No crime in any society could be considered more heinous or more sinister than murder. Intentionally taking another person’s life without lawful reason is something that can never be amended. Not through years spent in a prison cell, money awarded to the victim’s family in a civil suit, or showerings of apologies and requests for forgiveness. In the wake of a murder, survivors of the victim are often left searching for reasons as to why such a horrible act happened to someone that they knew so well.

There are lots of reasons that may factor into why someone would go as far as to commit homicide. Some kill for revenge, some do it because they want to take something that another person has, and other people may commit murder because they have severe mental problems that they were born with or acquired from the environment in which they grew up. Unfortunately, various avenues of the media are hard at work concocting another reason for why someone would kill another human being: they were using anabolic steroids.

If you follow the news much, you have definitely seen a great deal of steroid related stories. Most of it revolving around professional athletes’ use of steroids and Congress’ attempts to impose stiffer penalties on people who choose to use them. But lately, some of the news involving steroids has centered on their suspected impact in some high profile murder cases.

Take, for example, the CBS show 48 Hours Mystery which, on January 28th, aired an episode entitled “Rage on the Run.” The show focused on a Florida bodybuilder named David Bieber who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering a police constable in Leeds, England.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Bieber’s background, he was an exceptional athlete from Fort Myers, Florida who joined the Marines after high school. After a dishonorable discharge a year later, David Bieber focused his full time attention towards professional bodybuilding. He proved to be very successful at the sport but soon turned to drug dealing as a means of making a living.

It is through his drug dealing that Bieber met Markus Mueller and they soon became partners in the steroid trafficking business. Bieber also met Mueller’s girlfriend, Danielle Labelle, and a love triangle developed. Eventually, David and Danielle Labelle would get married but the love triangle continued. That is until Mueller was shot inside of his home in 1995 and Bieber became the prime suspect.

After a confession from the real gunman, David Snipes, Bieber was pinned as the one who put the money up for him to do it. But before he could be arrested, David Bieber fled the country to England under his new alias Nathan Wayne Coleman. It is here, on a fateful day in 2003, where three British constables would come upon Bieber’s stolen car. Just as one of the constables was about to cuff Bieber, he shot them all one-by-one, including the fatal shooting of Ian Broadhurst, for which Bieber received his lifelong prison sentence. But this is where the facts end and 48 Hours Mystery’s steroid sensationalism began.

And it all started with Susan Spencer’s “Reporter’s Notebook”, where she set up the “Rage on the Run” story with a sweet little description of West Yorkshire, with its sheep filled countryside and beautiful little towns. Never mind the fact that this has nothing to do with the story she was about to tell since the murder of Officer Broadhurst took place in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds, which has a population of over 430,000 people. She then asked viewers to contrast West Yorkshire to, “South Florida and the fast-paced, steroid-fuelled world of professional bodybuilding.”

With the “fast paced, steroid-fuelled world of pro bodybuilding” in mind, viewers of the “Rage on the Run” show were then treated to quotes from Spencer such as:

“His friends say that, as his physique grew, so did his appetite for steroids. After all, he now was winning contests.”

“But competing costs money and Bieber began selling steroids, as well as using them. And he was moving with a new crowd.”

And mindless statements from David Bieber’s friends in the form of:

“David was getting bigger than a lot of us. He really was starting to get really good size on him. And some of us were starting to rumor, hey, maybe David is using steroids.”

“He got even bigger and stronger than he already was.”

“When I went over to his house, it was full of swimming trophies!”

Mix all of this in with murder, a dramatic title such as “Rage on the Run”, deliver it at the height of steroids’ notoriety and you’ve got yourself a compelling, interest-peaking television program. But 48 Hours Mystery isn’t the only news outlet trying to attach steroids to the subject of murder. Just check some of the news coverage on world famous bodybuilders Craig Titus and his wife Kelly Ryan lately.

As the facts go, the couple was arrested over a month ago for the alleged slaying of their former personal live-in assistant Melissa James. James’ charred body was found in the trunk of Ryan’s abandoned Jaguar car outside of Las Vegas. It is believed that she was killed by asphyxiation before the Jaguar was set on fire near a remote desert highway.

Both Titus and Ryan are facing murder charges as well as kidnapping charges (evidence has suggested that they used a stun gun and morphine to subdue their assistant). An alleged accomplice and workout partner of Titus, Anthony Gross, is facing an accessory to murder charge along with a third-degree arson charge.

James, who moved to Las Vegas to help Titus and Ryan start a clothing line, was rumored to have been involved in an affair with Titus. It was also reported that Ryan found out that James was embezzling money from her accounts and kicked Melissa out of her house. However, these are only statements made by Titus and Ryan to the police and who knows how factual they really are.

Probably about as factual as what was said concerning the case on Fox News Channel’s show The Lineup. When asked by the host, “Is it your sense as an attorney that they are now agreeing to come back because they are ready to defend themselves. Was it a stall tactic or an escape tactic?” former prosecutor James Curtis gave a response so ignorant that it is amazing Fox let it air.

In answer to the host’s question he said, “Either that or they just aren’t very bright. Two issues get raised here. One, are there issues with respect to steroids. Steroid issues, and weightlifting, bodybuilding go hand in hand. We don’t know that that’s the case but if it is, it’s associated with violence and it may, in this case, be associated with stupidity. Apparently, this woman’s body is found in a car owned by this couple. And it is not just any car, it is a Jaguar and it is red. The fact that they waived extradition and are coming back, who knows if they are getting bad advice.”

Another guest who appeared on The Lineup was Playboy writer Charles Young. He managed to avoid saying anything stupid on the show but wasn’t able to perform the same feat when talking to KVBC-TV in Las Vegas as he said he wouldn’t be surprised is steroid rage played a role in the murder of Melissa James.

If any of these people had done a little research before they opened their mouths, they would have found that both Titus and Ryan were nearing the end of their careers. This could’ve been seen just by looking at Titus, who had dropped from his normal weight of 267 down to 225 by the time of his apprehension. If anything, these two were probably using fewer steroids than at any other point in their professional careers.

So how could steroid rage factor into the equation under such circumstances? Even if they were juicing more than ever before, using steroids doesn’t cause someone’s IQ level to drop to the point of trying to hide a dead body half a mile off of a highway in a burning car (regardless of what James Curtis thinks). Especially, hiding it in their own car.

And in David Bieber’s case, steroid use doesn’t cause someone to hire a hitmen or steal a car and then gun down three policemen. His fascination with the criminal world and its lifestyle that he became entrenched in did this. A bouncer at a nightclub he worked with said, “He wanted to be a gangster. He just wanted to be a bit shot.”

Steroids did not cause the death of Constable Ian Broadhurst anymore than the gun that was used on him did. The individual who pulled the trigger caused his death and here is where the blame should lie.

Craig Titus and Kelly are not standing trial for murder and kidnapping because they have been avid steroid users throughout their career. They are standing trial because there was sufficient enough evidence to bring them to trial. Not because of a fabled steroid rage.

Hopefully incidents such as these, and the uninformed thoughts of certain media members on them, are not at the forefront of Congress’ mind next time there is a congressional hearing to discuss the subject of steroids. More importantly, I hope that the families of Ian Broadhurst and Melissa James can cope with the loss of their loves ones and remember them through fond memories.

Here's a link to discuss the Craig Titus trial on the EliteFitness.com Forums.

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Author: George Spellwin