'Bellerose Butcher' who brutally murdered 4-year-old girl and immigrant will be released early from prison

In 1968, New York City was shocked by the disappearance of a little girl from Woodhaven. These emotions turned to horror when her body was discovered in a neighbor's attic, and the killer turned out to be a 16-year-old teenager. Fifty-six years later, the crime still shocks people. According to Qns, the killer, 72-year-old Vincent DeRosa, will soon be free.

The girl's name was Teresa Riccio, and she was very small for a four-year-old child, because she suffered from anemia and bronchitis. Just after noon on May 10, 1968, Teresa asked her mother for a penny for a stick of gum. When her mother refused, she went outside and sat on the porch of her house on 87th Avenue near Eldert Lane. A few minutes later, Anna’s mother looked in to see her daughter, but she was no longer there - Teresa Riccio had disappeared.

This became front page news in all the newspapers, which expressed sympathy and compassion for the entire society. After this, an active and organized search began, which lasted 11 days. Hundreds of residents volunteered to thoroughly search the nearby Cypress Hills Cemetery and the dense forest in Forest Park.

Many of the volunteers were young people themselves, mostly teenagers. But one of them, 16-year-old Vincent DeRosa, kept a terrible secret. The guy was among the enthusiastic volunteers. His family and Teresa's family had been friends for generations and were longtime neighbors in Woodhaven - their houses were nearby.

Vincent had been to Riccio's house many times, and Teresa knew him. She trusted him. Why not? Everyone else trusted. And when she disappeared, DeRosa expressed concern and even joined the family at church to pray for Teresa's safe return.

On the subject: There is a secret club of thought criminals in New York who have lost their reputations and careers for careless statements.

The police questioned everyone who knew her, and something in the boy's answers aroused suspicion, so the questions became increasingly harsh until he broke down and admitted to the police that they could find Teresa's body in the attic of his house - it was stuffed in a suitcase and wrapped in a plastic bag.

The people of New York, especially Woodhaven, were horrified. When Teresa disappeared, people thought it was a tramp with evil intentions, but not the boy next door. Vincent DeRosa was tried and found guilty, but after 7 years he was free.

Another murder

By the 1980s, the DeRosa family had long since left Woodhaven. They packed up all their things and moved to Bellerose. One day, Vincent's two brothers were digging in their backyard when they discovered the skeletal remains of a man. They immediately realized that their brother had committed a crime again.

The body belonged to an 18-year-old Finnish immigrant named Tomi Uuttu, a friend of Vincent DeRosa who had disappeared two years earlier. The victim's mother, Rosa-Mai Uuttu, flew from Finland for the trial, where the prosecutor dubbed DeRosa the "Bellerose Butcher."

Vincent sealed his own fate by accidentally burying his own glasses under Tomie Wuttu's body in a shallow grave he dug in the backyard. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

“I came here to see that justice was served,” Rose-May told Watt as she left the courtroom. She said she hoped he would never be allowed to harm any boys or girls and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

But in 2024, Vincent DeRosa will be a free man, as the New York State Parole Board has approved his candidacy. “This is another failure of our justice system that puts us all in danger,” said Woodhaven Councilwoman Joanne Ariola. “Even at 72, DeRosa is capable of killing a child.” His release poses a direct danger to the people of New York, and he should spend the rest of his days behind bars where he belongs.”