SPRINGFIELD — A Massachusetts man with facial tattoos, forehead implants that resemble horns and other body modifications told jurors he would see them “all in hell” after he was convicted last week of murdering three men in 2011.
Caius Veiovis, 34, of Pittsfield, Mass., was found guilty on Friday of three counts each of murder, intimidation of a witness and kidnapping, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless said in a statement. Veiovis had previously been convicted under another name in Maine for assaulting an Augusta woman.
Veiovis was the last of three co-defendants convicted in the triple homicide. The other defendants are Adam Lee Hall, 34, of Peru, allegedly a sergeant-at-arms of the local Hells Angels chapter, and North Adams resident David Chalue, according to the Springfield Republican newspaper.
Hall and Chalue were convicted earlier this year in separate trials on three counts each of murder, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness.
Both are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole because first-degree murder convictions in Massachusetts carry a mandatory life sentence without parole. Veiovis is expected to receive the same sentence.
Veiovis’ verdict came after jurors deliberated for more than 36 hours over six days at Hampden Superior Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, about 80 miles west of Boston.
Authorities say Veiovis, Hall and Chalue kidnapped and killed three Pittsfield men: David Glasser, 44; Edward Frampton, 58, and Robert Chadwell, 47. The three were last seen on Aug. 28, 2011, at an apartment shared by Glasser and Frampton.
The shot and dismembered bodies of the three men were uncovered by local and federal detectives 10 days later in Becket, Massachusetts.
Officials said the men had been killed to prevent Glasser from testifying against an associate of Veiovis who was facing kidnapping and drug charges, according to court documents.
After the verdict was delivered on Friday, Veiovis reportedly told the jurors, “I will see you all in hell,” according to tweets sent by reporters in the courtroom.
Veiovis has a criminal history in Maine that includes felony convictions from 2000 for his role in a blood-letting ritual that included slicing the back of a 16-year-old girl and then licking the blood with another girl.
He was age 19, living in Augusta and known as Roy Gutfinski Jr. at the time. He was dating Deanne Jones, a 16-year-old who agreed to be treated as an adult when she pleaded guilty in November 1999 to elevated aggravated assault in the blood-drinking ritual.
Jones, who used a razor to cut the 7-inch gash across the other girl’s back on Aug. 21, 1999, was sentenced to a year in jail and six years of probation.
Gutfinski was charged with elevated aggravated assault, aggravated assault and reckless conduct for the girl’s attack, which required 32 stitches.
At Gutfinski’s waived-jury trial in 2000, prosecutor Alan Kelley portrayed Gutfinski as “a Satanic worshipper” who told police “he was a vampire and drank blood, his own as well as other persons.”
Gutfinski and Jones met the cutting victim in downtown Augusta two days before the incident occurred. Neither girl wanted Gutfinski prosecuted, Kelley said.
He was convicted in March 2000 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but three years suspended, as well as four years of probation.
Gutfinski, who ended up serving more than seven years behind bars after various probation violations, changed his legal name to Caius Domitius Veiovis in July 2008 while at Maine State Prison.
He unsuccessfully applied in 2003 to have his name changed to “Diszade Trash Horror.” Veiovis was released from Maine’s probation system in July 2010.
In the years since, Veiovis has had hornlike objects implanted in his forehead, added facial tattoos, including the number “666,” sharpened his teeth and had his tongue split, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
He wrote a letter to the Berkshire Eagle and other Massachusetts media outlets shortly after his arrest three years ago in the triple homicide explaining his name was not connected to the “Twilight” movies and books about vampires.
Veiovis explained in the letter that Caius Domitius, his first and middle names, were inspired by “the great Roman emperors Caligula and Nero,” and his last name is from “an ancient Etruscan daemon.”
After his conviction last week, his attorney, James Gavin Reardon, said he respected the jury’s decision, but that an appeal would be filed, according to Reuters.
“The overriding question, other than the lack of physical evidence against him, is to what extent does his appearance affect people, and that’s something that’s hard to measure,” he said.
He said Veiovis’ outburst in court was “just some understandable emotional reaction” because his client had been in solitary confinement for more than three years and a small holding cell for the past three weeks.
Judge Jeffrey Kinder ordered Veiovis held without bail at Berkshire County House of Correction.
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