Man accused of shooting, dismembering housemate’s body

A Fort Lauderdale man told police he killed, dismembered, and disposed of the roommate he said could “possibly be the next mass killer that we hear about in the media.”

Eric Dacosta, 52, is accused of shooting Paul Stephen Darmetko, 42, in the back of the head Oct. 4, then dismembering his body in the bathtub of the house they shared before wrapping the body parts in plastic and dumping them in a canal on the Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area in Hendry County near Clewiston, according to the arrest report.

Darmetko’s mother called police Oct. 13 to report him missing after Dacosta told her he had not heard from Darmetko since Oct. 5, the report stated.

Hunters found Darmetko’s remains Oct. 7. An autopsy found a gunshot wound in the back of the head and a .22 caliber bullet inside the skull, investigators said.

Attorney Michael Dutko arranged Dacosta’s surrender to police on Oct. 20 saying Dacosta had information about Darmetko’s death and he wanted to provide the family with closure.

During police questioning, Dacosta said he had known Darmetko for five years and that they had lived together as housemates for five months.

He told investigators Darmetko used cocaine, suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness, and was prone to violent verbal outbursts that were becoming more frequent and included death threats against him and his family.

But, that’s not the man Janine Babich has known since the 1990s and has done business with for about 10 years.

“I don’t have anything disparaging to say about the young man,” she said, adding that he seemed stressed about his divorce.

“He always appeared to be an easy going fellow,” she said. “Until the divorce proceedings he was always a customer that paid his bills and stayed up to date.”

Dacosta said Darmetko was particularly upset Oct. 4 while discussing an upcoming visit by his ex-wife and threatened to kill Dacosta during the outburst, the arrest report said.

It was shortly after that, Dacosta told police, that he shot Darmetko, put a plastic bag over his head and a belt around his neck to contain the bleeding.

Dacosta put Darmetko’s body in the bathtub and got a hunting knife to, “make him smaller,” by dismembering the body, putting the parts in plastic bags, and placing them inside a “chest freezer” on the back porch, the arrest report said.

Dacosta admitted he was not in immediate danger and he could have left the house instead of shooting Darmetko, but said he was concerned it was only a matter of time before Darmetko killed him or someone else.

He drove the remains in his Toyota Rav4 to the wildlife park Oct. 6 because he used to hunt there and was familiar with the area.

During a court hearing Tuesday, Dacosta was ordered jailed without bond on a charge of premeditated murder.

Darmetko owned and operated Metko Marine of Fort Lauderdale for about a dozen years, business records showed.