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Vol. 32 No. 43
oCToBER 23 - 29, 2025
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Evidence leads to indictment in 1984 death
was leaving her job on Nov. 10, 1984, when she vanished, authorities said. Less than a jdalessandro@liherald.com month later, on Dec. 5, her body jbessen@liherald.com was found in a wooded area amartinez@liherald.com about a mile away from the roller rink. The investigation concluded A grand jury indicted a 63-year-old man on murder that Fusco had been raped and charges on Oct. 15 in the 1984 strangled. “Her death sent shock waves death of Lynbrook teenager Theresa Fusco, after through the comnew DNA evidence munity,” Donnelly was discovered that said. “Theresa’s links him to the cold life was violently case, authorities stolen from her said. more than 40 years Nassau County ago, but the past is District Attorney never forgotten.” Anne Donnelly, New DNA evijoined by members dence, and what of the FBI and the was described as a Nassau County rigorous investigaPolice Department tion, implicated at a news conferBilodeau in the ence at the D.A.’s ANNE DoNNEllY teen’s death, the office, announced Nassau County district attorney the indictment of district attorney said. In February, Richard Bilodeau, Bilodeau’s DNA of Center Moriches, was lifted from a in the 16-year-old’s death. discarded smoothie cup, which Bilodeau pleaded not guilty was compared with samples to two counts of second-degree from Fusco’s body, leading to a murder at an Oct. 15 arraign- “100 percent match,” Donnelly ment at the Nassau County said. Court in Mineola. “Things have changed since Fusco, who worked at the 1984. We didn’t have DNA testHot Skates roller skating rink ing then,” Donnelly said. “Scion Merrick Road in Lynbrook,
By JoSEPh D’AlESSANDRo, JEffREY BESSEN & AINSlEY MARTINEZ
T
Melissa Baptiste/Herald
Benches and a new placard mark the memorial site, part of the historical society’s ongoing effort to preserve the memory of the victims.
Annual commemoration honors 1830s immigrant shipwreck victims By AINSlEY MARTINEZ amartinez@liherald.com
Nearly two centuries after two tragic shipwrecks off Long Island’s South Shore claimed the lives of scores of Irish immigrants, the Historical Society of East Rockaway and Lynbrook gathered once again to honor their memory. Last Saturday, more than 30 people stood quietly among the gravestones at Rockville Cemetery, the final resting place of those who died in the wrecks of the Bristol and the Mexico in the winter of 1836 and 1837. The annual ceremony, held by the Historical Society in partnership with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, has taken place for roughly 20 years.
“They were headed here for a new life and new world,” said Madeline Pearson, the historical society’s executive director. “These people were brave, and took a chance for a better life.” Most of the victims were Irish immigrants, many fleeing famine and poverty in search of opportunity in America. But their journey ended just off the coast of Long Beach. The Bristol foundered off Far Rockaway Beach on Nov. 21, 1836, and more than 60 people died. Then, according to Lynbrook Village Historian Arthur S. Mattson, whose research brought renewed attention to the tragedies, the Mexico ran aground just 200 yards offshore during a fierce storm in JanuContinued on page 10
heresa’s life was violently stolen from her more than 40 years ago, but the past is never forgotten.
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