{"id":6664,"date":"2025-10-17T17:35:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T17:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6664\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T17:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T17:35:24","slug":"staten-island-teen-attends-first-in-person-court-appearance-for-allegedly-decapitating-moms-boyfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6664\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island teen attends first in-person court appearance for allegedly decapitating mom’s boyfriend"},"content":{"rendered":"

The twisted Staten Island teen accused of decapitating his mom\u2019s boyfriend<\/a> eerily stared, with an oddly calm expression on his face, as he pleaded not guilty to the gruesome murder Friday.<\/p>\n

Damien Hurstel<\/a>, 19, shuffled unbothered into a Richmond County courtroom, for the first time since he allegedly killed, beheaded and mutilated Anthony Casalaspro<\/a>, 45, last week inside their shared West Brighton home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Hurstel, his messy hair covering one eye, said as Judge Raymond Rodriguez asked if he was pleading not guilty to the murder charge \u2014 the only word he uttered during the hearing.<\/p>\n

Staten Island decapitation suspect Damien Hurstel appears in court on Friday, October 17, 2025. LP Media<\/p>\n

Damien Hurstel, 19, appears for his arraignment\u00a0on Friday, October 17, 2025. LP Media<\/p>\n

Seven of his family members quietly sat in the courtroom as the gaunt teen walked in, clad in a rumpled orange jumpsuit and bearing a distant, strangely serene expression.<\/p>\n

The apparently mentally ill Hurstel<\/a> had previously been arraigned by video from a hospital bed days after allegedly stabbing, killing and butchering Casalaspro \u2014 a sanitation worker \u2014 on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

Damien Hurstel is placed on an ambulance gurney as he is removed from the 120th Precinct in Staten Island on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

A blood-soaked Hurstel<\/a> allegedly showed his 16-year-old little sister the mutilated body during a horrific encounter inside their Cary Avenue home.<\/p>\n

Their mother, Alicia Zayas<\/a>, previously told The Post that Hurstel tried to explain what happened.<\/p>\n

The mother of Damien Hurstel speaks with her attorneys. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he was going to fix everything, like it could be fixed,\u201d Zayas said in disbelief, tears streaming down her face.<\/p>\n

Hurstel\u2019s sister ran outside, hid and made a chilling call to Zayas.<\/p>\n

Alicia Zayas\u2019 boyfriend Anthony Casalaspro was decapitated. Facebook\/Anthony Casalaspro<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Damien killed Anthony, and he doesn\u2019t have a head,’\u201d Zayas said.<\/p>\n

A grisly crime scene photo shows Casalaspro\u2019s severed head<\/a> lying next to his corpse inside the home\u2019s walk-in shower, with a bowl and a saw on the floor nearby.<\/p>\n

Damien Hurstel with his mother, Alicia Zayas, in a photo posted to Facebook in 2018. Facebook\/Alicia Zayas<\/p>\n

The handle of a silver-colored spoon could be seen sticking out of the dismembered skull, along with a plastic sauce ladle on the dismembered body\u2019s chest, the photo shows.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement sources said Hurstel allegedly confessed, telling cops he planned to dispose of Casalaspro\u2019s body by cutting it into pieces and pulverizing the parts in a blender, starting with the brain.<\/p>\n

Suspect Damien Hurstel in an undated Facebook photo. Facebook\/Gabriella Ali Zayas<\/p>\n

In court, Hurstel didn\u2019t appear affected by the horror of his alleged crime.<\/p>\n

He stared straight ahead without trying to move his head to sweep his wavy hair from covering his eye.
The judge ordered that Hurstel stay jailed and continue receiving medical attention and psychiatric care, as well as remain on suicide watch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The decapitated body of Staten Island murder victim Anthony Casalaspro. Obtained by the New York Post<\/p>\n

Hurstel is next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20.<\/p>\n

Zayas declined to comment after the hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The twisted Staten Island teen accused of decapitating his mom\u2019s boyfriend eerily stared, with an oddly calm expression…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[101,2803,303,57,238,9,24,63,134,136,135,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-6664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-arrest","9":"tag-court","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-murders","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-staten-island","17":"tag-staten-island-headlines","18":"tag-staten-island-news","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}