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'Apprentice' contestant testified in local slayings Staff and wire reports A woman with ties to an infamous double-murder in Medford will star as a contestant on the latest season of NBC's The Apprentice. Alla Kosova (now Wartenberg), 31, was a Las Vegas stripper in 1995 and the object of obsession for Robert James Acremant, who claimed he committed the murders during a botched robbery to raise fast cash to woo his love interest. But Kosova said in court that Acremant was nothing but one of my best customers. Acremant was sentenced to death in 1997 for the execution-style murders of Medford residents Michelle Abdill and Roxanne Ellis. The lesbian couple's 1995 murder was feared a hate crime, grabbing national and international media attention. Acremant, a Los Angeles accountant, spent thousands attempting to woo Kosova, paying her between & 36;500 and & 36;1,500 for lap dances and dates and buying her expensive gifts, Kosova testified in Acremant's California murder trial for killing Scott George. Acremant started a relationship in April 1995 with Kosova that she described as a platonic friendship, according to court transcripts. But Acremant thought she was his girlfriend. August, he'd emptied his savings, maxed his credit cards and needed money to keep up with Kosova, who was already becoming wealthy from her Las Vegas real estate investments. Acremant moved to Medford and was unable to find a job. Planning a robbery, he contacted Ellis in December 1995, saying he was interested in renting from Ellis' firm, according to court testimony. — When Ellis showed up at the property, Acremant pulled a gun on her, demanding that she write him a check. When she refused, Acremant told her to call Abdill, who drove to the property without a checkbook, according to testimony. Acremant bound the women and shot them in the back of the head with a .25-caliber pistol. Acremant was also convicted and sentenced to death in California for the October 1995 murder of George, the son of his mother's boyfriend. Acremant's death row status currently is the only one for a crime committed in Jackson County. Acremant made some claims that the murders of Abdill and Ellis were motivated by his hatred of lesbians, which drew worldwide attention, but he later admitted the killings were part of a botched robbery. Kosova, who was a trial witness and never linked to the killings, testified that Acremant was a pretty good client. Kosova's Web site, , describes her as a self-made multi-millionaire from real estate investments and her ownership of a chain of upscale massage spas in Las Vegas. Her online biography says she made her first real estate investment at age 19 but makes no mention of her work as an entertainer at the all-nude Palomino Club, where Acremant met her. A new season of The Apprentice begins at 9 p.m. next Thursday.