Portrait of an Accused Killer: Vito Pelino's Love For Sons, Horror Movies, 'Twilight'

A man slicing open another man's brain, slowly and deliberately.

It's the first video that appears on the MySpace page of Vito Pelino, the man — but other pieces of Pelino's life up until last weekend portray a warmer, kinder picture.

Allegheny County Police charged Pelino, 25, of 5515 Verona Road in Penn Hills, with homicide, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of William King on Friday.

Police said he cut King's body into pieces and stashed it in the woods off Route 909 on the border of Plum and Oakmont after the victim left a Verona bar with a girl.

Pelino's MySpace page is peppered with words such as "pain" and "hatred" and includes YouTube videos of some of Hollywood's most disturbing scenes.

Pelino featured in his "general interests" section a video of the infamous "brain scene" from the movie "Hannibal" in which the cannibalistic main character cuts open a live man's brain and feeds the contents to the victim.

The other things listed in the "general interests" section are karaoke, hanging with friends and martial arts.

Most of the MySpace page contains more videos from horror movies, including Freddy Krueger scenes from the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, and clips from the "Halloween" series.

His last log-in date was Jan. 16, and the MySpace profile is a far cry from the story portrayed by friends of Pelino.

A petition on the Internet petition site, Change.org, details Pelino's plight of regaining custody of his two sons after the boys were placed in foster care following physical abuse from the mother's boyfriend, according the page's information.

"He loved his kids more than life," said Michael Styslinger, who has known Pelino through mutual friends for 15 years.

There currently are more than 200 signatures, some as recent as Wednesday. The page also features comments from friends in support of Pelino regaining custody of his sons.

"His committment (sic) and perserverance (sic) in this entire, long drawn out issue has never wavered, nor should it, from a loving and resolute father," one person said.

"I have known Vito since I was in grade school, he is a good man and a good father and deserves his children," was another comment.

A gallery on Pelino's Facebook page titled "The Family" features his smiling sons — at Chuck E. Cheese, dressed as ninjas and recovering after oral surgery with their father.

Styslinger saw Pelino at his apartment just two weeks ago.

"It was a one-floor apartment — a living room, kitchen, his room — and his kids had the biggest room," Styslinger said.

"Bunk beds, a big table full of legos, toys everywhere and this huge collection of kids DVDs."

Pelino also was a tattoo artist, evident from photographs documenting his first tattoo job and other works he has completed. His work includes rosaries, a gun, a dragon and various symbols.

His interests listed on Facebook range from Native American culture to parkour — a noncompetitive sport involving jumping, vaulting and scaling over and onto buildings.

He even has "The Twilight Saga" listed as an interest.

Despite having friends who believed in his goodness, Pelino has an extensive criminal history.

He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in spring of 2004, followed by a case of simple assault in 2005 that was waived.

Penn Hills Police charged Pelino with harassment and aggravated assault in spring of 2005 that was held for court. He was later found not guilty of harassment.

Charges by Verona Police of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person were dismissed in the fall of 2005.

In 2006, Penn Hills Police filed charges of terroristic threats and stalking, which were held for court, and criminal mischief and burglary, which were dismissed.

Charges for aggravated assault and disorderly conduct filed by Verona Police were dismissed in 2007.

He was arrested for violating a court order in June of last year.

Pelino led a fairly normal life before last weekend, according to friends. He had more than 100 friends listed on both Facebook and MySpace on Friday.

"I don't know if there was some other form of stress he was dealing with but this was definitely not the Vito we knew," Styslinger said.

While his friends and online presence give evidence of both darkness and lightness in the accused murderer's life, Pelino now is housed in Allegheny County Jail while he waits for a Feb. 25 preliminary hearing.

"Vito was better than what he did," Stysligner said. "Everyone who knows him will tell you that."

From Pelino, silence — except for the remnants of a former life sprinkled throughout the Internet — a MySpace profile that is titled with one ironic phrase.

"Once you've lost everything, you're free to do anything."