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by WILL FOLKS
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A jury in Anderson County, South Carolina took less than two hours to find accused killer Amy Vilardi guilty of murdering her mother, step-father, grandmother and step-grandmother nearly ten years ago.
In the first of two murder trials tied to the notorious Halloween 2015 quadruple homicide (her husband, Ross Vilardi, will be tried separately), the 40-year-old was convicted in connection with all four deaths despite the lack of any physical evidence tying her to the murder scene.
Not only that, jurors rendered their verdicts in just ninety minutes.
S.C. circuit court judge R. Scott Sprouse handed down four consecutive life sentences to Vilardi – one for each victim: Vilardi’s 60-year-old mother, Cathy Scott; her 58-year-old stepfather, Terry Michael Scott; her 80-year-old step-grandmother, Barbara Scott; and her 82-year-old grandmother, Violet Taylor.
According to prosecutors, money motivated these murders.
“People will kill and do desperate things for money,” senior assistant deputy attorney general Heather Weiss said during her lengthy closing argument, concluding Vilardi murdered her relatives because she and her husband had “no money in (their) account and were behind on bills.”
Indeed, Weiss stated, the couple paid numerous outstanding debts in cash in the days immediately following the savage slayings.
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The four victims were found in a doublewide mobile home on Refuge Road near Pendleton, S.C. on November 2, 2015 – approximately three days after they were killed. Barbara Scott, Taylor, and Terry Scott had their throats slit prior to being shot postmortem in the living room. Cathy Scott was shot twice in the head and then stabbed in a bedroom.
“Broke her mandible and she swallowed the bullet,” Weiss said.
According to Weiss, after carrying out the murders on Saturday (October 31, 2015) the Vilardis traveled to Columbia, S.C. – part of a plan aimed at making it appear as though they were nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time the murders took place.
“All Amy and Ross had to do was get to Columbia and be sure she was in Columbia when the bodies were found,” Weiss said.
The only problem? The plan required the bodies to be discovered by police.
“Nobody finds the bodies,” Weiss said. “Now the plan has to change. Somebody has to find the bodies. It’s Monday morning, what do we do now?”
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Eventually, prosecutors alleged, the Vilardis had to switch gears and stage the discovery of the bodies themselves.
That narrative clearly held sway with jurors, who showed little emotion during the weeklong trial – which, incidentally, did not include a single piece of evidence linking Amy Vilardi to the crime (although a bloody shoe print found at the scene was believed to belong to her husband).
“There is no evidence because Amy didn’t do it,” attorney Lori Murray said during her closing argument, which came after prosecutors seemed to struggle to put together a compelling circumstantial case against Vilardi.
“They didn’t find any fingerprints,” Murray added. “Not on the floors, the counters, the walls. Not one fingerprint that they could match to Amy Vilardi or her husband. Touch DNA… none.”
Based on the lack of physical evidence, many who watched the trial believed Vilardi would be found ‘not guilty’ – and were shocked when the verdicts were read in open court.
As noted, this case appeared to have gone cold in the years after the murders. After selling their Anderson County property, the Vilardis moved to Richland County and opened a mobile dog grooming business. As recently as September 2, 2022, Right Way Mobile Pet Grooming provided complimentary services for the K9s of the Cayce, S.C. police department.
Business filings on record with the S.C. Secretary of State’s office showed Ross Vilardi as the registered agent for two Palmetto State corporations headquartered at the couple’s home address in West Columbia, S.C. – the grooming business and another entity called Bikers Only Customs.
It wasn’t until December 2023 — more than eight years after the crime — that both Vilardis were arrested by deputies of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and charged with murder by the office of attorney general Alan Wilson. Those arrests came after the case was featured on the television show Cold Justice.
Wilson, who is running for governor in 2026, issued a statement on the verdicts.
“First, I want to thank the men and women of the jury who gave their attention to this case,” Wilson said. “Our justice system relies on everyday people who put their lives on hold to serve on a jury. Second, I want to call attention to the hard work of the prosecutors and support staff in my office who took a 10-year-old case and were able to get justice for the victims’ families. And finally, to those families who lost loved ones, we hope this brings you closure, and our prayers are with you.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
Dang Josh I thought you a great attorney, Weiss is obviously much better. And a life sentence no less. Judges in SC rarely do that