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Silvana Altieri remembers the man - killed right before her eyes - who made her laugh and dream.
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 18, 2001
SPRING HILL -- He spoke to her softly, murmuring about the dreams he planned to build. He promised a new house just as she wanted, a little farm cottage surrounded by grassy fields.
Silvana Altieri sat in the car, listening. Beside her was the man she had loved for 18 years. Behind her were their two little girls, 7 and 12. She did not want that drive to end a week ago Friday as the family headed home from Tampa after an outing of lunch and ice cream with the girls.
"I'm grateful for that day," Mrs. Altieri told the Times on Monday.
She paused. The tears came.
"Where do you go after perfect?" she asked. "My husband was perfect. Every day was unbelievable. I thought that man would make me laugh forever."
Michael Altieri died last Tuesday morning before her eyes. The couple awoke shortly after 2 a.m. when, authorities say, 32-year-old Daniel Wingard knocked on the door, then repeatedly stabbed Mr. Altieri, cut his wife and abducted the couple's 12-year-old daughter.
Mr. Altieri, 42, opened the door because Wingard said their neighbor, whom Wingard had dated, was in a car accident. Wingard now is being held without bail in the Hernando County Jail.
Mrs. Altieri, 37, blames her neighbor, Tonia Stinson, for the attack on her family.
"She wants to console me," Mrs. Altieri said. "I don't want to see her or hear how this has impacted her life. Look what happened to my husband."
In a shady graveyard on Saturday, Mrs. Altieri was angry as she watched her neighbor walk along the carpet toward her husband's coffin.
"She's not dignified to step foot near my husband," Mrs. Altieri said.
Stinson said Monday: "I'm sorry she blames me. My prayers are with her."
Mrs. Altieri said she had gone out of her way to help Stinson, a single mother who moved next door last summer. She watched Stinson's 5-year-old son and looked out for her, baking a cake on Stinson's birthday so she wouldn't feel alone.
She said Stinson knew about Wingard's criminal record and history of drug use, and put her son, and their family, at risk by having him around.
Mrs. Altieri said the couple only had two conversations with Wingard when he lived next door. Once, Mrs. Altieri was sitting outside with her husband and friends when Wingard yelled for help using the washing machine.
She walked over, but it soon became clear that he didn't need help as the clothes had already been washed, Mrs. Altieri said. She tried to leave. Wingard blocked the door and asked her to see his new bedroom furniture. Scared, she walked toward the back door. Stinson walked in.
The next day, Stinson came over crying, asking if Wingard had hurt her. Stinson told Mrs. Altieri that he planned to sexually assault her. Mrs. Altieri called the Sheriff's Office.
Wingard moved out, but Stinson kept in touch with him.
Mrs. Altieri said her neighbor's claims of being scared of Wingard are laughable, as Stinson called him several weeks ago to see about getting her nephew a job in construction. Mrs. Altieri said she would never have allowed her children to play there had she known Stinson was still involved with Wingard.
"She stuck that animal in her house with her own flesh and blood," Mrs. Altieri said. "I'll never forgive her."
When her two girls are around, Mrs. Altieri said she puts on her "mommy hat,' smiling, laughing, talking about their father. When she's alone, she is a heartbroken wife.
For now, Mrs. Altieri comforts herself with memories of her husband.
They met at a dance club in Connecticut. It was the 1980s, Mrs. Altieri recalled, laughing as she remembered the nights of music and movement on the floor of their favorite hangout. Michael was a DJ and noticed the petite Italian woman with brown eyes.
Three weeks later, he had something serious to say.
"I want to get married," he told Silvana.
"Yeah right," she replied.
"No, I want to marry you," he said gently.
Silvana felt something stir inside. This is the one, she thought. She knew her parents would think so, too, that they would immediately fall in love with the spirited, sweet man who made her laugh constantly.
"My husband adored me," she recalled Monday. "He just adored me. I know, you hear it all the time about soul mates. But we were. We really were."