Student, 17, Accused of Killing 2 Girls with Car Posted Chillingly Casual Livestreams By Janelle Griffith 10

Less than a week before a teenage boy is alleged to have fatally struck two 17-year-old girls at 70 mph in Cranford, N.J., he had expressed hostility for one of the victims and her family in a livestream, according to media reports.

Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were struck by an SUV at about 5:30 p.m. Sept. 29. Their families identified them publicly as the victims of the crash.

On Oct. 1, authorities announced they had arrested a 17-year-old boy from Garwood, a neighboring town, on two first-degree murder charges in connection with a fatal hit and run.

Authorities have not released the driver’s name, because of his age, but court records show that Vincent P. Battiloro, 17, was issued 15 tickets the day of the crash. The details that are public from the citations issued to Battiloro match the date, time and location of the crash, as well as the type of vehicle that authorities have said was involved in it.

Friends and neighbors have claimed Battiloro had been stalking Niotis in the months before he is alleged to have struck and killed both girls.

In livestreams on YouTube posted months ago, Battiloro said he had been suspended for what he claimed were false allegations of distributing child sex abuse material, according to NJ.com, which reviewed his livestreams before they were removed.

“I got a bunch of allegations being handed to me, of crazy s—, stuff I will deny for 50 years to the end of my life,” he told a chat in a May 13 stream, NJ.com reported. “Ridiculous allegations that this girl is making against me.”

The New York Times quoted him as saying during that livestream that he had taken “a hiatus from streaming” and that the police and school had gotten involved before he had been suspended.

During a stream on Sept. 23, less than a week before the girls were killed, Battiloro blamed Niotis and her mother for his having been suspended, NJ.com and the Times reported.

“You all know I have a vengeance against this girl for accusing me of sending porn,” he said, according to the Times. NJ.com reported that he subsequently used a burner phone to order two pepperoni pizzas to be “sent to their home.”

“Have fun with your pizza, you dips—” the outlet quoted him as saying in the since-removed video, before returning to playing MLB games for his live audience.

In a separate bizarre livestream that was recorded the day after the girls’ deaths and reviewed by PEOPLE, Battiloro said “unfortunately,” two girls had been killed in a neighboring town “in a hit-and-run crash.” Live comments were turned off during that stream after people peppered him with questions like “are you going to jail?”

“There is more to the story that you’re not getting,” Battiloro said during the Sept. 30 livestream. “But when the time comes, I will explain it in greater detail.”

He also claimed he was not authorized to talk about “the whole thing.”

A spokesperson for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office has said the suspect was detained and questioned by law enforcement the day of the crash and released “pending further investigation.” He was arrested on the morning of Oct. 1 on two charges of first degree murder, the spokesperson said.

The families of both girls called Battiloro “a coward of a man” in a statement last week. They believe the suspect “is not insane, he is competent and meditated.”

“It is now vital that the truth be shared: this was not an e-bike accident, and it was not a hit-and-run,” the statement said. “This was murder in the first degree.”

Cranford police have referred questions about the case to the prosecutor’s office, which has declined to answer questions, citing an ongoing investigation.