Sex and Tampa Bay

This is just a terrible story. St. Pete Times (and other media outlets) are reporting that Celeste Minardi, 55, stabbed her son in the abdomen and then sliced his throat during a supervised visitation session in a psychiatrists office in Largo today.

Here’s the sum up by the Times:

A mother in a psychiatrist’s office for supervised visitation with her 15-year-old son pulled out a dagger and drywall knife and stabbed the boy in the abdomen, then cut his throat, Largo Police Sgt. Mark Young said Saturday.

Celeste Minardi, 55, was arrested on charges of attempted murder and carrying a concealed weapon Saturday morning, accused of stabbing and slashing her son Bradley Driscoll, Young said.

Minardi is the ex-wife of Timothy Driscoll, former city attorney for St. Pete Beach. The couple were married in 1984 and divorced in 2005, with Driscoll getting custody of their son, records show.

Minardi met her son about 10 a.m. at the office of Dr. Ronald Knauss, 1301 Seminole Boulevard, about 10 a.m. for the court-ordered visit, Young said. She and her son sat on a couch while a nurse sat at a desk nearby, Young said. At first everything seemed fine as she pulled from her purse a bottle of cologne and a deck of playing cards — but then she pulled out the two knives and began attacking her son, Young said.

The attack, using a 15-1/2 inch ornamental dagger and a 12-inch drywall knife, left the teenager with a deep stab wound to his abdomen and slashes on his neck and forehead, Young said. The boy staggered out to the lobby and collapsed, he said.

Meanwhile the nurse dialed 911 and a doctor at the office, Dr. Gerard Boutin, ordered Minardi to drop her weapons, Young said. She did. The 911 call came in at 10:19 a.m., he said.

Minardi, who gave an address of 1202 Fairway Drive in Dunedin, was being held with no bail at the Pinellas County Jail. She has no prior criminal history. Paramedics rushed the teenager to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was being treated for life-threatening injuries, Young said.

The big question is WHY? Here are some facts that we’ve uncovered about Celeste Minardi through some web and public records research.

• In 2005, when the couple split, she was at first given $6,000 a month in alimony, but that was later reversed on appeal.
• She was listed in a support group for people with Myasthenia Gravis, a rare auto-immune disorder. White there is nothing about the disease that leads to psychological problems, some people with chronic illnesses of all kinds develop deep depression.
• Minardi had been having supervised visitation for the last 3 years, which is pretty much the entire time since the divorce. Supervised visitation is usually reserved for cases of abuse or mental instability (you may remember Britney Spears was ordered to have supervised visits with her kids) and is not normal in divorce cases. But we don’t yet know why it was decided in this case.
• In January of last year she was sued by Capital One Bank for a past due account and she was recommended to file bankruptcy. The case was finally dismissed in 12/07 (either it was paid off or bankruptcy was filed).
• Celeste did not remarry. This has been a bit of confusion since she has a different last name from her ex-husband. She simply went back to her maiden name Minardi after the divorce.

If you have any details on this case emails us at missy@sexandtampabay.com. We can keep your identity secret. Everyone just wants to know why this happened, and we hope the boy is able to live through this!