Man Charged In Murders Of 2 Women On Long Island Over 20 Years Ago
MANORVILLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A man was arrested and charged Monday in connection with the murders of two women on Long Island – dating back more than 20 years.
Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives arrested John Bittrolff, 48, of Manorville around 6:30 a.m. Monday, police said. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
He was charged in the murders of Rita Tangredi, 31, and Colleen McNamee, 20.
The naked body of Tangredi was found on Nov. 2, 1993, in a wooded area off Esplanade Drive in East Patchogue, police said. She had been beaten and strangled.
Tangredi – also identified as Rita Tangredi-Beinlich – had been seen hitchhiking the night before on Montauk Highway east of County Road 101 in East Patchogue, police said in an earlier bulletin archived by Newsday.
McNamee's body was found in the woods near Express Drive South near the William Floyd Parkway in Shirley, on Jan. 30, 1994, police said. She was also found naked and had been beaten and strangled, police said.
McNamee was last seen on Jan. 5, 1994, getting into a small blue car outside the Blue Dawn Diner in Islandia, police said in the archived release. She was an outpatient of the South Shore Treatment Center in Islandia, police said.
Both Tangredi and McNamee had been arrested previously for prostitution, police said in the archived release.
Detectives at the original crime scenes recovered DNA evidence that linked the case. Over 20 years later, police traced the cold cases to Bittrolff, police said.
Anyone with information about Tangredi, McNamee or Bittrolff – especially about their activities back in the early 1990s, was asked to call the Suffolk County Homicide Squad at (631) 852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 220-TIPS.
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