A South Carolina woman, who had given emotional interviews about the gruesome murder scene of four family members, was arrested and ordered held without bail this weekend in connection with the 2015 quadruple slaying, officials said.
Amy Vilardi and her husband, Rosmore "Ross" Vilardi, are both accused of killing Cathy Scott, 60; Mike Scott, 59; Barbara Scott, 80; and Violet Taylor, 82, on Halloween night of 2015 in the victims' home in Pendleton, authorities said. Each victim had at least one gunshot wound, officials said at the time.
Cathy Scott was Amy Vilardi's mother, and Violet Taylor was her grandmother. Mike Scott was the husband of Cathy Scott and son of Barbara Scott. Amy Vilardi called 911 on Nov. 2 after discovering the gruesome crime scene, authorities said.
'I Don't See How You Can Live with Yourself'
Just days after the murders, she told NBC affiliate WYFF of Greenville, South Carolina, that she had difficulty shaking the memory of finding the bodies.
"When I went to knock on the back door, the door just pushed open so I walked in and it was dark and I just flipped the light on and there they were. They were just, they were there," Vilardi said.
She added: "I don't understand why any of it has happened and I just keep thinking it's a dream I'm going to wake up from. Whoever did this, I don't see how you can live with yourself."
In another interview with 7News, she complained about being kept in the dark on the investigation and demanded "answers" about who was behind the murders, saying: "I understand [investigators] have a job to do, but sometimes as family members we want answers and we just want to know what's going on."
Amy Vilardi was Involved in a Dispute with Her Mother
Now, Vilardi and her husband are both charged with four counts of murder. They were arrested Friday at their Columbia home, and a judge ordered them held without bail on Saturday.
Authorities have not revealed a motive or specified what exactly led them to make the arrest after all these years, but in the wake of the murders, The Daily Mail reported that Vilardi had been involved in a dispute with her mother and had banned her from seeing her grandchildren. That report also said investigators were looking into whether Michael Scott's side job of buying and selling gold had anything to do with the murders.
"This is a case that rocked our county extremely hard," Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride told reporters on Friday. "We've tried to keep it at the forefront of the media and the public's awareness and knowledge."
The suspects were not represented by attorneys during Saturday's court appearance, and it wasn't clear if they had hired or been assigned defense lawyers by Monday, a sheriff's department spokesperson said.
