STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A grisly photo of 45-year-old Anthony Casalaspro’s mutilated remains in the bathroom of his West Brighton home has been circulating for days via digital shares.
The Advance/SILive.com has obtained the image, and a source with knowledge of the case says it is a legitimate photo from the crime scene.
According to multiple sources, the photo is circulating largely via text and private messaging apps, and is being seen and shared as far from Staten Island as California.
On social media, conversations about the photo disappear almost as quickly as they pop up in comment sections of Facebook and Reddit posts related to the murder.
The image is a macabre tableau: it clearly captures the victim’s body on his back in a bathtub between a tile wall and sliding glass shower door.
To fully describe the scene in detail would be horrific to the point of indecency. Just some of what is visible is the victim’s severed head, which faces away from the camera. A ladle rests on his chest while a saw lays on a bathmat beside the bathtub.
Investigators believe bolt cutters, a hacksaw, a hammer, a knife, a spoon and the ladle were utilized in the commission of the murder and afterward, according to a law-enforcement source.
The defendant, Damien Hurstel, told investigators that he attacked the victim with a knife and a meat tenderizer, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
“We fought and I stabbed him,” Hurstel, the son of Casalaspro’s longtime girlfriend, allegedly told police. “I carried him to the bathroom. I cut his head off and put parts of his body in the blender. I tried to clean it up.”
Crime scene photos and the law
It is unclear who took the photograph or how it was first leaked; however, in New York state it is a illegal to create and then disseminate images of victims that “depict the commission of the crime against the victim or physical injury suffered by the victim” for “amusement, entertainment or profit” and “in a manner that has no or minimal cultural or social value.”
Signed into law in 2023, “Caroline’s Law” makes such behavior a misdemeanor offense. It is aimed at anyone who has access to crime scenes, including first responders and the perpetrators of crimes themselves.
The legislation is named for Caroline Wimmer, a 26-year-old West Brighton woman who was murdered in her Greenleaf Avenue apartment in 2009. An EMT who responded to the scene took a photo of her body and shared it on Facebook.
He was charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. And as part of his plea deal, was required to perform 200 hours of community service and surrender his EMT license. He was not sentenced to any jail time.
As the Advance/SILive.com has previously reported, Caroline’s Law was originally sponsored by former state Sen. Diane Savino, who for years represented Staten Island in the legislature. Savino’s successor, Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, sponsored the law when it was amended and recommitted nearly three years ago.
According to the legislation, a person is guilty of unlawful dissemination of a personal image:
In the first degree when he or she commits the offense of unlawful dissemination of a personal image;
In the second degree if also committed, participated in the commission of or conspired to commit the crime that resulted in injury to the victim;
Or the victim suffered serious physical injury or death, which is depicted in the unlawfully disseminated image.
Unlawful dissemination in the second degree is a class B misdemeanor; unlawful dissemination in the first degree is a class A misdemeanor and punishable by a year in jail.
Doctors hold defendant in murder case
In the latest developments in the case on Friday, 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.
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.
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.
Judge Raja Rajeswari adjourned the case to Oct. 16 in state Supreme Court, St. George, in light of the grand jury indictment.