A Skincare Rivalry Spirals Out of Control, and a Member of the Infamous Bling Ring Is Involved, in ID’s ‘The Curious Case Of…’ [CLIP]
A wild tale of a celebrity facialist accused of ordering a hit on a rival skincare expert gets even crazier in the second part ofThe Curious Case of … The Skincare Queen and the Hitman, airing February 2 on ID.
Los Angeles aesthetician Dawn DaLuise built a successful business catering to an elite Hollywood clientele. But when another beauty pro moved in next door, things turned ugly. First, DaLuise became the target of a vicious harassment campaign. But after police began to investigate, they came to suspect that she had grown so incensed by the harassment that she had actually hired a hitman to take out her rival, Gabriel Suarez.
Police arrested DaLuise, who sat in jail for 10 months while claiming her innocence. Eventually, she traced her ordeal back to two of her supposed friends, saying that what she had thought was a connection that could lead to a new career in reality TV was actually something far more sinister. But other people involved tell a different story, claiming that DaLuise was behind the harassment campaign from the start.
Dawn DaLuise connects with Bling Ring leader Nick Prugo
In a clip from the second part of the documentary, insiders explain DaLuise’s connection with a man who legal expert Bath Karas describes as one of “the most famous cat burglars in the history of Los Angeles.”
From 2008 to 2009, Nick Prugo was the ringleader of a group of LA-area teens who broke into the homes of stars like Orlando Bloom to steal clothes, watches, and other valuable items.
“Nick Prugo was part of this LA Bling Ring crew,” explains his attorney Tamar Arminak. “For several months, they really terrorized the LA celebrities.”
Prugo was sentenced to two years for his role in the burglaries. But despite his rap sheet, DaLuise thought Prugo could help her advance her career.
“I remember exactly when Dawn first mentioned Nick to me,” DaLuise’s publicist Elissa Buchter says in a clip from the episode. “In 2013 she was doing well, and she was looking to leverage the connections she had acquired in Hollywood. Celeb reality was kind of the thing at the moment, and she had though, ‘You know, why not take his notoriety and see if it had any value in the reality TV market.’”
“Dawn decided she was going to be Nick’s manager,” Arminak explains.
“I guess in Los Angeles, you can be an agent, hyphen, facialist,” quips Prugo’s associate Edward Feinstein.
Did Dawn DaLuise orchestrate her own stalking?
As the harassment campaign against DaLuise escalated, she allegedly turned to a former NFL player for help. Prosecutors accused her of making an arrangement with the ex-athlete to kill Suarez, and she eventually stood trial on murder-for-hire charges. But the evidence she really intended to have her rival killed was thin, and a jury found her not guilty.
The celebrity facialist had been cleared, but a mystery still remained: Who was behind the harassment?
Two suspects quickly emerged: Prugo and his friend Feinstein. According to DaLuise, her friendship with Prugo had begun to fray because he wasn’t taking her attempts to land a reality TV show seriously.
“He started to get too full of himself,” she says in the episode. “He wasn’t showing up for meetings. He was sort of blowing me off.”
Prugo was also taking trips to Vegas, which violated the terms of his parole. DaLuise called his parole officer to report him. He went back to prison, and his friendship with DaLuise ended, she says. A resentful Prugo, along with Feinstein, decided to take revenge.
But Feinstein tells a different story. He claims he and Prugo worked with DaLuise to smear Suarez in exchange for free facials.
“To the outside world, it might seem crazy that this is all over facials and waxing,” says Arminak, who is also Feinstein’s attorney. “This is LA. Our facialist is just as important as our priest, our rabbi, and our therapist.”
New episodes of The Curious Case Of… air weekly on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ID. Episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.
