Husband Dismembered Wife on Romantic Anniversary Trip to Vermont
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Law&Crime Network
Joseph Ferlazzo faces life in prison for the murder of his wife, Emily, while the two were on a trip...
Video Transcript:
it was supposed to be a romantic getaway a one-year anniversary celebration but instead a newly wet husband brutally murders his wife in the woods of Vermont after that he lives with her body for days before dismembering her remains what's more the husman admits to all of this while on the stand and still asks the jury to acquit him this case dates back to October of 2021 when 22-year-old Emily Jean Schwarz went on an anniversary trip with her husband Joseph for lozo the pair had been married for just one year and decided to celebrate that anniversary by visiting family they arrived in this remote area of Bolton Vermont it's not too far from the Canadian border that was October 15th 2021 just hours after they arrived and set up shop in their camper prosecutors say Joseph shot and killed Emily after an argument let's backtrack just a bit though here's how Joseph himself talks about his relationship with Emily how would you describe your relationship besides magnetic euphoric you were happy I was happy why uh we just clicked um I feel like we were both just kind of traveling the same wavelength so she's a good bit was a good bit younger than you right that is correct uh did the age difference ever become an issue in your relationship if it was an issue it was really just to onlookers our friends some of our friends um had opinions about relationships with an age difference um but to me personally no I didn't I did not have an issue um we got along very well and um you know I I just told my friends like it is what it is like it's going good so everything was good right and did there come a point where uh you and Emily decided to get married yes how did that happen well that happened at the at the end of the summer I want to say it was somewhere around August um there was uh there was finally enough money in the account to afford uh first last and security and we found a an apartment actually she found the apartment um we were looking at several places and then she had just out of uh out of happen stance just found an ad that was recently put on she called the number the guy was like actually there he's like I'm here right now just come over right now we just sort of fell into it and uh we like the place and I said you know if you if you lived in Vermont you know we could definitely see each other a lot more you know you wouldn't have to travel back and forth to New Hampshire and she jumped at it so we moved in together in August uh the place was in Essex um and then I want to say it was maybe maybe a month into living there it was like September um I don't exactly remember what I was doing or if I had stepped out or if I had just come back or if I was working with someone and and then I just remember I came into the kitchen and she had this look on her face and I was like what's going on with you and she she breaks out into this huge smile and she pulls out this ring and a card and she hands me the ring and I read the card and it says will you marry me check yes or no and there's two check boxes with a yes and a no next to them and then I look up and she's like filming me and I took the card and I checked yes and it was the cutest thing but Joseph says there were some issues with the relationship too there was obvious flaws to the communication breakdown um and it it started to Spur arguments um I left my device open for her to see who I was talking to your phone my phone yes and uh it led to uh well it led to violence and uh well explain what you mean physical physical abuse uh started coming into our relationship where she would go through my phone and then respond uh by beating on me so you just testified that it was normal for uh to lash out physically when a person gets frustrated oh it might not be normal for everyone but um most of my relationships the women in my life have have been uh aggressive um and I guess I guess I could say physically abusive you tolerated being hit yes I hearing you yes we heard all this from Joseph himself when he testified in his own defense at trial he also described the start of their anniversary trip in October 2021 the day that we left um to come on our trip yes I'm just trying to I'm just thinking um sorry there's uh in the morning we woke up she was uh she was happy very happy um very excited um maybe a little anxious uh anxious about what objection your honor Mrpalaza does not know what Emily was anxious about that's true what are you basing your what did You observe I observed her being anxious to meet my family okay that's fine and we've heard testimony that you didn't actually leave New Hampshire until late in the afternoon maybe early evening is that right do you remember yes this was our first like road trip um as a family so it's very exciting okay yeah and Emily too she was in a good mood yeah she was she was super excited excited to to take Rosie out and she was stoked to meet Nikki and Ariel okay so you get to Vermont and uh where in Bolton do you go uh we went to um the Bear Run condos um my sister rented one of the condom uh one of yeah she rented a Airbnb condo just hours into the trip Joseph says the mood changed I saw her drinking okay what must have just been Red Bull okay um but I was having Red Bull vas that's what I was that's what you were drinking yeah so you had a drink and your recollection is that she had a drink Y and was there any conversation going on while you two were having a drink yeah so there was there was conversation cuz I was like yo you're really hostile like what's going on like I can't just be like the smoke like the smoke cleared out like why are you so hostile and she said that she's like well I have a dilemma and I was like what do you mean you have a dilemma your honor I'm going to object to the hearsay you started telling us a little bit about the specifics of what Emily may have said but without going into specifics um you told we saw in the interview that she was saying hurtful things to you is that is that a fair statement I saw that in the interview yes uh and is that your recollection of what you were hearing um from watching the video no I don't want to know what you saw in the video I want to know what you remember from what I remember of our conversation yes well I started I started telling you about our conversation but then there was an issue with it so I don't know what to do we had gotten to the point where there was a discussion of a dilemma and when I inquired it when I inquired about it um she showed me on her device that she had typed a a very lengthy um in the in the notes app there was like a multiple page um uh I don't know what I don't know what you call it but it was labeled uh dilemma so I was like okay well seems like you have something to talk about but then she deleted the note you saw that yeah she deleted it and she said I'm not going to talk about it so how were you feeling about this conversation how did it make you feel it made me feel like it was pages and pages so it made me feel like she had something that needed to be expressed and uh when she deleted it I was like sort of shocked that something that took that much effort wasn't going to be brought to my attention I uh I told her if if you want to go then go like I I don't want you to I don't want you to be unhappy if you don't want to be here then don't be here I ended up staying uh in in the bus with her um what was she doing well she was having a fit really she was cussing and uh saying how how it was and how I was for not giving her money to go uh have an Uber and like leave the vacation and and what were you doing I was um I was on vacation so I I made another drink and I had some more to smoke and and just to clarify you were drinking vodka and Red Bull yes ma'am Okay I uh I remember dancing uh I think I I put some music on and I was uh just dancing with Remington um and uh yeah just trying to just trying to enjoy the the moment really that's that's what I remember doing Joseph's defense rested on the theory that he shot and killed Emily in self-defense here's what he told jurors about all that Emily went from uh like sitting she was sitting up kind of like cross-legged and uh then she went to like laying on her side um still just like scrolling away just looking at her device and uh and then at one point she lashed out and started uh cursing at me about the candles being lit what did she do if anything well she was uh you know just she was cursing um you know uh I don't know it wasn't it wasn't really in my opinion it wasn't really bright but she was cursing uh I mean the the lighting wasn't overly bright right I didn't turn any of the I didn't turn any of the um we had uh like battery powered LED lights and none of those were on it was it was just candle light so oh let me interrupt you there uh just to ask you about um there's been testimony that Emily's phone was powered off and so was yours at some point that evening uh why was that uh we turned our phones off to conserve uh battery lights I didn't think it was overly bright I think there might have been uh five to seven candles lit so how many five to seven candles lit okay a varying sizes uh all the candles were about the same size like a a large a large um a Yanke candle candle yeah like so you're you're yeah gesturing uh about whatever it is me it looks like about how many you're saying about seven or 8 in tall yes and how what's the diameter uh possibly like a 4 in diameter okay so seven or eight of those large candles right and what happened um uh after her telling me to turn the candles off uh and I said it's not that bright like you could always just roll over um she got up and ran at me and grabbed one of the candles and it was like all I could do to like grab the the lid of it and like uh put it on top of it and she started she like pulled it away and started swinging at me and hitting me with it where uh she hit me in like my neck and head and uh in my arms uh you know I was like blocking um I think she might have like hit me in the chest um but I like wrestled the candle away from her like put it back on the counter and then there was like a flurry of punches and kicks um that she started um punching and kicking me and uh where in my in my shoulders and arms my forearms um closed fist yeah closed fist trying to punch my face um and uh I had to I had to restrain her I had to like physically grab her by her arms and like hold her arms down um and she she kept kicking she actually kicked Remy um and I had to I like sort of turned myself sideways and I like pushed her back to uh to the side of the bed and uh that's I told her to um I told her that you know that that we're not your punching bags and uh you said what I told her that we weren't her punching bags we weren her Punch Yeah she yeah she kicked Remy and she was kicking me and punching me and I pushed her back and uh I told Remy I was like yo we're going to we're going to take a walk after taking the dog outside of the camper Joseph says he came back and the argument just picked up where it left off she shouted um off she like threw an elbow at me threw an elbow um and elbowed me in my groin did that hurt yeah it hurt it it was like a it was a like right to my um genitals um did you say anything when she said off uh I didn't say anything when she said off I uh I got hit in the groin and I said um no more hitting and I uh so we had we had like a bunch of throw pillows that we like lined around the like around the the like the top of the bed where we slept um so one of the throw pillows was right there and I swatted her with the throw pillow and I said stop hitting that's that's when that's uh that's when it happened um what happened uh she she said that's it you're dead and she threw her arm under her pillow and she pulls her hand out with the Taurus and uh how were you feeling I was feeling horrified just like were you afraid I was terrified like there was like a like as soon as I saw that like I just felt like this like wave of heat like just like just like red hot and she started like pushing her body up in an instant and I'm like no no no no no and like I I don't like I don't know like it wasn't she wasn't she wasn't stopping and uh I had uh I had my uh I was holding my my glock and she started like she started just like coming up at me and I I just I just fired why she was going to shoot me and you were afraid very you fired twice that's right you remember firing twice I all I remember is like feeling like like three like three things it was like I felt like it was like boom boom boom and it was like two shots and then her body like uh like dropping what happened after you shot her [Music] uh I I yelled at her like I said are you kidding and like why the hell would you do that did you know she was dead I picked her up you're asking for a sidebar asked for it but don't come up here after this Joseph says he basically continued life as normal he drank some vodka made some coffee in the morning and told his sister that Emily was out with friends in reality she was dead in the camper he's got an interesting reason for all his life too why were you lying to all these people about where Emily was well I uh so it was like this I I had um I had talked to my grandmother about um coming to Pennsylvania to help um get her out of her home and put her into a a safer home either like a one-story home or uh like an assisted living um and Emily and I were going to go to Pennsylvania to help um make that process happen and uh if I would have if I would have told people then the police would have been called and I would be detained and I would not be able to help uh my grandmother get her get her life together um so I wanted to I wanted to move forward with my plans even though uh what happened uh made it uh impossible so your testimony is that you lied because you wanted to get back to Pennsylvania to help your grandmother move yes why didn't you just go back to Pennsylvania instead of hanging around all weekend uh well so I I took the opportunity to um to be with my sister as I hadn't seen her in years hey all you business owners or anyone hoping to start a side hustle I have to take a quick second and tell you about something that can seriously level up your business game it's od. com and their incredible accounting app you know how keeping track of finances can get messy and even confus using well Odo makes it super simple with our accounting app you can manage invoices expenses and even get financial reports all in one place take a look at this clean interface it's designed to save you time and reduce headaches you can automate those repetitive tasks which means you'll just have more time to focus on what you really love growing your business so if you want to take control of your finances and make your accounting life a whole lot easier check out odu's accounting app at our link odu. com lcws 32 and try ODU for free today when Emily went a few days without speaking to her family they got worried and reported her missing Vermont law enforcement began the investigation and Joseph lied to them too hey Joseph this is troper Cody Vermont State Police hey so um I just got off the phone with your father-in-law and sounds like there's some concern about maybe we're Emily maybe okay what can you can sounds like you what what do we know at this point I guess what can you tell me she was with me and she said she was going to get an Uber so she asked me to dross and dross she weing uh like white sers and like blue jeans and like a black top long sleeves yeah [Music] Co up I couldn't find her and I haven't been able to contact and then you went to the gas station one what just down the street there yeah went down the street got some gas and gra a Coke she wanted soda she drink she was gone so I don't know we picked her up she didn't tell me I drove up and down the road looking to see she started down the road and I drove up and down to both ways then I didn't see her walk okay fig yeah she said she was getting milk okay um she had her cell phone with her at that time yes her purse or a wallet or something with some money she had a wallet with okay and now about what time was this did you drop her off what you say um maybe like a little afternoon maybe like 1230 12 123 when Emily jumped out of the van did she have her cell phone in there yeah you're positive on that don't have but prosecutors say Joseph actually did have Emily's phone and he turned it off not long after her murder about 4 days into all of this Joseph decided it was time to dismember Emily's body do you remember inflicting any stab wounds into Emily's body after she was dead no do you remember cutting her up I have one flash of memory where I uh cut into her leg uh with a knife and uh and then I I uh I stopped I got I it made me sick and uh I remember being sick um like like nauseous and vomiting and uh that's all that's all I remember is is being sick just once no I uh no I drank I I I drank and and got sick multiple times um but I don't remember any I don't remember any other part of that incident but those closest to Joseph could tell something was up here's here's his friend Spencer lemons what did he say to you he said let's go pick up my van did you know where his van was he said it was at someone's house called the Langs did you know where that residence was no ma'am had you ever been there before no ma'am did he tell you why he wanted to get the van he said he wanted to get the van up to my house cuz that was the original plan and he wanted to get get it done now did MrFaso go with you yes ma'am and what was Mrfaso's demeanor like while you were driving in the car he was [Music] quiet did he did you ask him uh how he why he was quiet I did ask him if there was anything going on and he seemed a little p drw he said I just want to get to the the bus and so I had him point the directions out to me went okay keep your voice up he pointed the directions out to me as we went okay um and generally speaking where were you traveling to we were traveling to St Albin and about how long would it take to get from your home to St Albin about 30 minutes did you arrive in St Albin yes ma'am and what happened when you arrived in St Albin we went in St Albin he gave me directions to where to go and uh we arrived at where his uh bus was parked and I assume that's the ls what did you see when you arrived where the bus was parked I saw several uh Patrol SUVs parked outside the residence and when you say Patrol SUVs do you mean police cars police vehicles do you remember how many you saw three or four what was your what did you think when you saw those police vehicles alarm Bells went off my head and then he said just go to the end of the road it was a dead end Road and he said turn around and then I turned around and he instructed me to drive past the [Music] police when he told you to turn around what did that make you think that made me think something was not correct in the situation um and thus it prompted me to continue to uh prod him for what's going on okay and and did you do that I did I asked him what's going on man you need to tell me what's going on if I'm going to be driving past police officers I need to know what is going on and did he respond to you he did how did he respond he responded to me with there's a lot going on I wish I could see my grandmother and then uh I said what is going on he said Emily is back in the van I said is Emily alive he said no and I asked did you hurt her and he said yes right away this same friend called 911 he stated this to me when he said but U we got to go back to my house like are those cops for you what is going on and I said what is going on he says my wife um was in uh actually said I did something really bad I said what did you do and he said that she um his wife is inside that box and I said she alive and he goes no I don't want to go to prison get on my car right now I'm calling you cop and did he put up a fight when you asked him to get out no he he was like just she's like man I don't want to go to prison don't take me back there I said I and then he just started getting fidgety and I don't know if he's got anything on him I mean yes I am armed but I'm not into any confrontation so I just get out of my car okay all right hold on a second got a family wife and kid I don't need this crap around me okay no I completely understand do you know what his wife's name is uh his her name is was Emily foro I'm guessing was I Emily Emily m y Joseph veraza was arrested and charged with Emily's murder his case went to trial just last month and here's how prosecutors wrapped up their side of the story in October of of 2021 Mrfrazo and his wife Emily made a plan to come to Vermont for a weekend for their oneyear anniversary you heard from Emily's mother that Emily was excited she was looking forward to meeting her sister-in-law Nicole she was in a good mood and she was looking forward to the trip they drove up here in their van with their dog from New Hampshire on the evening of Friday October 15th of 2021 they arrived in Vermont at the Barun cont windows at 7:20 p.
m. they parked at a condo complex on bar run in Bolton they met with Nicole for about 15 minutes out in the parking lot inside the van with a plan for Mrfrazo and Emily to meet them inside the Airbnb to catch up watch Netflix and hang out but they never did and we know that Emily sent her last Facebook message to her family at 8813 p. m.
we know that Mrfrazo sent a text message to his sister Nicole inside the Airbnb at 9:39 p. m. hey we're going to take the night to rest smiley face you still drink coffee we'll see you tomorrow morning shortly after Emily's last location data from her Facebook is logged as 10:14 p.