Witness tells of suspect’s murder threats

Kim Smith

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 | 8:23 a.m.

A Henderson man on trial in the slaying of his fiancee twice spoke about killing her in the weeks before her death, a state witness testified Monday.

Richard Kowal, who admits making and using methamphetamine with Stephen Briller, told jurors that Briller was worried that Teri Roberts, 33, would tell police about their drug business.

Briller complained in February 2000 that Roberts, with whom he lived in Henderson, had already told his uncle about his drug and gambling habits, Kowal said.

"(He said) if she continued doing that he was going to have to kill her," Kowal told jurors during the second day of Briller's trial.

About a month later, Kowal said, Briller discussed several ways to kill Roberts so that it wouldn't be messy and it wouldn't lead to him. Among the scenarios discussed were an accidental drowning at a lake and strangulation.

"I thought it was the drugs talking. I didn't really pay attention," Kowal said.

Roberts was last seen March 1, 2000, and her badly decomposed body was found in her bed three weeks later. Although an autopsy failed to reveal a cause of death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens told jurors Friday that several pieces of circumstantial evidence led police to believe she had been murdered.

In the days after Roberts was last seen, Briller had her three dogs euthanized, pawned a large number of her belongings and showed up at his uncle's home in Los Angeles demanding the rest of a $150,000 inheritance.

Kowal, an ex-felon, denied that he told police about his conversations with Briller in the hopes of getting out of his own legal problems.

Kowal said he came forward after seeing Briller on "America's Most Wanted" because "it was the right thing to do."