Theresa Fusco killing: Lynbrook teen's death leads to a case with many twists and turns

Theresa Fusco, a junior at East Rockaway High School, was 16 years old when she set off on foot from her job at Hot Skates, a roller rink a few blocks away from her Lynbrook home, on Nov. 10, 1984. She was never seen alive again.

Twenty-five days later, on Dec. 5, 1984, the Lynbrook teen’s bruised and naked body was found half-buried under leaves near the Lynbrook railroad tracks. Authorities said she was raped and murdered by strangulation.

While three men were exonerated from the crime after spending more than 17 years in prison, advanced DNA analysis from the victim's body has been matched to that of another man, Richard Bilodeau, of Center Moriches, prosecutors said.

Here are some benchmarks in the history of the complicated criminal, and later civil, cases.

Who was originally arrested and charged in Theresa's  killing?

In March 1985, John Kogut, 22 — an orphan who grew up in foster homes — was arrested and charged in Theresa's murder. Police said he had confessed to the crime after 18 hours of interrogation.

In a confession Kogut later recanted, he told police that he and two other men, John Restivo, 27, of Wantagh, and Dennis Halstead, 31, of Lynbrook, were high on drugs while riding in a van down Merrick Road when they saw Theresa and picked her up. They asked her to "party" with them and have sex, but she refused and began hitting Kogut. Restivo and Halstead raped her while Kogut held her down, Kogut said then.

Kogut said then that he had strangled her with a rope that he double-wrapped around her neck in the cemetery across from Hot Skates before they dumped her body near railroad tracks.

What was the evidence against Restivo and Halstead?

The only physical evidence against the defendants was two hairs of Theresa's that police said were found in Restivo's van.

The defense argued that microscopic banding on the hairs indicated that she had been dead for hours when the hairs were left in the van. The defense argued that the banding was not scientifically accurate and also accused detectives of planting the hairs in the van. 

Halstead was linked to Theresa's killing through a recorded phone call during which he replied, "Yeah" when asked if he killed her. His defense argued he was being sarcastic.

What was the outcome of the criminal case?

The three men were convicted of rape and murder in 1986 in Nassau County Court and sentenced to more than 30 years to life in prison.

After they spent over 17 years in prison, their convictions were vacated in 2003, after the Innocence Project took on the case and advanced DNA techniques found that the DNA from Theresa's vaginal swab did not belong to any of the defendants.

Kogut was retried in 2005 but found not guilty during a bench trial. The Nassau District Attorney's Office chose not to retry his co-defendants.

Was there a civil case?

All three filed lawsuits in 2006 against Nassau County authorities, arguing they had been convicted based on false confessions and evidence that was planted and withheld.

Restivo and Halstead won a $36 million award, $18 million each.

In 2012, a jury in Kogut's separately filed civil suit found no wrongdoing by Nassau police and refused to award damages.

Who was arrested today?

Bilodeau, 63, who works the overnight shift at a Suffolk County Walmart, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the second degree at his arraignment Wednesday. One count was for the intentional murder of Theresa and the other count was for murder during a rape.

Prosecutors said he was linked to the killing when his DNA matched that of DNA found in the vaginal swab taken from Theresa's body.