{"id":128,"date":"2025-10-13T23:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T23:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:46:13","slug":"staten-island-murder-victim-was-a-great-man-says-fiancee-of-slain-mechanic-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island murder victim \u2018was a great man,\u2019 says fianc\u00e9e of slain mechanic: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Alicia Zayas says her fianc\u00e9, Anthony Casalaspro, was a good man, a city sanitation mechanic who stepped up to help raise her children, according to the New York Post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s mourning his brutal death and pleading for understanding as her son, 19-year-old Damien Hurstel, faces murder charges<\/a> in one of Staten Island\u2019s most horrifying crimes in recent memory.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t have to do that,\u201d Zayas said in an interview with the New York Post. \u201cAnthony was helping me raise my kids. He was a great man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cary\"An investigator inspects the front porch of the home at Cary Avenue.(Advance\/SILive.com | Scott Axelrod)<\/p>\n

Hurstel is accused of stabbing Casalaspro to death <\/a>and decapitating him inside the family\u2019s West Brighton home. <\/p>\n

Hurstel allegedly showed his 16-year-old sister Bri the mutilated body and asked, \u201cDo you want her (Zayas) to live?\u201d during a terrifying encounter, Zayas recounted in the New York Post interview.<\/p>\n

Zayas said Bri fled behind the family\u2019s shed and called her in a panic. After racing home, Zayas said she found her son in the kitchen. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he was cleaning,\u201d she said. \u201cLike he was doing dishes. His eyes looked different\u2026dark, like something had changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

After discovering the horrific murder scene in the bathroom, Zayas said she called 911 and begged responding officers not to hurt her son.<\/p>\n

\u2018This was preventable\u2019<\/p>\n

Zayas said she hopes to expose what she describes as a catastrophic failure of the mental health system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was preventable,\u201d she said to the New York Post. \u201cSomething is seriously wrong with my son. He wasn\u2019t like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurstel\u2019s defense attorney, Mark Fonte, previously told the Advance\/SILive.com that the accused killer suffered from multiple mental illnesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my understanding\u2014again, this is just a cursory review of some of his medical records\u2014he had an antipsychotic medication, bipolar medication, schizophrenic medication, kind of the whole gambit of mental health issues,” Fonte said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s very sad,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s very sad that anyone would have to go through life suffering from these chronic mental health issues. And it\u2019s also sad that in this country, we really don\u2019t address the mental health crisis that\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fonte also called Hurstel\u2019s mental health history \u201clong and tortured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zayas told the NY Post that Hurstel began struggling with mental illness at age 6, after his father went to prison. Damien was hospitalized twice after suicide attempts but stabilized by age 14. <\/p>\n

Fonte told the Advance\/SILive.com that until Hurstel turned 18 \u201cthe family was on top of him with respect to his psychiatric medication and doctor\u2019s visits and hospitalizations, as any caring family would be.\u201d <\/p>\n

But once an adult, Fonte said, \u201cthe doctors were no longer allowed to speak to the family and extended family about his medical treatment. So they had to rely solely on the patient to determine what medication he\u2019s supposed to be on, how he was feeling, was he compliant with his treatment protocols. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s where things started going haywire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fonte said that strife began in the household<\/a> as discussions about medication and Hurstel\u2019s treatment became confrontational. <\/p>\n

The two attorneys hired by the family, Fonte and Louis Gelormino, are now working to obtain Hurstel\u2019s full psychiatric history. <\/p>\n

Zayas also said in the interview that her son had violently beat her on her birthday last year after she asked him to clean the kitchen; she insists that Casalaspro was never abusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved my kids,\u201d she said. \u201cHe loved Damien.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors hold defendant in murder case<\/p>\n

In the latest developments in the case on Friday<\/a>, Hurstel remained hospitalized at Richmond University Medical Center, as prosecutors submitted an indictment on charges that include second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in connection with the slaying Monday.<\/p>\n

Hurstel was ordered held from appearing in the courtroom amid concerns over his psychiatric condition, according to court proceedings and sources with knowledge of the case.<\/p>\n

Family of the defendant, including his mother, uncle and cousin, have shown up to court each of the past three days in an attempt to see him.<\/p>\n

Judge Raja Rajeswari adjourned the case to Oct. 16 in state Supreme Court, St. George, in light of the grand jury indictment.<\/p>\n

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