Insets, top to bottom: Emily Richitelli (Mayer-Ethridge Funeral Home) and John Altman (Young Funeral Home). Background: Ronnie Todd Jr. during his trial for murdering Richitelli and Altman (Law&Crime).
A 45-year-old South Carolina man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury convicted him of the murders of his ex-girlfriend and her new lover, who was also his best friend.
Ronnie Todd Jr. was found guilty on Monday in the 2022 slayings of 30-year-old Emily Richitelli and 44-year-old John Altman. The jury took less than an hour to convict Todd of two counts of murder after the weeklong trial, according to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor”s Office. Circuit Court Judge Michael G. Nettles subsequently sentenced Todd to two life sentences.
Prosecutors said after Todd and Richitelli broke up, he became jealous that she was dating Altman, his former pal. Key to the conviction was Todd’s text messages to friends leading up to the shooting:
- I will blow their brains out and burn down the house
- Bout to kill one of our family … someone is effing with something I love and I’m gonna kill that
- I’m killing some people when I get home. No question about that. I love her and it’s over
Todd followed through on his threat. In the early morning hours of July 21, 2022, Todd entered a Georgetown townhome and shot Richitelli and Altman dead.
“He said he’s going to clear the whole house,” prosecutor Scott Hixson said during closing arguments. “He thought he did it. He tried as hard as he could.”
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But there was a witness. Altman’s son, then 9, was in the bathroom at the time of the shooting and recognized Todd’s voice. Altman and Todd were so close that the boy called him “Uncle Ron.”
“I went to use the bathroom, then I heard somebody come in, and I heard a voice. I knew whose voice it was,” the boy testified. “And they said, ‘You want to talk trash?’ And then I heard about eight gunshots. But before those gunshots, my father was screaming ‘Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron.'”
After the shooting, the boy ran to a neighbor’s house and banged on the door.
“The first thing he says when he opened the door is ‘My dad’s been shot, my dad’s been shot,'” the neighbor, Ann Hollingsworth, testified.
Hollingsworth called 911 and Altman’s son identified Todd as the shooter to dispatchers.
Richitelli also left behind a 13-year-old son. After a bout with drug addiction, she turned her life around and worked two jobs to support her son. Her sister recalled the last time they were together was at their sister’s bachelorette party.
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“I didn’t know that would be our last time together,” Christina Miller said. “I never got to tell her how proud I was of her, and now I never will.”
One of Altman’s children told Todd how her father was always there to support her.
“He should be here to see me succeed in life, but he can’t because you killed him,” she said.
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