Violet Juanita Morgan Taylor, 82, Barbara Porter Scott, 80, Cathy Taylor Scott, 60, and Terry Michael “Mike” Scott, 58, were fatally stabbed and shot sometime after 1:00 p.m. on November 1, 2015 at the residence they shared on Refuge Road in Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina, United States.
Cathy is Violet and John D. Taylor‘s daughter. Mike is Barbara and Hershell G. Scott‘s son.
Mike was an employee with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. He and Cathy were junior high school sweethearts but they only got married in 2006.
It was Amy Vilardi, then 32, who found Violet, Barbara, Cathy and Mike’s bodies on November 2, 2015. Amy is Cathy’s daughter and Mike’s stepdaughter.
At the time, Vilardi and her husband Rosmore “Ross” Vilardi, then 28, lived on the same property on Refuge Road in Pendleton but in a single-wide mobile home with their two children. The couple ran a pet grooming business out of their residence.
According to Amy, she went to check on Cathy when she realized she had not seen her mother out walking the dog. Amy called 911 and reported that she found her mother, her stepfather, her maternal grandmother and her step-grandmother dead.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office exercised four search warrants at Ross and Amy’s residence on November 2, 2015 and one more search warrant on November 4, 2015 and on November 11, 2015, the sheriff’s office conducted a sixth search at a storage unit rented by Ross. Cash and goods were seized including a 1996 truck, a 2003 car, more than $60,000 in cash and at least 18 weapons including handguns, shotguns and rifles.
On May 28, 2016, Ross and Amy filed a claim and delivery complaint against the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, accusing the sheriff’s office of wrongfully and willfully retaining possession of their property despite the property lacking any evidentiary value. On April 26, 2018, a judge denied Amy’s request to have the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office release property seized amid the investigation without going to trial.
On November 4, 2020, a billboard showing Violet, Barbara, Cathy and Mike’s faces was installed in Pendleton high off of highway US-76. It included a plea saying, “Do you know who murdered us? Don’t stay silent.”
In March 2023, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office named Ross and Amy as persons of interest in the case, which is being prosecuted by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
On December 15, 2023, Ross and Amy were arrested in their residence in Columbia, South Carolina. On December 16, 2023, they appeared for an initial hearing and were both denied bond.
Ross and Amy remain jailed in Anderson County on four counts of murder each. On February 20, 2024, they will attend a preliminary court hearing.
CONAN Daily 