Suffolk DA: Trial Of Suspect Charged With Two Murders Starts Today

LongIsland.com

Murder defendant John Bittrolff Jr. is charged with two counts of second degree murder.

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John Bittrolff Jr. is charged with two counts of second degree murder.

Photo by: Suffolk County Police Department

Riverhead, NY - May 3, 2017 - The trial of a 50-year old Manorville construction worker charged in the murders of two women whose bodies were found in 1993 and 1994 will begin today (5/3) in the Riverhead criminal courthouse at 11:00 am, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
 
Murder defendant John Bittrolff Jr. is charged with two counts of murder in the second degree; one count for the murder of Rita Tangredi-Beinlich, 31, and the second charge for the murder of Colleen McNamee, 20, of Holbrook. Each was known to have worked as prostitutes.
 
Tangredi-Beinlich’s body was found on November 3, 1993 in a wooded area off Esplanade Drive near South Country Road in East Patchogue.  McNamee’s body was discovered in a wooded area east of the William Floyd Parkway in North Shirley on January 30, 1994.  Both of the victim’s bodies, DA Spota said, “were uniquely positioned, nude, mutilated, and both died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.”
 
The defendant’s DNA matched DNA evidence recovered from the crime scenes. The matches led to Bittrolff’s arrest by Suffolk homicide detectives in July of 2014.  
 
State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro (second floor of the courthouse) will preside at trial.
 
A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.