LYNBROOK, N.Y. (WPIX) – A straw from a smoothie cup was the evidence that led police in New York to the man they suspect of killing a 16-year-old girl on Long Island in 1984, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
Richard Bilodeau, a 63-year-old man from Center Moriches, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of Theresa Fusco, who went missing after clocking out of her shift at a roller rink on Nov. 10, 1984.
Prosecutors said Bilodeau is accused of raping and strangling Fusco to death about a half mile from the skating rink in Lynbrook. Fusco’s body was found three and a half weeks after her slaying.
Bilodeau was 23 years old at the time, living with his grandparents a mile away from the rink and working at a Mobil coffee truck, prosecutors said.
Investigators started following Bilodeau back in February. They picked up a smoothie cup and straw thrown out not far from Bilodeau’s house, which matched DNA from a vaginal swab taken from Fusco, according to prosecutors.
Bilodeau pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday and was remanded to the county jail. He’s expected back in court on Nov. 21.
“The past has not been forgotten,” Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said during a news conference Wednesday. 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.”
Three men — John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead — were previously convicted of the killing and served several years in prison before they were exonerated by DNA evidence in 2005, according to the Innocence Project. They sued for wrongful imprisonment, and two were each awarded $18 million, the Associated Press reported.
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