In the winter of 2020, a heart-wrenching story unfolded in a quiet neighborhood in Greece, New York, a suburb of Rochester. Ottilia Piros, a 36-year-old Caucasian woman, was found deceased in her home on West Parkway. The discovery was made after her mother, concerned about not hearing from her, requested a welfare check on December 29th. When police arrived, they found a grim scene: Ottilia, known to her loved ones as Lea, was in her kitchen, having been shot twice in the head.
Investigators believe she was killed on either December 28th or 29th.
The investigation quickly turned towards two individuals who were close to Ottilia: her 17-year-old daughter, Hannah Thomas, and Hannah's 16-year-old boyfriend, Richard Avila. The young couple had been visiting from their home in Arizona for the holidays. In the early morning hours of December 29th, their hurried escape from New York was cut short when they were pulled over for driving at a high rate of speed in St. Robert, Missouri. The inconsistencies in their stories and their possession of Ottilia's car raised suspicion, prompting the Missouri police to contact authorities in Greece, which ultimately led to the discovery of Ottilia's body.
Inside the vehicle, police found a handgun that ballistic analysis later confirmed was the weapon used to end Ottilia's life. Following their apprehension in Missouri, both Hannah Thomas and Richard Avila were extradited back to New York to face the consequences of their actions. They were initially charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
In January of 2023, the case reached a significant turning point when both Thomas, then 19, and Avila, then 18, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter. The court proceedings revealed a conspiracy between the two to murder Ottilia. As a result of their guilty pleas, both were sentenced to 25 years in state prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. The tragic case left a family and community grappling with the profound loss of a woman described as a beloved daughter, sister, and friend, whose life was cut short by a shocking act of betrayal.
