CRANFORD, N.J. (Court TV) – An 18-year-old New Jersey man is being charged as an adult and will remain jailed after he allegedly mowed down two teen girls on e-bikes with his Jeep.
Insets, clockwise from top: Vincent Battiloro (YouTube/@VinnieBat118), Isabella Salas (GoFundMe), Maria Niotis (GoFundMe). Background: The area where Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were allegedly struck and killed by Vincent Battiloro on Monday, Sept. 29, in New Jersey (WABC/YouTube).
Vincent P. Battiloro is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, both 17. Battiloro, who was 17 at the time, allegedly hit Niotis and Salas with a Jeep Compass around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 29 in Cranford before fleeing the scene. The victims were rushed to the hospital, where they died.
Battiloro appeared before a judge on Wednesday, his first time in a courtroom since the Union County Prosecutor’s Office announced Battiloro will be charged as an adult. A judge reportedly ordered him to remain behind bars.
The victims’ families have previously said that Battiloro had been stalking Maria.
“This was not an e-bike accident, and it was not a hit-and-run. This was murder in the first degree,” family members said. “He is not insane, he is competent and meditated.”
They called Battiloro “a coward of a man, who had been plotting this attack against Maria for months, carried out this horrific act, taking not only her life but also Isabella’s.”
A neighbor accused him of being “parked outside her house for three months now.”
Police sources told local NBC affiliate WNBC that the suspect was apparently triggered by a breakup or argument.
Battiloro reportedly alluded to the crash during a YouTube livestream, calling it an “unfortunate situation” and insisting “there’s more to the story that you’re not getting.”
Battiloro is related to a local police chief, Westfield Police Chief Christopher Battiloro, who addressed the connection in a statement on Facebook.
“Like many of you, I am shocked, stunned, and so overwhelmingly distressed beyond belief by the horrific loss of two young ladies,” he said. “While social media has made it known that the accused is related to me, he is not my son and not a member of my immediate family. I want to be clear, as loud and as firm as possible, that in NO WAY do my wife, children or I condone, defend, or excuse the actions that caused this terrible and tragic loss of life.”
