By Jack Raiser
Scott Edgar Dyleski was born to Esther Fielding and Kenneth Dyleski in 1988. His parents split up when he was only two years old, so he was raised by his mother and lived in many places in Northern California until setting on Lafayette, California.
Dyleski wasn't bullied, he wasn't picked on, and was described as just a normal kid who wasn't an outcast by any means. He wasn't popular, but he was quite nice, and "incredibly smart for his age". He loved baseball, was a Boy Scout and had excellent grades. However, all this changed when his sister passed away at the age of eighteen in a car accident. His classmates explained that he began to wear dark clothes and eyeliner and became somewhat of a goth during middle school. Though he wasn't known for trouble, there was one time a kid said he thought he looked weird and ended up getting punched in the face by Dyleski. He always seemed angrier than before, according to other students.
Invader Zim was a Nickelodeon show that ran for one and a half seasons, being cancelled during season two. The story has Zim, a small green alien from the planet Irk who passes himself as a small child in order to take over Earth. The show had a dark tone filled with cynicism and pessimism. Dark humor mixed with dark themes. Even though the show's considered a kids' cartoon, it is usually seen as more of a semi-adult show due to the themes and imagery it uses and touches upon. In the second segment of episode four of season one, titled "Dark Harvest", Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage in order to "appear more human" to the school's nurse. He goes on and on, ripping organs off students and ingesting them himself. In the other school, children don't die but are seen suffering terribly without specific organs.
Scott had apparently joked about body parts after watching the episode. He was curious about how the human body would function without certain organs, his girlfriend confirmed. Though some defendants have insisted this was all a joke, for his girlfriend, it wasn't so. Investigators explained he had concocted a scheme to grow marihuana and finance it with stolen credit card numbers. He had ordered lighting equipment and one of these was billed to the would-be victim's address, Pamela Vitale. He may have gone to her home, thinking she was another neighbor, Karen Schneider, whose credit card had been used fraudulently.
Investigators believe Vitale may have surprised Dyleski in her residence, which led to the tragedy. Scott Dyleski bludgeoned and stabbed Pamela Vitale of forty-five years in her Lafayette home on October 15th, 2005. He bludgeoned her thirty-nine times and carved a T-shaped symbol on her back while she was still alive. Due to the stabbing, her intestines were exposed; some investigators believe this was intentional due to Dyleski's comments on organs. Vitale was the wife of a prominent defense attorney, named Daniel Horowitz, who also happened to be a television commentator.
Dyleski wore a mask and gloves, along with a long coat, and before leaving the crime scene, he took a sip of his victim's wine bottle and washed his knife in the bathtub. He left a shoe print in the scene, and his DNA was found in Vitale's foot. Her husband found her wife's body curled up in a fetal position.
Dyleski's own mother was accused of helping her own son destroy evidence, but the charge was dropped after she agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors. He was tried as an adult even though he was only sixteen years old at the time of the murder, though he turned seventeen before being sentenced.
None of Dyleski's classmates could believe he would do such a thing. The fact that he was five feet five confused some of the people, thinking there may have been an accomplice. Dyleski showed no reaction when he was being sentenced, except when autopsy photos of the victim were being shown. Something that was noted by the judge: "I saw you, sir, lean forward and your mouth fell open. You were absolutely fascinated by your handiwork". He avoided the death penalty because of his age.
Though he pleaded not guilty, he was convicted of first-degree murder. In 2018, his sentence was reduced to 25 years to life in prison due to California passing Senate Bill 394, which grants juveniles tried as adults and sentenced to life without parole a chance for eventual freedom. Meaning Dyleski is eligible for parole in 2030. Will he eventually get out? We hope not. But who knows what could happen in these crazy days we live in?
Some even believe he would have continued to kill more people had he not been caught in time. The murder was extremely brutal and Dyleski did not show any remorse for his actions. He doesn't deserve any sympathy nor freedom. Hopefully, he will remain for the rest of his life. Scott Dyleski has become a dark and interesting piece of trivia for us Invader Zim fans. One that continues to captivate us till this day, after so many years.
REFERENCES https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vitale-murder-suspects-dark-life/ https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15017291 https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1243880 https://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/27/dyleski.sentenced/ https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/TEEN-HELD-IN-BIZARRE-SLAYING-16-year-old-s-2563996.php https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/dyleski-scott-edgar.htm https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/girlfriend-dyleski-talked-about-torturing-2514732.php https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/08/30/notorious-convicted-murderer-becomes-eligible-for-parole/
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written, including its closing opinion, which is the author's. Scott Dyleski has no entry in this archive's roster: one victim, one event. He was sixteen at the killing of Pamela Vitale in October 2005, was tried as an adult, pleaded not guilty and was convicted of first degree murder in 2006, and was sentenced to life without parole; that sentence became twenty five years to life under California Senate Bill 394, making him eligible for parole in 2030. The connection to the television episode is an investigative theory drawn from what his girlfriend told police, and the article says so; it was not the basis of the conviction. His mother's charge was dropped.