A DEADLY SCAM?

The investigation into the murder of crooked businessman Andrew Kissel, found bound and stabbed to death in his Greenwich, Conn., mansion on April 3, has intensified. Police have been grilling Carlos Trujillo, 47, who worked as Kissel's personal assistant for several years. According to Trujillo's lawyer Lindy Urso, cops have told Trujillo that they believe he hired a hit man to kill Kissel-at Kissel's request. The presumed motive: Kissel, who was facing a long prison sentence for financial fraud, wanted his two young children to inherit the money from his life insurance policy, which may have been worth as much as $15 million. "The tone became very accusatory," says Urso of one interrogation session. "They were saying, 'We know you were involved in this.'"

Trujillo has said he "totally did not kill" Kissel, and he submitted to a lie-detector test. Meanwhile, an e-mail from Kissel's estranged wife, Hayley, cropped up, in which she said she hated Andrew, whom she was divorcing, so much that she could see herself "pummeling him to death and just enjoying the sensation of each and every shot." Hayley's attorney Nathan Dershowitz calls the missive an example of "a spouse venting." As for the suicide-by-hit-man theory, Dershowitz says Hayley doesn't discount it at all. "Andrew was a strange person in some respects," says Dershowitz, "and had some strange acquaintances."

PHOTO (COLOR): "Hayley Kissel believes suicide is most consistent with the way Andrew was behaving prior to his death," says her lawyer.

PHOTO (COLOR)