After 40 years and 3 overturned convictions, arrest made in murder case thanks to smoothie straw Tim StellohOctober 16, 2025 at 1:33 AM 0 Officials in New York state announced charges Wednesday in the 1984 rape and murder of a Long Island teenager after they say the suspect's DNA was recovered from ...
- - After 40 years and 3 overturned convictions, arrest made in murder case thanks to smoothie straw
Tim StellohOctober 16, 2025 at 1:33 AM
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Officials in New York state announced charges Wednesday in the 1984 rape and murder of a Long Island teenager after they say the suspect's DNA was recovered from a discarded straw.
The arrest of Richard Biloudeau, 63, came more than two decades after a judge overturned the murder convictions of three other men who served 17 years in prison for the killing of Theresa Fusco, 16.
Biloudeau was arraigned in a Nassau County courtroom Wednesday on two counts of second-degree murder, including one count alleging he committed the crime during a rape, the local district attorney's Office said in a news release.
Bilodeau pleaded not guilty.
A cup with a straw official say was used by Richard Bilodeau. (Nassau County District Attorney via AP)
"Theresa Fusco's life was violently stolen from her 40 years ago, and since then, her family has suffered an enduring pain and the lingering question of who committed such a heinous act," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement.
Donnelly attributed the charges to "remarkable advancements" in forensic science and DNA analysis and the "relentless pursuit of justice by my cold case homicide prosecutors and investigators."
In an email, Biloudeau's lawyer, Daniel Russo, said that his client maintains his innocence.
He pointed to the overturned convictions and said: "If ever a case exemplifies that someone accused of a crime is entitled to the presumption of innocence, it is this case. There are four decades worth of investigatory leads, tips, evidence and trial transcripts to review."
The 1986 rape and murder convictions of John Restivo, Dennis Halstead and John Kogut were overturned in 2003 after DNA testing revealed that a profile recovered from a vaginal swab did not belong to the three men, according to the Innocence Project, which worked on their cases.
That profile could not be identified, the Innocence Project said.
Kogut was acquitted after a second trial, the Innocence Project said. The charges against Restivo and Halstead were dismissed.
Fusco was last seen leaving the roller skating rink where she'd worked in Lynbrook, roughly 30 miles east of Manhattan, on the night of Nov. 10, 1984, according to the district attorney's office. Her body was found in a wooded area nearly a month later. She had been raped and strangled.
Bilodeau lived with his grandparents in a Lynbrook home a mile from the rink, the district attorney's office said.
Local and federal authorities began surveilling him last year after developing multiple investigative leads and recovering DNA from a cup and straw that he used at a smoothie cafe in Suffolk County, the district attorney's office said.
That DNA matched a sample taken from Fusco's body at the time of the murder, according to the release.
Source: "AOL General"
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