Theresa Fusco // 559

Summary

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Going West: True Crime

Episode 559 – "Theresa Fusco"

Release Date: December 2, 2025
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft & Heath Merryman

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the haunting case of Theresa Fusco, a 16-year-old who vanished from Lynbrook, New York, in 1984. Through extensive research and emotional discussion, hosts Daphne and Heath trace the web of missteps, wrongful convictions, and decades-long anguish surrounding Theresa's disappearance, murder, and the recent resolution made possible by genealogical DNA. They also overview the possible connections to other unsolved disappearances in the area at the time.

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Key Case Timeline & Discussion

The Night Theresa Disappeared

• [04:48] Daphne: Lays out how Theresa, a well-liked high school junior and dancer, left her job at the Hot Skates roller rink on November 10, 1984, after an argument. She was last seen at 9:45pm visibly upset, walking away alone.
• [07:00] Heath: Reflects on her vulnerabilities that night—recent fight with boyfriend, argument at work—emphasizing how these circumstances left her exposed.

“She leaves this roller skating rink and that's the last time she was ever seen again.”
—Heath [07:57]

Initial Investigation & Family’s Struggle

• [08:30] Daphne: Discusses how Theresa’s mom, Connie, immediately sensed something was wrong, but police presumed Theresa was a runaway, ignoring signs of foul play.
• [10:25] Heath: Quotes family and godfather Dean Gardner’s disbelief at the runaway theory, highlighting Theresa’s close relationship with her mother and lack of resources to disappear.
• [11:00] Daphne: Reveals that just five months before, Theresa’s childhood friend Kelly Morrissey, age 15, also vanished under similar circumstances.

The Kelly Morrissey Connection

• [12:09] Heath & Daphne: Detail Kelly’s disappearance from the same local area and the striking similarities—both teens, same stretch of road, no evidence of running away.

“It is definitely possible that there were two different creeps perusing the street those two different nights. Or it's possible that Lynbrook hosted a single sick individual who took to abducting teenagers that year." —Heath [14:41]

Discovery of Theresa’s Body & Impact

• [14:41] Heath & Daphne: Theresa’s body was found a month later, sexually assaulted and strangled, only a block from where she was last seen.
• [15:20] Daphne: Outraged over prank calls received by Theresa's mother after her disappearance.

“People were prank calling Teresa's mother just absolutely pisses me off to the core.”
—Daphne [17:51]

Early Investigative Errors

• Police arrested a man days after the body was found but released him; family complained about lack of real progress.
• [19:22] Heath: Alludes to police mistakes that will come to define the case, foreshadowing.

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The Wrongful Convictions

Police Zero In – The Trio

• [21:20] Daphne: Introduces John Restivo, John Kogut, and Dennis Halstead—all with dubious connections to both victims. Their questionable character and relationships with underage girls are explored.

“You're 31 years old and Kelly was what, 15? Not a good look for any of these people.”
—Heath [22:46]

Coerced Confessions & Faulty Evidence

• [23:10] Heath: John Kogut is interrogated for nearly 18 hours, lied to by detectives about failing polygraphs, and pressured into confessing.
• [25:22] Daphne: Explains the detective’s unethical tactics and the “confession” crafted by officers, not the suspect.

“This is the statement that Detective Volpe is writing down. He made up this whole scenario and is saying, okay, this is what happened. Right. John, you're gonna sign this?”
—Heath [27:49]

• The confession contradicted forensic evidence (only one male DNA source was found, impossible if the confession’s version was true).

Trials & Community Pressure

• The trio is charged and convicted primarily on the strength of Kogut’s coerced confession and one hair “matching” Theresa, despite defense testimony about probable evidence planting.
• [44:15] Daphne: Details alibis ignored and juries swayed by emotion, not science.

“The grand jury could indict a ham sandwich if the DNA wanted them to. I don't think these people are guilty at all.”
—Defense attorney Theodore Robinson [45:15]

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Exoneration & The Real Culprit

Years Lost, Justice Delayed

• [48:05] Daphne: With the help of advocacy groups, all three men are exonerated after 18 years, set free when DNA evidence rules them out.
• [50:19] Heath: Fast forward to 2025—DNA genealogy points to Richard Bilodeau, living nearby at the time of Theresa’s murder.

The Breakthrough Arrest

• [52:30] Daphne: Bilodeau, 63, living an hour east now—but lived near Theresa in 1984, described by neighbors as an “awkward loner.” DNA from a discarded smoothie cup links him definitively to the crime.

District Attorney Ann Donnelly: “Today’s Indictment stands as proof that no matter how much time passes, we will never stop fighting for victims … The past has not been forgotten … we’ve indicted Teresa’s alleged killer.”
—[50:47]

• Bilodeau is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He smugly tells police upon arrest, “People got away with murder back then.” [51:57]

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Lingering Pain and Open Questions

Family’s Suffering

• [53:39] Daphne: Theresa’s mother never lived to see the exoneration proven true or her daughter's real killer charged; she maintained the trio’s guilt until her passing in 2019. Her father attends the 2025 press conference, sharing his enduring grief.

“She lives in my heart, as you can see.”
—Thomas Fusco [54:19]

Possible Connections and Unsolved Cases

• [55:18] Heath: The hosts highlight other young women—Kelly Morrissey and Jackie Martarella—who disappeared/murdered under similar circumstances. DNA from Jackie’s case awaits testing.

“Could there be others?”
—Daphne [58:19]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [14:12] Heath: “Teresa's mom, Connie, recalled how disturbed her daughter had been about her friend vanishing... That’s why I don’t think she's willingly on her own...”
• [24:21] Daphne: “In New York, like many other states, police are allowed to lie to you during an interrogation … but it’s definitely unethical.”
• [47:58] Daphne: “What are we doing, guys? Like, what are we doing... This feels like a decent lead. You should at least follow up on it.”
• [48:42] Daphne: 'DNA evidence finally exonerated them in 2003 ... bringing the investigation right back to square one, almost 20 years after her murder.'

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [04:48] – Introduction to Theresa’s life and disappearance
• [11:00] – Kelly Morrissey’s case and potential connections
• [14:41] – Discovery of Theresa’s body and community reaction
• [21:20] – Introduction of suspects Restivo, Kogut, and Halstead
• [23:10] – Details on police tactics, coerced confession
• [33:04] – Arrest and conviction of the three men
• [44:15] – Discussion around the court case and issues with evidence
• [48:05] – Exoneration process and support from advocacy groups
• [50:19] – Identification and arrest of Richard Bilodeau
• [53:39] – Family’s ongoing grief, mother’s lifelong belief in trio’s guilt
• [55:18] – Open cases: Kelly Morrissey and Jackie Martarella

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Takeaways

• Decades of Misjustice: Faulty investigations, police tunnel vision, and community pressure led to the wrongful imprisonment of three men for nearly 20 years. Their exoneration came only after DNA technology caught up.
• Power of Forensic Science: It was genealogy and cutting-edge DNA analysis, 41 years after the crime, that finally identified the real killer.
• Community Still Waiting: Other Lynbrook disappearances remain unsolved, possibly linked to either the newly arrested Bilodeau or still unidentified predators from the era.
• Impact on Families: Justice delayed has lifelong consequences—families grieve, and in this case, some died without answers.

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Final words:

“I can't believe that three guys spent 18 plus years in prison and then they happen to find answers another two decades later. But I'm so glad that they did. This is what's so great about genealogical DNA testing and how it can really, really help.”
—Daphne [58:45]

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For unresolved cases mentioned, stay tuned for updates as more DNA testing is underway and Bilodeau faces trial.

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Transcript

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

What is going on? True crime fans? I'm your host Teeth.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Hello everybody. Thank you for tuning in today. Big shout out to Dan who recommended today's case. This one actually had very very, very recent resolution just in the last few weeks. And the way that police achieved that resolution is pretty wild. So we will get into all of that today. But it's crazy.

[Heath]

Yeah, this is one of those shocking cases that takes so many different twists and turns and yeah, I mean, we might actually find out about a couple other cases that could be connected to today's case.

[Daphne]

Absolutely. Also, by the way, if you guys want more Going west episodes, I just want to tell you, in the last week we have release bonus episodes, the story of Amanda Zhao Wei, who was murdered in B.C. canada. She was an exchange student from China. And that story, there's a lot of extradition talk in that one, just like we did in the Holly Maddox case in October. And then we also just released the Netherlands murder of Nicole Van Den Herk and that one, like her brother, confessed to that crime in recent history so that police would reinvestigate it. Like both of these cases, you guys can't miss.

[Heath]

Absolutely wild. And if you want to go check out those cases on our bonus series, head on over to patreon.com goingwest podcast or you can just subscribe right there on Apple.

[Daphne]

Yes please. We have over 130 bonus episodes over there of cases you're not going to hear on Going west that deserve all the attention. So check it out. And without further ado.

[Heath]

Alright guys, this is episode 559 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

In November of 1984, the normally safe New York City suburb of Lynbrook was gripped in fear when a 16 year old girl vanished after leaving her job at a local roller rink. What began as a missing persons case would soon reveal a web of lies and false confessions that would haunt the community for decades. With three convictions being reanalyzed and genealogical DNA bringing random real answers, This is the murder of Teresa Fusco. Teresa Fusco was born on January 18, 1968 to parents Concetta or Connie Napoli and Thomas Fusco. Theresa was the middle of three children and the only girl growing up alongside an older brother named John and a younger brother named Michael. She was raised in Lynbrook, New York, which is a suburb of New York City situated on Long Island. Though her parents eventually divorced and her dad settled in Queens, Teresa was a dancer from a young age studying ballet and tap and hoped to grow up to be a dance teacher. According to a friend named Cindy, quote, she had a lot of friends. She was happy. She had a good life. At the time of her disappearance, Teresa was a junior at East Rockaway High School. And on that fateful day, which was Saturday, November 10, 1984, 16 year old Teresa was looking forward to her Saturday evening because at the time, she was working one night a week at the snack bar at the local roller rink, Hot Skates, located on Merrick Road and Ocean Avenue in Lynbrook, right across the street from the town cemetery. That is your dream job, Heath.

[Heath]

Yeah, it sounds, I was gonna say that sounds like a perfect job, especially in 1984, you know, working at a roller skating rink. Pretty awesome.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And just one night a week, and it was on Saturdays. So she probably did enjoy that, that job because it was so infrequent. Now, according to Teresa's mom, she left the house in good spirits and was planning on spending the night at a friend's house after work. A friend who conveniently lived just one block from Teresa's house. But her promising night unexpectedly turned sour when she suddenly lost her job after getting into an argument with her manager over how she was cleaning the tables. According to some sources, she had also been fighting with her boyfriend that evening. So this ended up being a really stressful night for her. And Teresa was last seen around 9:45pm leaving the snack bar in tears, strolling out the building by herself.

[Heath]

And this, you know, probably also snowballed. You know, she's already not having a good night because she's arguing with her boyfriend. And then on top of that, you know, her manager is giving her crap about how she's cleaning the tables. So, yeah, she's, she's really upset. She leaves this roller skating rink and that's the last time she was ever seen again.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And now she's just walking into the night by herself and we don't know her intentions. Was she gonna still go to her friend's house for that sleepover? Was she gonna go home? Was she gonna walk it off? Like what. What is going on in her head?

[Heath]

Yeah, and we can only assume that she's either making that four block trek to her house or she's headed towards her friend's house, you know, where she's supposed to have this sleepover. But somewhere along the way, someone stopped to pick up 16 year old Teresa. Maybe he noticed her crying and took advantage of her being in a vulnerable position, offering her a ride, you know, we're just not sure. But however it happened, Teresa was plucked from the side of the road that night. And then she vanished. The following morning, Teresa was supposed to return home and head to her dad's house in Queens for the night. But when she never arrived, her frantic mother contacted her friend and realized that she had never made it over for that sleepover. So she was reported missing on Sunday, November 11, 1984. But her mom, Connie, felt from the beginning that her daughter's disappearance was not taken seriously enough. You know, obviously in those very crucial days and weeks right after she vanished. Because at first, police announced in the newspapers that there was no indication of foul play. And despite Connie's protest, detectives insisted that she was most likely a runaway, spurred by a fight with her boyfriend and then getting fired from hot skates. You know, they were really looking at this like Teresa was just cooling off somewhere. But Connie explained, quote, the police kept saying, typical runaway, typical runaway. Connie maintained that Teresa was a happy, well adjusted teenager who just absolutely loved her friends, family, her school, and her boyfriend, and that she had no desire or reason to run away, adding, she would never leave home without her blow dryer and makeup. And there's really nowhere that she could have gone anyway, especially if she had gotten fired and gotten into a fight with her boyfriend. You know, going to her friends to vent or going home and closing herself away in her room would have been really good choices for her.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I completely agree.

[Heath]

Yeah. And her godfather, Dean Gardner, actually felt the same way that we do. He said, quote, we never thought she ran away. She took no clothes, no money, and none of her favorite jewelry she always called home. She was very close with her mother. So Teresa's family, along with the help of detectives who were now taking her disappearance more seriously as time went on, spoke with every single one of her friends and many of her school peers and acquaintances. Connie remembered, we checked out all of her friends. They've been forming posses and looking for her every day.

[Daphne]

Well, strangely, Teresa had a friend who had gone missing just five months before she did. And a connection between the two remains a distinct possibility to this day. Kelly Morrissey was a 15 year old, living with her mom, stepfather siblings, and step siblings in Lynbrook at the time of her disappearance. Now, she and Teresa had been childhood friends, though the girls did wind up at different high schools. Now, there had been some trouble at home with Kelly. She was estranged from her father at the time she went missing, which may have been reason for this rebellious streak that she had been exhibiting recently. Like, for example, she had recently been dating men who were much older than she was. And, and this is going to play a part, it seems, for sure, because on the evening she disappeared, which was Tuesday, June 12, 1984, Kelly and a friend of hers were waiting at a local Shell gas station located at the intersection of Merrick Road and Earl Avenue, which is just half a mile or under a kilometer west of Hot Skates, where Theresa was last seen.

[Heath]

Yeah, so both of these disappearances were right in that same area.

[Daphne]

And this is a small town anyway, so the fact that this happened five months apart is already weird, especially because they knew each other. They were the same age, of course, very alarming. So Kelly and her friend were apparently waiting for a couple of guys to meet them there, you know, at this Shell gas station. But when the guys never showed up, the girls decided to leave. Kelly's friend wanted to go to her boyfriend's house, but Kelly hoped to make the Most of her 10pm curfew and stay out a bit longer. So before she left, she bought a pack of cigarettes from the gas station and told the cashier that she was headed to Captain Video, which was this arcade and record and video store. Just like Teresa did months later on this same stretch of road, which is littered with various businesses, by the way, she was going to walk there herself. Detective Lieutenant of the Nassau County Police Department, John Azada, maintained there is no indication that she ever made it there to Captain Video. The employees were interviewed at that time and no one ever remembers Kelly entering that store. Although the possibility of Kelly having run away was entertained, her family was very doubtful of this, just like Teresa's was because she didn't pick up her most recent paycheck from her part time job, which she surely would have needed if she was taking off on her own. And she'd even set out her clothes for school the next day. John Azada concluded there is no indication that Kelly would be a runaway. No note was left. It's hard to fathom that a young girl, 15 years old, would make no contact with anyone she was close with since that time. So sadly, Kelly was last seen around 9:30pm that day. Remember, Teresa was the last seen around 9:45pm and Kelly has never been seen or heard from since.

[Heath]

So Teresa's mom, Connie recalled how disturbed her daughter had been about her friend vanishing so suddenly. You know, Teresa knew Kelly. They were close when they were kids.

[Daphne]

Yeah, it seems like a lot of people were because remember, Lynn broke around time, had about 20,000 people living there. So for this teenage girl to vanish, and even police are admitting that it doesn't seem like it's a runaway, Nobody knows what to think. Is there a killer amongst them? Because her body hasn't been found, there's no crime scene.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, Teresa and her friends were really shook up about this. And her mom, Connie, actually explained, quote, after Kelly disappeared in June, Teresa was quite frightened. She always would phone me to tell me her plans. That's why I don't think she's willingly on her own somewhere. So Kelly was last seen walking west on Earl Avenue in Lynbrook, and, like Teresa, was believed to have been snatched from the street. Now, in terms of a connection between Kelly's disappearance and Teresa's, Detective George Doherty of the Missing Person Squad admitted it's hard to tell. There might be no connection at all. Now, I know that Daphne just explained that lynbrook had about 20,000 people living there at the time, but since this is on Long island, it is surrounded by countless other towns and villages with similar populations. This is not a rural area. So it is definitely possible that there were two different creeps perusing the street those two different nights. Or it's possible that Lynbrook hosted a single sick individual who took to abducting teenagers that year, as risky as that may seem to. So after she vanished, Teresa's missing posters were plastered all over the town of Lynbrook. But feeling like they weren't getting the support that they needed from the police, her family hired a private detective. During those agonizing early days, Connie also reported receiving multiple prank calls that she initially thought may be connected to her daughter, including one that was a young woman's voice claiming to be Theresa and begging for help. But then, on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 5, 1984, nearly a month after she disappeared, her family got the answers that they were seeking, although it was not the outcome that they were hoping for. Two children were out exploring when they came across Teresa's nude body, half buried underneath leaves and a wooden pallet near the track for the Long Island Railroad between Rockland Avenue and Park Place, which was very close to where she was known to have last been walking. Police believe that she had been deceased for at least a couple of weeks, likely since the night she disappeared, which, again, was on November 10th. Teresa's body was just a block from the roller rink, one block and only five blocks from her house. Her godfather, again, Dean Gardner, said sadly, we knew she wouldn't run away, but this was something that we didn't want to anticipate. Two days after she was found, the Nassau County Sheriff's Department announced that they believed that Teresa had been strangled with a rope, a wire, or a similar object. But the murder weapon was never recovered, and neither was her clothing or her jewelry and Real quick, before we move on. I know we've talked about this in other cases, because this has also happened in other cases, but the fact that people were prank calling Teresa's mother just absolutely pisses me off to the core. Like, you have to be a real scumbag to do something like that.

[Daphne]

Oh, yeah, it's horrible. Especially being a woman and begging for help. Pretend saying your name is Teresa, which we can pretty much conclude was not her, because finding her body, police believe, and the medical examiner believe that she died when she went missing.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

So she wasn't. Most likely was not being held hostage. So.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

It's like double messed up.

[Heath]

And now Teresa's mom knows that, too.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So. So horrific. Well, in addition to bruises and lacerations found on her body, Teresa had been sexually assaulted. And there was actually seminal fluid present on her remains, which would really help down the line when adequate testing was available, as we will verify very much. Dive into. But at this point in the case, after finding her, detectives continued questioning hundreds of men in connection with Teresa's murder, including her own dad, who was home in Queens at the time, and, of course, her boyfriend, who she had reportedly fought with before her disappearance and murder. And on December 10, 1984, five days after her body was found, Nassau county police announced that they had made an arrest in connection with Teresa's murder. But they did not offer up the name of the person that they arrested. And to the disappointment of Teresa's family, that man was not found to have any connection to the murder, and he was never mentioned in the press again. So we have no clue at this point who that guy was or why they made that arrest.

[Heath]

And as we're gonna get into, you guys will see that police really messed up this investigation. I don't want to go into it too much right now, because we are going to talk about it, but just want to let you know beforehand.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I mean, you guys are already seeing the breadcrumbs of that. Like you said, he. They had to hire their own private investigator.

[Heath]

Yeah. They thought that she was a runaway at first.

[Daphne]

And actually by January, so a few weeks after she was found, Connie was just growing so restless that her daughter's case was not getting enough information, it was not having enough developments. So she personally announced a $5,000 reward, saying it's gone on too long, and no one has come forward with any information yet. Homicide detectives assured both Connie and the public that they were still prioritizing the case, telling the press, we're still out here interviewing people in Droves. And with what limited DNA testing they had at their disposal at this point, it's 1985 now, they tested more than 85 people to compare against the single source male DNA that was found on her body in the form of that seminal fluid. This included her boyfriend, her dad and her brothers as well. And in addition to the testing, they interviewed 400 people, including two men who had happened to have dated Teresa's friend who had also gone missing, Kelly Morrissey. Because at this point police are really wondering obviously if these two cases are connected. And then on March 5, 1985, a man named John Restivo was brought in for questioning and admitted to having known Kelly Morrissey before her disappearance. He was actually the son of a deceased Nassau county police officer, 26 year old John. Meaning he would have been friends with a 15 year old the year prior to. Not.

[Heath]

Okay, not a good look.

[Daphne]

John owned a local moving company and on occasion he hired a 21 year old man named John Kogit to help out with jobs. So not to confuse you guys, since we're talking about two different johns now, we will be using their full names as we're talking about them.

[Heath]

Yes, because we're going to talk about them quite a bit.

[Daphne]

Yeah, quite a bit. John Kogit, this man that John Restivo would hire to help out on jobs, had a pretty tough upbringing, having lived in foster homes until he was 10. Like in his line of questioning with the police, he claimed that he didn't even remember his parents names. He dropped out of high school during his sophomore year and was then intermittently homeless and transient on his own in Manhattan until he met and started dating his girlfriend. At 18, he moved in with his girlfriend and her dad in Island Park, New York and frequently picked up odd jobs, including working for John Restivo's moving company, as well as working as a landscaper. But he was officially unemployed at the time. John Restivo told police that he wondered if two of his friends, 21 year old John Kogut and 31 year old Dennis Halstead, both of whom had casually dated Kelly Morrissey before her disappearance, had been involved in the murder of Teresa Fusco, which Dennis.

[Heath]

Fucking ew. You're 31 years old and Kelly was what, 15?

[Daphne]

Yeah. So the year before he would have been 30. The year before John would have been 20. Again, like not a good look for any of these people. So all these guys are being questioned in the murder of Teresa Fusco, but they were all also questioned previously in Kelly's disappearance as well.

[Heath]

21 year old John Kogut was brought in for questioning by the Nassau County Sheriff's Department in regards to Teresa's case. And on March 25, 1985, after a grueling interrogation, he was actually charged with Teresa's murder, which would be the second arrest in the case in the four and a half months since Theresa was killed. And police were just hoping that at this point, this one would stick. Police announced their belief that at least one more person was involved alongside John Kogutt. And although they withheld the names of the suspects, detectives were pursuing the arrests of John Restivo and Dennis Halstedt as well. John Kogut's interrogation was the subject of years of criticism against the Nassau County Sheriff's Department, and in particular, the officer who questioned him. And his name was Joseph Volpe. Because when John Kogut was brought in for questioning, he consented to completing three polygraph examinations about Teresa's murder. And though he passed, he was actually told by law enforcement that he failed, which, of course, feels really illegal and just unethical.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I actually looked this up because I wondered it, too. And in New York, like many other states, police are allowed to lie to you during an interrogation. There's kind of like an invisible line that you're not allowed to cross. Like the line. There is a line between lying and police coercion. And so we can't really tell officially if this would be against the law for him to lie about John, you know, failing all three tests. But I completely agree. It's definitely unethical.

[Heath]

Well, it wasn't the only tactic that police were using here, because after being interrogated for nearly 10 hours, Officer Volpe laid out multiple scenarios for John, jotting down what he believed happened and coaxing John into signing the confession, which implicated his two friends as well. So Officer Volpe is basically saying, I don't care if you actually did this. I'm gonna make it true.

[Daphne]

And that is the problem is when police get tunnel vision and they try to make a puzzle piece fit together that is not meant to fit, which is why it is troubling that he told John that he failed all three of those tests when he actually passed. Because he's trying to say he's trying to convince John that he murdered Teresa because it fits his own narrative, and that is wrong.

[Heath]

But guess what? This scenario was actually the sixth one that was laid out by Officer Volpe, but the first five were not recorded. So he's basically doing some seriously wrong things here. You know, he's. He's. What you're saying is Kind of pigeonholing, John. And this statement was as follows. About 10pm the three men were driving around Lynbrook drinking and smoking marijuana. Restivo, who operates a moving and storage company, was driving a blue van, and Halstead sat in the passenger seat. As Kogut perched on a cushion behind Halstead. On Merrick Road near the Hot Skates roller rink, they picked up Fusco, a casual acquaintance of Restivo and Halstead. Halstead asked her, do you want to party? Do you want to do the right thing? Which is apparently slang for having sex. The girl immediately demanded to be let out of the van. Halstead jumped on her, and they started struggling. When Cogut came near the struggling couple, she turned on me and smacked me in the face with this. I freaked out. I got crazy, he said in the statement. Kogut said he repeatedly punched her until she fell onto the floor of the van, still trying to punch and kick her assailants. Kogat and Halstead ripped her clothes off, and then Halstead raped her. The girl fainted. Arriving at a nearby cemetery, Restivo stopped driving and raped her while she was unconscious. Kogut said that they took Fusco out of the van and then he strangled her because she threatened to go to the police. He said he put his knees on her shoulders, wrapped a double strand of nylon rope around her neck and pulled until her body went limp. They decided to dump her body near the tracks because the area is not brightly lit. So, by the way, this is the statement that Detective Volpe is writing down. He made up this whole scenario and is saying, okay, this is what happened. Right. John, you're gonna sign this?

[Daphne]

Yeah. After 10 hours of an interrogation wherein John believed he had failed three polygraphs. So these are the type of situations where police can really get into your head, and it happens, they can actually make you believe you did something that you did not do. And that is what is happening right here.

[Heath]

And the thing that also really sucks about all of this is the fact that they initially did not take Teresa's disappearance seriously. You know, they really dropped the ball from the beginning. And now they're trying to hyper correct. They're like, oh, we gotta get somebody for this. And also probably the fact that Kelly had just gone missing five months prior. It's like they're really not doing much here.

[Daphne]

But it's also so dangerous because not only are they totally fucking this up and trying to make three men guilty who are not guilty, but then in turn, they're also letting the guilty party go free. Right?

[Heath]

Yeah. And, you know, just to Kind of finish this off. Do I think that Daryl or.

[Daphne]

Sorry, it's Dennis.

[Heath]

Yeah, sorry, Daryl, Dennis. Do I think that Dennis was a good person? No, you know, he was, he was dating a 15 year old girl. But do I, do I think he should be pigeonholed and go to go to prison for life for murder if he didn't do it? No.

[Daphne]

Totally agree. And also, I mean detectives, like you're saying, it feels like they're trying to hyper. Correct. Because they also ignored numerous inconsistencies with this own statement that they are making up, such as the fact that Teresa's vaginal swab revealed the presence of only one source of male DNA, despite the fact that she was supposedly raped by two of her captors. As so this confession says. Right. So that's not even matching the DNA. And sure, you could say maybe one of them used a condom, but that's not being mentioned at all. So it does feel like they're ignoring a lot of facts here. Well, John Kogut was then transported by the police to the crime scene where they asked him extensive questions that he couldn't answer.

[Heath]

Yeah, so he didn't even know shit about this crime scene.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I mean he wasn't even able to offer up any information that wasn't already public knowledge, which says a lot to us. But after nearly 18 hours of intense interrogation, a confused and exhausted John Kogut begrudgingly agreed to sign the seven page confession which was handwritten by Joseph Volpe himself, the detective. And now that we actually have some answers in this case, I can tell you that this is now very much believed to have been a falsified, coerced confession that turned so violent that John Kogut's defense attorneys later filed a police brutality complaint.

[Heath]

I mean that's just how bad they really wanted John to go down for this crime.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And John also, John Kogut would later admit that he had been drinking and smoking marijuana before his line of questioning began. So he was already exhausted when this grueling interrogation got underway. Because by the way, he had been taken into custody after 11:00pm so by the end he was just. After 18 hours.

[Heath]

Yeah, he's just delirious.

[Daphne]

Yeah, literally. And again, since I just said that there was a police brutality complaint. So there was physical and verbal violence involved over the course of these 18 hours. So at the end he's like, fuck it, I'll do anything to make this stop. So although John quickly recanted his confession after he signed, it was too late. And the wheels of motion to indict the three men were already moving, but detectives were convinced that they had one of their perpetrators. So they set their sights on taking down the other two, who were implicated by John Kogutt as well. Nassau county assistant District Attorney Edward McCarty announced that they believed that John Cogut was aided and abetted by co conspirators, though John Kogut was the one who ultimately committed the murder. Edward McCarty added that they believed Teresa to be a victim of happenstance and that they chose her because she was an easy target, you know, walking alone on the side of a road. So it was a complete crime of opportunity based on the state of her remains. They added that she was viciously beaten and that she resisted with all her strength. So law enforcement obtained a search warrant for John Restivo's van and also tapped their phones and began monitoring their homes and movements around the clock. I will say why John Kogut implicated his two friends is a mystery, but it does seem like police already had them on their radar and helped very much in that implicating. But at this point, it seemed like people were just happy that there was an arrest again, and it seemed like this one was going to stick because people were not privy to everything that we're explaining to you guys right now.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, her family in the community were, you know, at this point, relieved that somebody was going down for this.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And even more so relieved when the arrests of John Restivo and Dennis halstead came on June 20, 1985, because it felt like, oh, my God, we have three people in this murder. The first arrest stuck for months, and, wow, we're really going to get answers. But John Restivo and Dennis Halstead were also maintaining their innocence, seemingly dumbfounded as to why they had been implicated. And honestly, not even detectives could formally connect them to the crime, Though they still believe that John koguto, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead were most likely responsible for the string of at least four rapes in Lynbrook that the Nassau sheriff's department were investigating and that they were capable of killing Teresa. So all men were charged with second degree murder and first degree rape.

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[Heath]

Now according to Kelly Morrissey's mom, Iris, she had been combing through her daughter's journals in the aftermath of her disappearance, just kind of hoping to get some answers and found that Kelly had written about going on dates with John Kogut in 1982 or 1983, when Kelly would have been just 12 or 13 years old. And John at that point would have been like in his late teens.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

So obviously, again, not a good look.

[Daphne]

That's really bad.

[Heath]

Additionally, Iris found entries about Dennis Halstead, who had also dated the friend that Kelly was with on the night she disappeared and who had known the two boys that Kelly and her friend were supposed to meet up with at that gas station on the night that she vanished. At the time of his arrest, Dennis was a 31 year old father, and at the time of their disappearances, Kelly and Teresa were 15 and 16 respectively. And disgustingly, Dennis, who had three children from a previous marriage as well as a pregnant girlfriend at home, apparently had a reputation for this and was known to host Parties that drew underage girls.

[Daphne]

Yikes.

[Heath]

So, yeah, a bad guy. Definitely a bad guy, like you said. Yeah, for sure. However, he maintained that he had never committed a rape nor a murder, and that he was not responsible for Kelly's disappearance or Teresa's murder.

[Daphne]

It's just hard because it's hard to say you can trust that. But he, he also seems like the kind of guy who would say she consented. And it's like a 12 or 13 year old girl can't consent to sex. That is at least statutory rape. So that doesn't make it okay.

[Heath]

Yeah. Bottom line is that Dennis is 100% a scumbag and a pedophile. 100%. But again, you know, the, the evidence here was really lacking in this case. And all three men continue to assert their innocence and throughout the trial process, blaming officers for pressuring John's confession out of him, which was now the primary piece of evidence stacked against them. However, when the results of the search of John Restivo's van concluded the presence of hair that loosely matched Teresa's, the prosecution felt that they had adequate scientific evidence to convict them.

[Daphne]

And in the confession, it explained, or John explained, that the crime would have happened in John Restivo's work van. So that is why they checked it. Now they're like, oh, we have one hair that could be Theresa's, which means she was in this van.

[Heath]

But of course, the men and their lawyers maintained that this had been planted by Officer Joseph Volpe in order to secure a conviction. An expert in hair sample forensics later testified that, quote, in this particular instance, the questioned hair could have originated from the scalp of Teresa Fusco with a high degree of probability. But Dennis argued that his van was not even operational at this time and that it had been propped up on cinder blocks in his yard undergoing internal repairs. So if he was responsible, he couldn't have used the van during the attack anyway. And it's very likely that police did not know that and that hair was planted.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I wouldn't put that past Officer Joseph Volpe. Well, Theodore Robinson, who was the defense attorney for Dennis Halstead and John Restivo, said the grand jury could indict a ham sandwich if the DNA wanted them to. I don't think these people are guilty at all. John Kogut was tried first, but despite his proclamations of innocence, he was found guilty. And on May 28, 1986, he was sentenced to 31 and a half years to life in prison. John's girlfriend even provided an alibi for him on the night of Teresa's murder, claiming that they had gone to a party and then to a late night movie. But this wasn't enough to counteract his confession. John Restivo and Dennis Halstead were up next, and they too were found guilty. On February 6, 1987, Dennis Halstead was sentenced to 33 and 1/3 years in prison.

[Heath]

I don't really get the. The 1/3 years, but all right, very specific.

[Daphne]

And on February 24, 1987, John Restivo was handed the same sentence. Actually, it is now the common belief that the investigators and prosecuting attorneys bowed to increasing public pressure on Long island due to a rash in missing, murdered, and raped teenage girls in the mid to late 1980s. So, like. Well, like you said earlier, Heath, it felt like they were really trying to hyper. Correct. And that is why these arrests and convictions happen.

[Heath]

Yeah. If they had just done their job in the first place, you know, they might have actually caught the people really responsible for these rapes and murders.

[Daphne]

Actually, there was somebody else that came up early on in the investigation that investigators were also criticized for not following up on. This was a man named John French. Basically, his car, which was an Oldsmobile, had been parked near the roller rink and gone missing on the night of Teresa's murder. When it popped back up again, there was a mysterious pair of striped jeans, similar to the ones that Teresa was believed to have been wearing on the night of her murder. In that vehicle. John French also said that he was missing a length of wire rope that he kept in the vehicle for emergencies. So he is saying, hey, my car went missing. There was all this weird shit.

[Heath]

This is very suspicious. You should probably look into it.

[Daphne]

Yeah, he's literally telling this to the police and also gave them those pants. But police didn't take it seriously and instead were gripped with this tunnel vision on the trio.

[Heath]

And they also just happened to see somehow lose that pair of pants that were found in French's car.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so it's like, what? What are we doing, guys? Like, what are we doing this? You don't even have any evidence against the trio. This feels like a decent lead. You should at least follow up on it. So after the convictions, the men and their defense attorneys got to work on attempting to vacate their sentences right away. And with the help of Centurion Ministries, who took up their case in 1994, and the innocence Project, who started working with them in 1997, the case of the three men began gaining traction and notoriety. Still, even with the media attention that they were receiving, the men spent 18 years in prison for Teresa's murder. But DNA evidence finally exonerated them in 2003 with the help of the Innocence Project, and their convictions were overturned in June of 03, proving all three men to be innocent of murdering Teresa Fusco, bringing the investigation right back to Square1, almost 20 years after her murder. Except for John Kogut. He wasn't officially exonerated until over two years later after being forced to undergo a bench trial. So he was found not guilty in December of 2005 and officially released on December 29th. In December of the following year, 2006, the trio filed a massive lawsuit against the Nassau County Sheriff's Department, and John Restivo and Dennis halstead were awarded $18 million, 1 million for each year that they served. Though John Kogut was not really a part of that civil lawsuit, but he was given $1.5 million by the new York State Court of Claim. John Restivo said in response, a million dollars a year, it isn't going to give me back those 18 years. Right. But I think it was fair. The most important thing to me was that the county is finally held accountable for ruining my life. But the question still remained. Who killed Teresa Fusco?

[Heath]

Well, it would take another two decades, but this past October of 2025, Teresa's killer was finally identified. Now, of course, the DNA evidence was retested multiple times in order to prove that it was not a match for John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead back in the early 2000s. But in August of 2023, Teresa's vaginal swab was again sent out for further testing because with even more advancements in technology, they wanted to give it another go. And this time, family genealogy records hit on a 100% match with a man who had been living in the vicinity of Teresa during the time of her murder. 41 years after her murder, the Nassau County Sheriff's department arrested 63 year old Richard Bilodeau for the murder of Teresa Fusco, which would have made him about 22 years old at the time of this crime. On October 16, 2025, Nassau County District Attorney Ann Donnelly announced Teresa Fusco's life was violently stolen from her 40 years ago. And since then, her family has suffered in enduring pain and the lingering question of who committed such a heinous act. Though remarkable advancements in forensic science and DNA analysis and the relentless pursuit of justice by my cold case homicide prosecutors and investigators, we can say today that we've indicted Teresa's alleged killer. The past has not been forgotten. Today's Indictment stands as proof that no matter how much time passes, we will never stop fighting for victims. My office is determined to see justice for Teresa and her family. And damningly, when police questioned this piece of shit, Dick reportedly scoffed, saying, people got away with murder back then. So after sharing the story of what he said to investigators about getting away with murder, Ann Donnelly added, well, let me tell you something, Mr. Bilodeau. It's 2025, and I got you.

[Daphne]

Now, at the time of his arrest, Richard was living in Center Mariches, which is about an hour east of Lynbrook, closer to the Hamptons, and was working night shifts at Walmart. But In November of 1984, when Teresa was murdered, he was living in Lynbrook with his grandparents, just 1 mile, or 1.6 kilometers from where she went missing from. His neighbors from back then remember him as troubled. And one woman named Liz, who lived near Richard's grandparents, described him as awkward and a loner and claimed that her kids were afraid of him. So once detectives had that genealogy match, they tracked him until they were able to retrieve a DNA sample from him. And this came in the form of a straw and cup from Tropical Smoothie Cafe that he had thrown away.

[Heath]

Yeah. So they get this match. They're like, okay, now we kind of know who this guy is. Let's. Let's follow him and see if we can just get some sort of DNA sample from him.

[Daphne]

Yeah, because they want to be covert. They want to make sure that he isn't on to them and that they can get this match and then arrest him without any trouble.

[Heath]

Yeah, and they also had to be correct on all of this.

[Daphne]

And once it was tested, the DNA on that plastic straw matched the DNA left behind on Teresa's body. Thus, Richard was arrested on October 14, 2025. And the following day, he was charged with two counts of second degree murder, one each for murder and murder during the commission of rape. But he's pleading not guilty. Sadly, Teresa's mother, Connie, passed away in 2019. Of course, after the exonerations of the three men she once believed to have committed the crimes. So she wasn't around to see justice come for a second time, and for real this time. So she went to her grave thinking that the three men who really killed her daughter were exonerated and awarded millions of dollars because she believes they were guilty until the end. Before her passing, Connie maintained not one bit of innocence in them. It's a total disgrace of our judicial system. They got away with murder. They keep coming back for more they're guilty most definitely. I have no doubt about that at all. But Teresa's father kept up the activism for their daughter's case in her absence. At the press conference announcing Richard's arrest, Thomas Fusco maintained, quote, I never gave up hope. I only loved her and I missed her. That's all I can say. Brandishing a photo from his chest coat pocket, he added, quote, she lives in my heart, as you can see.

[Heath]

But two other girls from Lynbrook are still awaiting justice. There's Kelly Morrissey, whose body remains missing from 41 years later. And then there's Jacqueline or Jackie Martarella from Oceanside, Long island, just minutes southeast of Lynbrook. And Jackie's case bears eerie similarities to Teresa's because at the time of her disappearance on March 26, 1985, which came just one day after John Kogut was arrested for the murder of Teresa Fusco, 19 year old Jackie left her friend's house at around 7:45pm where she was bound for her part time job at a local Burger King, due to start at 8pm that night. When she never turned up, she was reported missing. And nearly a month later, on April 22, 1985, her badly decomposed body turned up in a Marsh alongside the 17th hole of the Woodmere Golf Course, about 20 minutes west of where she disappeared from. Now, like Teresa's, her body was left nude and neither her clothing nor a murder weapon has ever been found. And just like Teresa, she had also been sexually assaulted. As of now, both her murder and Kelly's disappearance remain unsolved. All three of these women were around the same age. They were from the same area and disappeared around the same time. And Teresa and Jackie were even murdered the same way. The connections of the three men first convicted in the disappearance of Teresa Fusco to the disappearance and probable murder of Kelly Morrissey have not been debunked. And it remains possible that they were responsible for other crimes in the area. Either the rapes that they were being accused of committing as a team, or the disappearance of Kelly and the murder of Jackie. But I will say it's also possible that Richard Bilodeau has more victims, maybe even including Kelly and Jackie. But we'll have to wait for his trial to hopefully find more answers.

[Daphne]

Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. I really hope that they're gonna test DNA from Jackie's case to see if it's possibly connected to any of these four guys. I can't imagine that Richard Bilodeau, I mean, if you're capable of doing something that heinous and then you live decades of your life as a free man, there is so much of a possibility that you probably did that again.

[Daphne]

Yeah. I mean, I think the Jackie connection is really wild. And Kelly, like the fact that all the happen in the same area that they were all around the same general age from 15 to 19.

[Heath]

Yeah. And now we have a guy that we know is 100% responsible for Teresa's murder. So could there be others?

[Daphne]

Yeah. Hopefully we will learn more. I would assume that Richard's trial will be sometime in 2026, maybe 2027. But the trial date has not been announced. So we will absolutely keep you guys updated and whenever that happens, will have to do an update episode to hopefully get more. But I can't believe that three guys spent 18 plus years in prison and then they happen to find answers another two decades later. But I'm so glad that they did. This is what's so great about genealogical DNA testing and how it can really, really help. We have seen this over the last five years many, many times. So, yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in to this one. Sorry I lost my voice a little bit the last few days, so I'm a little hoarse. But thank you again also to Dan for recommending this case.

[Heath]

Yes. And don't forget to go check out those bonus episodes that we talked about in the beginning of this episode. You can find them [e-mail] goingwest podcast and you can also just subscribe right there on Apple. It's super easy. Go check them out. All right, guys, so for everybody out.

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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