Deltona Massacre - Murderers

Murderers

The attackers share two commonalities: a degree of mental illness and troubled, unstable upbringings.

Troy Victorino, the 6-foot-6, 300-pound ringleader of the attack, was on probation at the time of the murder. Victorino had been jailed many times for assault and was incarcerated for eight of the eleven years prior to the massacre. He had a history of childhood abuse ranging from beatings with belt buckles and sexual abuse beginning at age 2. Medical experts testified that his scarred mental development and brain damage left him with an inability to control his impulses. Witnesses that grew up near him and his brother could confirm the instability in that house: there were drugs, violence and abuse, and a general lack of parental unity or care.

Michael Salas' upbringing was on record by child protective services, and he and his brothers were determined to have been exposed to violence, drug-use, malnourishment, and abuse such as cigarette burns by their mother. His father Roberto died of AIDS when Michael was 9. Michael, who has several diagnosed mental disorders including bipolar disorder, dropped out of school in ninth grade.

Hunter was a clinically depressed, mentally ill man whose parents were both committed to mental hospitals at the time of the massacre. As early as age 3, Hunter would converse with his identical twin brother Jeremy, who died from pneumonia at 6 months old. His mother did not seek medical attention for his abnormal behavior because she thought it was common and reasoned, "in the black culture, I was told when they have a twin brother and they pass away, they always have that relationship with him, so I never thought it was strange.". Hunter's rejected August 2008 appeal claimed he is a schizophrenic who was forced into the slayings by Victorino and therefore should have been tried separately