Anthony Stiger and Melanie Costantini were nabbed in Venice Beach on murder and conspiracy charges
By Drew Karedes KTNV Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - A man is reliving the final conversation he had with a Las Vegas property owner just hours before a cold-blooded murder.
Joel Blaeser says he feels like he’s caught in a nightmare.
The man he was supposed to work for, Harold Shilberg, was found in pieces in a cardboard box. Blaeser claims he moved from Milwaukee, WI, to Las Vegas to work for Shilberg as a property manager.
After hours of phone conversations, he believes the two were on their way to having a successful professional relationship.
“If you were a good worker and you had his trust and had his faith, he would probably help you out any way he could,” explained Blaeser.
Blaeser says before he could ever start at the Newport Apartments, Shilberg’s body was found in a box on the property.
“I said when did this happen? He said, the 9th. I pulled my phone out and even though it was eight days later, I still had the call on there and I said look, I could’ve been the last person he talked to,” said Joel Blaeser.
Blaeser didn’t know why their conversations stopped after their talk on November 9th.
He claims, during their last conversation, he could hear a woman screaming at Shilberg in his office. He claims the conversation came to an abrupt end.
It wasn’t until the arrests of a young couple in California that he found out the grim reality.
Anthony Stiger and Melanie Costantini were nabbed in Venice Beach on murder and conspiracy charges. The two 20-year-olds are accused of killing Shilberg with an electric saw, dismembering his body and stuffing it in a box.
Shilberg’s remains were discovered at the bottom of a stairwell at the Newport apartments.
“I’m not a vengeful person, but I truly hope they rot in hell, I do. That was just a horrible, terrible thing to do to such a beautiful person,” said Blaeser.
Blaeser still believes others are involved in the grisly murder. He says Shilberg told him that several Newport employees, including Stiger, were set to be fired.
Stiger worked as a maintenance man at the property. He had moved into an apartment there in August with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
On the heels of an indictment, a true motive remains unknown. However, documents now say Stiger and Costantini used the saw to threaten Shilberg to give them checks.
An indictment also says they researched methods to commit the crime and looked into ways to cover it up.
“What was their plan? You’re going to hide the body, then what? A couple months were going to go by and you were going to collect the rent? Where was the master man?,” asked Blaeser, still baffled by the gruesome murder.
Anthony Stiger spoke exclusively with Action News from behind bars in November. He claimed the killing was a result of self-defense and implicated his grandparents in the crime.
The indictment now moves this case to state court. An arraignment for Stiger and Costantini has been set for January 4th.
Stiger and Constantini face charges of murder, conspiracy, robbery and burglary. The pair could face the death penalty.
bonnie wolfe says
I can remember when Venice Beach was a safe place to hang out at all hours. And we did. You never heard of the insanity that goes on now in Venice. This has been home to me for most of my life and I’m on the door steps of social security. But I’m leaving this little city I’ve always loved so much. There’s just way too much crime around my neighborhood (Venice High), it’s just not safe anymore. Three weeks left before I say good-bye. Such a shame.