TAMPA — Two men are accused of a financial fraud scheme targeting a 71-year-old man whose body was later found dismembered in one of their backyards, Florida investigators said.
Joseph Schiliro, 45, and Silviano Christman, 31, both face an array of charges, including first-degree murder, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced Feb. 24.
The charges stem from an investigation into the disappearance of 71-year-old Joseph Romano, which turned into a homicide investigation.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Romano was last seen January 3, the same day Christman flew from Tampa to New York, where he was with Schiliro.
Joseph Romano, 71, of Riverview, Florida, is pictured in a photo posted to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Name Us website after his disappearance in January 2025. (Photo courtesy of Joy A. Herrero | U.S. Department of Justice)
Romano was reported missing from his apartment complex in the Tampa Bay area on January 16, according to investigators.
Detectives said they learned Schiliro was trying to pick up Romano’s mail from the apartment complex, then they “uncovered an ongoing financial fraud scheme, with large sums of money being transferred from the victim’s accounts to fraudulent accounts linked to Schiliro.”
Investigators searched Schiliro’s home Feb. 13 and found Romano’s dismembered remains in his backyard, deputies said. The New York Police Department Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Christman on February 20, a day before U.S. Marshals arrested Schiliro in Pinellas County, Florida.
Christman is charged with:
- First-degree murder
- Conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder
- Burglary with battery
- Abuse of a dead body
- Fraudulent use of personally identifiable information of a deceased person
Schiliro is charged with:
- First-degree murder
- Conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder
- Burglary with battery
- Fraudulent use of personally identifiable information of a deceased person
- Fraudulent use of personally identifiable information
- Money laundering
- Exploitation of a disabled adult
“The actions of these two men are despicable and deeply disturbing,” Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “Through deceit and violence, they exploited and took the life of another individual.”
By OLIVIA LLOYD/Miami Herald
