Rutgers Student William Parisio, Accused In Pamela Schmidt's Murder, Used 'Bath Salts' To Get High

A Rutgers University student has been charged in the death of another student, whose badly beaten body was discovered Sunday.

William "Bill" Parisio, 23, was charged Monday with the murder of 22-year-old Pamela Schmidt, reports CBS.

According to the Daily Targum, Parisio's mother discovered Schmidt's body in her basement on Sunday afternoon, after the young woman had spent the night at the Parisio household. An autopsy by the county medical examiner confirmed that Schmidt had been dead when found. Officials ruled that she had been the victim of a homicide.

According to the Newark Star-Ledger, Schmidt and Parisio had been dating for four to five years. She was to graduate from Rutgers in May with degrees in psychology and labor studies and had plans to pursue a master's degree at the university next fall.

Parisio's mother told the Star-Ledger that her son had withdrawn from Rutgers this semester due to his struggles with drugs. He was slated to check in to rehab on Monday.

She added that her son had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19, but that he had rarely been violent. She believes that his use of mephedrone, commonly referred to as bath salts, drove him to a paranoid state.

According to Patch.com, Parisio had previously interned for shock jock Howard Stern.

Parisio is currently being held at the Elizabeth Union County jail on a $400,000 cash bond.

Comments

[frank day]

06:59 PM on 03/17/2011

Ban Bath Salts Now.... and paint, and gasoline, and nail polish remover, and.......

[BcemXAHA]

01:04 PM on 03/17/2011

A psychology student and a Bath Salts addicted... things that make you hmmm

[GirlInNYC]

12:52 AM on 03/17/2011

I've gone through stress, but I've never turned to drugs. I can't imagine the loss of control over your actions and personality plus addiction. I already cannot ween myselfnoff of sugar, much less a real drug.

[Herb Gardner]

05:13 AM on 03/17/2011

That's great for you but there are many who attempt to cut their stress through self-medicating and it usually adds to the stress...it's a vicious circle. But you're stereo-typing the typical addict/abuser. Rarely will an abuser or addict lose control except on binges, maybe, but it doesn't take an addict to binge and quite possibly someone close to you whom you'd never suspect is one...a relative, room mate, professor, or even the guy/girl selling you a burger at Burger King...ya just gotta be kind and patient while trying to steer us back onto the path.

[americanstudent]

08:50 PM on 03/16/2011

These 'Bath Salts' aren't the common kind? Huh. Wonder how they were allowed to be labeled as such AND sold in stores with that label. I wonder if this means that if you actually USED them AS bath salts, you'd get high?

On the flip side, there is a drug called "Skittles" out that supposedly makes you actually taste the rainbow.. and see a double one in the sky.

[chumt1]

10:04 PM on 03/16/2011

They're not being sold in Bed Bath and Beyond. They're called "bath salts" and sold in head shops and online. I'm not quite sure why this is so difficult for reporters.

[fratricide08]

06:36 PM on 03/16/2011

I read up MDPV (what this stuff is) at wiki and it doesn't sound nearly as alarming as the media reports. It's basically a powerful stimulant that taken in really large amounts can produce psychosis from the sleep deprivation. It's not like PCP (which is what I was initially thinking) or LSD where you're going to go on a wild ride at any dose. That said, it sounds like it's very much like if you take a large enough dose or repeated dose after repeated does then you're playing roulette with the side effects and if you have an underlying mental health problem then you're playing with fire.

[Porbin]

08:41 PM on 03/17/2011

felt very similar in duration, effects, and side effects, to adderall. to me

[fratricide08]

10:18 PM on 03/17/2011

Thanks for the firsthand knowledge. It's very chemically similar but people have (subjectively) claimed it's stronger. I think what folks don't understand is that almost ANY stimulant taken in large enough amounts over repetitively within the same period of time can cause all kinds of problems.

In this case, I hate to say it but I believe the drug sent him into a severe manic episode - paranoia can be very much a part of that in severe cases as can aspects of psychosis. His mom blaming the drug also tells me his bipolar wasn't being taken seriously (she may not have understood what that diagnosis meant or it may not have been too bad until stimulates sent him into a severe manic episode) if were dealing with his bipolar -- therapy and medication compliant this might've been prevented.

Regardless, it's just sad to see a preventable murder like this extinguish the soul of what sounds like a beautiful young woman in every way.

[jack mcdowell]

05:56 PM on 03/16/2011

ENOUGH WITH THE MISLEADING HEADLINES!
He used a drug (Mephedrone), also known as "bath salts," not bath salts.

[ixington]

08:09 PM on 03/16/2011

no. These are being sold as "bath salts" at head shops.

[mn gopher]

05:51 PM on 03/16/2011

Did anyone else immediately notice the coincidence of her being a psychology student?

[MissIndependentLady]

07:29 AM on 03/17/2011

LOL I did. Oh the irony...

[olivesmarch4th]

08:53 AM on 03/18/2011

Thank you for noting that hilarious coincidence. I'll be sure to pass it along to the victim's colleagues, one of which I'm married to. In the future, it would be really awesome if you could consider the fact that your inane comments are about actual real people who have actually, really been affected by tragedy.

[Porbin]

05:40 PM on 03/16/2011

mephedrone


mdpv

[Porbin]

05:39 PM on 03/16/2011

EROWID.COM

information saves lives, people.

[brownfrown]

06:01 PM on 03/16/2011

No results for mephedrone; it is a useful resource, though.

[Nebbers]

12:21 AM on 03/17/2011

Erowid is the best online resource for information of its kind, if you ask me. Mephedrone is certainly on there, not sure why you didn't find it brownfrown.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/4_methylmethcathinone/4_methylmethcathinone.shtml

It would be great if more people educated themselves about the drugs they're going to take beforehand. Far too many young people today feel absolutely fearless and think all drugs are the same. That's not the case, some are absolutely deadly if you aren't careful.

Perhaps we should focus less on telling kids "drugs are bad, don't do them, they'll make you think your dog is talking to you" or making ridiculous egg analogies and focus more on educating people on what drugs really do in an honest way. When the government lies to us about cannabis it makes kids who discover that they're lying feel like every other drug is safe as well.

[Porbin]

08:37 PM on 03/17/2011

right? All that teaches kids is, if they lied about this, maybe they lied about that? iin all honesty, EVERY HS health class that gets to the drugs section should pull up erowid.com, and take kids questions and pull them up. if you are a parent reading this, go to the site and educate yourself, and OPEN conversation about this stuff. god know id love to talk about it with my parents/.

[KIVPossum]

05:33 PM on 03/16/2011

Hmm, I use bath salts to soak my feet. never thought about getting high off them

[docwindprod]

06:29 PM on 03/16/2011

hold that non-thought.
you're fanned; don't let THAT lead you to salt-perdition.

[chumt1]

10:06 PM on 03/16/2011

You can't use the salts you soak your feet in. You can buy mephedrone on the internet though. It's called "bath salts" presumably because they can't explicitly tell you to ingest it.

[Andrea Da Silva]

05:32 PM on 03/16/2011

The use of drugs or alcohol is very dangerous in this kind of personality. I think young people at highschool should be instructed to detect the characteristics of these and other types of psychological disorders, in order to avoid getting too much involved with them.

[Ulalume s Ague]

05:28 PM on 03/16/2011

Is it the flavor? The smell? The colors? I don't get it.

[Porbin]

05:28 PM on 03/16/2011

and can we stop calling them bath salts?
they're not used as or work as bath salts, these salts are drugs and they have names.

this only spreads misinformation, which hurts everyone.

[Porbin]

05:25 PM on 03/16/2011

THIS JUST IN

sober people do bad things,
sober people do good things

drug users do bad things,
drug users do good things.....

WHAT A TWIST

[docwindprod]

06:31 PM on 03/16/2011

"SHOCKED, i say"

good people usually do good things. bad people usually do bad things.

the two types are generally distinguishable.

let's move on.

[Lovelyblue]

04:51 PM on 03/16/2011

Since when is doing bath salt cool?