Antioch private detective helps compile report, seeks public’s help in pressuring officials
By Robert J. Hansen
Scott Dyleski at age 16 in his Lafayette home. (Courtesy of scottdyleski.org)
In 2005, 16-year-old Scott Dyleski was arrested and subsequently convicted for the murder of Pamela Vitale, the wife of nationally-recognized legal analyst and attorney Daniel Horowitz.
Private detective Ralph Hernandez and another seeker of justice, John Fitzgerald, presented a wealth of information suggesting Dyleski is innocent and was possibly framed for the murder to the Lafayette City Council at its April 10 meeting, urging the council to pressure the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office to review Scott’s case.
“The actual murderer, or murderers, are still walking around Lafayette,” Fitzgerald said. “One of them was married to the woman that was murdered.”
Of the evidence Fitzgerald shared, the most convincing was the three K-9s who repeatedly led officers to a trailer on the property rather than following the trail that led back to Scott’s house.
“Nobody found out about this because it was never reported,” Fitzgerald said.
In the trailer were pinkish-red water in the sink, clothes soaking with blood on them, and a picture of the victim on them, according to Fitzgerald.
Many key items of potentially exculpatory physical evidence were not properly examined, according to a 2009 forensic report.
“These are items that were likely used by or associated with the offender during and after the commission of the crime. Flawed methodology and subsequent false testimony are beneath best practice, and raise the specter of potential fraud,” the report said.
Hernandez has over 50 years of investigative experience in public safety matters and is considered a national expert on investigating homicides. He began investigating Dyleski in 2011, six years after Dyleski was arrested, prosecuted and convicted of a murder Hernandez believes he did not commit.
“Scott Dyleski did not murder Pamela Vitale in your city, somebody else did,” Hernandez told the council.
Hernandez submitted a request to the Contra Costa DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit to review Scott’s case over four years ago.
After a couple of years and not hearing back from the Contra Costa DA office, Hernandez wrote a formal complaint about the DA to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
The complaint to the county, Hernandez said, has also gone unanswered.
Lafayette city council has not told Hernandez what they thought about the evidence he showed them, nor if they have any plans on getting involved.
Fitzgerald said his and Hernandez’s comments to the council sparked a community response that has led to several phone calls being made to the Contra Costa DAs office.
Scott Dyleski was sentenced to Life Without Parole in September of 2006 and transferred to San Quentin Prison on his 18th birthday, becoming the youngest inmate in the California prison system at that time.
He has since been moved to Kern Valley State Prison.
Hernandez says the public’s help is going to be needed in pressuring their elected officials to take action.
“As elected officials, they have sworn an oath to make sure the government works for the people, including the District Attorney’s Office,” Hernandez said.
This story is part of a rolling-investigative series.
Robert J Hansen is an investigative journalist with The Davis Vanguard, Newsbreak.com and is published in The Sacramento Observer.
People need to go to Scottdyleski.org to learn the “REAL” truth regarding how this young man was framed!
It is time that the C.C.C. D.A. does the right thing by allowing all the exculpatory evidence that would have proven his innocence finally be known in a new evidentiary hearing.
The fact is, Scott was NEVER given a fair and impartial trial! He was framed!
To make matters worse, the real killer and his possible accomplice in either the murder or cover up of Pamela Vitale’s murder, are both walking the streets of Lafayette and elsewhere as free men where they might kill again.
The inculpatory evidence that should have been used to link Daniel Horowitz and his tenant living in a trailer he owned on his and Vitale’s property as suspects, is overwhelming.
Yet, here we are seventeen plus years later, and Scott Dyleski still sits in the maximum-security State Penitentiary in Corcoran, CA, for a murder he did not commit nor had ANY involvement in!
Diana Becton and Brian Feinberg need to be held accountable! Their so-called Conviction Integrity Unit is a sham as Scott Dyleski should be the poster child for this program; a program allegedly started by Becton to ensure that those who are wrongfully incarcerated are subsequently freed.
People need to call the C.C.C. D.A.’s Office and demand Scott be given a new evidentiary hearing.
After all, what happened to Scott could happen to your child or grandchild.
People need to think about that the next time Diana Becton is up for reelection.
I went to the sight, but it’s under maintenance! I know he is innocent! I don’t know why I was placed here but I know he was framed! I believe I understand why. But I will sound crazy.
I have very important information on this case and need to know how to get a hold of someone. I was living down the street from the victim at the time. My name is Megan Curtis. Anyone related to this investigation please contact me. 916-879-8411