Drifter guilty in 2006 Beach murder-robbery case

VIRGINIA BEACH

A homeless man who had been living for months in makeshift campsites in the city was convicted Friday of participating in the stabbing death of another homeless man in 2006.

Dean Giacomo, 45, was found guilty of second-degree murder and robbery of Blease "Butch" Pruitt, who was killed after a dispute with a third homeless man.

The trial, which began in Circuit Court on Tuesday, hinged on statements Giacomo made to detectives. The confession was the only piece of evidence that prosecutors used to tie Giacomo to the killing of Pruitt, who worked as a waiter and short-order cook.

The defense tried to show that the confession was coerced.

Giacomo initially denied to police that he knew anything about the incident, but later he gave a befuddling account of the fatal encounter, which began with an argument over money between Pruitt and Matthew Allenbaugh.

During more than four hours of interviews, Giacomo told police that the men fought on a path leading to a homeless campsite, off Virginia Beach Boulevard. In the interviews, Giacomo said he helped hold down Pruitt while Allenbaugh plunged a knife into him.

Giacomo said he took Pruitt's wallet and helped carry Pruitt to a retention pond in the 1000 block of 19th St. They weighed down the body with rocks to keep it submerged, he said.

On the witness stand last week, Giacomo denied his involvement and testified that the earlier statements were "fabricated" because police had badgered him into making them. He said he did not testify against Allenbaugh at a preliminary hearing because the story was not true. Allenbaugh has not been prosecuted.

"I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown," Giacomo said Thursday. "It's unbelievable what they did to me. I never committed this murder."

Pruitt's decomposing body was discovered floating facedown in knee-deep water, near the Virginia Beach Convention Center, on Nov. 24, 2006.

An autopsy showed that Pruitt had sustained six stab wounds that severed the jugular vein and carotid artery in his neck. A medical examiner could not pinpoint when Pruitt died but told the 12-member panel that Pruitt's body might have been in the water at least two days before he was found.

Defense attorney George Yates used the time window, as well as logs of Pruitt's visits to two homeless shelters, to try to convince jurors that Giacomo's statements to police were false.

He argued that Giacomo left Virginia Beach for several day labor jobs in Norfolk on Oct. 28, 2006, and never returned. Workers confirmed that Pruitt was seen at the homeless shelters on Oct. 30 and as late as Nov. 11.

The jury recommended that Giacomo spend 35 years in prison. He will be sentenced on June 3.

Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com