Murder suspect's mom cries as she recalls turning over evidence

Martinez, Calif. -- The mother of a teenage murder suspect dissolved into tears as she described the day she turned over evidence in the case to investigators.

It was the hardest day of her life, Esther Fielding said as she testified Thursday at the trial of her son, 17-year-old Scott Dyleski.

"I had to do it," she said, clutching her face in her hands and sobbing. "I had to know. I had to do it."

Dyleski is charged with killing Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent defense attorney Daniel Horowitz. Prosecutors believe Dyleski killed the 52-year-old Vitale in connection with a credit card fraud scheme he and a friend were running in hopes of setting up an indoor pot-growing operation.

Fielding, who at one point was arrested on charges of destroying evidence, but was released after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, finished testifying Thursday, her second day on the stand.

As on Wednesday, she faced questions about why she burned some of her son's possessions.

Questions about the credit card scheme emerged shortly after Vitale's death when another neighbor noticed that equipment had been charged to her card but the shipping address was the house where Dyleski lived.

Fielding acknowledged warning her son that his room was about to be searched by other members of the household and she also said she later destroyed some of his things, including a box of gloves and pieces of paper bearing credit card numbers and other information. Experts have testified Vitale's attacker wore gloves.

However, Fielding said repeatedly she only worried her son was involved in a credit card scam and did not connect him to the murder of Vitale, their neighbor in the San Francisco suburb of Lafayette.

Sorry .. I have a 20 year old rebel son ... you do things .. hoping ... tough love was invented for real situations.

I did not mean to imply in my previous post that your rebellious son was evil.

Specifically, I was thinking of the Columbine killers who came from intact families with siblings who were well adjusted.

NP .. no need to apologize ... I understand.

I gave my parents hell when I was your son's age. I know they were disappointed at the direction my life was heading. In time I grew out of it and became a productive citizen.

Now I'm watching my younger brother do the same thing and I can relate to the frustration my parents felt.

Hope everything turns out OK.

Oh, boo hoo. *I'm crying because I can't remember anything because I usually take my thyroid medicine to help me not forget, but I forgot to take it.*

Great barking moonbats, Robin! Ye gods and little fishes, this lady *do* take the cake. That's right, she co-owned the tea room with Kim and said she was a baker - that she went and worked in a bakery somewhere else after she got kicked out of the Curiel household. Or did she? Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Maybe it was her sister's bakery.

Now she's a seamstress, in her latest DNA activation! She cooks, she sews, she's the June Cleaver of Hunsaker Canyon. Poor Beave, he's gonna need some brownies, I think, when this is all over with.

Knife? What knife? Have never seen that knife in my life. Oh, that knife? It was in my purse, but I don't know how it got there. Maybe it was in a red backpack. Or maybe in a blue duffel bag. I can't remember! Where did you get that? I thought I burned it!

Note to self: Next time, burn *everything.*

Shoes? What shoes? Oh, *those* shoes. Yeah, they're Scott's. *waaahhhh* *sob*

I never thought I'd be saying, "Bring on the coroner!" However ....

"Bring on the coroner!"

Gonna be scary when they match that hawkbill blade with the cuts on Pamela. It has these little notches ... tune in tomorrow - er, Monday ... for "As the Canyon Turns." Who will Ibrahim Scott al-Dyleski terrorize next?

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