Man charged in deaths of 2 Cranford girls claims he was carjacked
Vincent Battilloro of Garwood will be tried as an adult.
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The 18-year-old Garwood man charged in connection with the deaths of two teenage girls in Cranford last year claims he was carjacked on the afternoon of the crash.
Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, both 17, were fatally struck by a vehicle on Sept. 29, 2025, just before 5:30 p.m. while riding an electric bicycle on Burnside Avenue in Cranford.
According to the complaint filed by police, officers responded to Burnside Avenue after receiving a report of multiple people struck by a vehicle. When they arrived, they found both girls lying on the ground with injuries. Both were taken to the hospital and later pronounced dead.
Police obtained video surveillance immediately following the crash, which shows a vehicle later identified as a black 2021 Jeep Compass speeding away from the crash area “with heavy front-end damage and an e-bike affixed to its front bumper, traveling at a high rate of speed.” Security video from a residence also shows a white male wearing a dark T-shirt, blue shorts and sandals running from the area.
Police tracked the vehicle’s registration to Vincent Battilloro of Garwood. In a statement given to police, Battilloro claimed he was driving the Jeep Compass that afternoon when he was carjacked by an unknown individual wearing a red mask and armed with a knife.
Police also obtained dashcam footage from Battilloro’s vehicle from that day. It showed him getting into the Jeep, driving to Burnside Avenue and parking. The complaint says that when Niotis and Salas appeared on the e-bike, Battilloro “made a U-turn, following directly behind the victims while accelerating.” The dashcam also shows the moment the girls were struck by the vehicle.
On Friday, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Battilloro, whose name had previously been withheld because he was a juvenile at the time of the incident, had been waived to adult court. He was charged with two counts of murder and is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning.
