Couple held in 'Jerry Springer Show' killing

'Chased me with a knife'

Campbell-Panitz allegedly was lured to the television show's taping on the belief that her former husband wanted to reconcile with her.

Eleanor Panitz is also wanted in the killing of Nancy Campbell-Panitz

Ralf Panitz said on the show the two had had sex the day before the taping so he could keep her "illusioned" and to ensure that she would appear on the program.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Campbell-Panitz was apparently unaware at the time of the taping that her husband had remarried.

Instead of the expected reconciliation, Campbell-Panitz was confronted by Ralf Panitz and his new wife. The couple accused Campbell-Panitz of stalking them. She walked off the stage to applause shortly after Eleanor Panitz called her "old" and "fat."

Police and court records show the three continued to argue after the show's taping.

On the morning of the murder, Campbell-Panitz obtained a court order giving her control of the home.

In getting the order, Campbell-Panitz told a judge that she was afraid of her ex-husband.

"He is frequently violent," she told the judge. "That morning he had chased me with a knife and made threats about taking my life, ending my life, the way he was going to torture me."

Eleanor Panitz also had a court order saying she could live at the house, sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Chuck Lesaltato said.

"They had all kinds of paperwork back and forth against each other," he said.

The German-born Panitz, who remarried a month after his February divorce, claimed his ex-wife was a "Jekyll and Hyde" who stalked him and his new wife, court documents said.

Deadly talk

"The Jerry Springer Show," which invites a broad mixture of guests who often are bitter personal enemies, has become notorious for its episodes that degenerate into hair-pulling and chair-throwing.

The show's management, seeking to clean up its image, last year issued an order forbidding fights and replaced some scheduled episodes with tamer shows, but the program's reputation for conflict has persisted.

The Panitz slaying is not the first time a murder has been linked to a confrontation between guests on a television talk show.

Jonathan Schmitz was convicted of the 1995 shooting death of Scott Amedure after the two appeared on "The Jenny Jones Show" in an episode about secret crushes.

Amedure appeared on the show to say that he was attracted to Schmitz, who said he had expected to meet a female admirer. The episode was never broadcast.

Amedure's family was awarded $25 million last year by a Michigan jury that found the show and its producer, Warner Bros., negligent in his death.