Vincent Battiloro: Stalking Claims, Livestreams, and Adult Court

Vincent Battiloro is an 18-year-old from Garwood, New Jersey, charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly driving a 2021 Jeep Compass at roughly 70 mph into two Cranford High School seniors, Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, on September 29, 2025. Both 17-year-olds were killed. Battiloro was 17 himself at the time, and his case moved through juvenile court until a judge approved a waiver to adult criminal court on June 26, 2026. A post-indictment arraignment is scheduled for July 20, 2026.¹

What Happened on Burnside Avenue

Just before 5:30 p.m. on September 29, 2025, Niotis and Salas were riding an electric bike on Burnside Avenue in Cranford, a residential street posted at 25 mph. Prosecutors allege Battiloro drove the black Jeep Compass at about 70 mph and deliberately struck the two girls, who were pronounced dead at local hospitals shortly after.²³

The Jeep continued for more than a block before becoming disabled at Lincoln and Burnside avenues, where it was found abandoned. When police questioned Battiloro, he claimed he had been carjacked by a masked man armed with a knife. Detectives obtained the vehicle’s onboard dashboard camera through a search warrant, and the footage told a different story: Battiloro got into the Jeep, drove to Burnside Avenue, made a U-turn, followed directly behind the two girls, accelerated into them, stopped on Lincoln Avenue West, and then fled on foot.⁴

Alleged Stalking Before the Crash

Prosecutors and the Niotis family say the crash followed months of escalating harassment aimed at Maria Niotis. According to the family’s attorney, Brent Bramnick, they had been reporting Battiloro’s behavior to police since as early as March 2025, and a restraining order was in place against him.⁵⁶

In September 2025, Battiloro allegedly “swatted” the Niotis home twice, on September 4 and September 10, triggering police responses to their residence. During the second incident, Maria’s mother, Foulla Niotis, spotted Battiloro’s car parked on their street and pointed him out to responding officers. Bramnick said police spoke with Battiloro and released him to the custody of his father, Jeffrey Battiloro.⁷ Bramnick later said that despite officers being present during that incident, “there is no evidence to show us that anything was investigated.”⁵

Existing New Jersey protective-order statutes generally do not apply when the alleged offender is a minor, which limited the legal tools available to the family.⁸

The YouTube Livestreams

Battiloro maintained a YouTube channel and posted livestreams that have become central to the case. In a September 23, 2025, livestream, six days before the crash, he spoke of wanting “vengeance” against a girl from his school and her mother, blaming them for his suspension and for what he called false allegations of distributing child pornography.⁹ During the same stream, he used a burner phone to order pizzas to the girl’s home and admitted to previously lurking outside the family’s house.¹⁰

The day after the crash, Battiloro posted a roughly 20-minute livestream in which viewers heckled him as a “murderer.” He denied responsibility, referred to himself as “a nice kid” with “a good family,” and called the deaths a “tragic accident.” The video was later removed from the platform.¹¹

Warnings From Inside the Battiloro Home

Public records show that Battiloro’s own parents called Garwood police four times in August 2025 about his behavior. On August 9, his father, Jeffrey Battiloro, called the non-emergency line asking to speak with a supervisor about “juvenile issues” and said he wanted advice to “have myself covered.” On August 24, Jeffrey called 911 and reported that Vincent had sprayed him in the face with Mace and taken his car. On August 26, Vincent’s mother, Judith Battiloro, called police to say Jeffrey had kicked Vincent out of the house and that the teen had arrived at her home angry. On August 30, Jeffrey called 911 again, telling the dispatcher his son was “getting physical.”⁷

Jeffrey Battiloro is a retired police officer who previously served with the Chatham Police Department.¹² Foulla Niotis has said that “they should have done a lot. They didn’t do anything.”³

Charges and the Move to Adult Court

Battiloro was detained for questioning after the crash and released to his father. He was formally charged on October 1, 2025, with two counts of murder, along with 15 traffic summonses that included leaving the scene of an accident with injury, failure to report an accident, reckless driving, and careless driving.³¹¹

Because he was 17 at the time of the offense, the case first went through juvenile proceedings in Family Court, where records were sealed. The Union County Prosecutor’s Office moved to transfer the case to adult court. Under New Jersey’s youth justice code, a juvenile aged 15 or older can be waived to adult court for offenses including criminal homicide, and a judicial hearing weighs factors such as the nature of the offense, the juvenile’s maturity and criminal history, and input from victims’ families.¹ A judge approved the waiver on June 26, 2026, and Battiloro’s identity was made public for the first time.¹³

Bramnick said the waiver was pursued because “adult penalties are so, so much more severe than anything that the family court could ever give out.” The families of both victims issued a joint statement calling the decision “a welcomed sliver of justice.”²

Battiloro now faces two counts of first-degree murder and the traffic offenses in the Criminal Division of the Union County Superior Court. His post-indictment arraignment is set for July 20, 2026, and no trial date has been announced.¹

1
NJ1015. Battiloro Adult Court Approval
2
NJ.com. Teen Charged in Crash That Killed 2 Cranford Girls Will Be Tried as an Adult
3
New York Post. NJ Teen Stalker Vincent Battiloro Accused of Killing Two Girls in Hit-and-Run Will Be Tried as Adult
4
NJ.com. Dash Camera Captured NJ Teen Making a U-Turn, Running Down 2 Girls Last Year
5
ABC7 New York. Attorney Accuses Driver of Stalking Teen Girl Before Hitting, Killing Her
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MyCentralJersey. Cranford NJ Murders Put Spotlight on Stalking, Teen Dating Violence
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NJ.com. Parents of Teen Charged With Killing NJ Girls Called Police 4 Times Prior to Crash
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NJ.com. Shocking Killing of Cranford Teens Reveal Gaps in NJ Stalking, Restraining Order Laws
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NJ.com. Vincent P. Battiloro Harassed Teen Girl, Ranted About Vengeance in Livestreams Before Deadly Crash
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New York Post. NJ Teen Revealed Dark Obsession With One of His Alleged Hit-and-Run Victims Before Crash
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MyCentralJersey. Vincent Battiloro Cranford Murder Maria Niotis Isabella Salas
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New York Post. Cops Called 4 Times About Vincent Battiloro Before He Allegedly Murdered Two NJ Girls
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MyCentralJersey. Garwood Teen to Be Tried as Adult for Murder of Two Cranford Teens