A Long Island man has been arrested in a 1984 cold case rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl that previously resulted in wrongful convictions for three other men.
Richard Bilodeau, 63, was charged Wednesday with two counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Theresa Fusco more than 40 years ago, Newsday reported.
Cops said DNA found on Fusco’s body was finally matched to Bilodeau last year, according to Newsday. He was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury and arraigned on Wednesday in Nassau County.
Fusco was walking home on Nov. 10, 1984, in Lynbrook after getting fired from her job at a local roller rink, according to reports at the time. She disappeared that night, and her naked body was found weeks later in the woods.
Three men — John Kogut, John Restivo and Dennis Halstead — were tried and convicted in the case in the late 1980s. The suspects were convicted on the basis of confessions under questioning, which they claimed were coerced by police.
But in 2003, new DNA evidence led to their releases from prison and eventual exonerations. The DNA found on Fusco’s body did not match any of the three men.
“The physical evidence does not connect the defendants to the crime and the statements made by the defendants contradict the physical evidence,” Judge William Donnino said while dismissing the charges.
Nassau County investigators and the FBI began considering Bilodeau as a suspect in 2024, and they obtained his DNA from a straw he disposed of, according to Newsday. That DNA matched the DNA found on Fusco’s body, leading to Bilodeau’s arrest.
Bilodeau, a Center Moriches resident, has been employed as a night shift worker at a Suffolk County Walmart, authorities said. He was ordered held without bail after his arraignment.
