A 17-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of murder for running over two 17-year-old girls riding electric bikes in New Jersey, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The teenage suspect was not publicly identified due to his age. Relatives and neighbors said he had been stalking one of the two victims, whom family members identified as Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, according to WCBS.
“He’s been parked outside her house for three months now. He was never stopped,” a neighbor told WNYW. The suspect lived in the neighboring town of Garwood, prosecutors said.
The two girls were biking down a residential street in Cranford, about 20 miles southwest of Central Park, when they were struck and killed by a black SUV just before 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Initially, the SUV driver sped away from the scene, but cops caught up with him and detained him shortly afterward. The murder charges were filed following “a comprehensive and extensive investigation,” the Union County Prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
On Tuesday, investigators offered a $10,000 reward for tips that led to an arrest, specifically asking residents who lived near the crash site if they had video of a black Jeep Compass with tinted windows.
“We would like to thank the members of the public for their assistance with this investigation,” Union County Prosecutor William Daniel said Wednesday.
The victim who was being stalked made multiple complaints and filed for a restraining order against the suspect, but nothing was done ahead of Monday’s deadly crash, neighbors told WCBS.
The community held a vigil for the two girls on Tuesday night, and an online fundraiser has been set up for their families. It had raised nearly $100,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
