Suspect in Rockville couple slaying posted condolences on Facebook on day of murder

The suspect charged in a double murder of a Rockville couple left an eerie post on Facebook that neighbors say adds insult to injury.

Police caught Scott Tomaszewski more than 6,000 miles away on a cruise ship.

Residents along Ridge Drive in Rockville are understandably shaken after learning Tomaszewski was arrested for the brutal murder of his next-door neighbors Richard and Julianne Vilardo.

Police say after stabbing them to death, he spent time going through their house looking for items to steal. Investigators believe back in April, he also robbed a woman who lives across the street from his parents' house.

The Vilardos' daughter found her parents dead on Mother's Day. FOX 5 has learned that on the same day, Tomaszewski posted a message on Facebook expressing condolences to the Vilardos' children: "my deepest sympathies go out to our neighbors who were found deceased today. i pray that their children are somehow able to make it through this horrible tragedy. they were such nice people. i can't imagine who would do this. scary to hear about this having possibly happened as we were leaving for our trip."

Tomaszewski was arrested days later while still in Alaska on vacation with his family. He has confessed to the murders, police say.

Forensics expert Jay Singh said the post may have been a way to emotionally distance himself or possibly be a more calculated move.

"If he knows that people are going to be kind of thinking about him as a potential suspect and such, he wants to try to preemptively cover those tracks and perhaps wishful thinking, to be able to think that posting what seems like a sincere message would necessarily throw anybody off," said Singh.

Erik McWilliams and his wife had gone to Charles Town, West Virginia for dinner with the Vilardos on May 9 and were among the last people to see them alive.

"We got out, walked up our driveway while they walked down their driveway," he said. "The next day at noon, I looked out and I saw more police cars than I've ever seen in 44 years of living here.

"They were very loved people, very good people. It's just unfathomable."

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