Crime & Safety
Long Island Carpenter Convicted Of Murdering 2 Women In 1990s
The nude bodies of Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee were found in remote locations nine miles apart in late 1993 and early 1994.
RIVERHEAD, NY — A Manorville carpenter has been convicted of murder in the deaths of two prostitutes found slain in the 1990s.
Prosecutors used DNA evidence found on both victims as the keystone of their case against John Bittrolff.
A Suffolk County jury reached its unanimous verdict Wednesday after seven days. Bittrolff faces 50 years to life in prison when he's sentenced Sept. 12.
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The 51-year-old Manorville father was arrested in 2014 after homicide detectives linked evidence found on the women's remains to his DNA. His attorney said during the trial that evidence he had sex with the women was not proof of murder.
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Tangredi-Beinlich’s body was found on Nov. 3, 1993, in a wooded area off Esplanade Drive near South Country Road in East Patchogue, said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Colleen McNamee's body was discovered in a wooded area east of the William Floyd Parkway in North Shirley on January 30, 1994, Spota said.
Both of the victims' bodies, Spota said, “were uniquely positioned, nude, mutilated, and both died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.”
Bittrolff's DNA matched DNA evidence recovered from the crime scenes; the matches led to Bittrolff’s arrest by Suffolk homicide detectives in July 2014, Spota said.
A Suffolk County jury has convicted a Manorville carpenter of two counts of second degree murder for the deaths of two cold case homicide victims who died in 1993 and 1994, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
Both women had prior arrests for prostitution, Spota said.
“The families of these women have been through an agonizing long wait for justice and during the trial they had to endure graphic testimony about the death of their loved one. We hope the verdict today gives them some semblance of peace,” Spota said.
Bittrolff, of Silas Manor Road, was 27 at the time of the murders; he was arrested for the crimes on July 21, 2014, Spota said.
The jury deliberated for seven days, the district attorney said.
Photo credit: James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool
