By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The New Hampshire man who confessed to shooting his wife and cutting up her body inside their camper van during an anniversary trip to Vermont was found civilly liable for her wrongful death by a Vermont court this month.
Joseph Ferlazzo Jr., 42, of Northfield, is being held without bail on a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing his wife, Emily Schwarz Ferlazzo, 22, during their first anniversary vacation in October 2021.
Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. confessed to the murder, according to court records, but he pleaded not guilty in court. The criminal murder case is still pending in the Chittenden County Court.
Robert Scharf, the attorney for Emily Schwarz Ferlazzo’s mother, Adrienne Bass, said Monday that Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. was found liable in his wife’s death and now the family is waiting for damages to be awarded.
“We’re just trying to secure whatever assets remain that could go to meet expenses,” Scharf said.
These assets include a couple of cars, motorcycles, some cash, and the couple’s dog, Remmy. Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. initially tried to give the dog away to a friend soon after his arrest, but the court granted Bass’s request for custody of the dog.
“It was important (for Bass) to get the dog,” Scharf said.
The family felt it was important to get a civil judgment against Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. as the criminal case drags out in court. He is not due back for the criminal case until spring of next year, according to clerks with the Chittenden County Court.
“There’s not a lot (of assets) but nonetheless we felt really the estate was owed,” Scharf said. “Rather than just walk away, we sought what we could.”
Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. worked as a tattoo artist before he met Emily Schwarz Ferlazzo, a registered nurse. She lived in Northfield near her family. He has since had his Vermont tattoo license revoked, according to state records.
Adrienne Bass and her husband, Davis Bass, reported Emily Schwarz Ferlazzo missing on the Monday after Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. returned to New Hampshire from the anniversary vacation without his wife, according to the affidavit filed in Chittenden County Superior Court by Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. James Vooris.
Adrienne Bass told police her daughter had been the victim of domestic violence in the past.
The couple was vacationing at an Airbnb property in their converted camper in Vermont. Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. told his in-laws the couple argued, and that Emily Ferlazzo told him she was taking an Uber back to New Hampshire, according to the affidavit. He later left the state again in the camper.
Police in Vermont found the camper, which was the site of a grisly murder, and soon took Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. in custody. He told police he argued with Emily Schwarz Ferlazzo on the Saturday of their trip, and she was hitting and kicking him, particularly in the groin, Vooris wrote.
The fight ended with Emily Ferlazzo going to lie down. Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. waited five to 10 minutes, got his Glock 19 pistol, jumped on top of his wife, and shot her two times in the head, he told police. He put a garbage bag on her head, and then put her body into the camper bathroom. Next, he went to have breakfast with his sister and her boyfriend, he told police.
After breakfast, Joseph Ferlazzo Jr. moved the camper to another location, and then proceeded to dismember his wife, cutting her feet, legs, arms, and head from her body with a hand saw, and putting each body part into a separate garbage bag, he told police.
This was not the first time a member of Joseph Ferlazzo Jr.’s family met a violent death. In 2009, his stepmother Young Hee Lim-Ferlazzo was stabbed to death at her home in Upper Gwynedd Township in Pennsylvania in October of 2009. His father, Joseph Ferlazzo Sr., was questioned by police but the case remains open, according to authorities.
Joseph Ferlazzo Sr. owned a massage parlor in Reading, Pennsylvania, that had been raided by police in May of 2009, according to news accounts.
Police arrested multiple women on charges of prostitution, including a female relative of Young Hee Lim-Ferlazzo who reportedly worked as the massage parlor’s manager. Joseph Ferlazzo Sr. told police he had returned to his home from grocery shopping after midnight on the night of the murder and discovered the body of his wife.