Inset top: Luis Rosado (Berkshire District Attorney's Office). Inset bottom: Jillian Tatro (Paciorek Funeral Home). Background: The home on Charles Street in North Adams, Massachusetts, where the killing occurred (Google Maps).
A man in Massachusetts will not see the outside of a prison after stabbing his wife to death when she planned to leave him, with her son making the grisly discovery.
Luis Rosado, 53, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of murdering 38-year-old Jillian Tatro, the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office announced. The sentencing appears to put an end to a harrowing case stretching back nearly four years.
Rosado and Tatro began dating in September 2021 and were married four months later, as authorities recount. But if there was certainty in their relationship in January 2022, it had deteriorated by that spring.
On May 28, 2022, the husband and wife went to her apartment at 46 Charles Street in North Adams, Massachusetts, a small city in the western part of the state, within 10 miles of New York. She lived on the second-floor apartment of the house, and the residence was located on a tight and hilly road.
Tatro's neighbor on the first floor reported hearing the couple before the neighbor left for work around 10:15 p.m. that night. About 30 minutes later, Tatro's son arrived at the apartment and saw Rosado leaving.
According to authorities, Rosado told his wife's son that "his mother had left the apartment with a friend." Both men then left the area.
By the following evening, however, Tatro's son had still not heard from his mother. He proceeded to enter her apartment and find her dead.
He called the North Adams Police Department, and officers responded at about 7:54 p.m. They entered the apartment "and observed Ms. Tatro lying on her back near the entryway," the DA's office stated. "It was evident that she had suffered from some type of stab wound."
A medical examiner evaluated her body and "determined that she had been stabbed ten times, slashed six times, and suffered blunt trauma to her head."
Investigators also obtained other evidence from the scene, cellphone data, and witness interviews. Investigators determined that Rosado murdered Tatro between 10:15 p.m. and 10:42 p.m. on the night of May 28 and learned that "domestic violence was a longstanding factor" in their relationship.
As Law&Crime reported that summer, a witness stated that they overheard Rosado tell his wife days before she was found dead "that he would kill her if she left him," according to then-Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington. And on the evening of May 28, 2022, they were heard arguing before the murder.
"Today, my thoughts are with Ms. Tatro's children and family," current Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy Shugrue stated following the sentencing. "Ms. Tatro's son demonstrated tremendous poise and courage during his testimony in the trial. Ms. Tatro was a victim of domestic violence."
"The most dangerous time in a [domestic violence victim's] life is when they are prepared to leave," Shugrue added. "We know that Jillian was planning to leave on the Tuesday following her murder. Her death is a tragic example of lethal consequence of domestic violence and the lasting impact these crimes have on families and communities."