Police, friend describe suspect

The dead man's mother says he was not a monster.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dustin J. Anzevino snorted crushed muscle relaxants, drank beer and smoked crack before he beat the life out of an 86-year-old woman, a homicide detective says.
"I think remorse played a part in him killing himself," Detective Sgt. John Kelty said Wednesday. "He expressed some remorse to his family that he killed an old lady and he'd be better off dead."
Anzevino, 19, of 1681 Everett Ave., died Monday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest. He'd grabbed his dad's shotgun that morning and went to his brother's house at 1653 Everett, where he was found dead at 2 p.m, Kelty said.
Kelty and his partner, Detective Sgt. Dave Lomax, visited 1681 Everett on Monday morning, intending to conduct a second interview with Anzevino. His parents didn't know his whereabouts.
The first interview was Saturday afternoon, after Helen P. Koscak was found dead in her bed at 3511 Belden Ave. by her daughter. The elderly widow, deaf in one ear, lived alone.
At birthday party
Anzevino was among those who attended Ethan Gump's birthday party Friday night at 3515 Belden, next door to Koscak's house. Anzevino told detectives that his mother picked him up at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, but other party-goers said he didn't leave until after 3.
"When we talked to him Saturday, he was the only one who had marks, cuts and redness on his hands," Kelty said. In such a quiet neighborhood, the murder was too coincidental for it not to be tied to somebody from the party next door, he said.
Kelty said the marks and cuts on Anzevino's hands likely came from breaking the kitchen door glass at Koscak's house and from beating her to death. Glass with blood on it and two rotary phones taken from Koscak's house are being analyzed for trace evidence and fingerprints.
"He just did it to get money, but he didn't take the money and jewelry that was there," Kelty said. "He went in to steal, he killed and panicked."
The detective said he and his partner think Anzevino acted alone but haven't ruled out an accomplice yet.
Physical description
Gump's girlfriend remembered hearing rustling leaves and seeing a heavyset young man in a black hooded sweat shirt behind Koscak's house about 3:30 or 4 a.m. Saturday. Anzevino, at 5 feet 8 inches, weighed 250 pounds.
Anzevino was still wearing the black hooded sweat shirt when questioned by detectives Saturday afternoon, Kelty said.
He returned to Gump's house on Belden around 10 a.m. Saturday, even though the party hadn't ended until 4 a.m.
Kelty first found that odd, then figured Anzevino wanted to know if Koscak's body had been found yet. The discovery wasn't made until 1 p.m.
"Some people at the party may have suspected him but were too afraid to talk," Kelty said. "He was a bully. No one wanted to deal with him -- he would get out of control."
Kelty said Anzevino "opened up to his mother" about what happened and the conversation was overheard by one of his older brothers, who related the confession when questioned after the suicide. Anzevino told his mother that he was discovered by Koscak, who fell down the steps; he said he panicked, put her back in bed and left, Kelty said.
The detective said one of Koscak's fingernails was missing and she had a defensive bruise on her arm. He said that there's no way of knowing how much of Anzevino's version is true but that he thinks the final assault, the one that killed Koscak, happened while she lay in bed.
Tough reputation
Kelty described Anzevino as learning disabled and "kind of a mean kid." The teenager "had built up a reputation with people he ran around with as someone who would rob you."
Gump, 20, agreed with the detective's assessment of his friend.
"He was a little slow; they took him out of third grade," Gump said. "He didn't know how to read."
Gump had known Anzevino about five years and Koscak all his life. "I loved her like a grandma. We tried to do everything for her."
Gump said his friendship with Anzevino began to change a few months ago. It was then that Anzevino was beaten with a baseball bat on Powers Way in an argument over a girl.
"He changed after that -- he didn't want to live anymore. He was always trying to pay us to shoot him, all kinds of stuff," Gump said. "It was too much. All the court cases he had, all the problems in his life, I guess it was just getting to him."
Mother describes pressures
Anzevino's mother, Linda Anzevino, said she's irked at the portrayal of her son by police.
"He was not the monster they're making him out to be. He was brutally beaten with bats last May, and he hasn't been right since," she said today. "Youngstown police have all let it happen -- and these charges they're saying he had to go to today, well, that's the kids who beat him. They arrested him for crossing Midlothian. They've done too much to this kid in the last seven months."
The distraught mother said her son "was under too much pressure."
Anzevino was out on $1,500 bond and due in municipal court today for trial on an aggravated menacing charge. He was accused of threatening to shoot a 17-year-old boy in late August.
In December 2002, Anzevino was convicted of assault and placed on one year's probation. Municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly had sentenced him to 180 days in jail, suspended 173 and gave him credit for seven days served.
She also ordered him to stay away from two men named in the case.
Had the Koscak murder case gone to trial, it may have been difficult for the prosecution because of Anzevino's mental capabilities and the drugs he used, Kelty said.