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.
Interesting take. Thanks.
And have the merchandise mailed where? Nothing dumber than a teenager on drugs.
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