DNA leads to breakthrough in 1984 New York cold case, DA says

(NewsNation) — Authorities in New York have indicted 63-year-old Richard Bilodeau on murder charges in the 1984 death of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges on Oct. 15 after they said DNA evidence from a smoothie cup discarded by Bilodeau matched samples taken from Fusco’s body.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly told “NewsNation Live” that Bilodeau’s indictment brings Fusco’s family one step closer to justice after 40 years of searching for answers.

“When this case happened, it haunted everybody, you know? In 1984, an innocent girl, she leaves work at Hot Skates, and she's walking home and disappears, and they find her body a month later,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly attributed the breakthrough in the case to collaboration between the FBI and the Nassau County Police Department. Since taking office in 2022, she said cold cases have remained a priority for her team, which is now looking into whether Bilodeau is connected to other disappearances and deaths in the area in the ’80s, such as the cases of Kelly Morrissey and Jacqueline Martarella.

“We are still investigating those cases, and we will follow every lead that we can," Donnelly said. "Kelly Morrissey was a friend of Teresa Fusco, and her case is being reexamined, as well as the Martarella case."

She said advancements in DNA team testing have provided a turning point in solving cases in recent years, a fact Donnelly said even Bilodeau has acknowledged.

“In July, the first time the police went to speak to him, they were asking him, and he said, ‘I don't know who this girl is,’ ... [he] denied knowing her, and they said, ‘Well, do you remember the case from 1984?' and he said, ‘Back in the 1980s, you could get away with murder,’” Donnelly said.