Possible release of killers upsets family

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

Teddy Zappa's family thought he'd be a lawyer and a father someday.

But just days after being accepted into law school, Zappa was shot and killed with his friend Michael Nasse. They were buried in a shallow grave near Lake Mead.

Their killers, Norman and Russell Crew, were sentenced in 1982 to four consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole until 2021.

On Wednesday the Crews will appear before the Nevada Board of Pardons in Carson City to ask for a reduction of their life sentences.

If they are successful, they could be released.

It's a nightmare come true for the families of Zappa and Nasse.

"For 21 years, I tried my damnedest to keep them in jail," Zappa's sister Marisa said while sitting in the living room of her Las Vegas home. "I'm appalled that this is happening. I'm flabbergasted."

In 1981 Teddy Zappa was a few credits away from earning his bachelor's degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

He dealt poker at the Aladdin, sold real estate and, at age 29, he was about to fulfill his dream of studying to become a lawyer. Three days before his murder, he found out he'd been accepted into law school at San Diego State University.

His friend, Nasse, was a student at the Community College of Southern Nevada. Nasse had a friend who sold marijuana, according to trial testimony, and on the night of March 2, 1981, Nasse picked up 22 pounds of marijuana worth $20,000 and arranged to sell it to Norman Crew, 21.

Zappa happened to be with Nasse that night, and the two went in Zappa's brown Camaro to meet the Crew brothers.

The next day a fisherman found large pools of blood near North Shore Road inside the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Three days later police found Zappa's blood-stained car on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam.

The Zappas and Nasses waited for Teddy and Michael to come home. They never did.

"I prayed all week that he was out partying and broke his leg and couldn't walk. I prayed that he couldn't get to a phone," Marisa Zappa said through tears. "Where there's life, there's hope, and I just prayed he was alive."

On March 6, 1981, police found the bodies of Zappa and Nasse in a shallow grave near Lake Mead. They had been beaten and shot, and their throats were cut. Police say they were robbed and then killed.

"Michael was my baby," his father George Nasse said. "I never had a problem with Michael. But he got involved with this drug dealer."

"Teddy was totally innocent," he continued. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Norman Crew and his brother Russell, 19, were arrested for the slayings.

During Norman Crew's highly publicized, three-month trial, prosecutors relied largely on testimony of jail informants, who said Crew and his brother bragged about the killings.

Norman Crew was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. Russell Crew ended up pleading guilty in 1982.

They were both sentenced to four consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

The Crews are asking that their four back-to-back life sentences be merged into one life sentence, Susan McCurdy, administrator for the pardons board, said.

According to Nevada law, an inmate sentenced to life in prison can apply to have their sentences commuted -- or reduced -- after serving seven years.

If the board grants their requests, the Crews would be eligible to appear before the parole board within 30 days, and they could be released from prison, McCurdy said.

That would be an injustice, Marisa Zappa said.

But James Logan, Norman Crew's Carson City public defender, said his client deserves a chance.

Logan and Russell Crew's public defender will have an opportunity to make their case before the pardons board, which includes Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and seven Supreme Court justices. Prosecutors and the families of the victims and the Crews will also have a chance to speak.

Logan said 21 years is a long time to be behind bars, but whether the pardons board will agree is anyone's guess.

"They're very difficult to get," Logan said. "The board reviews the cases very carefully and they're very diligent and cautious."

Norman Crew, an inmate at Nevada State Prison, has a record of good behavior, which will count in his favor, Logan said. He has worked in the bookbinding shop and as a supervisor at the gym, a tutor in the prison's literacy program and has trained inmates in silk screening.

He also has two associate's degrees -- one in general studies and the other in business.

Logan said Norman Crew has been disciplined twice in the past 10 years. Two years ago he was written up for kissing the hand of a female prison administrator and 13 years ago he was involved in a fight.

A retired prison guard is expected to speak on behalf of the Crew brothers.

"He's going to say that he saw them come in and mature and help themselves the best they could," Logan said.

Norman Crew has shown remorse for his crime, Logan said, and gets choked up when he talks about it.

Russell Crew's public defender declined to comment.

The murders have changed the lives of the victims' families forever, and now their mission is to keep the killers in prison for the rest of their lives.

If Teddy were alive, he'd be a lawyer and a father, Marisa Zappa said. He loved kids.

Janine Zappa Romano, Teddy's other sister who lives in New Jersey, was nine months pregnant when Teddy was murdered and was unable to attend his funeral. Teddy was supposed to be her son's godfather.

"I have no closure to this, only visions of his face and tears for his torture," she wrote in a letter to the pardons board.

Marisa Zappa and her mother, Madelyn, are Catholic, but they're unable to fulfill one of the most fundamental aspects of their faith: Forgiveness.

"Maybe a true Christian would forgive them, but I can't do it," Marisa Zappa said. "It's just not something I can do."

Teddy Zappa's father, Theodore Zappa Sr., died four years after his son was killed. Marisa Zappa said he gave up on life after Teddy's death and died of a broken heart.

Marisa Zappa and George Nasse plan to attend the hearing Wednesday.

"I think (the Crews are) dangerous," George Nasse said. "Everyone follows their natural bent. They might be in the wrong mood and kill someone else."

"I never realized how bad our system is," Marisa Zappa said. "Our system stinks."