Posted on 10/20/2005 4:29:25 PM PDT by SmithL
Investigators have arrested a 16-year-old boy in the slaying of Pamela Vitale, a Contra Costa Sheriff's Office spokesman confirmed today.
The boy, Scott Dyleski, was arrested at the home of a family friend in Walnut Creek, where his mother dropped him off Wednesday evening.
"His mom dropped him off so his dad could come get him," said the friend who asked not to be named.
Investigators believe Dyleski struck Vitale dozens of times with a piece of crown molding and another object, a law enforcement source said. She was also stabbed and slashed with a sharp object and the killer carved into her back a double-crossed "T," which the source described as some kind of gothic symbol.
High tech fraud detectives were already investigating Dyleski and a teenage friend, who has not been implicated in the killing, in connection with a scheme that involved stealing credit card bills from mailboxes and using the numbers to buy merchandise on-line.
The two allegedly devised a plan to grow marijuana and were trying to procure lighting and other equipment.
On Wednesday, someone tipped off police that Dyleski was involved in the Vitale slaying. He was arrested at the family friend's home later that night.
One police theory is Dyleski had merchandise sent to the Horowitz property and that he went to the home Saturday to see if it had been delivered -- possibly running into Vitale, the source said.
As she lay dead in the entryway, Dyleski allegedly cleaned up, washing his hands in the bathroom sink and taking a shower at the home. He had a glass of water and left, leaving the murder weapon behind, the source said.
A law enforcement source said shortly after the slaying, detectives found clothing at a residence on Hunsaker Canyon Road that had recently been scrubbed with OxyClean, a household cleanser that breaks down organic stains such as blood.
Dyleski lives at a crowded, unkempt straw-bale house on Hunsaker Canyon with two other families.
The family friend who asked that his name be withheld said he knew that Dyleski had obtained some special lights but was not aware of any involvement in drugs.
Dyleski did not talk much Wednesday night. He did not appear to have any scratches or injuries, the man said. The man was shocked when detectives told him about the alleged connection to the Vitale killing.
On Wednesday, when the boy's mother dropped Dyleski at the Walnut Creek house, she left instructions that he was "on restriction" and could not use the phone or computer or be left alone.
The friend took Dyleski on a drive to Vallejo and back. A short while later sheriff's deputies swarmed the house and took Dyleski away in handcuffs.
The man met Dyleski about seven years ago through his sister and took him out to play golf and tried to be a mentor.
"To me he's a nonviolent person," the man said.
Vitale's husband, defense attorney Daniel Horowitz, said he's done a significant amount of free legal work for a family Dyleski lived with on Hunsaker Canyon.
Sheriff's detectives served search warrants at a home in Walnut Creek and another at a residence on Hunsaker Canyon Road in Lafayette late Wednesday, spokesman Jimmy Lee confirmed today at a press conference.
The boy was questioned and taken to Juvenile Hall.
"Although we have a suspect in custody, the investigation is on-going. We are still interviewing people and waiting for test results," Lee said.
Detectives have yet to determine a motive for the slaying, he said.
Lee refused to take questions from reporters or confirm the suspect's identity, although sources said the boy was recently a junior at Acalanes High School in Lafayette.
Early Thursday, the school was grappling with the notion one of its own might be responsible for such a violent crime. Students were in tears and a few of police officers were on campus to keep media representatives from swarming over the campus, said Lafayette Police Detectuve Craig Jiminez.
School officials refused to comment.
Horowitz, known nationally for his on-air legal commentary during such high profile cases as the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder trials, discovered his wife's badly beaten body Saturday evening at the couple's home on Hunsaker Canyon Road.
Detectives finished processing the modular home for clues early Wednesday morning and returned the Hunsaker Canyon Road property to Horowitz. Within several hours, he was leading CNN television personality Nancy Grace through the home.
CNN's camera zoomed in on the front door of the modular home, digitally blurring smears of blood as Grace talked about what she saw inside: Vitale's blood spattered 4-feet up the entryway wall and dark swirls of fingerprint powder dotted throughout the home, including the inside of the bathroom door.
"To me he's a nonviolent person," the man said.
Doesn't look violent to me. Another peaceful pothead just snaps. He should have gotten a medical marijuana card instead.
Wish I would have thought of that!
So now we're dragging the French into this, next thing you know it will all be because of a directive from Bin Laden. By the way, you only need to push "enter" once.
It's from Reagan of course.
It is a little misleading. It's really a combination of some or all of those. It seems to be happening a lot near me, except for the murders (so far). Drug dealers from the big city recruit people to 'grow' for them in rural areas, we were told in the police report, generally teen potsmokers, who lately happen to be punk or goth or both, and as so many teens are, computer savvy. Our local police have busted a huge pot ring of local teens and non-local dealers who were scheming to grow (gathering supplies) and to fund this venture, they used identity and credit card theft. And a few smaller groups as well. And it's not just pot anymore, but heroine, too. It's happening all over the rural area where I am in the small towns, a couple hours drive from the 'cities'. The son of acquaintances of mine is serving time now, awaiting trial, for identity theft, computer fraud, drug posession. It's not his first arrest. And the family is well to do and are involved in their kids lives - or were.
Of course!
He was ordering lights, etc. and having them delivered to the construction site to avoid suspicion. The lights etc. would then be used in an indoor pot factory.
It's great, just as long as you keep the cattle out of the living room.
and that of course drove him to murder? sorry if i call that a little bit "reefer madness" BS.
good one, LOL!!
No death penalty for minors in CA.
I wondered how folks would feel about that when something awful happened. Didn't expect it so soon.
A bicycle sits in the front yard of a home in the 1000 block of Hunsaker Canyon, the home of the suspect in the murder of Pamela Vitale. Chronicle photo by Mark Costantini
From http://www.adpsr-norcal.org/menu/Events/Calendar2002/Nov2002.htm:
|
Saturday
11/16/2002 |
8am - Dark, 1050 Hunsaker Canyon Rd., Lafayette. Straw Bale Raising Come to this old-fashioned Amish barn raising event. If you're interested in helping in someway that does not involve hoisting or hauling bales there will be plenty to do. Food, drink, and childcare will be provided (RSVP by 11/7). Anyone wishing to spend the night, is welcome to pitch a tent or to sleep on the subfloor in a sleeping bag. Info: 925/284-0142. |
The phone reverses to a Frederick and Kimberly Curiel at that address.
It's also apparently the home of a certain Esther Fielding, who is into DNA Activation. Whatever.
Sounds like a regular old commune.
why exactly is the title misleading as a "pot scheme?" that seems rather demagogic to me. it could also be a "goth scheme" or a "satanic scheme" or a "scheme to buy stuff online."
Exactly DMinus, or a fund raiser to re-elect __________.
Fortunecookie, I have to disagree with what you said in your post. It's not that I'm accusing you of mis-truths, I'm sure you're only repeating what you've been told. In my real life, I've been involved in combating this type of enterprise for years, most kids who smoke pot give the habit up after a few years, particularly once they get into carreers paths and whatnot. Most normal kids would avoid getting involved in any type of situation you mention, the risks are far too high, both legally and personally. This leaves the outsiders who really have nothing to lose. Coming from a family that is well to do and involved in their kids lives is not a guarantee that a young person won't get into trouble, on the contrary, when these kids do break the law, it is usually indicative of something far more serious going on within the family unit. Also, heroin is extremely, extremely difficult to cultivatel in North American climates, nor does it do well in a greenhous stting.
How much do you think this kid would take to do the dirty deed?
Don't think the kid did it....look closer to DH
Is that some kind of witchcraft, voodoo, or just something alternative, really people, stop being so paranoid. This kid could have been bullied by classmates for the last 6 years. Don't be so afraid of something that isn't perfectly clear to you.
I think you probably mean "heroin producing" poppies.
...doesn't look as funky, or scream "HIPPY!" as loudly.
Fortunecookie, I have to disagree with what you said in your post. It's not that I'm accusing you of mis-truths, I'm sure you're only repeating what you've been told.
Actually, it's not what I've been told, these particular teens are kids I've known for years, and their parents (some my peers), too. These kids perpetrating these crimes are only a small number of the kids smoking pot, whether occasionally or regularly. Perhaps I should have added that.
In my real life, I've been involved in combating this type of enterprise for years, most kids who smoke pot give the habit up after a few years, particularly once they get into carreers paths and whatnot. Most normal kids would avoid getting involved in any type of situation you mention, the risks are far too high, both legally and personally.
And I agree, that of these kids 'busted' for further activities other than 'personal use' or 'posession', were indeed outsiders, whether well off or poor.
Coming from a family that is well to do and involved in their kids lives is not a guarantee that a young person won't get into trouble, on the contrary, when these kids do break the law, it is usually indicative of something far more serious going on within the family unit.
I didn't mean to imply that, I guess knowing him, I was really shocked. You know, 'good family' and all that. I agree, I think you're right that something must have been going on inside their family, but for that teen from that family to be involved so deeply, it was a shock to a lot of people. The family is well off, but they were also considered a 'good' family, that was the shock, but I guess it always is in that case.
Also, heroin is extremely, extremely difficult to cultivatel in North American climates, nor does it do well in a greenhous stting.
LOL, wow, I'm didn't catch that, I'm really having an off day! I didn't mean to imply that they intended to grow heroin, merely peddle it. I guess it was misleading the way I typed it.
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