Fiancée of man murdered after Ferris wheel scandal speaks out
HOUSTON -- A woman whose would-be husband gained worldwide notoriety for cheating on her on a Las Vegas Ferris wheel is shedding new light on a possible motive for his murder, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.
Mistie Bozant says the night before Philip Panzica's murder, he bragged to the two men now charged with his murder about the money Panzica and Bozant made doing an interview with "Inside Edition." Bozant claims she had the $4,000 check from that interview, plus a lot of cash, in her purse the night Panzica was killed.
Bozant said that early Saturday morning, Panzica arrived in her car to pick her up from work at Vivid, a strip club in Houston. Police say suspects Bryant Watts, 28, and Aaron Jones, 31, were in the car, too. Investigators say Jones had been at the club that night, and Bozant says she met Jones the night before.
"(Watts) just reached in his crotch and pulled the gun around the corner and said, 'You need to come clean,'" Bozant said.
Bozant's car was found crashed hundreds of miles away from Houston, outside San Angelo, Texas. Panzica had been gunned down inside.
"Philip didn't even have time to talk, the guy just shot him five times in the head," Bozant said. Police say Panzica was shot and his body dumped on Richmond. Bozant says she was forced out of the car and tried to save him.
"I was like, 'Baby, stay with me.' I could still see his heart beating, but his eyes were just glassy," she said.
Panzica died on the scene. The two suspects are now facing capital murder charges.
Panzica and another woman were arrested Feb. 5 on charges of committing sex acts in public on the High Roller Ferris wheel in Las Vegas. The story went viral after Bozant revealed she and Panzica had planned to get married while in Las Vegas. Bozant said she believed Panzica went astray after they had an argument.
"I forgave him for that," Bozant told KHOU. "I thought that I was pregnant, and that's what we got in a fight about."
Bozant said she hopes people will see past the Ferris wheel headlines and focus on Bozant's brutal end. She wants the men accused of killing her former fiancé to be convicted.
"They deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law in my eyes," she said.