Naman Shrestha
On the night of April 3, 2010, Rita Quaglino was attacked inside her daughter’s house near Covington, Louisiana, which led to her tragic demise a few days later. The entire community and her loved ones were rocked to their core as grief took over them. The swift investigation unraveled a series of family secrets and led them to the perpetrator responsible for the murder. In ID’s ‘Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks,’ the focus is on the tragic death of Rita, who was a doting mother and grandmother.
Rita Quaglino Was Staying at Her Daughter’s Place When She Was Killed
Born in 1925, Rita Rau Quaglino was the beloved daughter of Arthur Jacob Rau Sr. and Emma Marie Giesemann Rau. She was raised in a seemingly loving and supportive household alongside her siblings, including Arthur Jacob Rau Jr., John Henry Rau, Philip Joseph “Rock” Rau Sr., Joan Rau Cooke, and Marie Emma Rau. Before she turned 20, she was already smitten and in love with Joseph Anthony Quaglino. The couple exchanged vows around 1944 and made their relationship official in the eyes of the law. Over the years, Rita gave birth to two daughters, Sandra Quaglino Lilly and Karen Quaglino Daray.
Meanwhile, her husband, Joseph, founded and operated a company called Quaglino Tobacco and Candy Co. As the years rolled by, apart from being a mother, Rita also became a doting grandmother and great-grandmother. In 2000, Rita suffered a huge loss in the form of her husband, who passed away at the age of 88, bringing an end to their 56 years of togetherness. Having learned to live without her better half, she maintained a close bond with her daughters and granddaughters. So, in April 2010, she was staying at Sandra Lilly’s house in the gated Estates of Northpark subdivision south of Covington. What was meant to be a relaxing stay at her house turned deadly when she was stabbed on April 3, after which she was rushed to the hospital. Ultimately, after more than a week, she succumbed to the stab wound in her liver at the hospital on April 11.
Rita Quaglino Was Killed by Someone From Her Own Family
Apart from finding Rita Quaglino in a critical condition, the authorities also found the potential killer inside the property itself. It turned out that a couple of days before the murder, Rita’s granddaughter, Ashley Von Hadnagy, was released from a private medical health facility called Pinegrove in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. For her treatment, Ashley was reportedly prescribed Ziprasidone. After her premature release, she had been staying with her mother, Sandra Lilly, and Rita in the gated Estates of Northpark subdivision south of Covington.
Believing that Ashley needed to be taken care of at a mental institution, Sandra was on the phone with a private one located in Boston, Massachusetts, on the fateful night of April 3, 2010. As per Sandra’s accounts, that’s when Ashley stabbed Rita Quaglino, who was asleep at the time, in the liver with a butcher knife. When the authorities arrived at the scene of the crime, they arrested the killer on the spot, while Sandra blamed the inadequate mental health treatment that her daughter received at PineGrove. She believed that the doctors did not monitor the side effects of her medication for long enough.
In her defense, 31-year-old Ashley claimed that she heard the voice of Fidel Castro ordering her to kill her grandmother. She also believed that she was somehow related to Fidel. A few days after her arrest, St. Tammany Parish coroner Peter Galvan highlighted the fact that Ashley had been involved in multiple crimes, including a felony kidnapping charge, leading to her arrest and her being inside the St. Tammany Parish jail. She was eventually released from jail and ordered to be sent to a private medical facility instead. According to reports, between October 2008 and February 2009, there were four protective orders or emergency certificates issued against her. Initially, she was charged with first-degree murder, which was later reduced to second-degree murder in August 2010.
Ashley Von Hadnagy is Seemingly Admitted to a Mental Institution
A couple of months later, Ashley Von Hadnagy stood trial for killing her 85-year-old grandmother, Rita Quaglino. During the trial, experts claimed that the defendant was Schizophrenic and had a severe psychotic episode on the fateful night, leading to her stabbing Rita to death. They also emphasized the fact that she was released from the mental hospital, despite her mother requesting them to keep her under their care for longer. On December 6, 2010, Ashley was found not guilty of the second-degree murder charge against her by reason of insanity. Ashley was also ordered to undergo treatment at the state forensic psychiatric hospital in East Feliciana Parish for her paranoid schizophrenia. She remained in the St. Tammany Parish jail until a bed opened for her at the hospital. Although the details of her whereabouts are not public record, it is likely that she is under the care of a mental hospital.
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