New York
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For greater than 40 years, the individual chargeable for the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old lady on Long Island has eluded seize. DNA from a smoothie straw, prosecutors say, may now be the important thing piece of proof they want to convict her killer.
Theresa Fusco went lacking November 10, 1984. She was final seen late that evening crying as she left the Hot Skates curler rink in Lynbrook, New York, the place she had simply been fired from her snack bar job. Her bare physique was recovered about a month later, buried underneath leaves in a wooded space a few blocks from the rink; the health worker decided she’d been strangled with a ligature and raped.
Three males had been discovered responsible two years later of rape and murder, however testing of the male DNA left behind by her presumed killer led to their exoneration 20 years in the past and, now, the indictment of a new suspect.
In August 2023, Nassau County investigators despatched a vaginal swab recovered from the sufferer for testing at a well-known lab in Houston. The Othram lab used the pattern to construct a DNA profile, CEO David Mittelman confirmed to NCS, and from there, the FBI’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Unit and native county investigators looked for potential relations of the suspect, main them to Richard Bilodeau.
They started surveilling him in his quiet Long Island life in early 2024 and captured Bilodeau’s DNA on the straw of a smoothie cup he threw away, prosecutors introduced Wednesday. Bilodeau’s DNA recovered from the straw turned out to be a “100% match” with the DNA on the swab from 1984, they stated.
Prosecutors have declined to elaborate on how investigative genetic genealogy tied Bilodeau to the crime, however the superior and comparatively new investigative approach has led to the seize of killers in a number of current high-profile cases comparable to that of Bryan Kohberger, who murdered 4 University of Idaho college students in 2022.
Bilodeau was 23 on the time of Theresa’s killing and lived together with his grandparents about one mile from the place the lady lived and labored. He advised investigators he operated a cellular espresso truck in the world at the moment, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly stated at a information convention Wednesday.
Bilodeau, now 63, lived alone and labored nights at a Walmart earlier than his arrest. He has no identified prison file and none of Theresa’s household and associates recall any connection between and the teenager earlier than her loss of life, the district legal professional stated.
Bilodeau denied understanding Theresa, Donnelly stated, however advised investigators days earlier than his arrest, “People got away with murder back then.”
At the information convention, she had a response for Bilodeau’s statement concerning the ’80s: “It’s 2025 and I got you now.”
Donnelly declined to remark on a doable motive for Theresa’s murder and stated at this level, she doesn’t have data to share on Bilodeau’s doable connection to different crimes in the world.
Bilodeau was arrested Tuesday and arraigned in a Nassau County court docket Wednesday morning. He pleaded not responsible.
Bilodeau is due again in court docket November 21.
DNA technology has superior considerably since Theresa’s loss of life, Donnelly acknowledged to reporters, including, “When you have a DNA match – 100% match – we got the guy.”
In 1986, three males had been wrongfully convicted of Theresa’s murder and spent about 18 years in jail earlier than DNA testing in 2003 led to their exoneration. Prosecutors retried one of the lads, John Kogut – who had made a coerced confession to the murder – however he was acquitted.
DNA testing of the vaginal swab discovered Kogut and the 2 different convicted males, Dennis Halstead and John Restivo, weren’t a match. The indictments towards all three males had been finally dismissed.
In 2014, a federal jury awarded Restivo and Halstead $18 million every in their civil case towards Nassau County and police investigators.
Bilodeau’s legal professional stated the unique investigators’ gaffe with the case proves folks shouldn’t rush to choose him now.
“This incident took place over 40 years ago, and three men were convicted after trial and served almost two decades in prison before being exonerated. If ever a case exemplifies that someone accused of a crime is entitled to the presumption of innocence, it is this case,” Bilodeau’s court-appointed legal professional, Dan Russo, stated in a assertion to NCS.
Theresa’s mom died in 2019, however her father stood with prosecutors on the information convention Wednesday. Thomas Fusco pulled a small picture of his daughter out of his swimsuit jacket pocket, telling reporters he misses her, however that his religion in the system hasn’t wavered.
“It’s heartbreaking to go through this over and over again, but this seems like a finalization and I’m very grateful,” Fusco stated.