A South Carolina mother who demanded “answers” from police investigating the 2015 murder of her family has now been charged in the killings.
Amy Vilardi cried in TV interviews and asked how the killer could “live with yourself” after her mother, stepfather and two grandmothers were found shot and stabbed to death in their home outside Pendleton.
Now she has been charged with the murders, along with the husband she married eight weeks earlier.
“I think we knew this day was coming,” said Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride.
“I think we knew in the back of our minds, just so you know, there's a lot of pieces to put together and just a lot of hard work and effort.”
Vilardi's grandmother Barbara Scott, 80, (left) was slaughtered along with her stepfather's mother, Violet Taylor, 82, (right)
Amy Vilardi's mother Cathy Scott was killed seconds after her husband Mike. Friends had described them as a devoted couple and former childhood sweethearts
Amy and Rosmore Vilardi were arrested at 4pm on Friday and charged with four counts of murder, and were denied bail when they appeared in court on Saturday
Mike Scott, 58, and his wife Cathy, 60, were slaughtered along with his mother Barbara Scott, 80, and her mother Violet Taylor, 82, in November 2015.
Police found no sign of forced entry or theft, and a coroner concluded that all four had 'no time to defend themselves'.
Amy called 911 after claiming to have discovered the bodies while returning with her husband from a trip to visit his family in Columbia, an hour and a half away.
“I don't understand why all this happened and I keep thinking it's a dream I'm going to wake up from,” Vilardi said. WSPA-7 in a series of interviews together with her husband.
“It's not supposed to be real life.
“Whoever did this, I don't understand how you can live with yourself.”
And she demanded to know why police weren't making more progress in their investigation.
“I understand they have work to do, but sometimes as family members we want answers,” she lamented.
Six months later, they sued police in an attempt to recover property seized during the investigation, including two cars, 18 firearms and $60,000 in cash.
Vilardi lived with husband Rosmore Vilardi and her two young children in a mobile home outside the three-bedroom bungalow from which she ran a mobile pet care business called 'Styles For Miles'.
“I don't understand why all this happened and I keep thinking it's a dream I'm going to wake up from,” Vilardi told interviewers.
The three-bedroom house outside Pendleton where all four family members were slaughtered
Amy Vilardi, who had married Rosmore eight weeks before the murders, lived in a mobile home next to the family home
Vilardi had demanded to know why police were not making more progress in the investigation
She described hearing the television on in the house and a knock on the door. When she received no response, she walked inside and turned on the light to reveal the gruesome scene
Ny Breaking.com revealed at the time that Vilardi had argued with her mother and had not allowed her to see her four- and six-year-old grandchildren between early July and late October.
But Vilardi told investigators that any disagreements were minor and similar to any other disagreements families might have.
She had worn a crimson dress when she married Rosmore weeks earlier, and the day before the murders she posted a Facebook message suggesting the family dispute was over.
'Everything looks better. Prayers answered,” she wrote.
And her husband had posted a glowing tribute to his mother-in-law a day earlier.
“I love you Cathy…my wife is one of God's greatest blessings,” he wrote.
“Her love is a gift that I am grateful for every day.”
Matt worked for the South Carolina Department of Transportation and shortly before he was executed, he had texted his boss saying he would be back at work that morning.
A family member said Cathy and Mike dated back in high school.
“But they went their separate ways and met again after Cathy's husband died of cancer,” she added.
Anderson County Detective Scotty Hill
'They got married nine years ago and this week would have been their anniversary. They were committed to each other.
“Mike was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back. He was so kind and it's an example of that when you see that he took his own mother and Cathy's mother in to live with them.
'He said his mother could no longer take care of herself because she was getting old, and he felt the same way about his mother-in-law.
“This is such a tragic ending for Cathy and Mike.”
The two elderly women were shot as they emerged from their bedrooms after Scott was shot in the head in the lounge.
His wife managed to escape to the bedroom, where the killer followed her to complete the massacre, shooting her twice in the head.
Beside her next to the bed were two weapons, a pellet gun and a shotgun, which belonged to her husband but were not used.
“Mike, Barbara and Violet were all killed by having their throats slit, and Cathy was killed by a stab wound to the chest,” Anderson County Sheriff's Detective Scotty Hill told the Unsolved Mysteries podcast earlier this year.
'Mike, Barbara and Violet were all shot post-mortem. Cathy was shot while she was still alive, but that wasn't what killed her. It was the knife wound in the chest that killed her.
'Once we discovered the extent of their injuries and the fact that their throats had been cut, and then shot post-mortem, it seemed very, very aggressive and personal, and someone full of anger and hatred.
“I've never seen anything like it before, or since.”
Vilardi told interviewers how she found the bodies after returning with her husband shortly before 12:30 p.m.
She described hearing the televisions in the house turned on and knocking on the door. When she received no response, she walked inside and turned on the light to reveal the gruesome scene.
“When I went to knock on the back door, the door just opened, so I walked in and it was dark, I just turned on the light and there they were,” she explained.
“They were just there, they were there.”
The couple changed and moved into the home of the murdered family after the murders, and were named as 'persons of interest' in the investigation in March this year.
Police said the unsolved murders outside Pendleton have 'shocked the community to its core'
The trailer that Amy Vilardi used for her mobile pet grooming salon
“I think we knew this day was coming,” said Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride
They were arrested at 4pm on Friday and charged with four counts of murder, and were denied bail when they appeared in court on Saturday.
They were booked into the Anderson County Detention Center ahead of their next court appearance on February 20.
Police have not revealed why they believe they have made a breakthrough after so long in a case that has “shocked the community to its core.”
“We are grateful to share new developments that could potentially lead to a long-awaited path to justice,” the sheriff's office said in a statement.