A New Jersey grand jury has charged an 18-year-old with murdering two girls on an e-bike, and the victims’ lawyer says his own dashcam will show it was no accident.
Vincent Battiloro of Garwood now faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas. Both girls were 17. A Union County grand jury returned the indictment after investigators reviewed footage from the vehicle Battiloro allegedly drove that night.
Fox News reported the collision happened Sept. 29, 2025, on Burnside Avenue in Cranford, a residential street with a 25 mph speed limit. Court records say Battiloro was driving a 2021 black Jeep Compass at speeds up to 70 mph when he struck the girls from behind.
Authorities say he abandoned the SUV and fled on foot. Cranford police later cited him for speeding, reckless driving, improper passing, an unsafe lane change, leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, and failing to report an accident. He was also accused of driving with improper plates and no proof of registration, insurance, or a driver’s license.
Officers questioned Battiloro that same night. He claimed someone had carjacked him at knifepoint. Police released him to his father.
The next day he appeared in a gaming livestream on YouTube and complained that people were ridiculing him over what he called “false allegations.”
Only after reviewing the dashcam footage months later did police arrest him as an adult. He remains in custody. His defense attorney agreed to detention without prejudice. Arraignment is set for Oct. 27 at the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. Battiloro’s lawyer, Brian Biglin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Foulla Niotis, Maria’s mother, told Fox News Digital that Battiloro had stalked her daughter for months before the crash. She reported it to police. Nothing useful followed.
"Nobody said to me if there was anything I could do, restraining orders or anything against him,"
Niotis said. She added that officers kept brushing it off.
"They just kept saying, 'Oh, he's a juvenile.' "
The two teens had previously attended Lincoln School in Cranford together with Battiloro, according to the mother. Brent Bramnick, the attorney representing the Niotis family, also said the defendant is accused of swatting the Niotis home on at least two occasions in September 2025.
Bramnick points to the dashcam as the key to proving intent. Investigators say the recording shows Battiloro turning around to follow the girls. First-degree murder charges require the state to prove he purposely caused the deaths.
"We certainly believe based upon all the evidence presented so far that the intention was to commit those murders,"
Bramnick said. He stressed the work still ahead.
"And that requires a lot of work and that requires making sure you have all the evidence to show, piece by piece, what this defendant was thinking, and that it was not an accident."
He called the recording more important than the traffic citations alone.
"So I think even more important than the allegations in the tickets, even though obviously everything’s important, is the fact that this was evidently recorded as it’s happening,"
Bramnick added that the public and the family both need to see the evidence play out in open court. “Certainly, enormously important for the family, and I think, the Niotis family certainly is happy we're here, and, you know, want justice.”
Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were best friends riding together on one electric bicycle when the Jeep hit them from behind. Their deaths left two families demanding answers about why earlier warnings produced no real protection.
Police had the suspect in hand the night of the crash, took his story about a knife-point carjacking, and sent him home with his father. Stalking reports from a mother went nowhere because the accused was still a juvenile on paper. Citations piled up for reckless driving and fleeing the scene, yet the murder charges arrived only after the dashcam forced a second look.
Battiloro now sits in custody facing two first-degree murder counts. The families will watch the footage and the case unfold starting with the October arraignment. The record already shows a residential street, a 70 mph run in a 25 mph zone, a hit from behind, a flight on foot, and a livestream the next day dismissing it all as false.
When police treat repeated warnings as a juvenile inconvenience, two girls pay the price and the rest of us inherit the bill for delayed justice.
