The husband of a missing woman reportedly last seen Saturday in Bolton faces a charge of first-degree murder in her slaying, Vermont State Police said late Tuesday night.
Joseph Ferlazzo, 41, of Northfield, New Hampshire, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington on the murder charge in the death of his wife, Emily Ferlazzo, 22.
The court ordered Joseph Ferlazzo jailed overnight without bail, state police said in a news release.
Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the Vermont State Police criminal division, announced the arrest and charge against Joseph Ferlazzo during a press briefing late Tuesday night at the state police barracks in St. Albans.
“It’s very tragic, and our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to friends and family of Emily,” Trudeau said.
State police first announced an investigation into Emily Ferlazzo’s disappearance at 2:35 a.m. Tuesday and issued a series of updates culminating in Tuesday evening’s press conference.
Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, police said they were also trying to find her husband and asked for the public’s help in locating him.
However, shortly after putting out that request, a state police detective located Joseph Ferlazzo by chance in a convenience store in St. Albans, Trudeau said. The detective had stopped into the store for lunch when he saw the wanted man, Trudeau said.
The detective asked Joseph Ferlazzo if he would be willing to go to the state police barracks in St. Albans for questioning in the disappearance of his wife, and Joseph Ferlazzo agreed, Trudeau said.
“He sat down and met with some detectives and provided them a great deal of information,” Trudeau said. “The information he provided was that he had killed his wife Emily and said he’d done so in the town of Bolton during the early Saturday morning hours.”
Joseph Ferlazzo told detectives he killed Emily inside their vehicle in Bolton, according to police.
Trudeau declined to elaborate on the manner of death before Joseph Ferlazzo’s arraignment Wednesday.
The couple traveled from their home in New Hampshire to Bolton on Friday night, Trudeau said.
Police described the vehicle as a small bus that had been converted into living and travel space the couple shared and had taken to Bolton late last week.
Police said earlier in the day they located and seized the bus in St. Albans. After speaking to Joseph Ferlazzo, Trudeau said investigators conducted a court-ordered search of the vehicle at the barracks in St. Albans and uncovered the human remains and other evidence corroborating his account of the killing.
The victim’s body will be taken to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death as well to confirm identity, according to police.
Trudeau said Joseph Ferlazzo’s “admissions” were critical to the case.
“There’s still a lot of evidence to be recovered,” Trudeau said, adding, there will be “days and days of follow-up with this case” involving several towns in Franklin and Chittenden counties.
Emily Ferlazzo’s family reported she was missing on Monday at about 7:15 p.m., police said, starting an investigation that expanded from the Bolton area to include locations in Enosburg and St. Albans.
“There are concerns for Mrs. Ferlazzo’s welfare,” a police press release stated Tuesday afternoon.
According to police, Joseph Ferlazzo told her family the couple argued while traveling in their vehicle on the Bolton Valley Access Road Saturday at about 1 p.m. The couple had been staying at a vacation rental in Bolton, he said.
Joseph Ferlazzo said Emily Ferlazzo left the vehicle and started walking along Route 2, at which point he went to a convenience store in Bolton, according to police.
When Joseph Ferlazzo returned to where he had last seen Emily Ferlazzo, she was gone, he told her family.
The couple’s dog, a mixed breed named Remington, had also been reported missing and was located unharmed at a house belonging to a friend of Joseph Ferlazzo, police said.
If convicted of the first-degree murder charge, Joseph Ferlazzo faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Correction: An earlier version of this story included the wrong title for Maj. Dan Trudeau.