Nearly four decades after the brutal murder of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco in 1984, a new suspect, Richard Bilodeau, 63, has been charged, bringing a startling development to a case that previously saw three men wrongly convicted and imprisoned for over 17 years each. Bilodeau pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Nassau County Court to two counts of murder in the second degree, accused of the rape and strangulation of the East Rockaway High School junior.

Theresa Fusco was attacked after leaving her job at the snack bar of Hot Skates in Lynbrook on November 10, 1984. Her body was discovered half-buried under leaves near the Lynbrook railroad tracks on December 5, 1984. Forty years later, authorities linked Bilodeau to the crime through DNA evidence, matching a sample taken from Fusco's body to DNA obtained from a straw he had used. Despite this, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly has not disclosed what initially led investigators to suspect Bilodeau, nor has a motive for the crime been revealed by prosecutors.

At the time of the killing, Bilodeau was 23 years old, living with his grandparents in Lynbrook, and working on a coffee truck about a mile from both the skating rink and Fusco's house. His defense attorney, Daniel W. Russo, noted Bilodeau's clean criminal record. When questioned by investigators, Bilodeau denied involvement but also reportedly made the chilling statement: "People got away with murder back then." Interestingly, neither Fusco's family nor friends recognized Bilodeau as someone associated with Theresa in 1984.

The arrest of Bilodeau comes more than two decades after John Kogut, Dennis Halstead, and John Restivo were imprisoned for the same crime. They were arrested more than three months after Fusco's body was discovered, with Kogut confessing after a 12-hour interrogation, later recanting, and implicating the other two. All three were convicted and sentenced to over 30 years to life in prison. Their convictions were eventually vacated in 2003, and Kogut was acquitted in a 2005 retrial, after advanced DNA techniques, championed by organizations like the Innocence Project and Centurion, definitively showed no link between them and DNA from a vaginal swab of the victim.

Attorneys for the exonerated men described their ordeal as "horrible injustice" and "hell," attributing their wrongful convictions to "horrendous police misconduct," including false confessions and allegations of planted and withheld evidence by a now-deceased Nassau County homicide detective. While Restivo and Halstead were awarded $18 million each in federal lawsuits, Kogut's case did not result in damages. The news of Bilodeau's arrest brought a sense of relief to the exonerated individuals, acknowledging that finding the true perpetrator helps to fully clear their names.

Bilodeau's current neighbors in Center Moriches expressed shock and fear following his arrest, with police arriving en masse at his home. Donna Maldonado, a neighbor, conveyed her alarm, stating, "My heart is slamming. It’s too close." John Schumpf, another neighbor, remarked, "It is very scary. You got kids walking down the street here."

As the legal proceedings against Richard Bilodeau commence, the hope for justice and closure for Theresa Fusco's family, as expressed by Fred Klein, who prosecuted the original case, appears closer than ever, marking a significant turning point in a tragic cold case that has haunted Nassau County for decades.