Posted on 10/21/2005 7:34:48 AM PDT by smartin
MARTINEZ, California (CNN) -- The teenage suspect in the beating death of a prominent lawyer's wife was described by classmates as a "gothic" loner who followed the occult and dressed in black from the polish on his fingernails to his trench coat.
The young man is being held as a juvenile in the slaying of Pamela Vitale, wife of lawyer and television pundit Daniel Horowitz. Police say he apparently acted alone.
Horowitz found Vitale's body when he returned to a trailer the couple shared while they built a dream estate on a hilltop in affluent Lafayette, east of Oakland.
Authorities said Vitale, 52, was bludgeoned by a strip of crown molding and fought with her killer. (See video about the arrest -- 4:35)
A gothic cross was carved into her back. That symbol may be a key link to the suspect.
"He was just really a gothic kid, and everyone knew who he was just because of his apparel. When you heard the name, you were just like, 'Oh, that kid,' " a classmate told CNN.
"He just definitely stood out in front of anybody in the school," the classmate added. "When he walked by, everybody talked about him -- like, he definitely didn't blend in."
Authorities would not identify the 16-year-old, and CNN is not naming him because of his age. But news outlets in the San Francisco Bay area widely publicized his name after his arrest late Wednesday.
Former classmates told The Associated Press that the teenager drew a pentagram on the ground at school, telling other students he was reading from the book of Satan.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
"She was the kind of single mom you take your hat off to, when you see someone who does everything you should do to raise a kid," Holgerson said.
Acknowledging that I only know little bits and pieces of information, and what I do know is being fed to me by a media that is not always known for accuracy, I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb here by saying that providing a home of a lean-to made out of straw bales may not amount to doing everything that should be done to raise a kid.
I was just backing up what I said with a source. Other than that, I'm with you. :-)
Until about a year ago, it was a bagel shop.
When it gets cold, I wear socks!
What is this "goth" crap?
Thanks. I can't let that kind of stuff stand. It isn't what we're about.
That kindof stuff is just ignernt.
My family will have no trouble spending the life insurance benefits.
You forgot to add the words, STUPID and IRRESPONSIBLE.
"I was just backing up what I said with a source."
Of course. Sometimes I'm not sure how to indicate a disagreement with the post, not with the poster.
Not just s cut themselves. It is a mental disorder.
Sounds like the kid didn't need an "A** kicking*. He was troubled by his wacky mother and strange living arrangement. His sister was tragically killed and it put him over the edge.
Don't think a beating would help.
I missed the satan worship in school part.
I agree ... a mental mess, and probably using drugs, as well. Sometimes it doesn't seem that hippies are really hurting anyone, but that's obviously not the case here.
Heck Granddad did that for years near the end. Different shoes and vests on backwards, too. Didn't know he was so cutting edge.
Really tragic. Mom sounds self involved. Why on earth they did not get help earlier is beyond me, especially with a death that so clearly affected him.
The entire group sounded like a bunch of hippie-type folks from the article description.
I agree. Such a dramatic change in his behavior, immediately after his sister's death, should have led them to get him psychological help. I suppose that wouldn't have been "respectful" of his "self-actualization," or something.
Not what I hear. The mom is a total whack job who lives in what they called a "lean to" on a friend's property. Basically a shack with weeds all around it with two other families.
Is it just me, or does this guy look like Sandra Bernhard?
He quotes the source of the "niceness" report in post #174.
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