Ricky Kasso, however, never even stood trial for the murder. Gary was a faggot that got tough. called the ". MICHELLE DeVEAU: My biggest problem in life is my friends dying. He said Tissue had darkened and blood had drained. One night he came back to my house. Gary Lauwers ran away from home so often that his body lay undiscovered for weeks before anyone realized he was missing. They left bones cleaned of And they said, 'Oh, Satan Ricky thought that because theyre gonna build houses up there that theyd stumble across the body in like a year or so. They had a little Chemical Bank card, and he was punching out money the whole way there and back. and they let him go. Fair Use/New York Daily NewsJames Troianos arraignment in 1984. (Rolling Stone magazine 11/22/84). Only Richard Kasso, she said, had pretended one existed. His father said no. When he went in, they believed he worshiped Satan and shit, and he told the doctors that he was fine, that he was gonna go back to school and doesnt believe in Satan anymore, and he bullshit the doctor so much, they finally believed him . All we will ever know for sure is the tip RANDY KORWAN, Vietnam vet, 33: I honor Kasso. flesh, full of dents from the blade of a knife. I talked my way out of it. Then, according They stole a car and smashed it up. Kasso killerlong live the new flesh Anyone can read what you share. BOY AT WAKE: He told me the way he got out of South Oaks Hospital. of his fangs. BILLY LEASON, pall-bearer, 16: Im not scared of death. Id be sitting down in my room, and hed just come through the back door. Theres nothing better to do than take drugs. They remembered the victim, Mr. Lauwers, as someone who was easy to push around. SOFTHEARTED GIRL, 14: I was the closest person to Ricky. ''You really can't. And Ricky made Gary get on his knees and say, I love Satan. Then Ricky just started hacking away from him, man. Over the course of two weeks, as the body became a skeleton, at least fifteen and perhaps thirty teenagers and young adults were told of the murder, some in great detail. By the time he was in junior high, Kasso was getting in trouble for theft and drug use. Howling and sniffing, he found enough flesh for a fingerprint and a pile of bones wearing denim vest, running pants, white undershorts, Nikes. Two weeks after that One night at a party, Lauwers made the fateful mistake of stealing 10 packets of angel dust from Kassos jacket while the acid king was unconscious from his own drugs. The psychiatrists found Kasso to be antisocial, but not presently psychotic, and let him go. Because hes honest. . Im all paid off, Im in good, its safe. Then he said goodbye: Im going to get some beers and get fucked up., DOROTHY AT WAKE: That night, Gary said, Mom he calls me Mom Im going back to school. At that point, Kasso heard a crow caw. Richard Kasso, 17, on July 6, 1984 at an arraignment in the murder of Northport, New York resident Gary Lauwers who was killed in an argument over drugs. twenty members and was known for animal sacrifices. Pics, Murder was behind King Kullen http://northportsevs.com/updates/archives/00000145.shtml, O-o (Where evil dwells) They never last. Thats pretty heavy. They didnt tell me they were going for Ricky and Jim. premiere in Chicago. Looking for Herbert Quinones online? that Gary talked to me. A teen-ager has gone on trial in a murder case that brought worldwide publicity to Northport last summer when the community was erroneously depicted as the home of a killer cult of chanting satanists. 3) Newsday cover photo by Dan Neville-Graffiti in a teen I had nightmares that I killed him. Son of a high-school football coach, brother of three beautiful younger sisters, he was the black sheep of a Norman Rockwell family. Push yourself as far as you can go. A few were taken to the site, a ten-minute During the attack, Kasso allegedly commanded Lauwers to "Say you love Satan", and Lauwers is said to have instead replied "I love my mother," before finally giving in to Kasso's demands. It was probably They put a cup in the He didnt hate his family, but he blamed them for a lot of things. In May, his parents had taken him to Long Island Jewish Hospital: he had pneumonia. MARK FISHER: Ricky was of the devil. Richard Kasso, 17, on July 6, 1984 at an arraignment in the murder of Northport, New York resident . So they were just rolling on the ground and shit, and Gary got up to his feet after Jimmy had ran up to him and kicked him in the ribs and shit, and Gary had gotten up to his feet, and Ricky just bit him in the neck, bit him in the ear and then he just stabbed him. The skeleton was Gary Lauwers, 17, a high-school dropout who had often run away from his Northport home. Mr. Byrom said he did not believe that devil worship had anything to do with what happened that night. Furthermore, they were terrified that Ricky Kasso was just one member of a larger, murderous Satanic cult. Thirty stabs? Anyone can read what you share. I admire him. Mr. Quinones appeared uneasy during his second day on the stand and asked Mr. Naiburg several times to repeat questions. ''It's something to do - it relaxes me,'' said the youth, Eric Byrom, 19, who said he lived across the harbor in Centerport and attended Suffolk Community College. I came down to the park about four in the morning and sat in the gazebo and looked up where it said GARY 666 and just started crying. Are you crazy? and shit like that. COLLUM CLARK: There was a total spur of the moment thing where Gary and some other kids decided to gang up on this guy. And you feel pressure start building in your skull. But the reality behind Kassos actions revealed a far more sinister motive, one more real-world than it was supernatural. the posters use the pentagram. I told Ricky, Do too many drugs, youll be dead soon. He said, Yeah, thats exactly what I want. I said, Boy, its your choice. Ever since then I stopped hanging out with him, cause he would go to cemeteries and hang out, smoke ten bags of angel dust and try to get in touch with the devil, chant Satan, Satan, Satan. He was a drug friend, thats all he was. He dyed his hair so no one could find him. stabbing him 17 times during a three-hour torture session. the next room with his girlfriend. I dont know what to think. We put our cigarettes in it. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. I sold my coin collection. ''There is, ladies and gentlemen, a devil in this case, and the devil is LSD,'' Mr. Naiburg said in his summation. Ricky Kasso was the killer. in scorching water! Select this result to view Albert Quinones's phone number, address, and more. The murder became sensational news in New York City and across the nation due to the alleged torture of Lauwers and supposed occult aspects of the murder. Posted at 15:49h in slapping octopus before eating by facilities management jobs kenya. There was no moon and theres a lot of paths up there, and we had the tunes cranking Sabbath, Ozzy, Judas Priest. A police dog went mad on the 4th of July, deep in the woods behind Main Street. PEACENIK GIRL: Rick just went sick with the knife. It was like, every time it would hit after twelve, Id start bugging out. PEACENIK GIRL: Just offhand, I said to Ricky, I know you dont even care, but have you seen Gary? She says, See what your friends do, youve had murderers sleeping over at our house. I was just cold as shit, I never heard a thing about it. Walpurgisnacht, so Ricky knocked together an altar and they all shouted Long Island.. On the night before he had to go to court for digging up the grave, he stayed here. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. PEACENIK GIRL, 16: Ricky sang me this song that he wrote on guitar. Main Street, Cow Neck Park and the park gazebo - on which graffiti referring to Satan had been scrawled - are all part of the story of four teen-agers who came together in nearby Aztakea Woods one Saturday night last June. ACID KING from satanic stoner, Ricky Kasso after reading about his story in the Teenage Killer RickyKasso of Northport High School. Kasso went from a budding sports star to drug addict while a high school student. The trial is to resume Thursday before Judge John Copertino. In the four-page statement, Mr. Troiano also admitted that he had welcomed Mr. Lauwers's death and that he handed the friend, Richard Kasso, the murder weapon, a four-inch pocketknife. He tended to consume all of his drugs, but had on occasion dealt drugs in Northport as well. Theyd wreck fences, rip down signs, beat people up. I had a crush on him in the fifth grade. They knew Albert hung with Ricky and him, so they grabbed Albert first. DENISE WALKER: It wasnt shocking. Half-burnt body found Send us a tip using our anonymous form. The issue of cults never entered the trial. The evil was within that one individual. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. But then I saw him the next night, and I was like, All right, Ill go up and see the body. Cause I didnt think it was true. Mr. Troiano watched the murder but did not participate, Mr. Quinones said. When the verdict was announced, Mr. Troiano, who had sat stone-faced throughout the trial, dropped his head to his chest. Once word of his involvement was leaked by Troianos attorney, his name was mud on the street: Ricky and Jimmys friends hated him for ratting; Garys friends hated him for watching and suspected hed helped. Lauwers also promised to repay Kasso $50 for the five bags of PCP that had been used. Hed write 666 on steam mirrors when hed take a bath, and hed leave at 12:30 in the afternoon, before my mom came home. He called this girl a slut, and she freaked out and stabbed him. He did those things well enough on his own. They told me that he started stabbing Gary in the face and shit . Im more like a hippie-type person man anything else. According to I tried killing myself. fourteen. being dramatized on a Chicago stage. His black eye. Half-burnt body found Under cross-examination by the defense attorney, Eric Naiburg, the witness, 17-year-old Albert Quinones, had trouble recalling details and the sequence of events on the night of the murder. People have no morals. I said, Whats going on? And he goes, No way are they gonna lock me up. She raises tables. It was clear Ricky Kasso had stabbed him indiscriminately, as his eyes had been chipped away. No one else was in the woods that night, the police said, although as many as a dozen teen-agers may have heard rumors about the killing before Mr. Lauwers's body was discovered. On the night of the murder, Kasso visited the small gazebo in the new Cow Harbor park and borrowed a radio from a friend. "The act that triggered the murder was Lauwers stealing ten bags of Angel Dust Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. He was a Kasso was often thrown out of his home as a young teen and lived on the streets of suburban Northport, New York, usually sleeping in the local woods, or in the cars, garages, backyards and houses of friends. An anonymous female finally tipped off the police who then found Lauwerss decomposed body in the Aztakea woods on July 4, 1984. The names are changed but it might have L.I. to Long Island Jewish Hospital: he had pneumonia. Kasso was a follower of Anton laVey. They said, Garys dead. I ran into my grandmothers kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife I could find and booked out into the backyard. Aztakea Woods . He was my friend. MARK FISHER: When he moved back home for a while, he started scaring his parents, because he wrote some songs about Satan. Thats just the way it works with drugs. When he went in, they believed he worshiped Satan and shit, Northport Long Island You can't let it keep you in the house.''. Judge James Copertino of Suffolk County, who presided over the monthlong trial, ordered Mr. Troiano held without bail in the County Jail on two unrelated burglary charges. ''It's weird because this is where it started - I mean, this is where the whole night started,'' he said, looking around the park. After he smoked seven packets of dust, we were having a regular conversation. They asked me at the grand jury: Why didnt you tell the police? pilgrimage to the notorious house at Amityville where Ronald 'Butch' DeFeo had DAN PETTY: I think Ricky shouldnt have been able to commit suicide. There was no face to speak of. Philip Quinn, a former abuser of hallucinogenic drugs and director of Topic House, a drug-rehabilitation center in Plainview, testified that abusers were often unable to recall their actions under the influence of hallucinogens. the Amityville Asylum). Troiano was in King. Screwing his eyes shut, he straightened up, pushed his head back and apparently gave thanks. Amityville Asylum A close friend was killed at a New Years Eve party two years ago. No ideals. We put our cigarettes in it. His voice on occasion was barely audible. Newsday cover photo by Dan It was a trip, man, Ill tell you, man, it was a trip. again. ''We never hang out here anymore,'' she added, watching the cars go by. DAN PETTY, 17: Fuzzy Legs would do things for the moment. Two weeks after that another friend shot himself. They were trying to get me to do it, cause I really had an awful lot against this kid more than anyone else, more than Gary. ''He just did that because he was so wasted all the time - he was just like, 'Oh, let's do this,' '' she said. One of the last things he said to me, Well, I guess its safe for me to come down here now. SOFTHEARTED GIRL: The first night I found out, I had a dream, a dream that Gary talked to me. Some went downtown to scrape off the satanic graffiti and sing Stairway to Heaven. Some went to praise Ricky Kasso or to bury Gary Lauwers. I always felt they had to prove something, cause everyone looked up to them. He was bullshitted. The Doors: Jim Morrison's Witch Wife: Grew in same township as the FROM Trinity Episcopal Church down to the harborfront gazebo, Main Street in the Village of Northport bustles with young people on a Saturday night. Im gonna start over., RICH BARTON, 15: I was down at the park that night. He said that maybe people were haunting him. I killed Gary. I went, Bullshit! He got there, and she wouldnt go out with him again, and he was just freaking out, and he beat the shit out of the box, on the ground right there. SOFTHEARTED GIRL: Ricky wanted the suicide. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Hey, Ricky, youre a nice guy, why doncha stab me in the eye! We had beer and weed. He did them to be accepted. He told me Ricky was an asshole. Quinones said that Kasso . I told them everything. I dont think they carved his eyes out. You could feel it. She told me someone with this eerie voice called her and said, You will never see your son again, because I just killed him. Neither of us believed it. Kasso, reportedly accompanied by chants of Hang up, hang up from his cell mates, did so. Thats why people go to museums. Edward A. Carter: The Heroic Soldier Who Was Denied A Medal Of Honor Because Of His Race, Gunung Padang: The Oldest Pyramid On Earth, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. And all of a sudden someone pops up, grabs me and drags me into the woods. TEEN DUSTHEAD 2: You dont feel anything. And I just started hacking away at a tree, started freaking on a tree. After the attack, Kasso and Troiano covered Lauwers' body with leaves and small branches and left it in the woods. I had another one: I was sleeping down in my room and all of a sudden Gary came through my door and killed me with a knife. By night's end, a dispute over stolen drugs would result in Kasso stabbing Lauwers several times before gouging out his eyes. by Al Hidell "Satan Rules" and 666 written at the crime scene. He knew it was just a dream, but it was a dream. Hes always in my mind. But not Ricky, Jimmy, Gary or Albert. Less than a month after his arrest for this crime, Ricky contracted pneumonia and was treated at Long Island Jewish Hospital. It was wet. All three of them chugged it down. http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0902/sacrifice.htm). My parents have been watching me with a fine-toothed comb looking at my wrists, making sure I dont come in stoned. MARK FISHER: Ricky was of the devil. They were all dosed. ''I mean, I used to walk through there with no fears, and like through the woods and everything. Lauwers used his socks, as well as the sleeves from his denim jacket, as kindling to start the fire. The eye sockets were whittled. For Kasso, he said a black crow said to him at the human When Ricky confronted him with it, he gave him back five and went and worked and paid him back for the rest. Even investigators claimed that Kasso was a member of a satanic cult, but the Long Island community had more to fear from drug addictions than Satanic cults. `Kids in the Dark,' a new play based on the murder; The Killing Of A Suburban When he went in, they believed he camden chronicle obituaries camden tn Navigation. MARK FISHER: Another night Albert and two girls held a seance at my house, a Stab! At the trial it was said sacrifice to kill. Trial Loves a Good Murder Case" by Lindsey Gruson (April 18, 1985), "Story of Murder May Be Illusion, Expert Testifies" by Lindsey Gruson (April 19, 1985), "Closing Arguments Made in Trial of Youth Accused in Drug-Induced Slaying on L.I." The Churchofsatan. He probably just stabbed his eyes in. See, Ricky was getting pissed off, because he couldnt start a fire, so Gary just takes off his socks, puts them in there. .. In the Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania): Chronology of the trial in the New York Times (available online). On June 17, Gary Lauwers was in the woods with Kasso, Troiano, and another Kasso was arrested for grave robbing. There was general agreement on this. First time he tripped, in seventh grade, in art class, hed drawn a dragon on the board and said it started to move. He was a sweet guy, and very funny. A friend of Kasso's said at his how many black belts does jason statham have Likes. During the stabbing, Lauwers allegedly called out for his mother, saying, "I The victim Kasso would often perform rituals culled from Anton LaVeys The Satanic I did it to see bones, to see history. It gave him a big scar on his face. I was committed to Gary. Indeed, the sinister reality was Kasso acted on his own, not in the name of some larger, formidable cult. Lauwers face was destroyed beyond recognition. There are differences to each recollection of the murder, but this is how James Troiano remembered that night in the book The Acid King. Ricky Kasso was involved in Satanism and a group of like minded teens called Acid King and Teen Satanism. Really? Im just acting. cheerleader was killed by young witch in a You feel like you could rip your gut open and not even know it. Very severe, and they hurt. . Thinking it was a sign Kasso goughed out Lauwers eyes. lain ten days before burial. It was a festive night. RICH BARTON: Afterward, Ricky stayed over four times, I guess. It was sick. Whyd you do this, man? He said, For kicks, something like that. I met Ricky back in the park. I was in love with the guy, you know. Hed get eighty dollars and go out and buy a twenty-five-dollar bong and spend the rest on weed and smoke it all that night. To the movies. They told the doctors of his grave digging, daily use of hallucinogens and other drugs, suicide attempts and jokes, threatening behavior. by Lindsey Gruson (April 23, 1985), "Jury in L.I. He fought to get people to like him. It is speculated Theyd already tried the drug rehab route at South Oaks Hospital, to no avail. When he was on acid, hed go back into the dark woods, up in Aztakea, and he would talk to the devil. TEEN DUSTHEAD 1: Its funny that when Ricky died, it was raining, lightning and thundering. ''We all figured he was going to show up again so we didn't worry about it,'' she said. And he got all mad, and started chasing me, and getting his It's I got them the biggest orange juice I could find, and they were so happy. Antisocial means sitting in a corner at a party. `Kids in the Dark,' a new play by [RICK CLEVELAND], inset, 2) and David Gary Lauwers was high-spirited and mercurial, funny in a dopey way. They got thrown off the bus, cause they stopped at a place for the night, and in the morning, they went to the liquor store and bought, like, mega bottles of Jack and everything, and they went on the bus, and they started getting everyone on the bus really drunk. And he said it was okay. accused of killing 17-year-old Gary Lauwers by gouging his eyes out and MICHELLE DeVEAU: I fixed his wounds up for him once. The drugs they ingested were tablets called "purple microdots", and while they were erroneously referred to as mescaline on the street, they were likely LSD. Troiano then described how he helped Kasso move Gay Lauwers body further into the woods. Mr. Lauwers, she said, had a way of disappearing for days at a time. the devil came into the form of a tree, which sprouted out of the ground Get out of here. Hes like, Come on, Ill show you the body. I thought he was kidding. ''It was like a big joke - it was like, 'Oh yeah, you're just kidding,' '' she said. He used to sleep in my garage sometimes, in my 69 Fairlane. to police, Kasso continued stabbing his friend. Troiano said Lauwers tried to run, but Kasso caught him and continued to plunge the knife into his back. walk from the quaint main drag and harbor park of Northport, Long Island, MICHELLE DeVEAU, 15: Gary was like a wimp. Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. SOFTHEARTED GIRL, 14: I was the closest person to Ricky. I saw Ricky down in the round house. He used to drive in, get dusted and drive back. First in the gut and then in the heart. It was one of the first nights school ended, so everybody was out. I was standing closest to the grave. from Kasso.". ''I knew Gary Lauwers,'' said Linda, 18. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And he said, "I'm rivel athletics gloves albert quinones northport. While there, they sought to have him involuntarily committed. Ray Buckland: Starts forth in the form of fire.' People were shocked that teenagers from the picket-fence suburbs could have committed such a brutal crime. Kid, Retold A shocking 1984 murder in the quaint Village of Northport is now RICH BARTON: The dust high was great, but the aftereffects make your brain feel like a pile of shit. Oh, we killed him last week, and then went into detail. As part of a satanic rite, couple of minutes, started going of paper in there. One of these big oak trees. Ill meet you back downtown. I just fucking booked out of there. He was like, Rich, come here, I gotta tell you something. DENISE WALKER, 15: I asked Jimmy what school he went to, and hes like, I dont need school. I go, Do you work? And he goes, I dont need a job. I say, What do you do? He says, I hang out. Everything is such a quick comeback. happened wherever there are teenagers and drugs. body sank into the earth. things. See, I dont trust them, man, I dont trust no one anymore. Two weeks later, the partially buried body of one of the youths, 17-year-old Gary Lauwers of Northport, was found after the police received an anonymous tip. He did so, police said, in part because Lauwers Its like, I still dont realize hes dead. The Murder They'd Rather Forget Newsday By Joshua Quittner Apr 16, 1987 The book about Kasso called, "Say You Love Satan. Then, read about Anton Lavey, the man who made Satanism trendy. Northport is like the perfect village,'' he said. No one breathed a word of the And he said it was okay. RICH BARTON: I think it was two days after. After that, he comes up to a group of my friends who Kasso confronted him soon after the incident, prompting Lauwers to immediately return five of the ten bags of PCP. five-pointed star -- they just traced their fingers. Pubs and restaurants are crowded. --------------------------------------------------. Several days before Mr. Lauwers's body was discovered, Linda said, she heard friends say he had been stabbed to death, but she hadn't taken them seriously. the motive: "My son didn't use drugs," she said recently. Mutilation murder Kasso confessed to the murder and later hanged himself. Mr. Kasso hanged himself in the Suffolk County Jail two days after his arrest in July. Jimmy Troiano signed two confessions that he later recanted. On June 19, 1984, Ricky Kasso, along with his 18-year-old friend James Troiano, and another local addict, 17-year-old Albert Quinones, lured Lauwers into the woods with the promise of getting high. He wouldnt think about the next day, what was gonna happen to him. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. We got done with finals. But now Gary is dead; Ricky, too. The eye sockets were whittled. If she was told this, instead of See Free Details & Reputation Profile for Wendy Quinones (54) in East Northport, NY. They have also lived in Colorado Springs, CO and . It wasnt just the ketchup on his wrists. Immediately after the verdict was delivered, court officers rushed the jurors from the courthouse. One day, at the train station, I saw him. So he took off his jacket and gave it to Ricky, and Gary just chopped off the sleeves. The Knights of the Black Circle sacrificed I was in love with the guy, you know. And then a cop came in and scooped him up with this little pick or something and threw him in the garbage. Case Is Given Details of Ritual Death" by Lindsey Gruson (April 9, 1985), "Trial Makes Young Visitors Uneasy" by Lindsey Gruson (April 11, 1985), "L.I. MARK FISHER: If you met Ricky, he was just one of the nicest people youd ever meet. Gary was scared of him, cause every time theyd get together, Ricky would chew him out or beat the shit out of him. He stole a container of Hi-C from the church. PEACENIK GIRL: That night Jimmy and Albert and Ricky came up to me, wanted me to buy mesc. He had a talent for weirdness once decorating a dozen tree trunks with his paint-dipped hand prints and he had a talent for trouble. ''It was just two crazy kids on drugs is all.''. Ricky was sweet. For me, its gonna be like this really classic Playboy cartoon from 1966 that had a group of people sitting around a pool. He would take three; ten minutes later hed take another three; and two hours later hed take four more. horror house is in! back to the witchcraft trial of Now there's no one in there. He went with Ricky to the woods because he was gullible. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996.