Slaying suspect was heartbroken, friend says

The University of Tampa junior accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend had lamented that "the girl just ruined his life.''

By KATHRYN WEXLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2000

TAMPA -- Chikel Dorisme, a 26-year-old junior at the University of Tampa, hadn't seemed right since his girlfriend left him, friends said Friday.

A 19-year-old UT sophomore, Cara Beth Policelli, was the lost love of his life, he complained. Anger and depression the past few weeks had smothered his joking banter.

"He said his life is just falling apart, and the girl just ruined his life," said Bertrand Liautaud, a UT sophomore and friend.

Police say Dorisme used a 6-inch knife to stab Policelli in the neck and upper body area at the Tampa General Hospital parking lot Thursday about 5:15 p.m. A security guard found her bleeding after several people heard her screams. Paramedics couldn't stop the bleeding, and she died in the parking lot.

After the attack, police said, Dorisme ran from the garage and toward the Davis Islands Bridge. He hurled himself at a passing car in an attempt to take his own life, police said, but suffered only minor injuries.

Friday he was charged with first-degree murder and booked into a Hillsborough County jail without bail.

According to an arrest report, Dorisme "became enraged over the victim getting an abortion." Liautaud said that for several weeks Dorisme had ranted about his ex-girlfriend having an abortion without his consent.

This week, Dorisme's gloom seemed particularly intense, said friends and Policelli's mother, Jerilyn Policelli.

"He said he was going to kill himself," Policelli had told her mother. "She saw him and he said, "You'll pay,' " Mrs. Policelli said Friday from her home in Bangor, Pa. "He liked her more than she liked him."

A few days ago, Policelli's father, Marc Policelli, grew worried that Dorisme was harassing his daughter and considered calling UT officials. But on Wednesday night, the day before Policelli was killed, she told her parents not to worry, that Dorisme said he'd get counseling and planned to visit his family in France.

"She just wanted to stay away from him," Mrs. Policelli said, pausing sometimes to sob.

The two students befriended each other last semester and became involved around Thanksgiving, Mrs. Policelli said.

He was tall and skinny, with a buzz cut and baggy pants. He went by Chikel or Charlie, depending on the crowd he was with, and could shoot baskets and wax philosophical.

She was attractive and dark-haired, in synch with campus fashion and on the honor roll last year.

They enjoyed nightclubs and shared an international bent. Dorisme's family hailed from Haiti, and he studied political science. Although Policelli hadn't left the continent yet, she majored in international studies and dreamed of traveling the world with a camera, selling photos to magazines as she went.

"She was really fun; she didn't bother anybody," said Policelli's former roommate, Gina Fanelli.

She moved out of her dorm room and they lived together off-and-on in his campus apartment until the relationship fell apart. Only recently did Policelli tell her parents Dorisme's attentions had grown troubling.

"She said he was acting weird, like really obsessive," Mrs. Policelli said.

She told her parents the only physical confrontation had happened during an argument when Dorisme squeezed her arm. They asked her if she was afraid, Mrs. Policelli said, and the answer was "no."

Dorisme never came to the attention of school officials, UT spokesman Grant Donaldson said.

On Wednesday, a day before the fatal attack, Dorisme struggled with his emotions, a friend said.

"He was just complaining about being sad these past few weeks," Liautaud said. "I tried to get him to go out. He said it's affecting his brain. He was kind of broken-hearted."

That night, Policelli told her parents she'd gotten her hair cut and was buckling down to study more. Her troubles with Dorisme were fading, she said.

"She seemed happy," Mrs. Policelli said.

-- News researcher John Martin contributed to this article. To reach Kathryn Wexler, call (813) 226-3386 or e-mail: wexler@sptimes.com.

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