According to media sources, less than a week before a teenage boy is accused of fatally striking two 17-year-old girls at 70 mph in Cranford, New Jersey, he showed anger toward one of the victims and her family on a live stream.
Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were struck by an SUV around 5:30 p.m. on September 29. Their relatives publicly recognized them as victims of the crash.
On October 1, authorities announced the arrest of a 17-year-old teenager from Garwood, a neighboring town, on two first-degree murder charges stemming from a tragic hit-and-run.
Authorities have not disclosed the driver’s name due to his age, but court records show that Vincent P. Battiloro, 17, was issued 15 tickets on the day of the crash. The available facts from Battiloro’s citations match the date, time, and location of the incident, as well as the type of car that investigators say was involved.
Friends and neighbors claim Battiloro stalked Niotis for months before allegedly striking and killing both daughters.
According to NJ.com, which watched his livestreams before they were removed, Battiloro claimed in months-old YouTube livestreams that he had been suspended for false claims of spreading child sex assault video.
“I got a bunch of allegations being handed to me, of crazy s—, stuff I will deny for 50 years to the end of my life,” he told a chat in a May 13 stream, according to NJ.com. “Ridiculous allegations that this girl is making against me.”
The New York Times quoted him as saying during that livestream that he had taken “a hiatus from streaming” and that the police and school had intervened before he was punished.
During a live on September 23, less than a week before the girls were killed, Battiloro blamed his suspension on Niotis and her mother, according to NJ.com and the Times.
“You all know I have a vengeance against this girl for accusing me of sending porn,” he stated, according to the Times. NJ.com said that he then used a burner phone to buy two pepperoni pizzas to be “sent to their home.”
“Have fun with your pizza, you dips—” he said in the video, which has since been removed, before resuming to playing MLB games for his live audience.
In a separate odd livestream, taken the day after the girls’ murders and reviewed by PEOPLE, Battiloro stated that “unfortunately,” two girls had been killed in a neighboring town “in a hit-and-run crash.” Live comments were switched off during that stream after fans bombarded him with queries like “Are you going to jail?”.
“There is more to the story that you’re not getting,” Battiloro stated during the webcast on September 30. “But when the time comes, I will explain it in greater detail.”
He also stated he was not authorized to discuss “the whole thing.”
A representative for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office stated that the suspect was held and questioned by law authorities the day of the collision before being released “pending further investigation.” The spokesperson stated that he was arrested on the morning of October 1 on two counts of first-degree murder.
In a statement this week, the relatives of both girls referred to Battiloro as “a coward of a man”. They believe the suspect “is not insane, he is competent and meditated.”
“It is now vital that the truth be shared: this was not an e-bike accident, and it was not a hit-and-run,” the spokesperson stated. “This was murder in the first degree.”
Cranford police have sent queries about the case to the prosecutor’s office, which has declined to comment, citing an active investigation.
