The woman charged with murdering her millionaire boyfriend inside his Fort Lauderdale mansion was arraigned Wednesday morning where she entered a not guilty plea.
Catherine Marie Pileggi, 54, is facing first-degree murder in the June slaying of 70-year-old Ronald Vinci.
On June 28, Vinci's body was discovered in a first floor bedroom of his recently purchased Tarpon Bend mansion. The night before, Vinci spent the evening with some friends and Pileggi, his live-in girlfriend of more than 20 years, police said.
Police say Pileggi shot Vinci in the head, stabbed him several times in the chest and slit his throat. She then wrapped his body in plastic bags and planned to dump it in a body of water, according to a police report.
Pileggi initially told friends he had fallen down the stairs after the couple had a heated argument, the report stated. Pileggi allegedly told handyman Reynaldo Silva that Vinci's dying wish was to be "buried at sea" and so she needed help loading the body onto the couple's boat.
Silva refused and called police.
Pileggi also allegedly came clean to several of Vinci's friends and stated she had "messed him up bad" and that he was shot in the head, the report said.
An autopsy report of Vinci's body showed even more damage than the gunshot wound. Vinci was beaten over the head with a blunt object, stabbed in the chest and suffered a large laceration to the throat, a Broward medical Examiner's Office report stated.
Police said they found the bloody knife and clothes in a Bentley and a semi-automatic handgun with Pileggi's fingerprints on it.
Pileggi is being held without bond. Her next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23.
