overturned in a new trial was ordered. Then on March 25, 2011, she was again found guilty of her husband's murder and sentenced to life in prison. She is currently behind bars at the Thai Lambs Center for Women and still maintains that she killed Robert in self-defense. The couple's three children are

currently being raised by family. I'm assuming back in the States. Yes. They actually had a home in Vermont. In another tragic twist, Robert's brother Andrew, an American real estate developer, was found bound and stabbed to death on April 3rd, 2006 that is rented estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. Andrew had been accused of defrauding a New York co-op board of millions of dollars. The motive for his murder was really a mystery, though. It doesn't seem like a mystery with me, but it's because there were so many people that had problems with him, including those from the U.S. Justice Department and several multi-billion dollar corporations and conglomerates as well as his own wife. I mean, you know, when you mess with big money and you get in over your head, it's not a

surprise to me you end up this way. Right. Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes. I'm not trying to victim shame or anything, but that's still really dumb. I'm sure a lot of people here aren't going to have sympathy for, you know, some type of real estate baron who is rubbing shoulders with multi-billion dollar corporations, as well as if he screwed around the U.S. Justice Department, yeah, I mean, you know. So in 2008, Andrews chauffeur, Carlos Treheo, and his cousins Leonard Treheio and Yair Trujillo were arrested and charged in his death. According to the prosecution, the motive for the murder was the Trujillo's fear that

their involvement in laundering money for Kissel would be exposed. Carlos Trehio was acquitted of the murder charge, but pleaded guilty to attempted murder and received a six-year prison sentence. Leonard Trujillo pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder and received a sentence of 20 years. So yeah, so that's basically it for Wednesday mini episode. I mean, what did you guys think of these mini episodes? Let us know in the comments or email us, Miserymachine Podcasts at gmail.com. Leave us a comment on Instagram.

Just something to let us know what you think about this. I just didn't feel right doing two murders together on one episode. I figured it would be best to split them up like this. And hey, maybe it's more digestible for you folks. Do you want more shorter things like this? I'd really like to know. But with that out of the way, let's say thank you to our patrons. So thank you, Eddie, Rowan, Markey, Holly, Ashley, Vue, Anna, Lauren, Serena, Chloe, Mark, Tara, Sophie, Karen, Neal and Ney, A, Neil and Karen, Dave, and Karina, Madison.

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you can find us that way now too. And if you'd like a sticker, $1.m.com.m.m.m.m. Or you get one free anyway if you are a patron. Yeah, just be a patron. You can get one for free and you get access to all of our secret episodes. And we've been delisting more episodes. They're becoming Patreon only. If you want to hear some classic misery machine episodes, especially when we're acting a little goofy, bears your place to do it. And you also get access to our secret discords, depending on your tier. High enough tier. Might get you a postcard. It's some pretty good postcards the last couple of months. We've been getting some good ones in return too. It's nice when you guys send us postcards back. We love mail. We love getting mail.

It's so awesome. We're actually going to be making a cool little art project here in the, I think Monday, the lighting fixture comes in. But it's like this cool little thing I found on Amazon that has lights and little clips. And I'm going to start putting all of the postcards that we get from you all on there. Yes. Yes. So they will be memorialized. anything you send us, it will go up on the misery machine wall or whatever we end up exactly making for it.

All I know is that we wanted a place to put all of these postcards. And I want more lights in here. I do too. I don't know if those lights were too much in the Michael Allig intro, but I kind of dug it as long as I wasn't staring at it. I mean, I think they're pretty cool. I work in here during the daytime, and I usually just keep the purple ones on because they're the least a brace into my eyes. You're not speaking into your mic. you're literally turning around and playing with lights.

I'm sorry. And it's not picking up. You're okay. I'm so sorry. You're okay. I just want the listeners to be able to hear you. Yeah. So yeah, you're the best.

You're the best. What should we cover next? Let us know in the comment section or emails. And if you're listening on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe. We need to get built back up in the algorithm after YouTube shadow banned us and our Sylvia Likens episode.

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