Bloodied Teen Charged with Murder After Mother's Boyfriend Found Decapitated: 'I Did Something Bad'

On Tuesday, police in Staten Island announced that Damien Hurstel, 19, was charged Wednesday morning with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the death of Anthony Casalaspro, 45, on Monday, per the New York City Police Department. He was transported to the hospital on Tuesday after suffering a medical episode, per WJBF, pushing his arraignment back to Wednesday morning.

Calasaspro, a retired Department of Sanitation auto mechanic, according to the Staten Island Advance, was in his home when he was killed. His body was first discovered by the suspect's 16-year-old sister when she came home that afternoon, per police.

She told investigators she first noticed a blood trail and then her brother, who sources have said made incriminating statements. Sources for the New York Post have said that Hurstel told his sister, "I did something bad, go to your room," when she walked in and saw what had happened. The girl then, according to sources, called 911 and their mother, Alicia Zayes, who rushed to the scene.

At 4:20 p.m., officers responded to a 911 call and found the victim's body in a bathtub with multiple stab wounds and a knife still sticking out of his neck, according to a law enforcement official who spoke with the Advance. His head had allegedly been removed with a hacksaw, per the Mirror. Casalaspro was pronounced dead at the scene and his remains were removed from the home just after 11 p.m.

A neighbor told the Post, "The mom, she just kept saying to her son, 'Why would you kill him?! I still loved him!' She was yelling, screaming from outside into the house. Where her son was."

The same neighbor said that the mother was also shouting at EMS first responders, telling them, "There’s no need to go in, you can’t help him ... His head is in the tub. There’s nothing for you to do."

Witnesses described the suspect to SILive.com as "calm and respectful" when he came out of the house with his hands up and was taken into custody by police. They also said that he had blood on his face and boots. There was blood on his face when he was later escorted from the 120th Precinct stationhouse in St. George in handcuffs.

Investigators painted a much different picture when they shared that during and after the alleged murder of his mother's boyfriend, the suspect used bolt cutters, a hacksaw, a hammer, and even a knife and spoon.

The Mirror reports that Hurstel allegedly confessed to the gruesome murder as calmly as witnesses described him upon his arrest. According to the news outlet, he allegedly told them he killed Casalaspro with a meat tenderizer because he wanted to know what it was like to kill.

He also allegedly said that the killing occurred after he'd gotten into an argument with his mother and Casalaspro had intervened, per the New York Daily News.

He further said that his arrest occurred before he had completed his plans for the man who had been dating his mother for approximately six years, per a law enforcement source who spoke with the Daily News, which allegedly included his plans to "liquify his body in a blender," starting with the brain, and ultimately flush it down the toilet.

The Post reports that the 19-year-old has no criminal record, but he has a long history of mental illness, including schizophrenia and self-harm, per sources, dating back to 2022. A source told the Staten Island Advance that Hurstel had been hospitalized multiple times for mental illness and that at the time of Calasaspro's murder he was prescribed anti-psychotic medications, though the family had concerns he was not regularly taking them. Police have not confirmed this history of mental illness.

The family also has a history of domestic violence reports on record that had been filed against Calasaspro, according to the Daily News, including five calls made by Zayes, accusing him of breaking things in the house in one and of slapping Hurstel in another.

Casalaspro's ex-wife spoke with the Daily News and said that her ex had always tried to do the right thing by Hurstel. "He was literally just at the kid’s graduation from high school," she told the newspaper. "So this is a complete shock and disgusting. I mean that is just grisly, to cut somebody’s head off. I am disgusted, and I want justice to be served."

But she also acknowledged that he struggled in his relationship with the teen, and that Hurstel was "always very angry, no matter what Anthony asked him to do, like, ‘Clean up, do the dishes.’ He always fought with him about it. He always would say, ‘You’re not my father, you can’t tell me what to do.'"

"Very not appreciative of the fact that Anthony was literally taking care of him and the sister and the mother," she added. "I know they didn’t get along." At the same time, though, she said she never would have imagined that Hurstel "was going to be violent because he was a teenager."