Accused hitman pleads guilty to murder, arson
Virginia Beach woman, son were killed in 2004
A man who says he fatally shot a Virginia Beach woman and her 7-year-old son in 2004 as part of a hired hit pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple murder, arson and firearms charges.
It was the second time in three years Richard
Stoner had pleaded guilty to killing Lois Schmidt and her son, Jonathan Vetrano, at their Virginia Beach home. Schmidt’s brother and two family dogs also were shot, with the brother and one dog surviving their injuries. The house was set on fire afterward.
Stoner, 47, faces the possibility of multiple life prison terms when he’s sentenced in May.
He wasn’t arrested until 2018, when Virginia Beach cold case detectives obtained a confession. He told the detectives 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. Lois Schmidt and her son moved in with her parents after the marriage ended.
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 abolished the punishment in 2021.
Circuit Judge Steven Frucci agreed that 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 Without Stoner’s testimony, the prosecution’s case against Schmidt fell apart and all charges against him were withdrawn.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.
Macie Allen, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, said new charges against Schmidt are unlikely unless prosecutors obtain other evidence or Stoner agrees to testify.
Walking with a cane on Thursday, Schmidt’s 72-year-old father, Joe Bloise, stood outside the courthouse and talked of how difficult it’s been to endure all the waiting and uncertainty in the case for so many years. Lois Schmidt’s mother died from pancreatic cancer a couple years ago, he said.
“It’s been 18 years,” Bloise said. “I just wish my wife had lived long enough for this day . ... She would have been happy for today and it would have been a big relief.”
Bloise said, however, he’s glad she wasn’t alive to see Christopher Schmidt set free. And while he’s pleased that Stoner’s case is coming to an end, the suffering won’t end then, he said.
“There will never be closure,” he said. “The house is still empty. They’re still not here.”