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Woman Allegedly Killed Her Boyfriend And Hid Body In Garbage Can With Her Mom's Help
"It was inevitable what was going to happen," Erika Guttilla said about her boyfriend's killing.
A Vermont woman allegedly killed her boyfriend and hid his body with the help of her mother and new lover, authorities said.
Erika Guttilla, 31, was arrested Tuesday and charged for the murder of Troy Ford, 35. She allegedly shot him in the head in December while he was asleep at her family's home in Highgate, according to necn.com. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her mother, Carmen Guttilla, was charged the day before for allegedly helping to hide the body. She pleaded not guilty to aiding in the commission of a felony. Guttilla's 28-year-old boyfriend, Corey Cassani, who was charged with being an accessory after the fact and pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Guttilla and her mother allegedly rolled Ford in a rug and left it in a garbage can for weeks or possibly months.
When she was arrested, Guttilla said Ford, who had been living in the house with the family, raped her in the bathroom about a month before the murder, according to the Burlington Free Press. She said in an affidavit that he was violent to her on many occasions and she didn't feel safe, so she installed a deadbolt on the inside of her bedroom.
"It was inevitable what was going to happen," she said in the affidavit, which she said admitted to planning the murder for about a month.
The gun belonged to Guttilla's mother. The night of the murder, according to the affidavit, Ford drank until he passed out.
"Once Don went to sleep, (Erika Guttilla) paced throughout the house and went in and out of Don's room about 15 times," the affidavit said. "She advised she finally just went into Don's bedroom and shot him while he was sleeping face up in his bed. She said she held the gun right up next to his face when she pulled the trigger."
After the murder, Erika Guttilla asked her mother to check that Ford was dead because she couldn't go back into the room, according to the Burlington Free Press.
Erika and Carmen Guttilla both face 35 years to life in prison if convicted. Cassani faces up to 17 years.
[Photo: Vermont State Police]
