Scott Dyleski Murder Trial Opens With Gruesome Details

(AP) MARTINEZ — Pamela Vitale fought back. Investigators found defensive wounds on her beaten body, including broken hand bones and scratches and bruises, they say indicate she struggled to hold off whoever broke into her home last fall.

Opening statements were scheduled to begin Thursday in the trial of the person prosecutors allege was responsible for the fatal attack — 17-year-old Scott Dyleski, a neighbor of Vitale and her husband, prominent defense attorney Daniel Horowitz.

It was Horowitz who found Vitale’s body last Oct. 15 in the trailer where they were living while their dream home was under construction in the San Francisco suburb of Lafayette.

The 52-year-old Vitale had been beaten and had a four-inch deep stab wound in her abdomen. A symbol in the shape of an H had been cut into her back.

Horowitz, who was in court defending a woman charged with killing her husband the day of the murder, was never considered a suspect, although police wondered at first if the killing involved one of the many people he had defended.

But four days after the murder, Dyleski, then 16, was arrested.

Preliminary testimony and police documents indicate Dyleski and a friend had bought marijuana-growing equipment using credit card information and addresses stolen from their neighbors, including Horowitz and Vitale.

According to Dyleski’s friend, one company denied a purchase that apparently was to be shipped to Horowitz and Vitale’s address and Dyleski had said he would take care of it.

Investigators said they found a duffel bag of bloody clothing and other evidence linking Dyleski to the victim. The bag, which had Dyleski’s name on it, was found in an abandoned van on the property where he lived with his mother down the road from Horowitz and Vitale’s hilltop estate.

Investigators also found a CD cover by the industrial dance band “Velvet Acid Christ.” A symbol in the liner resembles the symbol found on Vitale’s body.

Yearbook pictures show Dyleski as a brooding youth with black-rimmed eyes, but while some acquaintances described him as odd and aloof, others, including his stepfather Glenn Hirschberger, say he was a thoughtful person incapable of the vicious attack.

Dyleski’s mother, Esther Fielding, initially was arrested for destroying evidence, but charges were dropped after she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Dyleski has been jailed since his arrest. He is being tried as an adult and if convicted could face life in prison.

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