Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Discarded Straw DNA Leads to Arrest in 41-Year-Old Murder Case | Crime Alert 6AM 12.02.25

Transcript

Discarded Straw DNA Leads to Arrest in 41-Year-Old Murder Case | Crime Alert 6AM 12.02.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert. I'm John Lemley. We begin this hour with
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  Speaker 1: a major cold case development on Long Island. After four
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  Speaker 1: decades of unanswered questions, new DNA testing has led prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: to a suspect they say is responsible for a teenager's
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four rape and murder. Sixty three year old
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  Speaker 1: Richard Billdeaux of Seder Mariches has been charged with two
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  Speaker 1: counts of murder in the death of sixteen year old
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  Speaker 1: Teresa Fusco. The high school junior disappeared after leaving her
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  Speaker 1: job at a Lynbrook roller skating rink in November nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty four. Her body was found weeks later in a
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  Speaker 1: wooded area nearby. The case was long considered one of
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  Speaker 1: Long Island's most troubling miscarriages of justice. Three men were
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  Speaker 1: convicted and spent years in prison before DNA evidence cleared
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  Speaker 1: them in two thousand three. To later received multimillion dollars
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  Speaker 1: settlements for wrongful imprisonment. Prosecutors now say Billido became a
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  Speaker 1: focus after investigators developed several new leads last year. Surveillance
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  Speaker 1: teams recovered a cup and straw that he discarded at
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  Speaker 1: a smoothie shop in neighboring Suffolk County. Laboratory testing showed
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  Speaker 1: the geneticterial match samples preserved from Fusco's body in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty four. Billidou, who was twenty three and living with
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  Speaker 1: his grandparents at the time of the crime, pleaded not
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  Speaker 1: guilty and was ordered held without bail. If convicted, he
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  Speaker 1: faces up to twenty five years to life in prison.
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  Speaker 1: At the courthouse in Mineola, Fusco's father, Thomas Fusco, expressed
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  Speaker 1: that while revisiting the case as painful, he hopes the
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  Speaker 1: new arrest will finally bring closure to his family. Nassau
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  Speaker 1: County District Attorney Anne Donnelly emphasized that her office is
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  Speaker 1: committed to pursuing justice in long unsolved crimes, calling this
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  Speaker 1: case an example of how persistence and modern science can
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  Speaker 1: work hand in hand. Assistant DA Jared Rosenblat said the
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  Speaker 1: defendant appeared aware that previous mistakes in the investigation had
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  Speaker 1: allowed someone to escape accountability. He added that the time
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  Speaker 1: for reckoning had finally come. The original investigation also drew
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  Speaker 1: attention because two other teenage girls, Kelly Morrissey and Jacqueline Martirella,
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  Speaker 1: went missing around the same time. Period, Morrissey was never found,
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  Speaker 1: and Martirella's body was discovered the following year at a
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  Speaker 1: nearby golf course. Authorities say this latest indictment represents a
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  Speaker 1: turning point in the case that once symbolized failure and
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  Speaker 1: may now stand as proof that time does not erase justice.
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  Speaker 1: When we return, deadly gunfire at a Texas workplace, a
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina police officer killed inside a hospital, and new
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  Speaker 1: arrests in an alleged Halloween terrorism plot that stretched from
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  Speaker 1: Detroit to the West Coast.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime and justice news. Go
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: to crime online dot com and please join us for
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: our daily podcast, Crime Stories. More crime and justice news
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  Speaker 2: after this Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news,
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  Speaker 2: Crime Online John Lemley.
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  Speaker 1: In San Antonio, Texas police say a twenty one year
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  Speaker 1: old man shot and killed three co workers before taking
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  Speaker 1: his own life. Investigators identified the gunman as Jose Hernandez Gallo,
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  Speaker 1: an employee at a landscape supply company on the city's
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  Speaker 1: north side. The victims, two men and a woman, were
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  Speaker 1: found dead Saturday morning after shots rang out around eight am.
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  Speaker 1: Other workers ran from the building as officers surrounded the area.
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  Speaker 1: Gallo's body was located hours later with what investigators say
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  Speaker 1: was a self inflicted gunshot wound. San Antonio Police Chief
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  Speaker 1: William McManus said the attack did not appear to be random,
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  Speaker 1: though the motive remains under investigation. Officials continue gathering evidence
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  Speaker 1: as they worked to determine what led up to the
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  Speaker 1: deadly workplace violence. Turning to North Carolina, a police officer
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  Speaker 1: assigned to a hospital campus was killed during an encounter
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  Speaker 1: in the emergency department lobby. Authorities A officer, Roger Smith
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  Speaker 1: of the WakeMed Health System police was fatally shot around
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  Speaker 1: nine a m. Saturday at the WakeMed Garner health Plex
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  Speaker 1: just south of Raleigh. A person of interest was detained.
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  Speaker 1: Shortly after the shooting. The emergency lobby was closed as
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  Speaker 1: investigators from multiple agencies processed the scene and interviewed witnesses.
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  Speaker 1: Governor Josh Steins at the incident underscores the risks faced
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  Speaker 1: by law enforcement officers every day and praise Smith's service
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  Speaker 1: and sacrifice. WakeMed confirmed its officers or fully sworn and
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  Speaker 1: States certified patrolling six facilities across the system. Officials say
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  Speaker 1: their cooperating fully with investigators as the inquiry continues. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: in a widening federal counter terrorism investigation. Two additional young
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  Speaker 1: men had been charged with attempting to aid the Islamic
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  Speaker 1: State group. Nineteen year olds Thomas Jimenez Gutsel of Montclair,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, and Said Murray of Kent, Washington, are accused
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  Speaker 1: of conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorism organization,
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  Speaker 1: according to the FBI, Jimenez Gutzl was arrested at Newark
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  Speaker 1: Airport while trying to fly to Turkey, while Murray was
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  Speaker 1: taken into custody in Washington. State Investigators say both have
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  Speaker 1: been in contact with suspects recently charged in Michigan for
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  Speaker 1: allegedly plotting an attack in suburban Detroit. Court filings described
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  Speaker 1: detailed online conversation about plans to travel abroad and participate
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  Speaker 1: in violent activity overseas. Agents believed the men accelerated those
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  Speaker 1: plans after several associates were arrested in late October. In Michigan,
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  Speaker 1: prosecutors alleged a related group had discussed potential attacks targeting
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  Speaker 1: LGBTQ plus venues and even scouted a theme park in
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  Speaker 1: neighboring Ohio. Authorities say a sixteen year old boy is
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  Speaker 1: also in federal custody and connection with that case. Federal
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  Speaker 1: officials stressed that the arrest disrupted the network before any
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  Speaker 1: violence occurred, and that all known suspects are now in custody.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks John for the latest crime and justice needs. Go
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: to crime online dot com and please join us for
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do our best
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: to find missing people, especially children, and solve unsolved homicides.
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  Speaker 2: With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace.