Crime Alert, I'm John Lemley. We begin this hour with a major cold case development on Long Island.

After four decades of unanswered questions, new DNA testing has led prosecutors to a suspect they say is responsible for a teenager's 1984 rape and murder.

63-year-old Richard Bilidot of Seder Maritches has been charged with two counts of murder

in the death of 16-year-old Teresa Fusco.

The high school junior disappeared after leaving her job at a Lynn Brook roller skating rink

in November 1984.

Her body was found weeks later in a wooded area nearby.

The case was long considered one of Long Island's most troubling miscarriages of justice.

Three men were convicted and spent years in prison before DNA evidence cleared them in 2003.

Two later received multi-million dollars settlements for wrongful imprisonment. Prosecutors now say Bilodeau became a focus after investigators developed

several new leads last year. Surveillance teams recovered a cup and straw that he discarded at a

smoothie shop in neighboring Suffolk

County. Laboratory testing showed the genetic terrial matched samples preserved from Fusco's body in

1984. Bilodeau, who was 23 and living with his grandparents at the time of the crime, pleaded

not guilty and was ordered held without bail.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison. At the courthouse in Mineola, Fusco's father,

Thomas Fusco, expressed that while revisiting the case is painful, he hopes the new arrest will

finally bring closure to his family.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly emphasized that her office is committed to pursuing

justice in long unsolved crimes, calling this case an example of how persistence and modern science

can work hand in hand.

Assistant DA Jared Rosenblatt said the defendant appeared aware that previous mistakes in the

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