http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12959360.htm
Posted on Fri, Oct. 21, 2005 Tragedy changed suspect in slaying DARK MOOD: TEEN WAS NEVER THE SAME AFTER SISTER'S DEATH By Brandon Bailey and Ken McLaughlin Mercury News LAFAYETTE - In the days after the slaying on the hilltop, the mood at the house down the steep, narrow road grew strained. Behind closed doors, people spoke in hushed tones. Whether the tension was about the weekend killing of a neighbor or something else is unclear. But on Thursday, 16-year-old Scott Dyleski -- the teenager fascinated with dark, gothic rituals who lived in the house with his mother and another family -- was in custody on suspicion of slaying his neighbor Pamela Vitale. She had been bludgeoned dozens of times with a thick piece of crown molding from the nearly complete mansion she was building with her husband, lawyer and TV commentator Daniel Horowitz, according to a law enforcement source. The killer carved a gothic symbol -- a double-crossed ``T'' -- into her back, the source said, and stabbed and slashed her a number of times. As she lay dead in the entryway of the mobile home the couple shared while their 7,000 square-foot Italianate villa was under construction next door, Dyleski cleaned up, the source said. He washed his hands in the bathroom sink and took a shower. He drank a glass of water and left. The weapon remained behind, the source said. Clothing that had been scrubbed with OxyClean, a household cleanser that breaks down organic stains such as blood, was found after the killing at a Hunsaker Canyon Road house, although it wasn't clear whether it was the house Dyleski lived in, the source said. Authorities believe Dyleski was trying to start a marijuana-growing operation and was stealing credit card numbers from the mailboxes along Hunsaker Canyon Road to finance it. He would order lighting and other equipment, have it shipped to the neighbors' homes and try to pick up the deliveries before the neighbors noticed, the source said. A violent struggle Dyleski may have had merchandise sent to the Horowitz property, the source theorized, and when he went to see if it had been delivered sometime Saturday, he encountered Vitale. A violent struggle ensued. A heavy, 65-inch TV screen had even been shoved aside. A wall was covered with splattered blood. Horowitz has told reporters that it appeared to him that his 52-year-old wife had ``fought like hell.'' Mourners gathered Thursday in Lafayette's Oakmont Memorial Park for a private funeral for Vitale, who was remembered as a deeply loving mother, wife and friend. Dyleski, barely 120 pounds, was arrested late Wednesday night at the Walnut Creek house of a family friend and is being held in Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall. His face and leg were apparently scratched, the law enforcement source said. Dyleski's mother had dropped her son there for his father to pick up. She left instructions that the boy was ``on restriction'' and could not use the phone or computer -- or be left alone. The killing occurred at the top of Hunsaker Canyon Road deep in the Lafayette hills -- a rugged area filled with a mix of shacks, rusted campers, and a few pricey estates with commanding views of the East Bay hills. Dyleski lived less than a mile from the site of the slaying down the steep, winding road with his mother, Esther Fielding, and two other families, including David Curiel and Curiel's brother and wife, Fred and Kim Curiel. The Curiels built the house in 1997 out of recycled materials and straw-bales. It had been featured in a ``Green Home Tour.'' Change in mood ``I knew something was up,'' said David Curiel of the mood in the house days after the slaying. ``They were being very tight-lipped.'' Dyleski had attended Acalanes High School in Lafayette, but had recently received his GED and started taking classes at Diablo Valley College. One of his friends since middle school said that Dyleski had been a ``normal preppy kid, kind of a nerdy kid'' through seventh grade, and was a decent baseball player. But three years ago, his sister died in a car crash, and friends say he was never the same. One day, in the eighth grade, Dyleski showed up at school with a full gothic look -- a black trench coat, black painted nails and lips, silver jewelry. He would often be seen reading the ``Satanist's Bible.'' Dyleski and his friends would have rituals, said the friend. ``They'd have seances and light red candles,'' said Keith Kingon, a 16-year-old sophomore at Acalanes. ``I think it was just an attention-getting thing.'' But another Acalanes student said Dyleski was his friend. ``We all dress differently. Yeah, he got arrested, but he's someone who's very nice. I don't think he'd do anything to hurt anyone. He might have been involved in growing marijuana, but I don't think he'd do anything violent.'' Back on Hunsaker Canyon Road, David Curiel said he considered Dyleski ``just a normal kid.'' He seemed to be phasing out of the goth look -- he'd cut his hair and stopped wearing the dark nail polish. Curiel thought maybe that he'd landed a job. Problems noticed But just recently before the killing, neighbors began noticing problems with their credit card bills and unusual deliveries to their homes. Within a day or so of the killing, one of the neighbors went to the house where Dyleski lived and confronted someone there about their suspicions. It's unclear what resolution came of that. Dyleski's mother, Esther Fielding, had once owned a small cafe in Lafayette with Kim Curiel called ``Cafe Esperanza,'' or Cafe Hope, serving organic, fair-trade coffee and ``no carb'' frittata. Fielding also offered healing therapies from her Hunsaker Canyon Road house, promising ways to change core beliefs that ``you're lazy, selfish, useless, a failure.'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mercury News Staff Writers Elise Ackerman and Julia Prodis Sulek, and Knight Ridder also contributed to this report. Contact Brandon Bailey at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (408) 920-5022. The Mercury News strives to avoid use of unnamed sources. When unnamed sources are used because information cannot otherwise be obtained, the newspaper generally requires more than one source to confirm the information. Nephilim's Paranormal Investigations - http://paranorm.cjb.net __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. 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