Damien Hurstel Staten Island teen with a history of schizophrenia decapitates his step-father Anthony Casalaspro at family home. Incident comes after years of ongoing domestic violence at the West-Brighton residence.
A 19 year old man faces murder charges for allegedly decapitating his stepfather at a Staten Island residence.
Damien Hurstel following his arrest on Monday was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Notice of the calamity came after police responded to a call of a person stabbed at 380 Cary Ave. in the West Brighton section just before 4:30 p.m. Monday, ABCNY7 reported.
Staten Island step-dad’s head removed with hacksaw
When officers arrived, they discovered the 45-year-old victim in the bathtub with multiple stab wounds to his head and neck. The victim was pronounced dead.
Police told ABC7 that the suspect’s 16-year-old sister arrived home from school circa 4 p.m, where she came upon the grisly scene. She found blood in several rooms throughout the house before discovering the victim’s body in the bathtub.
The suspect allegedly told his sister that he ‘did something bad,’ the outlet reported.
Responding officers told of finding the victim decapitated, with the murder weapon in the body of the victim since identified as Anthony Casalaspro, SILIVE reported.
The victim had multiple stab wounds to the head and neck. Casalaspro’s head had been removed with a hacksaw, police sources told PIX11 News.
Hurstel allegedly told police the brutal slaying unfolded after he argued with his mother during the morning, prompting his mom’s boyfriend, to tell him to take a walk to calm down, a source told the nypost.
History of domestic violence and ongoing mental health woes
The agitated Hurstel allegedly returned home to find his mother gone, leading to an altercation that ended with him beating Casalaspro to death with a meat tenderizer, the sources said.
He allegedly planned to cut up the body into pieces that he’d pulverize with a blender, but ran into trouble during the dismemberment, according to the sources. The teen is alleged to have told cops he wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.
A first attempt to sever the victim’s head with a kitchen knife failed, prompting the step-son to grab a hand saw from a shed to finish the grisly job according to sources.
Hurstel then allegedly used a hammer in a failed attempt to remove the boyfriend’s brain, only to be interrupted by his sister arriving home from school – leading to the macabre discovery and his eventual arrest.
Casalaspro, a retired NYC sanitation worker had been dating the stepson’s mother for several years. Casalaspro had been forced to go on disability due to severe vision loss, the nypost reported.
The last few years had been marked by repeated domestic violence calls to the ‘family’ home, as well as concerns about the teen son’s mental health and is and is believed to be schizophrenic according to neighbors.
Not immediately clear is the degree of mental heath treatment the teen was receiving.
The teen has no prior arrests. Authorities continue to investigate.
