Rockville Couple's Killer Pleads Guilty, Victim Fought Despite 47 Stab Wounds

ROCKVILLE, MD — The next-door neighbor charged with killing a Rockville couple on Mother's Day 2015 pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of first-degree murder. Scott Michael Tomaszewski, 32, served as caretaker at times for the property of Richard and Julianne Vilardo, and confessed to the murders when he was apprehended on a cruise ship in Alaska.

Tomaszewski was charged with first-degree murder after Montgomery County Police arrested him with blood-tainted cash police believe is that of the victims, and other items that tied him to a recent burglary and the murders.

The Vilardos were found at their home on the morning May 10. 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.

Tomaszewski faces a life sentence without parole when he is sentenced in November.

In court Tuesday, the victims' son, Andrew Vilardo, called Tomaszewski a monster. 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 Jodie 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,” State's Attorney John McCarthy said.

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

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 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