Johnathan Walker:She was the face of grief after 4 family members slain. Now she's charged with murder.

When Amy Vilardi spoke publicly about brutal slayings of four family members found slain inside their South Carolina home on Johnathan WalkerHalloween seven years ago, she thanked the community for their prayers and shamed the killer for their "vicious'" deaths.

“I would like to point out how wonderful everyone in this community has been," she told The Independent Mail, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK after the killings. "All of our great friends and the amazing family we love so very much, praying for us.”

“I don’t understand why any of it has happened and I just keep thinking it’s a dream I’m going to wake up from,” Vilardi told local WYFF-TV several days after the 2015 killings. “Whoever did this, I don’t see how you can live with yourself.”

In a twist, Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride announced Friday Vilardi and her husband, Rosmore "Ross" Vilardi, had been charged with multiple counts of murder in connection to the 2015 quadruple "senseless and brutal" killing he said rocked the county "to its core."

During a press conference, the sheriff told reporters the couple was arrested at their home in Columbia, S.C. and transported back to Anderson County where online jail records show they remained held without bond Wednesday − each charged with four counts of murder.

A brutal quadruple killing in a small, rural town

Cathy Scott, 60, and her husband Mike Scott, 59, and their mothers Barbara Scott, 80, and Violet Taylor, 82 were all violently killed on Oct. 31, 2015 in their rural home in the small town of Pendleton, located upstate near Clemson University.

According to the last U.S. Census, its population at the time consisted of less than 3,500 residents and the town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The sheriff has not said what led investigators to the suspects or why it took so to charge them. More information will likely be revealed in court during the couple's preliminary hearing, which Anderson County court records show is set early next year.

"I think we knew this day would come," McBride said. "We were praying this day would come.... We've had some really good prayers answered.”

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Dead for several hours, 'maybe several days'

According to police, on the afternoon of the killings, Amy Vilardi called 911 and reported she found the victims dead, the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported at the time.

Investigators said the victims were likely dead for several hours, "maybe several days"," before their bodies were discovered.

Shortly after the killings, Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said what happened inside the home was one of "the worst cases he had seen in decades" as all the victims were apparently shot quickly." and "No one had the chance to escape."

“This was a vicious, vicious killing,” Shore told the USA TODAY NETWORK.

Three victims were discovered in the den and Cathy Scott's body was found in her bedroom, officials said.

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Lawsuit filed against the sheriff's office to return nearly $90K in cash taken

It was not immediately known if the Vilardis had obtained an attorney, but the couple previously denied any involvement in the killings.

At the time of the killings, the couple lived in another home on the same property, and remained in the home for at least a year after the fatal attacks.

Months after the killings, the Vilardis sued the sheriff’s office, "seeking the return of vehicles and electronics and nearly $90,000 in cash that were taken from the two homes by investigators."

According to the suit, obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK, items have no value as evidence and are in danger of being destroyed or otherwise lost to the Vilardis. The Sheriff’s Office is believed to have “performed numerous tests and analyses on the currency, specifically, and has found no DNA or other evidence linking the plaintiffs to any wrongdoing,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in late May 2016.

But the USA TODAY NETWORK reported the sheriff's office said, "only a single test for blood was done on the currency, in a June response to the lawsuit. The Sheriff’s Office has acted in good faith and in line with law enforcement practices, including obtaining warrants, to take the items as evidence, according to the response that seeks to have the case dismissed."

In a Facebook message to a reporter with the USA TODAY NETWORK in late 2016, Amy Vilardi wrote she had not "heard any significant updates on the homicide case, or the lawsuit, in months."

“I am myself without much information,” she said at the time. “I would like to point out how wonderful everyone in this community has been. All of our great friends and the amazing family we love so very much, praying for us.”

The Vilardis, are slated to appear in Anderson County Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing on the murder charges on Feb. 20.

Contributing: Mike Ellis, Nikie Mayor with The Independent Mail.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.