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Did mistaken identity play a part in killing?

The man who fatally stabbed a Pasco teen at a mobile home may have thought he was the teen who lived there.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published March 26, 2006

Amid the agony of losing a son, Charlene King has lurched between grief for her son Kristofer, the aspiring writer with a gift for the trumpet, and rage at what happened to him.

The King family and Pasco County sheriff's deputies are trying to piece together why someone attacked Kristofer King and Patricia Wells, leaving them slashed, stabbed and bleeding.

Kristofer, 17, died on Friday at Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg, one day after the brutal attack.

Charlene King, her husband, Guy King, and Kristofer's 14-year-old brother, Korey, grieved Saturday over the young man who planned to attend Pasco-Hernando Community College after passing the GED test late last year.

Charlene King, a banker, speculated Saturday that his attack was a case of mistaken identity.

Kristofer had been visiting the New Port Richey home of a friend, 18-year-old Brandon Wininger, who is Wells' son.

Wells' next-door neighbors have turned their property into a neo-Nazi outpost, and Wells said they had threatened her and others at her home. Pasco authorities reported being called repeatedly by Wells about threats and vandalism by the group, but found insufficient evidence for an arrest.

Charlene King said the fact that Wininger, 18, is gay and that Wells has black friends was the apparent motive, because the attacker thought Kristofer King was Wininger.

"What makes it so awful for being killed by someone like that is that Kris never judged anyone by their skin color or sexual preference. If you were his friend, you were his friend," Charlene King said.

"They thought it was Brandon because Brandon is gay. What kind of man would do this? Even if Kris had been Brandon, how can you just take a young man's life?"

Wednesday evening, Kristofer stopped by the Hudson home he shared with his parents and younger brother before going to Wininger's, which he often did.

He spent the night at the home Wininger shared with his mother, Wells, 45, even though Wininger had left for the evening. Deputies say a masked man knocked on Wells' door, came in and stabbed her and Kristofer King around 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

Wells fled, her face and hands slashed. She was treated and released, and has moved out of her house.

After a SWAT team standoff, deputies arrested John A. Ditullio, 20, at the neo-Nazi compound, where swastikas and a Confederate flag flew.

On Friday, Ditullio told a Times reporter in a jailhouse interview that the man behind the attack was Shawn Plott, 33, a leader in the neo-Nazi group who was arrested Friday on two Pasco County warrants.

Ditullio remains at the Land O'Lakes detention center on unrelated charges.

Plott had a 9 a.m. hearing Saturday before Judge Walter L. Schafer Jr. He is being held without bail at the detention center on charges stemming from two parole violations.

Plott has not been charged with Kristofer King's slaying. The investigation is ongoing.

A former member of the neo-Nazi group, David Dirolf, 21, said in an interview with the New York Times that he had heard members threaten Wells and her son on several occasions. Wells' son was a target because he is gay, he said. And he, too, said he thought King was stabbed because he had been mistaken for Wells' son.

Dirolf said he broke from the neo-Nazis three months ago but still lived down the street.

"It was the worst time of my life," he said. "When they drink whiskey, everything gets wild and they start shooting."

Animal remains, beer cans, anti-Semitic propaganda and framed photos of Adolf Hitler scattered the area inside and around the neo-Nazi hangout at 9321 Teak St., said Lt. Robert Sullivan of the vice unit at the Sheriff's Office.

Charlene King said her son should not have been left in harm's way.

"Pat was supposed to send him home; she wasn't supposed to let him spend the night," King said, fighting back tears. "She knew what was going on over there. She put Kris in harm's way. It (Wells') was a house that didn't have the same rules as my house."

Brandon Wininger and his mother, who have moved to an undisclosed location, aren't returning to their home. Wininger said Kristofer worked as a telemarketer and had a giving personality.

"We are definitely not going back there," Wininger said via phone on Saturday. "I am coping with this, but I don't know how. All those people know how to do is hate. He (Kris) was the least selfish person I knew. He'd let you borrow money or use his car."

Kristofer King's father, a union electrician, said his oldest son's organs were donated after his death.

"He was in great health, and was a very intelligent child," Guy King said.

His son was brain dead after Thursday's stabbing and was taken off life support Friday afternoon, Guy King said.

"Right after the accident, it was pretty much a done deal," he said.

Charlene King said she cherishes little things about her son. Last year, she and Guy bought him a 1989 Pontiac Bonneville with 49,000 miles on it. Kristofer paid insurance on it.

She said her son had been "short forever," but shot up last year to 5 feet 11.

She recalls telling Kristofer to be careful visiting Wininger and his mother after she learned about the neo-Nazi compound nearby.

"He'd say, "Mom, it's okay. Everything will be all right."'

[Last modified March 26, 2006, 00:25:14]