Rockville Couple's Killer Given 2 Life Terms With No Parole

ROCKVILLE, MD — The next-door neighbor who slaughtered a Rockville couple on Mother's Day 2015 will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance at parole, a judge ruled Tuesday. Scott Michael Tomaszewski, 33, served as caretaker at times for the property of Richard and Julianne Vilardo, and confessed to their murders when he was apprehended on a cruise ship in Alaska.

Tomaszewski was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after Montgomery County Police arrested him with blood-tainted cash police believe was that of the victims, and other items that tied him to a recent burglary and the murders. He pleaded guilty Sept. 20, 2016, to the slayings of the Vilardoes, who were found at their home on the morning of May 10, 2015.

Prosecutors said Richard Vilardo had been stabbed 47 times. His body was found near the home. Julianne Vilardo was found inside the home. She had been stabbed eight times.

Prosecutors said Tomaszewski had conducted Google searches for “how to break into a home.” On the night of the murders he cut and removed a screen from a first floor window at the Vilardo house, climbed inside, then attacked the couple in their bedroom.

Police say Tomaszewski posted a Facebook message about his victims' deaths the night he killed them. "My deepest sympathies go out to our neighbors who were found deceased today. I pray that their children are somehow able to make it through this horrible tragedy. They were such nice people. I can't imagine who would do this. Scary to hear about this having possibly happened as we were leaving for our trip," he posted, according to WJLA.

Life in prison with no chance of parole is the maximum sentence allowed by Maryland law. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy had asked the court, in a written memo filed ahead of the hearing, that Tomaszewski receive the maximum punishment.

“No mercy was shown to Richard and Julianne,” McCarthy wrote, says WTOP. “Maryland has already shown the defendant mercy by deciding he will not suffer the same fate as his victims. The defendant has already received more mercy than his actions suggest he deserves.”

More at Patch:

• Victim Stabbed 47 Times in Rockville Double Homicide: Report
• Rockville Double Homicide Suspect Confesses, Family Issues Statement
• Richard Louis Vilardo and Julianne Humphreys Vilardo, of Rockville
• Slain Rockville Couple Named as Hotel Developer, Wife
• Police: Bodies of Rockville Couple Found, Homicide Suspected

The victims' son, Andrew Vilardo, called Tomaszewski a monster during the September court hearing. Prosecutors said Tomaszewski planned to rob his neighbors, slipped into the home about 1 a.m., and stabbed Dick Vilardo nearly 50 times. He slashed Julianne Vilardo's neck so brutally that her spinal cord and spinal column were severed, reports WTOP.

Dick Vilardo fought with Tomaszewski before he collapsed from his wounds. “The last act on Earth Mr. Richard Viladro was engaged in, I firmly believe, was his last effort to try to save his wife,” McCarthy said.

After the bloody attacks, Tomaszewski, grabbed a ginger ale from the couple’s refrigerator and then returned home.

The parents of Tomaszewski said in a statement after his arrest that they “are a family in shock and filled with sadness.” Rockville attorney John Kudel, who defended the double-homicide suspect, read a statement from the Tomaszewski family after the arrest.

“The Tomaszewski family is devastated by the tragic deaths of their neighbors Richard and Julianne Vilardo and the fact that their son Scott has been charged with the commission of these crimes,” Kudel said in June 2015.

Joe and Janette Tomaszewski had recently retired from careers in oncology medicine and research, according to Kudel.
»Photos of Richard and Julianne Vilardo, and Scott Tomaszewski, courtesy of Montgomery County Police