Hitman gets life sentence for 2004 murder of Virginia Beach woman and her 7-year-old son
A man who killed a Virginia Beach woman and her 7-year-old son as part of a hired hit nearly two decades ago got the maximum sentence allowed on Monday: life without parole plus three life sentences and 63 years.
Circuit Judge Steven Frucci told Richard Stoner the horrific circumstances of the 2004 double slayings of Lois Schmidt, 29, and her son, Jonathan Vetrano, made the maximum penalty seem insufficient.
“These actions were so evil and so egregious and the loss so incalculable,” Frucci said. “I’ve never seen anything as bad, as evil and as disgusting as these actions were, Mr. Stoner.”
Before the sentence was handed down, Stoner, 48, told the judge he also was at a loss to explain his actions.
“This crime is so far outside my character, it’s hard for even me to comprehend it was me,” he said. “I feel horrible about this crime. I don’t know what happened. It eats me alive.”
Stoner pleaded guilty in February to aggravated murder, two counts of first-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, animal cruelty, arson, conspiracy and multiple weapons charges. The aggravated murder count required that he get life in prison without parole.
The crime happened in June 2004 at a home in the Level Green community where Schmidt and her son lived with her parents and her younger brother. The brother, Morgan Bloise, and two family dogs also were shot, with the brother and one dog surviving their injuries. The house was set on fire afterward.
Stoner wasn’t arrested until 2018, when Virginia Beach cold case detectives obtained a confession from him. He told them he’d been hired by Schmidt’s ex-husband, Christopher Schmidt, to kill her and ended up also killing the boy to spare him the trauma of having seen his mother murdered.
Vetrano was Schmidt’s son from a previous marriage. Lois Schmidt and Christopher Schmidt shared a 1-year-old daughter who was with her father at the time of the murders.
Stoner told investigators Schmidt offered to pay him $10,000 to kill his ex-wife but he never received the money. All he got, he said, was a DVD recorder and some night vision goggles.
In December 2019, Stoner agreed to plead guilty to all charges he faced and testify against Christopher Schmidt. In exchange, prosecutors said they wouldn’t seek the death penalty. But less than two years later, he changed his mind and asked to withdraw his pleas after Virginia’s General Assembly abolished the punishment in 2021. Frucci agreed the change in law had invalidated the deal and allowed Stoner to take back his pleas.
Stoner also began refusing to cooperate with prosecutors around that time and said he’d invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if called to testify against Schmidt. Without Stoner’s testimony, the prosecution’s case against Schmidt fell apart and all charges against him were withdrawn. Schmidt was released from jail afterward and remains free.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors called Lois Schmidt’s father, Joe Bloise, Vetrano’s father, Ed Vetrano, and his stepmother, Dawn Vetrano, to testify about how the crimes have affected them.
Janet Rogers, a longtime family friend, read a letter written by Schmidt’s mother Nancy Bloise before she died from cancer a couple of years ago in which she described the devastating impact the murders had on her, and shared memories of her daughter and grandson.
Lois Schmidt had just turned 29 the day before she was killed, the letter said. She loved country music, word puzzles, her dogs and, most of all, her children. Her favorite movie was “Gone with the Wind.” She was known for her great sense of humor and her big brown eyes, the letter said.
Jonathan Schmidt loved the movie “Toy Story” and slept every night with the Woody and Buzz dolls made popular by the film, the letter said. He was a Tiger Scout, a strong reader and a regular participant at his church’s Sunday school. His eyes were just like his mother’s.
“What were the last things those big, beautiful brown eyes saw?” Nancy Bloise wrote. “What were his last thoughts? I can only imagine it was a tremendous amount of fear.”
The entire family continued to live in fear after the murders, she wrote, and were always looking over their shoulders.
“We live this hell daily and the hurt will never go away,” the letter said. “Will I ever be happy again? No.”
After the hearing, Joe Bloise said he was pleased with the sentence. But the case is far from over for the family, he said. They’re still hoping to see Christopher Schmidt arrested again and prosecuted. They also would like to have a relationship with the daughter Lois Schmidt had with Christopher Schmidt, who was only an infant when they were last allowed to see her.
“We’re only halfway there,” Bloise said. “Hopefully we’ll get completely there someday soon.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
