Vincent Battiloro faces two counts of first-degree murder after a grand jury in Union County put the charges in writing this week. The 18-year-old from Garwood stands accused of driving his Jeep straight into Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas on Burnside Avenue last September. Both girls were 17 and students at Cranford High School. They shared one electric bicycle that afternoon.
Police got the call around 5:26 p.m. on September 29, 2025. Officers found the two friends badly hurt on the street. Ambulances rushed them to nearby hospitals. Neither one made it. Investigators say Battiloro was 17 that day. His case started in juvenile court and later moved to adult court.
Court papers describe what the Jeep’s dashboard camera allegedly caught. Battiloro drove onto Burnside Avenue, flipped a U-turn, and sped up right behind the girls. The footage shows the vehicle hitting them hard. The Jeep came to a stop on Lincoln Avenue West. From there, officials say he took off on foot toward Lincoln Park.
Witnesses and home security videos backed up the timeline. Police tracked the Jeep through its registration and brought Battiloro to Cranford headquarters. He told them someone in a red mask with a knife had carjacked him earlier that day. Detectives did not buy the story. They held him briefly after the crash, let him go, then arrested him again two days later on the murder counts.
The families of Maria and Isabella have said from the start this was no accident. They claim Battiloro had harassed Maria for months and that she tried to get a restraining order. Those details sit outside the formal indictment. Battiloro had built up about 40,000 followers on TikTok. The day after the crash he went live on YouTube and talked about the girls’ deaths.
A case review sits on the calendar for October 27, 2026. The indictment moves the case forward, yet the charges stay just allegations for now. Battiloro is presumed innocent until a jury says otherwise. Cranford sits in Union County, part of the New York metro area. The crash happened on Burnside Avenue.
Neighbors still talk about the two best friends who never came home that night. The community has held vigils and put up memorials. Prosecutors say the evidence points to a deliberate act. The next hearing will set the stage for what comes after.
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