Mineola, NY – Nearly four decades after 16-year-old Theresa Fusco was raped and murdered near a Lynbrook roller rink, prosecutors say a DNA match has finally identified her alleged killer.
Richard Bilodeau, 63, of Center Moriches, was indicted this week on two counts of second-degree murder for the 1984 slaying that once gripped Long Island.
He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on Wednesday before Judge Helene Gugerty and was ordered held without bail. Bilodeau is due back in court on November 21 and faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said advances in forensic technology and decades of persistence led to the breakthrough that cracked one of Nassau County’s oldest cold cases.
Cold case reopened through DNA
Fusco was last seen on November 10, 1984, after finishing her shift at the Hot Skates roller rink on Merrick Road. Her body was found nearly a month later in a wooded area nearby. Investigators determined she had been raped and strangled.
Three men were originally convicted of her murder in 1986, but all were later cleared after DNA testing excluded them. Two were released in 2003 when their convictions were overturned, and the third was acquitted after a retrial.
The case remained unsolved until new leads surfaced in 2024, when the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI began tracking Bilodeau.
DNA match from discarded straw
Investigators recovered a cup and straw Bilodeau discarded at a Suffolk County smoothie café in February 2024. DNA taken from the straw matched genetic material preserved from the 1984 crime scene.
Prosecutors said Bilodeau was living with his grandparents on Tredwell Avenue in Lynbrook at the time of the murder — less than a mile from the roller rink and the victim’s home. He was arrested on October 14, 2025, by the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
“The past has not been forgotten”
“Theresa Fusco’s life was violently stolen from her 40 years ago,” DA Donnelly said. “Through remarkable advancements in forensic science and the relentless pursuit of justice, we can finally say we’ve indicted her alleged killer. No matter how much time passes, we will never stop fighting for victims.”
Bilodeau is being represented by attorney Dan Russo. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Tracy Keeton and Homicide Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt, with support from multiple divisions of the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
