Four decades after prosecutors sent the wrong men to prison for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl from Long Island, New York, DNA obtained from a discarded straw has led to the indictment of a new suspect.
A Nassau county grand jury on Tuesday indicted Richard Bilodeau, 63, of Center Moriches, on two counts of murder in the death of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco, who disappeared after leaving her part-time job at a Lynbrook roller-skating rink in November 1984. Her nude body was found weeks after the assault, buried under leaves in a wooded area near the rink.
Three men were convicted of the killing and served several years in prison before they were exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. They sued for wrongful imprisonment, and two were each awarded $18m.
Bilodeau pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday and was remanded to the county jail. His lawyer, Jason Russo, declined comment, saying he had just met Bilodeau shortly before the court hearing.
Bilodeau was 23 and living with his grandparents when Fusco was killed, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
County authorities started watching Bilodeau last year after developing what they said were “multiple investigative leads”. In February 2024, investigators recovered a cup and straw they said Bilodeau had used and discarded at a smoothie cafe in neighboring Suffolk county. DNA extracted from the straw matched a sample taken from Fusco’s body in 1984.
“The past has not been forgotten,” Anne Donnelly, Nassau district attorney, said during a news conference. The “indictment stands as proof that no matter how much time passes, we will never stop fighting for victims. My office is determined to see justice for Theresa and her family.”
During the arraignment, assistant district attorney Jared Rosenblatt said that when investigators matched the DNA with Bilodeau, they went to his workplace to speak with him. Rosenblatt said that Bilodeau told investigators: “Yeah, people got away with murder back then.”
“Well, Mr Bilodeau, it’s 2025, and your day of reckoning is now,” Rosenblatt said.
Fusco’s killing drew wide attention at the time, partly because she disappeared around the same time and area as two other teenage girls, one of whom was a friend of Fusco.
