DNA on a straw leads to a teen's suspected killer 40 years after she went missing | 48 Hours | Forensic Files

[music] >> Kelly Morrissey was a young girl who didn't like to stay home. She liked to hang out with her friends.
[music] June 12th, 1984, Kelly walks to a payphone near a Shell gas station over
on Merrick Road in Lynbrook and meets up with another one of her friends and they make some phone calls after that
payphone. We don't know where Kelly went. >> Knowing Kelly, there is no way I believe
she ran away. No. And then on November 10th, 1984, just 5 months later, Teresa Fusco
disappears. >> And what is the initial thought? >> The initial thought is there might be a
connection. Teresa worked at the uh on Merrick Road in Lynbrook, Hot Skates. >> And for her to go to Hot Skates, she
would have to walk in this direction down the street. >> Did you ever [music] worry about her
walking? >> No, I never really worried about her walking anywhere in the neighborhood.
That evening, she apparently got fired. She's [music] upset and then she leaves.
>> Wasn't she supposed to go to Lisa Kaplan's house? >> Yeah, her best friend, yeah.
>> She was going to come to my house after she got off of work and sleep over. [music]
So, it becomes like 9:00, she's not there. >> Yep. >> 9:30, [music] not there. 10:00, I just thought maybe she went
home. Well, the next morning, her mother called and her mom asked my mom, "Can you please have Lisa send Teresa home?"
And my mom said, "Teresa's not here." Her mom called the police department. We went to all the places we would hang
out and she wasn't anywhere that we searched. >> It's just very coincidental. Same neighborhood, same time frame, two
girls who knew each other. I'm like, "Something's not right. Something's [music] just not right."
>> And then 25 days later, these two boys coming back to hang out here in the woods.
>> [music] >> They see a body and they run to the deli and ask to call 911. Police show up and they find Teresa
Fusco. >> Teresa had been strangled, [music] beaten, and raped. >> It truly was shattering.
At 16, to never have lost anybody that you [music] loved in such a horrific way.
You just can't get over that. >> But until there's a connection in the two cases, one's still a missing girl
and now one's a homicide. John Kogut was brought in by the detectives as a suspect in the murder of
Teresa Fusco and during that time he confessed to the murder of Teresa. >> He decided that he had to kill her.
>> And then during the confession he implicated [music] two of his buddies. >> And when I saw the three men who were
arrested in handcuffs, I thought to myself, "Who are these people? They're older. Who are they?"
>> The theory was always it was three guys. >> Yeah. >> And the DNA didn't match any of them.
>> No, it didn't. >> If they didn't do it, then who did it? >> Today we arraigned 63-year-old
Richard Bilodeau for the murder of Teresa Fusco. >> And I said, "Okay. Here we go again."
>> [music] [music] [music] >> First, 15-year-old Kelly Morrissey vanished into the [music] night. On June
12th, 1984, she left her home after dinner and never [music] came back. Five months later, it was her friend Teresa
Fusco. On November 10th, [music] 1984, the 16-year-old left her job at Hot Skates, a popular roller rink, never to
[music] be heard from again. 41 years ago, trying to find them was a different job.
Police had to look for real footprints, not digital ones, and it was [music] easy to vanish without a trace.
Kelly Morrissey and Teresa [music] Fusco were growing up in the suburbs of Long Island. Vicki Papagno lived around the
corner from Kelly in Massapequa. >> She actually was the first person I ever smoked a cigarette with, was Kelly.
I was from [music] a divorced family, she was from a divorced family, we connected that way. She was like [music]
my sister I never had. >> When they were in junior high, Kelly's family moved about 10 miles away to
Lynbrook. By then, Kelly [music] had made some new friends. >> One of the first people that she met
when she moved to Lynbrook was Teresa Fasco. >> Kelly's mother Iris and her then fiance
Paul Olmstead watched the friendship develop. >> She was very good friends with Teresa.
And uh so she she made friends very easily. >> She met her friends at malls and in
person. Kids roamed around freely. No one could keep tabs on each other 24/7. It was a different time and Kelly
Morrissey and Teresa Fasco were typical teens for 1984. >> Well, let's take them on a little stroll
down memory lane. >> That was the [music] year Ronald Reagan was president. Ghostbusters and
Footloose were the breakout hits. Madonna was climbing the charts and fashion [music] followed.
It was the year Steve Jobs introduced something revolutionary. >> [applause] >> Hello, I am Macintosh.
>> We didn't have cell phones, social media, so we were pen pals. We would get our stationery and we would just write
back and forth. And that's how we communicated. >> When Vicky was visiting Kelly, she would
sometimes hang out with Teresa, who also became her pen pal. >> Postmark 1982 from Lynbrook, New York from Teresa
Fasco. And it says, "Dear Vicki, hi, what's up? Nothing much here. When are you going to visit Kelly again? When
you do, call me, okay? How's all the boys there? They cute?" >> In Lynbrook, by far the [music] best
place to meet boys was at Hot Skates, as advertised [music] here in 1984. >> What are you doing tonight?
>> Uh, we would go to Hot Skates roller rink. We would go there, roller skate around.
>> How important was Hot Skates in your life? >> Oh, Hot Skates was a big deal to
everybody that lived in the area, even outside of the area. We would just go there and hang out with our friends
[music] and listen to music. >> Lisa Kaplan, now Johnson, was Teresa Fusco's closest friend.
>> We always We tried to dress very similar. We would buy the same clothing. We would wear our makeup the same.
>> Did you guys confide in each other? >> About everything. >> Literally everything?
>> Literally everything. >> No [music] one gave safety a second thought. >> You could walk absolutely anywhere and
[music] not be afraid of anything in the dark, during the day, alone, with friends.
>> And that explains why it was business as usual at the Morrissey [music] house, a
couple miles away, when 15-year-old Kelly walked out the front door alone after dinner. She said she'd be back by
9:30. It was June 12th, 1984. [music] Iris didn't give it a second thought. She and Paul were raising eight children
together. >> Somebody came in and I heard somebody in the kitchen, and he yelled down, "I'm
home." And okay, you could hear doors opening, closing, kids coming in and out, and I I it it was Kelly. It wasn't
until the next morning when she didn't come down to go to school that I went down there and
realized that her bed wasn't made and the clothes was still there and she hadn't come in.
>> [music] >> And were you panicking at that point, Iris? >> Oh, yeah. And then we called the police,
but [music] they told us that she wasn't missing 24 hours at that point and they
really wouldn't take a up a report. [music] In those days they waited. >> Nassau County Detective Freddy Goldman
would review both Teresa's and [music] Kelly's cases some 25 years later. He's retired now, but he agreed to walk us
through [music] the timeline and the evidence from back then. At the time [music] of Kelly's
disappearance, he says police found no reason to [music] think there was a crime. It seemed like she was a runaway.
>> There's tons of missing persons cases on a daily basis. >> Is that how Kelly Morrissey's case was
initially handled? >> yeah. >> At 15 years old, she wouldn't know how to do life unless somebody was there
to help her. I don't foresee her ever just running away and not talking to anyone, not reaching out to anyone. So,
I knew it was serious from day one. >> Months went by with no sign of Kelly. >> That had to be so tough.
>> Oh, it was. I mean, everywhere I went every child from the back looked like Kelly and stopped to look to see if it
was [music] Kelly. Um It was horrible. >> If [music] Kelly had been written off as
a runaway and not a priority, 5 months later her case got a second look. It was November 10th. Teresa Fosco never
showed up at Lisa's house for their sleepover. [music] >> I thought maybe she went to somebody
else's house and so I called a few friends and said, you know, did Teresa come over? At at that point I still
wasn't overly concerned. >> Teresa's parents were divorced. The next morning, her father Thomas had a
scheduled visit and arrived at his ex's house to pick up his daughter. >> How soon did you realize that this was a
problem? >> I know my wife and I looked at each other and said, something's not right
here. We realized this is out of norm. What do we do [music] now? >> When did you become really concerned?
>> I became really concerned when she wasn't ready for school on Monday morning.
We walk to school every morning. Why wasn't she there? >> Monday came [music] and went. It would be almost a month
before anyone [music] knew what had happened to Teresa. >> This is my daughter Teresa.
She was my [music] precious little girl. >> For Teresa Fusco's father Thomas and her
brother John >> We were happy. >> It seemed [music] as though the entire town of Lynbrook was out looking for
>> How big was the search? >> Everyone and then some. >> Everybody >> Everywhere.
>> Nearly a month later, not far from Hot Skates and near the Long Island Railroad
tracks, >> [music] >> Teresa's body was discovered. Beaten, raped, and strangled. Buried
under a pile of leaves [music] and wooden shipping pallets. Thomas and John are still haunted by
where she was found. >> I walked over it twice. >> Yeah. >> I didn't know she was under the pallet.
We just walked over the pallet. And I'm glad I didn't find her. That would have killed me.
>> I never heard the word homicide. So, when two homicide detectives arrived at Lisa's house, she didn't yet
understand what that meant. [music] >> And they said, "Well, we think we found her."
My heart started to race. I I started to get excited thinking, "My god, thank god
they found her." And then they told me that they found a body. At 16, it was life-shattering.
>> When her body was found, it was a shock not just to the Lynbrook community, but I think to all of Nassau
County. >> Anne Donnelly would grow up to be the Nassau County District Attorney. But
before that, she had a childhood a lot like Teresa Fusco's. >> I used to hang out at hockey skates
when I was a kid. I was in college when it happened. >> [music] >> It changed the way we saw the world back
in the '80s. It changed all that. And not for [music] the better. >> These are news articles I collected
throughout the years on this case. >> 41 years later, Vicky [music] Papagno keeps a sad scrapbook. It tells a story
of losing her two friends, [music] Teresa and Kelly. >> This one, which includes both of them, Lynbrook
girl missing, second from the village. >> Kelly had been missing for nearly 6 [music] months when Teresa was found.
>> It's just too coincidental to me. I feel like whoever committed Teresa could have something to do with Kelly.
>> You have two girls who went missing, and then one who is murdered. >> Yep. I was afraid to be home alone at night
time. It was frightening because we had no answers. >> Investigators [music] on Teresa's case have very little to go
on. No footprints, no fingerprints, no murder weapon. Hair samples were taken from Teresa,
also a [music] sexual assault swab. But DNA testing had not advanced enough to find out who it belonged to.
While looking for links [music] between the two girls, they zeroed in on John Kogut, a 21-year-old landscaper who told
detectives he had dated Kelly for about a week. >> I've heard the name John Kogut before.
It was early, right when she first started liking him or dating him. >> Kogut was asked about [music] Kelly's
disappearance. He also was asked about Teresa's killing and denied any knowledge of it.
Kogut agreed to come in and take a polygraph test. Four days later, [music] he did, and police told him he failed
it. Kogut was interrogated through the night [music] and into the next morning. After
nearly 12 hours of questioning, his denials changed. Nassau County Detective Joseph Volpe
>> [music] >> wrote down what he said Kogut told him. That on the night Teresa went missing,
Kogut was with John Restivo and Dennis Halstead in John's van when they saw Teresa walking away from Hot Skates.
Dennis Halstead was known to investigators [music] back then, says Freddy Goldman. He had
had some minor brushes with police. >> Dennis Halstead had an apartment adjacent to the Shell gas station where
Kelly was last seen at that pay phone. We were told that Kelly hung out in that apartment frequently. She had the key to
his apartment. >> It sounds like Dennis Halstead was viewed kind of as a bad influence on the
younger kids in the area. >> It would seem, yeah. >> John Restivo was more of a clean slate.
>> He was a working fellow. Although he was friends with them, he didn't have a a background like them. He didn't hang
out in Dennis's apartment, or that we knew of. >> [music] >> Police took Kogut to the District
Attorney's office, where he was videotaped. >> I want to talk to you about the death of Teresa Fusco.
>> He was interviewed by Assistant District Attorney George Peck. He agreed to go on video.
>> Camera rolling. Kogut detailed what happened to Teresa when she got into the van that night.
Kogut told investigators that Teresa was raped twice by Dennis Halstead and John
Restivo. When she said she was going to tell somebody, they couldn't let that happen.
>> We decided that we had to kill and Dennis told that she had died. >> And what did uh did John agree to this,
too? >> John didn't say nothing. >> And then, John Kogut describes how he killed Teresa.
>> And then what happened after uh you got the rope? >> I um I wrapped it around her neck twice.
And then I tightened it like this. And then her body went limp. >> John Kogut would later recant everything
he told police. But on that day, Goldman says, investigators were confident they
had Teresa Fusco's killer in custody and had the evidence they needed [music] to
prove it. But later on that very same day, another teenage girl went missing. >> March [music] 26, 1985.
When 19-year-old Jackie Martarella didn't show up to start her shift at Burger King, her older brother Martin
knew something was off. >> She's very prompt. She was very dependable. And for her not show up, we knew there
was something wrong. >> Most nights, Jackie [music] walked to work from the family home in Oceanside,
a town a few miles away from Lynbrook. How would she get there if you're she's walking? What was the route she would
take to go to Burger King? >> much straight down Long Beach Road. Uh >> Did you ever worry about her walking to
work? >> Not really. No. No. >> Jackie had recently graduated from high school. She was working part-time and
taking accounting classes, saving money to buy a car. How would you describe your sister?
>> Describe her? She was um very girly. >> Complete with posters of teen pop stars
on her bedroom wall. >> I remember Leif Garrett, whoever he was. >> I remember Leif Garrett.
>> [music] >> There was posters of that. She was into dance. She liked doing that.
She liked her clothes, very finicky with her clothes. >> And now [music] she was missing.
So, what did you and your father do? >> Well, I think we called the police. And then
they took notes. And then they started looking and and then those other two came up and
they were, you know, saying, "Look what's happening here." So, it became everybody became interested.
>> Nearly a month went by with no sign of Jackie. >> You know, all the worst thoughts go
through your mind when something like that happens. And of course what happens happen.
It's the worst of the worst. They found her body 26 days later in what would be a golf course.
>> April 22nd, 1985. A man looking for golf balls in the high grass off the 17th hole found a naked
body. It was Jackie. >> She was murdered obviously and discarded. >> According to former Nassau County
Detective Freddy Goldman, Jackie was left the same way Teresa Fusco had been, raped and strangled.
Initially, did investigators think, "Oh my god, these cases all have to be connected?"
>> Yes and no, but with Kogut sitting there, it kind of, you know, it threw a monkey wrench in
everything. >> John Kogut, the man who had confessed to killing Teresa Fusco, was in police
custody. >> How could he be the killer if we had him in custody the same day that she went
missing? So, obviously it wasn't him. Yeah, could it be a Halstead, Restivo? But no.
>> Jackie's homicide was not going to be easy to solve. Her body was so badly decomposed, no DNA swab could be taken.
>> I'm sure it heightened the the alertness and awareness of the community because
now you know that there's somebody out there that's, you know, going after young girls.
>> Kelly Morrissey was still missing. Police knew she had hung out at Dennis Halstead's apartment, but there was
nothing more to tie Halstead [music] or Kogut to her disappearance. Was there any evidence that
indicated that they were involved in in Kelly's disappearance? >> No. No. >> Teresa Fusco's killing was the only case
police could pin down. By June 1985, John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead had all been charged with her
rape and murder, >> [music] >> and all three pleaded not guilty. Kogut went on trial first. Later, Halstead and
Restivo were tried together. >> I remember sitting in the witness box testifying and and the district attorney
saying, "Please speak louder." >> Lisa Johnson was just 18 and a star witness. >> And here I am, you know, [music] sitting
there very meek and and timid and in a room full of strangers testifying about my friend who was killed.
It was difficult. It still is difficult. >> John Kogut offered an alibi, and according to a New Yorker magazine
investigation, the van police [music] said was used in Teresa's abduction was actually out of
commission and up on cinder blocks the day Teresa [music] went missing. But two hairs belonging to Teresa that
police say they recovered from the floor of Restivo's van were too powerful to ignore, and Kogut's detailed confession
trumped everything. >> I wrapped it around her neck. >> By February of 1987, Kogut, Halstead, [music] and Restivo had
been convicted of the rape and murder of Teresa Fusco and sentenced [music] to more than 30 years to life.
It had by [music] then been two long years for Teresa's dad. He and the rest of her family tried to move on.
>> We thought, believe in me, that there was time for closure. We had gone to parents of murdered children. We had
support, and they were looking for support, and we were looking for support and closure.
>> But, there was no closure. What prosecutors had insisted was an airtight case against the three men was going to
blow up spectacularly in 2003, nearly 19 years after Teresa was killed. More sophisticated [music] DNA testing
became available. It told a different story. John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis
Halstead's convictions were all overturned. >> Just 6 hours ago, after 17 years in
prison, the murder rape convictions of three Long Island men were overturned following stunning new DNA evidence.
>> And new [music] testing not only ruled out Kogut, Halstead, and Restivo, it pointed to someone else entirely,
another unknown male. Everything Teresa Fusco's family and friends thought they knew about her
killing and her killer was changing. >> Wait a second. There was investigations.
We trusted the detectives. We trusted the police to do the right thing. [music] What do you How could they do
this to us? >> After almost 18 years, John [music] Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead
were out of prison and in the arms of their families. >> I waited for this for 18 years.
And I'm just I'm sorry. I'm just really I just can't believe it's happening. >> But their legal problems were not over.
Nassau County District Attorney [music] Denis Dillon had decided to retry all three for the murder of Teresa Fusco,
starting with John Kogut, who again pleaded not guilty. There was still his [music] videotape
confession, and that became the centerpiece of the case against Kogut at his second trial in September 2005.
>> We decided that I had to kill her. >> The confession, the prosecution argued,
was more important than all other evidence, even the new DNA. >> When I saw the video, I go, "Whoa.
It's looks like it's legit." >> But Kogut's defense attorney, Paul Castelliaro, says the video is
misleading. As damaging as Kogut's statement sound, he says it's what you don't see on
camera that matters. >> Part of it is, you know, it's staged. >> There is a detective
>> sitting off camera, watching it, and monitoring it, and making sure it goes right. It's It's like a play.
>> Here, Kogut struggles with names. >> Teresa Fusco? >> Teresa Fusco? >> Even his alleged accomplices' name.
>> John Mostevelo. Dennis Shakir. >> And then asks for help. >> Who is this last name?
Well, are you talking to uh Detective Alfano, who's also in the room? >> That kind of shows it was coerced.
>> Kogut was an easy target, Castelliaro says. He had a 10th grade education and
a substance abuse problem that Castelliaro says police [music] took advantage of.
>> Tells him about his drinking, his drugs, all all the stuff that they can use against them.
>> And then Castilero says they lied to him. The police told John Kogut that he failed a polygraph.
>> No, John Kogut passed this polygraph test with flying colors. >> And even though Kogut had already told
police over and over that he had nothing to do with Teresa Halstead's killing, Castilero says they convinced him he
did. >> They told him he blacked out. He didn't remember. You know, this is what you
did. This is where you took her. >> I didn't even [snorts] remember the next morning.
>> Didn't remember what what had happened that night. Well, you remember it now, don't you?
>> Yes, good. >> By the time [music] this video was recorded, Kogut had been in custody for
18 hours, interrogated for nearly 12 of them, and awake for almost 30. >> At some point in time, you know, you
want out. You give in. >> But the confession wasn't the only thing prosecutors would have to defend. They
had to contend with the new DNA evidence pointing to an unknown male. So, prosecutors suggested that Teresa must
have been with someone else right before she was abducted by Kogut, Halstead, and
Restivo. >> Then all of a sudden she had a consensual sexual encounter. That's what
they said. >> But investigators were never able to identify anyone who had been sexually
involved with Teresa. And Teresa's best friend, Lisa, had to take the stand again at this trial to talk about it.
And I mean, this is a tough question to ask, and I I want to ask it properly, but
as far as you know, was Teresa even sexually active back then? >> Absolutely not. And we spoke about that,
and that's not something that she was going to do before she was married. >> Lisa, once their star witness, was this
time around undercutting their case. >> They went against their own witnesses and in fact we argued that she went from
being a virgin to being someone who had a quickie in a skating rink where she worked. It was It was preposterous. It
was demeaning. >> Did that make you mad? >> It did because it's not something she
would have done. Ever. And I will go to my grave saying that Teresa was not having sex with anybody.
>> Prosecutors did [music] still have the physical evidence from the first trial.
The two hairs belonging to Teresa that police said they found on the floor of John Restivo's van.
But that too, Casaleiro argued, was tainted. There was a science to analyzing whether the hairs came from
someone dead or alive. >> They displayed a a certain decomposition that is only present
when the hairs are attached to the head of a person who's deceased. >> That meant the hairs could not have been
left in the van while Teresa was still alive, according to Casaleiro. >> We believe that they could went in and
took them from the medical examiner's office and said they could found them in the van. In other words, they were
planted. >> But in closing, prosecutors denied the hairs were planted. After Casaleiro was
able to raise serious questions about the prosecution's case, Kogut's fate was in the hands of one person, a single
judge, not a jury. Kogut had decided to take his chance with a bench trial. And after nearly 3 months of testimony, the
judge reached a verdict. >> This is Judge Ort's decision. The court will not accept the confession
and accordingly finds the defendant not guilty of murder in the second degree under count one.
>> And what does that mean when the judge won't accept the confession? >> It means that the confession is false.
It is not credible. And that's what the judge found. He did not believe the confession.
>> Eight days [music] later, the prosecution formally dismissed the charges against Restivo and Halstead.
>> When John Kogut was acquitted, [music] I was devastated. Only because I've seen that confession of his over
and over again, and I believed then that he was telling the truth. >> It makes you feel like you got to hit in
the face with a freaking shovel. And you don't know how to get bounce back from that.
>> It was December of 2005. Teresa Fusco had been dead for more than 20 years, and now nothing about her case
could be laid to rest. >> It's for me, as the father, heartache. Heartache to go through it over again.
>> I felt as if the life had been sucked out of me. Everything that we fought for, everything that we
testified for, everything that was investigated, and all of the proof and all of the evidence meant nothing.
If they didn't do it, then who did it? >> Good morning. I'd like to thank my investigators and
my prosecutors [music] handling this case for standing here with me today. >> On October 15th, [music] 2025,
Anne Donnely, now the Nassau County District Attorney, had a startling announcement.
>> And after two decades of this case running cold, we have indicted Teresa's killer.
>> The FBI, [music] using the new science of genetic genealogy, had found a match
to the unknown [music] DNA. >> Today we arraigned 63-year-old Richard Bilodo of Center Moriches for
the murder of Teresa Fusco. >> [music] >> Nearly 41 years later, and thanks to genetic genealogy,
Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly was sure they had finally, finally found Teresa Fusco's killer.
>> Teresa's life was violently stolen from her more than 40 years ago. But the past is never forgotten.
>> Once the unidentified DNA sample was matched to 63-year-old Richard Bilodeau,
surveillance began. A few months later, prosecutors say, a straw in a discarded smoothie cup confirmed he was their man.
Bilodeau has denied the charges. At the time of his arrest, he was working at Walmart stocking shelves. At the time of
Teresa's killing, he was 23 and living close by. >> He was living with his grandparents.
It's about 1 mile away from Hot Skates. It's about 1 mile away from the Fusco residence.
>> He was a man who had seemingly always lived below the radar. >> Prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt.
>> Had he ever been married? >> No. >> Does he have family or close friends? >> He has a brother.
>> That he's close to? >> I I can't speak about how close they are. >> And does he have hobbies? Does this guy
do anything other than go to work? >> I think he gambles on sports a lot. >> In interviews we conducted with Teresa's
friends and family, no one recognized this defendant as someone who was ever associated with Teresa in 1984.
>> Authorities wouldn't speculate about how Richard Bilodeau may have come in contact with Teresa Fusco, but D.A. Anne
Donnelly says she knows he did. >> When you have a DNA match, a 100% match, we got the guy.
>> William Kephart and Daniel Russo, Bilodeau's defense attorneys, see it differently. What evidence are you aware
of that connects Richard Bilodeau to the murder of Teresa Fusco? >> The DNA. >> That's it?
>> That's it. >> And they don't find it convincing. >> It's being overstated and overvalued.
>> And what's more, >> this District Attorney's office, this police department, in 1985,
stood before a court and said these three men did this. And they had an ample amount of evidence to prove it.
>> Is that a concern that they're going to point to the fact that three men went on
trial, were convicted for this crime? >> Yes, I would assume that's what they're
going to say, but the difference now is we have science behind us, which they didn't have 40 years ago.
And to me, you don't beat the scientific evidence. >> But at John [music] Kogut's retrial in
2005, the Nassau County D.A.'s office had argued the [music] opposite, that the unidentified DNA taken from Teresa was
meaningless. >> The same D.A.'s office stood up and said, [music] "We still believe, based
on all of this evidence, that these men are responsible for Ms. Fusco's death." >> [music]
>> So, I don't know how now, in 2025, because you were able to put a name to that DNA, suddenly none of that matters
anymore. >> All of their lies against John Kogut, John Restivo, Dennis Halstead are going
to come back and haunt them during this retrial. >> Paul Casselliero, John Kogut's former
defense attorney, fears that Villegas' lawyers will put the blame on the three men who were cleared of the murder two
decades ago. >> They're going to have a trial in which I'm sure the defense is going to be
arguing they're guilty. >> And Casselliero says that's just more salt in the wound for John Kogut, Dennis
Halstead, and John Restivo. >> It's never-ending. What Nassau County did to them
>> [music] >> is just has no ending to it. >> All three men sued Nassau County. Two of
them were awarded damages. >> $18 million each to Restivo and co-defendant Dennis Halstead, both
exonerated a decade ago for the 1984 murder and rape of Lynbrook teenager Teresa Fusco.
But in Kogut's case, a jury found no wrongdoing by Nassau County police and gave him nothing.
>> Let me ask you though, if in fact Richard Villegas is convicted, will either one of you apologize to the
three guys who were convicted? >> No, because I don't owe them an apology. I wasn't even in the office at the time.
I wasn't a lawyer. >> You represent the office, yeah, but for the Nassau County DA's office.
>> Mr. Dillon did what he thought was right when he dismissed against two of them,
and I think, you know, they got their apology at that point. >> The idea that the District Attorney of
Nassau County can apologize to these three guys for what they did to them is outrageous.
>> While the Nassau County authorities say once again they have the killer of Teresa Fusco. Richard Bileau is not
facing charges in either Kelly Morrissey's or Jackie Martarella's cases. Both remain unsolved, leaving two
families in limbo. >> I mean, you're anticipating something and then [music] it never shows up. She
didn't have a bad bone in her body. She missed out on just living a simple life,
you know. >> And I look at women in their 50s now and think [music] >> [snorts] >> that could be Kelly. I mean, that's how
old she would be. >> When Richard [music] Bileau goes on trial for the murder of Teresa Fusco,
her father, Thomas, and her once best friend, Lisa, will be back in the courtroom for what they hope will be the
last time. >> Closure to me is that if this is the individual, then justice will be done.
It's just completely over. 41 years is over. Beginning and end. >> Do you hope? Do you think that it might
finally be resolved this time around? Or do you still have questions? >> I trust in the DNA this time. I am so
hopeful that there will be a conviction and we can finally put this to rest. >> 41 years afterwards.
>> It's a long time. It's It's a lifetime. >> Welcome to Post Mortem. I'm your host 48
Hours correspondent Anne Marie Green. And today we are discussing the cases of Teresa Fusco and Kelly Morrissey.
[music] Two teenagers, teenage girls who went missing in 1984 in Lynbrook, New York. That's a suburb
in Long Island. Now after a suspect confessed to Teresa's murder and then implicated two other men, seemed like
the case was closed. But about 19 years later, advances in DNA technology overturned their convictions and pointed
to another unknown suspect. Joining me today is 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty. Erin, you worked on this case,
but over your years of working uh for 48 Hours, you've actually covered a number
of wrongful conviction cases. >> So have you, Anne Marie, and it is a passion of mine.
This case is yet another reminder of the cost of a prosecutor getting it wrong. When you convict the wrong suspects, not
only does that allow the real killer to go free, but often puts the family and friends through years of hearings and
trials. And that's the centerpiece of this story, because it's what the family and friends of Teresa, Kelly, and
another victim, Jackie, have gone through in the decades since their disappearances. And I should point out,
since 1984, so over 40 years. >> Absolutely. I mean, this is a nightmare for any family, but this process, it's
like sort of ripping the scab off over and over again. And really, you know, they're still waiting for a resolution,
which we will get to. But I want to remind everyone, uh listen, if you haven't watched or listened to this
episode, The Killing of Teresa Fusco, go check it out and then come on back so we
can talk about it. So, Erin, on June 12th, 1984, 15-year-old Kelly Morrissey left her home after dinner. She's going
to meet a friend, and she's last seen at a payphone near a Shell gas station in Lynbrook before she disappears. After
about 5 months, 16-year-old Teresa Fusco goes missing after she leaves her job at
a local roller rink. How unusual was it to have two teenagers go missing with just within a few months?
>> Amory, this was very unusual. What made it even more unusual, these two girls
knew each other. And back in the '80s, kids went out regularly, and they played late at night. It was a completely
different world when people still thought that bad things didn't happen. These cases, um, that happened so close
to each other, really did shatter the sense of safety in this area. I should point out that Lynbrook wasn't
a small town. It had a population of about 20,000 back in the '80s, and it was very close to New York City, but it
still was a suburb. One of our colleagues who worked on this story actually grew up very close to Lynbrook,
and she told us that Lynbrook felt like a small town because everybody went to the same movie theaters, ate pizza at
the same pizza spots, and it did seem like everybody went to this roller rink called Hot Skates, and that's where
Teresa worked. >> I mean, it kind of reminded me a little bit of where I grew up, you know, in the
suburbs of Toronto, and we had the roller rink that everyone went to, and every once in a while they would have DJ
night, and it would all be, you know, 15, 16, 14-year-olds, and everyone felt safe cuz it was just a bunch of kids.
But, you know, to talk about the case, when Kelly's mother, Iris, realizes that Kelly has not returned home, Iris and
her husband, they call the police, and then the police tell them that because Kelly hasn't been missing for at least
24 hours, they're not going to take a report. >> Investigators believe she was just a
runaway. They did not take the case that seriously, and they at that time found no reason to think that Kelly was a
victim of a crime. Kelly was last seen on a payphone. And so our thought is, well, why didn't the police find out who
she was talking to? Well, data for the payphones back then were not easily tracked.
Back in 1984, of course, there was no social media, digital footprints, >> Right.
>> no ring cameras, no text messages, no cell phone tower pings that cops could trace.
All of those things that we now kind of take for granted that help solve cases. >> Mhm.
>> Back then, it was boots on the ground. It was knocking on doors. It was word of
mouth, physically retracing the last steps of a missing person. >> So, in in fact, it wasn't until Teresa
Fusco disappears that Kelly's case actually gets a second look. This is nearly 6 months after Kelly went
missing. Teresa's body is discovered near Long Island railroad tracks. She's been beaten. She's been
strangled. She's been raped. And police start to look at the possible links between the two cases.
That is when they zero in on John Kogut. He's a 21-year-old landscaper. Detectives say that he dated Kelly for
about a week or so. And in the course of your reporting, I'm curious about whether you learned
anything else about him. >> So, they questioned him twice. The first time he denied any involvement or
knowledge of of either Kelly's disappearance or Teresa's murder. And then according to Kogut's former legal
team, and I should point out these are not the lawyers who represented him back then, but represented him when he
had a retrial. This is what they told us that police picked up Kogut for a second round of
questioning. They had asked whether he would be willing to take a polygraph, and he said yes.
When they picked him up, he told them he had been drinking and smoking marijuana.
The officers notified their higher-ups, but they were told to still bring him in
for questioning. Now again, what we've been told is that Kogut told police that at the time of Teresa's disappearance,
he he said he had an alibi. He had been hanging out with his girlfriend drinking
beer. And his girlfriend did corroborate that alibi. She even testified to that.
But obviously, like the police must not have believed him because they continued
to press him. And then after nearly 12 hours of questioning and 18 hours in police
custody, and keep in mind he had been awake almost 30 hours, that's when he made a videotape confession. He said
that on the night that Teresa went missing, he had been with two friends, Dennis Halstead and John Rostivo,
driving in Rostivo's van when they saw Teresa walking home from Hot Skates. She had gotten fired that night and left
early. Kogut then also said that after she got into the van, he he claimed that Rostivo
and Halstead raped her, but that he was the one who killed her. He gave stunningly specific details
about how he wrapped a rope around her neck. >> Well, that is what struck me about this
confession. The remarkable level of detail. And so you can't help to but to think who would make this up?
>> I'm going to be honest. It's a pretty convincing interview. Um and I talked to
Paul Cacialli about that. Now he is the attorney who represented Coget not the first
trial, but when Coget was tried a second time. He says that videotape confession
was staged. According to Cacialli, Coget was exhausted and just wanted the interrogation to stop. Cacialli says
Coget also disavowed that confession within a day once he talked to a lawyer. >> Mhm.
>> But as anyone who sees that videotape confession, that confession seemed to be the nail in his coffin at
trial. >> John Coget, Dennis Halstead, and then John Recivo. They're all charged with
Teresa's murder. All three of them plead not guilty, but then at trial police also testified that they recovered two
hairs belonging to Teresa in Recivo's van. And then of course they testify about Coget's detailed confession. All
three men, Coget, Halstead, and Recivo, they were all convicted and they were sentenced to more than 30 years to life.
But then nearly 19 years after Teresa was killed, there was a stunning twist in the case because of advances in DNA
technology. We saw it in the hour. What more can you tell us about how that unfolded?
>> Well, you know, what was interesting and very impressive is that the investigators early on did take a swab
um after they found Teresa's body. There was no DNA at trials back then, but they
took a swab. They couldn't identify it initially. Around 2003, there were more sophisticated testing and it told a very
different story. In this case, all three men were excluded by those tests and a complete profile of a fourth
unidentified man was present. So, as you can imagine, John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead's convictions were
all overturned at that point. >> This reminded me when I watched it of a case that I worked on uh for 48 hours a
while back. It was one of the first ones I ever did. Um it was about the murder of Angie Dodge. This is in Idaho Falls
in 1996. She was an 18-year-old. She just moved into her apartment, her brand new first apartment, and she was killed
in the apartment. Investigators found DNA at the scene, and then they start to zero in on a guy named Christopher Tapp.
After hours and hours of interrogation, he falsely confesses to being at the scene of the murder. And he spent many,
many years in prison. Eventually, he was released and later he was fully exonerated. Um and in the end, the
advances in DNA technology, genetic genealogy, eventually identified the killer. It was a man named Brian Dripps
who eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Um but it really sort of got me thinking about the
way interrogations are conducted and whether anything has changed. >> Amory, there's no question that uh we're
seeing more and more cases like this. I mean, it breaks my heart because these officers think they have the right
person. They pressure them. They confess, and then later on, after these guys have all gone to prison,
um genetic genealogy or DNA >> Mhm. >> shows that they got the wrong guy. What I am finding, I think you are too, that
many more of these interrogations are being videotaped or at least audiotaped. And best practices
um include not interrogating someone for hours and hours. Um so I think it is better, but I don't think it's fixed
yet. >> Welcome back. Well, in 2003, the Nassau County District [music] Attorney, Denis
Dillon, decided to retry John Kogut, Dennis Halstead, and John Restivo for the murder of Teresa Fusco.
Uh starting with Kogut, who pleaded not guilty again. And this time Kogut decided to take his chances with a bench
trial, which means there's no jury, it's a single judge that is going to decide his fate. But now, as we've been
talking, there is new evidence that shows that the DNA did not match him. Or any of the other men, which means
that the prosecution needs a different strategy. What's their strategy in the retrial?
>> So the prosecution had to explain away that unknown DNA by saying, "Well, then
Teresa must have had consensual sex with someone before she was attacked and killed."
Remember, she was 16 years of age, and family and friends all told us that they were horrified when prosecutors rewrote
this narrative about Teresa. Um according to her best friend, Teresa had always wanted to wait until marriage to
have sex, and she wasn't sexually active. But prosecutors said, "Well, uh investigators had tested so many men in
the area without finding a match, so the DNA just simply can't be relevant. We would find that person if it was.
Um and they said it doesn't matter what the DNA says. We have John Kogut confessing. According to the
prosecutors, that was the most important evidence, even more important than the DNA.
>> So then, what's the approach for Kogut's defense attorney? You know, he has to try to convince a
judge to completely ignore this very detailed confession. >> And that is very hard to do, as we know.
Uh but Paul Castellano, who represented Kogut during the retrial, he was able to
kind of pull apart the prosecution's argument bit by bit. Uh for one thing, he says that that tape confession was
like a play. It was theater. Uh one detective was off camera monitoring him. And when Kogut, you actually see this,
when Kogut can't even remember the last name of one of the, you know, co-defendants, the officer gives it to
him. Um Castellano says that police lied to him about the polygraph and brought in an
expert who said in fact that he did pass the polygraph. And then there was the issue, if you remember, those two hairs
that the cops said that they had found on the floor of John Recevo's van. That sounded terrible. I mean, how would her
hair end up in the van? Well, Castellano argued that there was testing that revealed that those hairs displayed this
certain decomposition that is only present when the hairs are attached to a person who's dead. And so
he argued that he believed that the police took the hairs, this is awful to hear, from the medical examiner's
office, from the autopsy, and then put them in the car. Prosecutors, of course, denied that the
hairs were planted, but when you read the judge's decision, he was persuaded by the defense.
What's more, the judge found the confession not credible. So, in the end, Kogut's gamble paid off by having just a
judge and not a jury, because the judge found him not guilty of murder. And eight days later, the DA dismissed
the charges against Restivo and Halstead, and they were never retried a second time.
>> All three men initially sued Nassau County and police officials. They lost. And then John Restivo and Dennis
Halstead, they pursue another a civil trial against Nassau County and police officials without John Kogut, and they
are awarded $18 million each. Essentially, a million dollars for each year that they spend behind bars,
but Kogut receives nothing. Why did he receive nothing at all? >> Well, Anne Marie, we can't absolutely
say, but defense attorney Paul Casselliero believes that it was that confession that stopped him from getting money, but
there's nothing in the record. I should point out that Kogut didn't go completely empty-handed. He did receive
some money from a state fund, but it was uh much smaller than what his co-defendants got, uh Halstead and
Restivo. >> I mean, I sort of understand because kind of on one side, perhaps none of
this would have happened to all three of them if he did not confess, right? But then kind of on the flip side is he is
the one that had to endure all of these hours of this interrogation, not to mention spending all those years, nearly
two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. I'm glad he got a little something. Do we know how all three men
are doing today? >> We wanted to interview all three. All three did decline. Restivo, uh according
to Castelliero, when he was convicted and went to prison initially had stayed in touch with the girl he went to high
school with and she stayed a friend and when he got out of prison, he she was in
Florida and he went there and from what I heard, he stayed there. But, according
to Barry Scheck, who co-founded the Innocence Project in New York, um told me that to this day Restivo still fears
that the police could come back and arrest him. Think about that. >> Wow. >> Yeah.
>> 40 years afterwards, you never really get your life back. >> On October 15th, 2025, this is nearly 41
years after Teresa Fesco was killed, Nassau County uh DA Anne Donnelly announces that they have indicted her
killer. Thanks to the advances in genetic genealogy and that unidentified DNA sample that was found was matched to
a 63-year-old. His name is Richard Bilodeau, I think. Is it Bilodeau or Bilodeaux? Because
it's it's written Bilodeaux if you're a French speaker. >> Anyone who watches the hour will know
that I changed my pronunciation because everyone gave us different pronunciations.
The prosecutors told me it was Bilodeau. >> Okay. >> Uh but when I interviewed the defense
attorneys, they said it is Bilodeau and the defense attorneys say that's how he pronounces it. And so, I'm going with
Bilodeau, but you do hear me in the hour pronounce it Bilodeau, Bilodeau. >> Well, I mean, do we know anything about
this person? How he could have, you know, crossed paths with Teresa? Just anything?
>> Uh, we don't know a lot. Remember, Amory, this is pre-trial. Nobody's sharing a lot. Uh, the prosecutors
wouldn't reveal or couldn't reveal, um, whether there was any evidence that Billydo and Teresa Fazzari knew each
other. None of her friends had ever heard the name. Even his own defense attorneys don't know much about him.
They said he does like online gambling. What we do know from prosecutors is that
the FBI matched the unknown DNA sample, the one that had always existed, to Billydo in 2024.
They were able to confirm his DNA was a match after they obtained a discarded straw from a Slurpee cup that was
connected to Billydo. At the time of Billydo's arrest, he had been working at a Walmart and he was stocking shelves,
but at the time of Teresa's killing, he was 23, older than what she was, and living close by to her in Lynbrook. Um,
Billydo has pleaded not guilty. And if he doesn't take a plea deal and he does go to trial,
then we're going to learn a lot more because the prosecution has, get this, 150 boxes of electronic discovery to go
through. >> And then, what about Kelly Morrissey? I mean, is there any kind of update or
advance for her case and her disappearance? Anything? >> No. Um, we had mentioned at the
beginning of this podcast that Kelly Morrissey's initially had been viewed as a runaway.
Um, and now, according to retired detective Freddy Goldman. It is now viewed as a homicide, and he said that
officials do believe the cases might be connected, but we know that Bilodeau has
not been charged in Kelly's case. >> And in the hour, we also learn about another victim. She's a 19-year-old. Uh
her name is Jackie Martarella. She goes missing in March of 1985 in Nassau County. Her body is found. She
has been raped. She's been strangled, just like Teresa Fusco. Are investigators looking at Bilodeau in
connection with Jackie's case? >> Bilodeau has not been charged in the case of Jackie Martarella, but according
to what we heard from Freddy Goldman, back then, and even to this day, they had another suspect in mind. Uh they
brought him in for questioning, and he moved to the south of France, and that seemed to end
the investigation. >> You know, one of the things you mentioned at sort of the top of this is
that this really underscores the kind of prolonged and protracted pain that families feel.
Teresa's family thought they had some sort of resolution, and then nearly two decades later, that all blows up for
them. >> What really struck me was talking to Teresa's friend, Lisa. Um she told me just how involved she had to
be in this case. Keep in mind, so she testifies at Cogut's original trial. She has to
testify at Reccevo and Halstead's original trial. There were other hearings that she said she also had to
uh testify. Then, Cogut is retried, and she's probably going to have to testify again if Villa Jew goes to trial. It's
never ending. That's what Teresa's father told us. That's what Teresa's brother told us. The idea that her
murder has never been resolved. It just It just makes everything so much tougher
for this family. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't think you ever really move on, but but you do sort of
figure out ways to cope. But how can you cope without a resolution? >> I know that Kelly Morrissey's family
talked to us because they're hoping if somebody knows something and they see this story, [music] maybe maybe they'll
come forward. It's 40 years. It's time. >> Aaron, thank you so much. >> Talk to you soon, Amalie.
>> Of course. Um if you like this episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcast
or [music] Spotify.

Watch "The Killing of Theresa Fusco" and then catch up with "48 Hours" correspondents Anne-Marie Green and Erin Moriarty on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the cases of Theresa Fusco, Kelly Morrissey, and Jackie Martarella, who went missing more than 40 years ago in Long Island, New York.

00:00 The Killing of Theresa Fusco 42:18 Watch the "Post Mortem" podcast

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the 1984 disappearances of Kelly Morrissey and Teresa Fusco, leading to Richard Bilodeau's arrest for Teresa's murder.

Key points

Teresa Fusco's Tragic Fate. Just five months after Kelly's disappearance, Teresa Fusco was found murdered. The community was shaken.
The Arrest of John Kogut. John Kogut confessed to Teresa's murder, but the investigation faced complications.
The Discovery of Teresa's Body. Teresa's body was discovered 25 days after her disappearance, leading to a community-wide search.
A Connection Between Cases?. The similarities between Kelly and Teresa's cases lead to speculation about a possible connection.
Convictions Overturned. In 2003, DNA evidence led to the overturning of convictions for three men.
New DNA Evidence. New DNA testing pointed to an unknown male, changing everything for Teresa's family.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It truly was shattering.

A friend recalls the impact of Teresa's murder.

2:53WatchMay 17, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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