Mary Beth Tomaselli, left, and Linda Roberts.Photo: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
Two Florida sisters allegedly thought they got away with what authorities are calling “the perfect murder” — until they fell for the same man.
On Tuesday, Mary-Beth Tomaselli, 63, and Linda Roberts, 61, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the 2015 death of their 85-year-old father, Anthony Tomaselli, in Palm Harbor,Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced at a press conference.
At the time of his death, Anthony Tomaselli suffered from cancer and dementia. He was initially ruled to have died of natural causes, Gualtieri said.
Anthony Tomaselli, 85, of Palm Harbor, Florida.Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
When that didn’t work, he said, Roberts allegedly tried to suffocate him with a pillow.
When that failed, too, Roberts allegedly “stuffed a rag down his throat” while her sister “pinched his nose and held his arms until he stopped breathing,” he said. “It’s the perfect murder because there was absolutely no sign of struggle, no sign of foul play.”
But the sisters wouldn’t steer clear of law enforcement forever. Their alleged plot unraveled after Roberts’ conscience allegedly compelled her to confess to a man who was involved in a love triangle with both sisters.
On Feb. 13, the man, who has not been publicly identified, called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department to report that a woman he was dating had told him that she and her sister killed their father four years ago, the sheriff said.
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Tomaselli began dating him in summer 2018, Gualtieri said, and her sister also began a separate sexual relationship with him.
On Feb. 12, Roberts invited the man to her home, where she allegedly told him that “they had euthanized their father,” he said. The man allegedly videotaped her on his cellphone as she relayed the full story.
Roberts also allegedly confessed to the man that she and her husband had recently put their assets in her name and that he had been arrested for domestic violence, Gualtieri said.
“She wanted him dead, too,” he said.
The sisters later told authorities they allegedly “euthanized” their father because he had been sick, would likely die within two or three months and because he didn’t want to go to an assisted living facility, he said.
The morning after the alleged murder, they allegedly “faked” finding him dead and performing CPR before calling 911.
After their father’s death, the sisters sold his house and split the $120,000 between them and their brother, “who had nothing to do with the murder,” Gualtieri said.
The sisters are being held in the Pinellas County Jail on no bond, a representative at the jail tells PEOPLE.
It is unclear whether Roberts and Tomaselli have entered pleas of guilt or innocence or retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.
source: people.com
