A 19-year-old has been charged with brutal murder of his stepfather who was found decapitated in the bathroom of their Staten Island home, according to police.
Damien Hurstel also faces a weapon possession charge for the killing of 45-year-old Anthony Casalaspro, who was found dead Monday afternoon. A family member walked into the home on Cary Avenue in West Brighton around 4:30 p.m. and found trails of blood in rooms throughout the house, police sources said. She then saw the decapitated victim in the bathtub.
A knife was still in Casalaspro’s neck when police arrived at the scene, sources told NBC New York.
Hurstel, Casalaspro’s stepson, has a history of mental illness, his mother stated. He was expected to be arraigned Tuesday, according to the Staten Island district attorney’s office.
Investigators could be seen suiting up in protective suits before entering the grisly scene in a residential neighborhood.
A neighbor who said he’s lived on the street for more than 50 years said he knows most of the people who live in the area, but wasn’t familiar with the people who lived at the home.
“I saw a young lady, and a young man over there,” neighbor Hugh Nembhard said. “I’m not familiar with the stepson. I never saw him. I saw the father, never the stepson.”
Nembhard said he “saw any trouble” from those who lived there.