At a press conference in her downtown Pittsfield office at noon Thursday, Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington announced that Luis Rosado, 49, had been taken into custody in the morning.
“He was arrested at approximately 8:30 this morning on a warrant that was obtained by the Berkshire Detective Unit on Tuesday out of the Northern Berkshire District Court," said the DA. "Mr. Rosado was arrested at a residence on Fenn Street in Pittsfield. He was arrested by the State Police [Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section] Unit, the members of the Berkshire Detective Unit, members of the Pittsfield Police Department, and members of the North Adams Police Department, who took Mr. Rosado into custody without incident.”
A 911 call Sunday night summoned authorities to 46 Charles Street in North Adams, where Jillian Rosado of Cheshire – maiden name Tatro – was found dead. She was 38.
“On Tuesday, at autopsy, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause and manner of death was a homicide by multiple stab wounds," said Harrington. "We have a little bit of background on the parties and that they had been together for approximately six months, and they had been married for approximately five months.”
While the investigation is ongoing, Harrington provided a timeline leading up to Jillian’s suspected time of death Saturday evening.
“Days before the murder, a witness did overhear Mr. Rosado tell his wife Jillian that he would kill her if she left him," said the DA. "And then on Saturday, May 28th, we do have evidence that the parties were together in the evening prior to this murder. And communication from Ms. Rosado’s cell phone did stop during the time that the parties were together. Then witnesses put the two arguing together that evening prior to Ms. Rosado’s murder.”
Rosado had a history of domestic violence predating his relationship with Jillian. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and battery on a household member and single counts of strangulation, larceny from a person, and violation of a protection order.
“Once an individual strangles their domestic partner or their intimate partner that partner’s chance of being murdered goes up by 750%," said Harrington. "Strangulation is a very, very dangerous crime and is a sign of lethality.”
Harrington was asked if Jillian was on the radar of her office’s domestic violence high risk initiative that she launched last year. Earlier this year, Jillian Rosado had gone to the courts to file an abuse prevention order against her husband.
“We generally do not comment publicly on cases that are being monitored by the high risk team,” Harrington responded.
The DA responded to a question about her office’s decision to pursue two domestic violence cases against Jillian filed by Rosado.
“Perpetrators of domestic violence can be very manipulative and very savvy about manipulating legal systems in order to carry out their abuse," said Harrington. "And sometimes that does include seeking criminal charges against their victim. So what I can tell you right now is that certainly, you know, this office has done domestic violence fatality reviews, we've done two reviews with a statewide team in the past. And, you know, this is definitely a kind of incident that I think that we would want to look into, like, the history of the parties here, and, you know, determine, like, how can we continue to ensure that we're following best practices.”
Rosado was due to be arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court in Pittsfield Thursday.
