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Neglected boy grows up to take pleasure in killing

By Lisa Sweetingham
Court TV

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MARTINEZ, California (Court TV) -- Scott Dyleski was a 16-year-old college student, animal rights' activist and budding artist when he woke up one morning last fall and apparently decided to bludgeon his accomplished 52-year-old neighbor to death.

The horrific crime left his friends and neighbors baffled. They would soon learn that the teen took evident pleasure in the act.

He carved a symbol into his victim's back as she lay dying and then joked with friends that night about killer Lizzie Borden as they pondered how many whacks it would take to kill a human being.

"I can understand why people are struggling to understand what it was that caused you to do it," Judge Barbara Zuniga told Dyleski at his sentencing hearing on Monday.

"People do not want to understand and to accept that someone who looks like you, who is the young man living next door, could be so evil," she added, sentencing the teen to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the October 15, 2005, murder of Pamela Vitale.

People who knew Dyleski testified at his murder trial that, while the 110-pound 5-foot-6 teen may have been an outsider at school, "he handled it well." He was kind, intelligent and funny, they said.

Boy Scouts and Ultimate Frisbee

Dyleski was a Boy Scout who was several merit badges short of Eagle Scout. He was on the Ultimate Frisbee team.

He had a close circle of friends and adults to lean on, as he lived with his mother and two other families in a peaceful, commune-style home in rural, woodsy Lafayette. His parents said he was excited about starting college classes and had hopes about his future.

So how did he become a ruthless killer?

At the advice of his attorney, Dyleski has refused to admit guilt or make statements about the murder. But recently released court documents shed light on the secret tragedies -- allegations of drug abuse, physical abuse, and poverty -- that riddled the teen's formative years, and which his parents still claim to be in the dark about.

According to a September 21 sentencing memo prepared by Dyleski's public defender, Scott's parents, Esther Fielding and Ken Dyleski, separated when he was 2. Scott and his mother moved frequently, living hand-to-mouth throughout Northern California.

When he was 6, his mother remarried, then divorced again. Shortly after Dyleski's arrest, he told a juvenile counselor that he was abused by his stepfather from ages 6 to 9, according to a presentencing probation report.

Ken Dyleski and Fielding say they were unaware of any abuse, according to the report.

Lean-to living

By sixth grade, Dyleski and his mother were in Lafayette, living in sleeping bags on the property of his mother's friends, Fred and Kim Curiel. Fred Curiel later built the boy and his mother a lean-to shack, constructed of straw and mud.

"For years, Scott lived without electricity, plumbing, heat or running water. He was able to shower only once a week, at the homes of his mother's friends," attorney Ellen Leonida wrote in her sentencing memo.

"The fact that Esther Fielding describes the years they spent in a lean-to as 'fun' and 'like camping' is a telling example of the profound narcissism that defines the adults in Scott's life," Leonida wrote.

"Equally disturbing is the fact that Ken Dyleski never offered his home to Scott -- not when his son was living outside, not when his son was living in a lean-to, not even during the time that his son's makeshift shack had become infested with vermin," she added.

On December 17, 1994, a referral was made to Children and Family Services for general neglect and on April 3, 1995, for emotional abuse, according to the probation report prepared by Deputy Probation Officer Eddy Tanaka.

"Neither referral was investigated and the case was closed," the report states. No further details were provided, except to note that Ken Dyleski said during a September 18, 2006, phone interview that he had contacted Children's Protective Services in the past because he was concerned about his son's living conditions.

"Mr. Dyleski maintained that he kept in close and regular contact with his son and not only took him out to dine, but also accompanied him to Boy Scout outings," Tanaka wrote in his report.

Esther Fielding also told Tanaka that Dyleski "always provided financial support for his child and was actively involved in his life."

Sibling died in auto crash

But Ken Dyleski's second wife, Lyn Johnson, paints a different picture.

Johnson, who identified herself as Lyn Dyleski at the sentencing hearing, described her ex-husband as self-centered and unaffectionate toward his son. Johnson and Dyleski were divorced in June 2006, according to the probation report.

In 2002, Scott's half-sister died in a bizarre auto crash.

"She was the passenger in a car in which the driver was attempting to commit suicide," Leonida wrote. "Both Scott's sister and another passenger, neither of whom were aware of the suicide plan, were killed."

Witnesses at trial said Dyleski began wearing black continuously after his sister's funeral. He also had a deep interest in Goth music, black eye make-up, dark artwork and serial killers. With his girlfriend, he bantered philosophically about pain and torture and his disbelief in heaven or hell.

Fielding told Tanaka that her son spent six months in therapy after his sister's death, but when his grades improved treatment was terminated.

By 2002, Fred Curiel had finished construction of his dream home, made of ecological materials, and Scott, his mother, Curiel and his wife and two kids, and another family all moved inside. Scott finally had his own bedroom.

In that room, investigators would later find his artwork in homage to Jack the Ripper and symbols that resembled the one carved into Vitale's back.

High school dropout

By 10th grade, Scott had quit high school, obtained his GED, and later enrolled in anthropology and psychology classes at Diablo Valley College.

He worked as a baker in a bagel shop co-run by his mother, sometimes waking up as early as 4 a.m. and staying until it closed, according to the report.

Despite his personal tragedy, Fielding described her son to officer Tanaka as "a well-behaved youngster who had never been in trouble, was respectful, helpful and never displayed any anger."

Fielding, who was nearly prosecuted as an accessory to murder after she burned evidence from her son's backpack, still does not believe Dyleski is guilty, despite the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, including his bloody clothing, DNA evidence and a footprint left at the scene, which link her son to the murder.

"Ms. Fielding is of the opinion that the defendant could not have committed a murder, and that the sight of blood (when his blood was being drawn) would make him feel faint," Tanaka's report said.

She also claims to have seen no evidence that Scott ever abused drugs or alcohol, "although she did mention one incident in which he accidentally drank some lemonade at a party that had alcohol in it."

But according to information derived from a detention-removal order submitted to juvenile court on October 20, 2005, Dyleski told a juvenile probation officer at the time that he had used a variety of drugs, mostly from age 10 to 12.

"He tried marijuana and smoked it weekly for several months and sporadically since then. He smoked heroin during the same time frame, but used it more than any other drug, maybe once or twice a week for a couple months," the probation report states.

"He used cocaine base twice, MDMA (Ecstasy) once and LSD once. He admitted to using alcohol, preferring absinthe, and estimated being intoxicated 10 to 15 times in his life. He stated that he had two 'blackouts,' although they were not alcohol-related, and that they were 'stress related,'" the report stated.

Pot-growing scheme

Like Fielding, Ken Dyleski was "surprised by allegations of marijuana and alcohol abuse by the defendant and he never noticed anything in his behavior that would suggest he had problems in this area," according to the report.

Dyleski's parents' lack of awareness of his internal life may be what emboldened him to endeavor into a drug-growing scheme that ended in murder.

It was the confession of Dyleski's best friend, Robin Croen, that ultimately led to his arrest for murder. Croen told police that the pair had devised a plot to steal credit card numbers and buy marijuana-growing equipment online.

The plan, Dyleski's pal testified during trial, was that Croen would research the hydroponics equipment needed, while Dyleski would steal his neighbors' credit information, order the products and then grow the pot plants in his closet.

Vitale and Dyleski did not know one another, and her credit card was never used by Dyleski for fraudulent purchases, but her home address was.

During trial, prosecutor Hal Jewett theorized that Dyleski killed Vitale in a case of rage and mistaken identity. The teen appeared to have linked Vitale's address to the credit card numbers he stole from neighbor Karen Schneider.

The day before Vitale was killed, according to trial testimony, Dyleski was on the phone with a savvy lighting vendor who refused to honor his online purchase of special growing lights. The teen had tried to purchase the equipment using Vitale's address and Schneider's stolen credit card number.

Dyleski may have believed that Schneider was thwarting his scheme, prosecutors suggested. Schneider had also recently run over Dyleski's family's dog, Jazz, who was running loose in the street. The confluence of events may have triggered Dyleski's rage.

A rage that turned to murder

But the question that still baffles his friends and family is how his anger could have turned into murder.

The probation officer expressed an inability to gauge teen's perception of his crime.

"Since we have not been able to question the defendant regarding the offenses, we do not know whether he is in complete denial, whether he has some explanation regarding the circumstances of the offenses or if he is feeling any remorse," the report states.

Dyleski has been in custody since his arrest October 19, and a counselor described him as "a good worker who got along with his peers, followed orders and was one of the best residents."

However, a "tattoo kit" was found in his room at one point, and a female counselor wrote him up for exposing himself on November 19, 2005.

"During a room check, the defendant was standing near his bed with his underwear pulled down, completely exposing himself to the counselor," according to the report. "He was folding his bedding and made no effort to cover himself."

The counselor went on to state that it was "not uncommon for detainees to do that to female staff."

Dyleski, who turns 18 next month, will spend the rest of his life in prison without the chance of parole.

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