Classmates recall Tyree as 'a loner'

HERNDON, Va. — Scott Tyree came to his 20th high school reunion last October alone, and he left alone.

Now his former classmates wonder about the man who kept to himself while others greeted old friends.

The man they thought was just a computer whiz, who was the teacher's aide in high school, now is accused of spiriting away a 13-year-old Crafton Heights girl to his alleged "torture dungeon" at his suburban Washington, D.C., townhouse.

A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on Tuesday indicted Tyree, alleging that he intended to produce "a live video of the child victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

Tyree is now lodged in the Allegheny County Jail after being transported from Virginia. He is scheduled to appear at 10 a.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Ila Jeanne Sensenich.

If the charges are true, Tyree, 38, lived a double life, according to the description of him that emerged from his family, co-workers, former classmates and neighbors. They knew him as the quiet computer software programmer with a long ponytail who worked long hours. To them, he was the portly man who took in a stray tabby cat and let his 12-year-old daughter name it Cloud.

The FBI says he advertised himself on the Internet as "master for teen slave girls" and posted online photos of himself in front of whips, chains, paddles and a cage.

Facing a four-count indictment in connection with the alleged abduction of Alicia Kozakiewicz, Tyree, if found guilty, could face up to 65 years in prison and $1 million in fines. State charges in Virginia are pending.

"He was always just a loner, nerdy-type guy," said former classmate Stuart Zins, of Fremont, Calif., who chatted briefly with Tyree at the reunion. "I was totally floored."

In 1981, Tyree graduated from Westmoor High School in Daly City, a suburb of San Francisco. As a student, Tyree had kept to himself, those who knew him then said in recent interviews. He excelled at electronics, and the electronics teacher picked Tyree as an aide to help struggling students. He had no friends and no girlfriends, Zins recalled.

During their brief conversation, Tyree told him he had married, divorced and lost custody of his daughter. Tyree added that he held a job as a systems program analyst for Computer Associates, a nationwide computer software company based in Islandia, N.Y. — a job he claimed carried the cache of top-secret clearance.

Peter Garcia, of San Mateo, Calif., who also attended the reunion, said Tyree didn't socialize much that night. Garcia said that even in grade school, Tyree was a loner. Back then Tyree was captivated by electronics while the other boys wanted to play football and baseball, Garcia said.

"He was the type I would have expected to be by himself for the rest of his life," Garcia said.

During the reunion, Tyree had boasted that his job required him to carry top-secret credentials, but Gary Starkey, a senior vice president and general manager of Computer Associates, said Tyree didn't have such clearance. Starkey said Tyree apparently did top-secret work for Sterling Software, the firm Computer Associates had bought out.

Like other programmers in the firm's Herndon, Va., office, Tyree, who usually wore a T-shirt, put in long hours, often 12-hour days, Starkey recalled.

"He was middle-of-the-road," said Starkey, who confirmed that the firm fired Tyree after the criminal charges. "There were no distinguishing characteristics about him. He came to work, did his job and went home."

Starkey said Tyree's co-workers still are in a daze over the charges.

"The impact on the office that I've seen is the disbelief, the shock," Starkey said.

The son of a merchant marine, Tyree latched onto computers as early as sixth grade, said his mother, Erma Tyree, who moved to Keyser, W. Va., to be near her family after her husband died in 1995.

The arrest was a shock for Tyree's mother, who last saw her son with his daughter over Christmas. Tyree hasn't contacted her, nor have they spoken since his arrest. She wonders about what has happened to her son, whom she knew as a computer troubleshooter who fixed problems for his bosses at work.

"I don't understand," said Erma Tyree. "He knew computers. He knew the risks involved, and yet he had that Web site and put his name on it."

She said that unlike his brother, Scott never was a discipline problem. He was the quiet one who never smoke or drank, she said. Much of his youth was spent tearing apart and rebuilding computers and reading science fiction novels, she said.

"There's nothing I can do for him now," she said.

Tyree attended Sunrise College in San Bruno, Calif., from 1981 to 1987, but he never received a degree.

He married Sarah Tyree, now 34 and living in Stockton, Calif., in 1986. They separated in 1991 and divorced in 1995, she said in earlier interviews. She has since stopped talking with reporters.

The marriage was plagued by debt problems, she has said. Tyree declared bankruptcy in 1994, with debts of $45,574.

The former wife has said that their daughter had left her father's home after a holiday visit early New Year's Day — the same day that Kozakiewicz disappeared from her home.

According to court documents, a confidential informant has told the FBI that for nine months he corresponded with Tyree on Internet sadomasochism chatrooms. Tyree often talked of his desire for a "live-in female slave," the informant claimed. The informant, who lives in Florida but whose name has not been revealed, told the FBI that on New Year's Eve, Tyree told him he had found a girl to make his wish come true, and that he was taking handcuffs and bringing her with him from Pittsburgh.

The informant added that even before Tyree made the trip, he knew she was 13, according to an affidavit from an FBI special agent.

In 1995, Tyree married Kelly Maureen Fahey, who was living in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Tyree moved from California to Virginia to live with her, but they separated. His second wife has declined comment. Tyree's mother said she doubted they ever finalized a divorce.

He moved into a tidy townhouse in high-tech Fairfax County, Va. Eventually a girlfriend, Kytyn Aubey, moved in, bringing along a 12-year-old son and a daughter under 10. Aubey, who also has declined to comment, left Tyree about a year ago, according to Tyree's landlord, George Murphy.

Tyree didn't talk much to the neighbors, who say they found nothing unusual about him until his recent charges.

"There was no warning," Murphy said.