Details surrounding 3 Springfield homicides come to light after arrest of CT man

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A Connecticut man gave surprise guilty pleas in connection to three Springfield homicides on Tuesday, including one of them dating back to 2006.

Springfield native Calvin Roberson pleaded guilty to three manslaughter charges, and the judge convicted him on all three. The family of Yonaides and David Pichardo sat in a Springfield courtroom, finally ready to find closure.

“Today, we’re definitely getting justice,” Nicole Gryszowka, the mother to one victim’s child, told us. “This has taken a very, very big toll on our family, and we’re still not okay to this day.”

Roberson pleaded guilty to killing three people – both Pichardo brothers and nail salon owner Loan Nguyen.

“We have two families of the three murder victims in these cases who are finally getting sought after, long-awaited justice, closure, and some answers for what happened to their loved ones,” said Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Western Mass News has learned more about each of their deaths, as the details were read aloud in the courtroom on Tuesday.

Nguyen was murdered in 2006 when Roberson and two other people robbed the nail salon she owned. She was shot in the head and killed with Roberson’s gun. We were able to locate video of the scene in our Western Mass News archives.

“An absolutely brutal, cold-hearted, savage murder which was essentially a robbery that turned into an execution,” DA Gulluni said.

Also detailed in court was that, in October of 2016, Roberson was paid $5,000, along with some drugs, by a person who said that they were robbed by Yonaides Pichardo. He shot and killed Yonaides as he was hired to do.

One year later, Roberson got word that David Pichardo was looking for him in hopes of avenging his brother’s death. Roberson found Pichardo at a laundromat in Springfield, where he entered through the back door before shooting and killing him. Western Mass News found video of that scene from October 2017.

Now, Roberson is in federal custody on charges of the kidnapping and killing of a Chicopee man, Francisco Roman, whose body was found in a burning vehicle in Hartford, Connecticut, the day after Christmas in 2020.

The sister of both Pichardo brothers, Vella Castillo, was disheartened to see another life was lost before she could see justice for her brothers.

“It’s sad that it had to come to somebody else’s child being lost in order for them to get this moment, but we’re happy that it’s finally happening,” she said. “Hopefully, he won’t be able to hurt anyone else again.”

The sentencing hearing for Roberson will be held, pending the federal charges he faces.