Rita Tangredi, 31, and Colleen McNamee, 20, 1993-94 ** John Bittrolff ARRESTED **

[marie-chantal]

From a Newsday article titled, "Linked by death: Tears, tributes for two slain 20 years ago" by Darren Simon and Khloe Meitz (pub July 23, 2014):

In reference to the last sighting of Colleen:
An outpatient at South Shore Treatment Center in Islandia, she was last seen getting into a small blue car in front of the Blue Dawn Diner, which has since closed. The car drove east on Veterans Memorial Highway.

Was she found east of the Blue Dawn Diner? Or at least east of Islandia?

Also, according to this article, Colleen was only arrested once for prostitution:
She was arrested once on charges of loitering for the purposes of prostitution, records show.

 

[LikeAHunter]

BBM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I read that he slaughtered the animals at his home upstate. There are many rural areas upstate.

I don't have the article in front of me and I don't think I was the one that originally linked to it, but it was a Manorville neighbor who said she talked to him once when he was covered in pig blood and her dog barked at him.

The only conclusion I'm drawing from that is that he slaughtered the pigs in Manorville. Please trust those of us who live in this area: that is highly unusual.

 

[marie-chantal]

This article specifically clears up the rumors about whether or not someone was dismembered/decapitated, etc, and positioned/posed:

"A brother's DNA helped break the case" Newsday, July 23, 2014, by Tania Lopez

Investigators knew for years the killings were linked, a source said, because both women were strangled and suffered blunt force trauma to the head and had been left, as Spota described, "uniquely positioned." Both had the same biological evidence found on and near them, but at the time of the discovery of their bodies, the parameters of collecting DNA evidence were not as wide as they are today.

 

[Justiceforever]

I don't have the article in front of me and I don't think I was the one that originally linked to it, but it was a Manorville neighbor who said she talked to him once when he was covered in pig blood and her dog barked at him.

The only conclusion I'm drawing from that is that he slaughtered the pigs in Manorville. Please trust those of us who live in this area: that is highly unusual.

Do you remember where you read this? If you find it will you please post. I missed it somehow. TIA!

 

[marie-chantal]

I don't have the article in front of me and I don't think I was the one that originally linked to it, but it was a Manorville neighbor who said she talked to him once when he was covered in pig blood and her dog barked at him.

The only conclusion I'm drawing from that is that he slaughtered the pigs in Manorville. Please trust those of us who live in this area: that is highly unusual.

Thanks. I just found the article that talks about pigs in Manorville:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?250917-Rita-Tangredi-31-and-Colleen-McNamee-20-1993-94-**-John-Bittrolff-ARRESTED-**&p=10782264#post10782264

 

[marie-chantal]

Another Newsday article published July 22, 2014 specifically states that Rita and Colleen were not mutilated, but Sandra was:

But investigators are trying to determine if the carpenter also killed Sandra Costilla, 28, found strangled in November 1993 in a wooded area of North Sea. Spota said her manner of death and the positioning of her body point to a connection with the two other women. But unlike theirs, Costilla's body was mutilated after her death, officials said.

Article: "Cold case alert: DNA links LI man to murders of 2 women, DA says; no bail for carpenter accused in 20-year old cases" by Nicole Fuller

 

[LINative13]

see the confusion and rumors that have all been started here as a result of this unregulated posting?

I think more than copyright requirements need to be adhered to. There are victims who are still alive (the murdered women family, the murders family) who can be affected by statements, let alone potential jurors. How dare we add to victims torment and at this time? That is exactly the direction this board has been led by a few overzealous posters.

 

[giagreen]

Another Newsday article published July 22, 2014 specifically states that Rita and Colleen were not mutilated, but Sandra was:

But investigators are trying to determine if the carpenter also killed Sandra Costilla, 28, found strangled in November 1993 in a wooded area of North Sea. Spota said her manner of death and the positioning of her body point to a connection with the two other women. But unlike theirs, Costilla's body was mutilated after her death, officials said.

Article: "Cold case alert: DNA links LI man to murders of 2 women, DA says; no bail for carpenter accused in 20-year old cases" by Nicole Fuller

So that says a lot IMO. First two strangled and blunt force trauma. Third one mutilated. Shows he didn't stop killing and started to play around with his victims. That is if he is in fact the killer of Sandra.

 

[marie-chantal]

So that says a lot IMO. First two strangled and blunt force trauma. Third one mutilated. Shows he didn't stop killing and started to play around with his victims. That is if he is in fact the killer of Sandra.

If he is Sandra's killer, it also shows that he killed multiple people in a very short time. Interesting that he appears to have taken the month of December off.

 

[marie-chantal]

This is the first article I've seen that specifically states that LE does not believe that these killings are related to BOTH Gilgo and Manorville:

http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20140723/man-charged-in-1990s-murders-of-2-prostitutes

 

[LikeAHunter]

Do you remember where you read this? If you find it will you please post. I missed it somehow. TIA!

Newsday, but it looks like the quote was taken down. If you do a Google search for "Bittrolff splattered in pig blood" you'll find a dog walking site listing this blurb, but you won't find the article if you click through. Sorry, that's the best I can do!

Dog Walking rates - Dog Walking, Dog Boarding | Dog ...
walkingdogs.ca/dog-walking rates.html
... 'knew everybody'NewsdayOne time the neighbor was walking his dog and stopped to chat with Bittrolff, whose shorts were splattered with pig blood, he said.

 

[rfslacker]

If JB is not LISK I have a strong feeling LISK knows JB personally. Perhaps JB and LISK go WAYBACK- perhaps even childhood killing buddies. Perhaps JB has been "retired" since the 90s and the bodies LISK dropped in and around Manorville areas were perhaps taunts/gifts/messages from LISK to JB? Obviously I watch too much Dexter.

 

[marie-chantal]

Whoa....

A spokesman for Spota said Bittrolff was convicted of assault in February 1994 for a case stemming from 1990, but he had no additional details. He also was arrested in 1987 on a grand larceny charge and served 60 days in jail.

This is front the same article I linked above: http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20140723/man-charged-in-1990s-murders-of-2-prostitutes

That would mean that (if he's guilty of these murders), he was arrested only one month after Colleen's murder. He'd have to be a pretty detached person to not crack about the murders when he was arrested just weeks later. Wow.

Edited to add: He may not have spent any jail time or have been arrested in 1994. It specifically says, "convicted". Not the same. I need to read more carefully.

 

[marie-chantal]

So that says a lot IMO. First two strangled and blunt force trauma. Third one mutilated. Shows he didn't stop killing and started to play around with his victims. That is if he is in fact the killer of Sandra.

If he is Sandra's murderer, then I wonder why he didn't mutilate Colleen? She would have been killed after Sandra. He didn't escalate in that case. That's kind of weird.

 

[topratedsleuth]

That would mean that (if he's guilty of these murders), he was arrested only one month after Colleen's murder. He'd have to be a pretty detached person to not crack about the murders when he was arrested just weeks later. Wow.

No. From the quote, we know he was convicted in 1994 for a case stemming from 1990; therefore, he was arrested in 1990.

 

[LINative13]

He is a possible murderer who hid it from his wife and kids for years. Hiding it for a couple of minutes with the cops is not a big deal.

 

[Sistah Sleuth]

If he is Sandra's murderer, then I wonder why he didn't mutilate Colleen? She would have been killed after Sandra. He didn't escalate in that case. That's kind of weird.

She was found in between Rita and Colleen. Rita--Nov Sandra--Dec Colleen--Jan

 

[marie-chantal]

No. From the quote, we know he was convicted in 1994 for a case stemming from 1990; therefore, he was arrested in 1990.

You're right. Convicted is totally different, and we don't know if he served any time for that case.

 

[marie-chantal]

She was found in between Rita and Colleen. Rita--Nov Sandra--Dec Colleen--Jan

When was Sandra found? I've seen both November and December in MSM articles.

This one states she was found 18 days after Rita was found, which would indicate November:

http://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2014/07/56456/cops-manorville-man-charged-in-two-cold-case-murders/

And this one says she was found in December:
http://www.oneidadispatch.com/general-news/20140723/man-charged-in-1990s-murders-of-2-prostitutes

 

[giagreen]

If he is Sandra's murderer, then I wonder why he didn't mutilate Colleen? She would have been killed after Sandra. He didn't escalate in that case. That's kind of weird.

I think there is far more we don't know about serial killers then we do know.
If they are killing for pleasure then I think they do whatever feels good at that moment for whatever reasons that we will never understand.

Maybe she put up a hell of a fight or said something that actually made him feel some shame and he took it out on her by degrading her more by mutilating her. Maybe he was just experimenting and discovered he didn't like it and went back to not mutilating. Who knows its hard enough just trying to understand the pleasure they get from killing. At least for me.