Loudoun County murder victim’s sister says system failed her
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. - A Loudoun County man is awaiting trial after investigators say he murdered his wife with a hammer while out on bond for a prior attack.
For the first time, a family member of Regina Redman Lollobrigido is speaking out about how the system failed her.
"I don’t know how she got lost," said Audrey Redman, Lollobrigido’s sister.
Redman and her sister were just 16 months apart in age. She said Lollobrigido loved her family, the Grateful Dead, and making people happy. She was known to buy extra concert tickets and give them to strangers.
"It was just little things like that, that Regina always did. And she never expected anything in return," Redman said. "She just loved to see people’s faces when she blessed them."
Lollobrigido didn’t tell everyone in her family what happened in July. According to a criminal complaint, she told investigators that her husband strangled her, telling her "You’re going to sleep." She said the next day he went on to slam her head into a wall multiple times and drag her from her apartment in front of their son.
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Peter Lollobrigido was charged with multiple felonies, including assault, strangulation, and abduction. Community corrections advised he be held, but the commonwealth’s attorney’s office agreed to his release on an unsecured bond of $5,000, according to court records.
He was given an ankle monitor, but there were no restrictions on where he could go, according to a county spokesman. Lollobrigido got a restraining order against her husband.
"I don’t know how you let someone out of jail who just strangled someone and think that eight days in jail was enough," said Redman.
It was September 19th, 2021 when she got the call that her sister had been attacked and was in the hospital. She said she drove to Northern Virginia from North Carolina the next day.
"I walked into a hospital room and I didn’t even know that that was my sister. I couldn’t even tell that was her," Redman said.
Investigators say Peter Lollobrigido confessed to showing up at his wife’s home and bludgeoning her with a hammer. She died a week later.
FOX 5 has highlighted concerns from former prosecutors about Commonweath’s Attorney Buta Biberaj and the way she’s handling cases.
One former prosecutor speaking on the condition of anonymity because of continued work in the legal field said they were "pushed to bond people out in domestic violence cases," and that "Buta pushes to let people out generally."
According to data from Loudoun County’s Circuit Court, criminal indictments in the county have fallen dramatically, 67 percent, since Biberaj was elected. In 2019, there were 681 indictments compared to 225 in 2021.
Meanwhile, arrests for serious crimes have risen for the county’s largest law enforcement agency, the Loudoun Co. Sheriff’s Office. Data provided shows 869 arrests for fiscal year 2019 compared to 914 for fiscal year 2021.
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Dave Canham, who worked for two decades with D.C. Police before spending more than 20 years with the Loudoun Co. Sheriff’s Office, said those numbers indicate the commonwealth’s attorney’s office isn’t going forward on a number of cases.
Canham knew Regina from his years serving the Loudoun community.
"I think the system let Regina down," Canham said.
He also said he’s heard frustration from current members of law enforcement about Biberaj’s office.
"I for one am glad I’m not taking my cases up there now," he said. "I wouldn’t want to be in that environment."
Biberaj has refused to answer FOX 5 reporter Lindsay Watts’ questions or sit down for an interview. In a public address last week, she touted reducing the jail population and focusing on rehabilitation.
"We collectively have been able to successfully reduce the daily jail population from a number of 425 to about 250 on regular basis," Biberaj said in her State of Justice address. "And that $166 a day, that is a net saving to Loudoun County over $110 million a year."
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According to county records, the budget for the jail is only $25 million, and the entire budget for the sheriff’s office budget this year is $108 million.
Neither Biberaj nor her spokeswoman responded to the discrepancy when asked for a corrected figure.
Redman said it was "outrageous" that saving $166 a day would be a reason to let someone out of jail.
"Remember Regina’s name every time you think that it’s okay to let someone out," she said.
Redman said she’s speaking out for the first time to stand up for her sister and protect the next victim.
"Things need to change," Redman said.
Peter Lollobrigido is due back in court in April after an evaluation of his mental status at the time of the offense.