A New Hampshire man who shot and killed his wife while traveling in Vermont in 2021 was sentenced to 42 years to life in prison Thursday, April 24 in Burlington.
Joseph Ferlazzo, 45, claimed he killed Emily Jean Schwarz, 22, in self-defense while they were in a camper in Bolton. Prosecutors said he tried to cover up the crime. A jury convicted Ferlazzo in December after a trial.
According to VDC reports in 2021, Ferlazzo went out for breakfast the morning after shooting his wife twice in the head during an anniversary celebration trip in their camper Saturday Oct.16 in Bolton, according to court records. He later drove her body to a St. Albans driveway where he dismembered the body with a hacksaw and placed the body parts in plastic bags.
The judge called it a “horrendous” crime and a case of “extreme” domestic violence, according to TV news reports.
Schwarz attended schools in Hopkinton and Orford before graduating from Concord High School. She was passionate about cross country and track, earned an LNA license, and was an aspiring singer, according to her obituary.
Photos for this news story appeared in Vermont Daily Chronicle 2021 news coverage.