An 18-year-old Garwood man was transferred to adult court on murder charges after a September 2025 crash killed two Cranford High School students. Family attorneys say months of police warnings went unheeded before the killings.

Vincent Battiloro appeared before a Union County judge in Elizabeth as an adult murder defendant, nine months after prosecutors say he intentionally struck two teenagers on e-bikes with a black Jeep on a Cranford street, leaving them fatally injured. 

The 18-year-old Garwood resident now stands charged with two murder counts alongside a charge for reckless driving and another for leaving the scene, joined by a stack of additional traffic violations, after prosecutors announced his waiver to adult court on June 26. Under New Jersey law, a jury conviction would force him to spend at least three decades inside before he becomes eligible for parole. A grand jury has not yet returned an indictment.

Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, both 17-year-old Cranford High School students, were riding an e-bike on Burnside Avenue in the late afternoon on September 29 when a black Jeep struck them at a speed more than 50 miles per hour over the posted 25-mile-per-hour limit, according to affidavit records. Family and friends told reporters the girls knew the driver, who left the Jeep and ran before later telling police he had been carjacked. Police arrested him October 1. He has been held continuously since, and at a July 1 hearing he agreed to remain in detention.

Vincent Battiloro attended the Cranford Achievement Program, an alternative school for students struggling in traditional environments, where he was expelled in 2025 after raising a special education rights claim. His father appealed and a superintendent overturned the decision, but Battiloro never returned.

A search of the vehicle yielded camera footage that captured Battiloro approaching from behind at speed before the impact, court documents show. A doorbell camera on an intersecting street recorded the Jeep passing seven minutes before the crash, along with audio of the collision, court documents show. Prosecutors allege the strike was deliberate.

Earlier in September, Maria's mother noticed Battiloro's vehicle outside her house and flagged it for police during a separate call, the family's attorney said. At that scene, police dismissed a neighbor who tried to intervene, then permitted Battiloro to drive off, witnesses and the attorney said.

Brent Bramnick, the Niotis family attorney, said police had failed to act on the family's warnings before the crash. "You have a mother who's begging the police for help... and from what we can see right now, based on the evidence we see, nothing was done," Bramnick said. He said the family had struggled to get information while the case sat in juvenile court.

In the month before the crash, Battiloro's parents called Garwood police four times as their son unraveled, according to 911 records obtained by NJ Advance Media. His father, Jeffrey Battiloro — a former Chatham Borough officer who retired in 2024 after 27 years — first requested a lieutenant's advice on August 9, then reported on August 24 that the teen had sprayed him with mace and taken his car. He called again on August 30 to say the teen was "getting physical." Battiloro's mother called once, on August 26, saying her husband had disconnected the boy's phone and removed him from the house the night before. 

Separately, Cranford police responded to the Niotis home twice in September for false reports that the family, per their attorney, believed Battiloro had made. During the September 10 incident, officers allowed Battiloro to leave after his father arrived, and told neighbor Francisco Rodriguez to go home when he approached, according to witnesses and the attorney. Police have not confirmed stalking allegations that relatives raised, or that Niotis had sought a restraining order.

Less than a week before the crash, Battiloro livestreamed himself ordering pizzas to the Niotis home as "vengeance" for a school suspension, according to a review of his videos by NJ Advance Media. "I think Maria is hungry," he said during the September 23 stream. "Have fun with your pizza, you dipshit." In the same stream, he mentioned "vengeance" and referenced conservative influencer Charlie Kirk after claiming Maria had mocked Kirk's assassination on TikTok.

The day after the crash, Battiloro posted a YouTube livestream in which he said he had been "bullied" and "ridiculed over false allegations." "I'm a nice kid. I'm 17 years old with a good family by my side, and these allegations have been ruining everything," he said. He also offered condolences: "My sincerest condolences to those two girls that were the victims of an absolute senseless tragedy," he said. The video was later removed from the platform.

At the time of the crash, Battiloro was charged with failure to possess a driver's license, insurance card, and vehicle registration, according to court records.

Westfield Police Chief Christopher Battiloro, the accused's uncle and a Cranford neighbor of the Salas family, addressed reports that had circulated on social media in an October 2 statement. "While social media has made it known that the accused is related to me, he is not my son and not a member of my immediate family. I want to be clear, as loud and as firm as possible, that in no way do my wife, children or I condone, defend, or excuse the actions that caused this terrible and tragic loss of life," he said. He added: "I lost a neighbor — a beautiful, charismatic young lady named Isabella Salas, who I have watched grow up since the day I moved to Cranford." The chief responded to the scene after the crash.

Salas family attorney Cory Rothbort, at the July 1 hearing, urged the community to keep the victims central. "Keep talking about Isabella and keep talking about Maria and keep their names out there and keep honoring them," Rothbort said.

Salas had performed in theatre at Cranford High since sixth grade and was remembered for her voice. Niotis, born in Greece, had lived most of her life in Cranford and was a senior at Cranford High School; she worked at Cake Artist Café and aspired to a cosmetology career.

The families have asked that the public remember the victims rather than the defendant. "When the attention goes toward the criminal case, I hate that," Mary Salas, Isabella's mother, said in February. "Yes, obviously, we want that dealt with, but no. It's about these girls.

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