Amy Vilardi and her husband, Ross Vilardi, are accused of murdering Amy's mother, stepfather, grandmother and step-grandmother, three of whom had their throats slit before being shot. Amy's mother was stabbed in the chest and then shot while still alive.
A South Carolina woman who says she discovered the slain bodies of four family members is now charged with their murders.
Amy Vilardi and her husband, Rosmore "Ross" Vilardi, were arrested Friday and each charged with four counts of murder in connection with the gruesome 2015 massacre, according to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.
The couple is accused of brutally murdering Amy's mother, Cathy Scott, 60, and stepfather, Terry Michael Scott, 59, as well as Amy's elderly grandmother Violet Taylor, 82, and 80-year-old step-grandmother Barbara Scott.
Anderson County Sheriff's Office Detective Scotty Hill spoke about the manner in which the victims were killed while appearing on an episode of the Unsolved Mysteries podcast earlier this year.
"I was told there were four bodies inside the [Scott's] double-wide mobile home," said Hill. "Once we found out the extent of their injuries and the fact that their throats were cut, and then they were shot post-mortem, it seemed very, very aggressive and personal, and somebody full of rage and hate."
He added: "I've never seen anything like it before or since."
Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride echoed this sentiment at the time of the murder, saying that the crime scene was "one of the most horrific we have had in the [county]."
A week after that podcast aired in March, the Anderson County Sheriff's Office announced that Amy and her husband were persons of interest in the case.
Hill said on the podcast that Cathy had been caring for her and Michael's elderly parents at the time of the murders, and that Amy and Ross lived in a separate trailer with their children on the same property.
The victims had already been dead for days when deputies arrived on the scene in response to a 911 call from Amy on Nov. 2, 2015, according to Hill.
At first glance, Hill thought that the deaths could be the result of a murder-suicide, but he said that this theory was quickly debunked when he saw the victims' fatal wounds.
"They all died from stab or slash wounds. Mike, Barbara and Violet were all killed by their throats being slashed, and Cathy was killed by a stab wound to the chest," said Hill. "Mike, Barbara, and Violet were all shot post-mortem. Cathy was shot while still alive, but that wasn't what killed her. It was the knife wound to the chest that killed her."
Hill said that detectives found no signs of any robbery at the scene, but grew suspicious when they learned that Mike often had large sums of cash on hand thanks to a side business where he would pay cash for gold.
Detectives also learned that no one other than family members knew about Mike having these large sums of cash, said Hill.
Then, when detectives obtained a search warrant for Amy and Ross' trailer, they made a surprising discovery, according to Hill.
"We found a little over $65,000, I think that it was $67,000, almost $68,000, in a safe in the master bedroom of the single-wide," said Hill.
That cash immediately raised questions for Hill and the other detectives he said.
"We were told by various family members, and confirmed through interviews, that Amy and Ross, who lived in the single-wide [trailer] were in financial trouble," said Hill. "Their cars were about to be repossessed, they were about to be kicked out of the building they rented for their business, so it was pretty surprising to find that amount of money when they were having financial issues."
The Anderson County Sheriff's Office seized that money and multiple firearms they said were discovered in the trailer, but none were a match to the one used to shoot the four victims, according to court records.
Those court records pertain to a lawsuit filed by Amy and Ross in 2016 against the Anderson County Sheriff's Office demanding that the cash, 18 firearms, and two vehicles that were seized by the Sheriff's Office be returned to her and her husband.
A judge denied that request in 2018, and a lawyer representing the estate of Michael said in a memorandum filed in the case that Amy and her husband failed to produce records providing any sort of accounting that would explain how they came to earn the amount of cash discovered in their trailer.
“I think we knew this day was coming, we were praying this day would come,” Sheriff McBride said on Friday after news of the arrest. “So far, a lot of prayers have been answered.”
Amy and Ross made their first court appearance over the weekend, at which time a judge denied the two bond and set a preliminary hearing for February.
The two have both maintained their innocence in various television interviews in the eight years since the murders.
An attorney who previously represented the couple in their civil case did not respond to a request or comment.
