Florida Teen Charged With Gruesome Slaying

Sept. 30, 2008— -- A troubled Florida teenager who allegedly bragged to his friends about nearly decapitating a neighbor appeared in court today as police investigated whether he might have killed before.

Alan Michael Tanguay, whose first arrest came at age 12, has been charged with the murder of 58-year-old Patricia Kaliszeski, a woman known in her neighborhood for taking walks with her beloved birds on her shoulder.

The 5-foot-7-inch, 145-pound 16-year-old was taken into custody before dawn Monday after his friends confided in their parents that Tanguay allegedly recounted the killing in great detail, also gloating that he had stolen $6 from her and bought beer.

"It was bothering them so much they just couldn't keep it in. They told their parents, and they called us," Palm Bay Police Detective Ernest Diebel told ABCNews.com.

Police, he said, had released few details about the murder, yet Tanguay's friends "knew it all," he said, including that he had been wearing Vans sneakers, which left bloody imprints in the house.

'Just Send Somebody Please'

Diebel said police believe Kaliszeski was murdered sometime Thursday evening. She had been stabbed more than 20 times, left for dead in her bedroom with her throat slit.

Her ex-husband, whose girlfriend works at a catering business with Kaliszeski, found his ex-wife's body just before 6 p.m. Friday, concerned that she hadn't shown up for work and wasn't reachable by phone.

"There's blood all over the place," he can be heard saying on the 911 tape, calling from a neighbor's house.

When the 911 operator asked him several questions about the appearance of the body, he urged, "just send somebody please."

Also disturbing, Diebel said, is that the teen's friends told police that Tanguay allegedly boasted that he'd killed before and that he has a rule that if he finds someone in the house during a burglary, he has to kill them.

"He claims that was just bragging," he said.

His MySpace page, which has since been made private, reportedly made violent references about how he liked to cut people with knives, Diebel said.

One sentence, according to the police report, read "I like gory sh**, like people getting their neck slit and tounge [sic] pulled out."

Now police are checking with local and state police in areas where Tanguay previously lived, including Maryland, to look for any connection to unsolved murders.

"It's hard to know," Diebel said. "It's hard to think that a 16-year-old kid would, first time out, stab someone numerous times ... cut their throat."

That type of savage killing, he said, is typically reserved for more seasoned offenders.

Disturbing Murder Details

According to the police report, Tanguay told his friends that Kaliszeski's nightgown had been ripped off in the attack. Diebel said police were awaiting lab tests to determine if she had been sexually assaulted.

He allegedly told police that he cut her throat "to keep her from suffering," according to the report.

Diebel, who said he'd worked with various police departments over his career, said, "I've never seen anything like this."

Tanguay lived with his mom about two blocks from Kaliszeski's Albright Street home. Diebel said he was arrested in 2003 for burglary and the next year, for battery. School records, he said, show a pattern of disciplinary problems.

A man who answered the phone at Tanguay's house hung up when called for comment.

By contrast, Kaliszeski was said to be eager to help anyone who needed a hand. A close neighbor, who asked that she not be identified, said she'd come home on a hot day and found that the woman she knew as "Patty" had watered her garden and lawn. In return, the neighbor shared food from her garden.

The neighbor said Kaliszeski was a regular fixture in the neighborhood, walking with her bird on her shoulder while two cats followed behind.

"I sit on my porch every day and laugh," the neighbor said, remembering how she used to call out and tease Kaliszeski about her entourage.

About six months ago, Kaliszeski's bird was killed by a raccoon that got into the house.

"She cried for days for that bird," the neighbor said, adding that she then buried it in her backyard, adorned the spot with flowers and got a new bird to accompany her on walks.

"Sometimes Patty would do things that no one else would do," the neighbor said. "She was a free spirit, that's what I call her."

Diebel said Kaliszeski lived alone. No one answered the phone at her house Tuesday.

The police report indicated that Tanguay knew Kaliszeski was home and that he entered through an unlocked door.

Diebel said as far as police can tell, Tanguay and Kaliszeski didn't know each other outside of a few neighborhood pleasantries exchanged when the teen would walk either in front of her house or along a creek out back.

Murder in a Quiet Neighborhood

Clyde Bowman, Kaliszeski's next-door neighbor, said he didn't know her well, but he didn't remember ever seeing Tanguay.

"I was stunned," he said of the murder. "I don't know if that was a strong enough word or not."

Bowman said the neighborhood, located about 60 miles east of Orlando, is a quiet one, home to mostly older folks and few children.

"They come home, they mind their own business," he said.

As he spoke, he said police were at Kaliszeski's one-story house, one of several visits made in the last few days.

Diebel said Tanguay has been charged as a juvenile though he expects the teen will be charged as an adult after a grand jury meets next month.