Mom whose daughter was allegedly killed by her 17-year-old stalker makes tearful plea for justice

A New Jersey mother is pleading for adult charges to be brought against the teen who allegedly killed her daughter and the girl’s best friend.

Foulla Niotis said her 17-year-old daughter, Maria, and Maria’s best friend, Isabella Salas, were struck and killed last month in Cranford, New Jersey, by a Jeep allegedly driven by 17-year-old Vincent Battiloro, the nephew of Westfield Police Chief Christopher Battiloro .

Police said the vehicle was traveling at about 70 mph when it hit the girls as they rode an e-bike.

Although the case is being heard in juvenile court and details about the suspect cannot be released publicly, traffic citations from the crash identified the driver as Battiloro.

‘I would want him to be tried as an adult. He knew what he was doing. I really, truly believe he knew what he was doing,’ Niotis told Fox News. ‘I want justice for these two beautiful girls. My girls.’

Niotis said she repeatedly warned police about Battiloro but was told there was little they could do because he was a juvenile.

The family’s attorney, Brent Bramnick, said Battiloro began harassing Maria in March.

He then escalated the behavior in September, making multiple false emergency calls, known as swatting, were made to Cranford police and to her home before the crash, and that Battiloro repeatedly parked outside their house.

Foulla Niotis is urging prosecutors to try the 17-year-old suspect as an adult after her daughter Maria and Maria’s best friend Isabella were killed in a high-speed hit-and-run in Cranford, New Jersey

Maria Niotis, 17, was one of the victims killed in the crash

He added that on one occasion, officers came to the scene and let him leave.

New Jersey law does not allow restraining orders against minors, a gap that has sparked outrage and a petition for reform that has drawn nearly 7,000 signatures on Change.org.

The suspect has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

‘I would like to see the truth come out,’ Bramnick told Fox News.

‘We have a grieving family, a grieving mother, two innocent children lost. This is the type of unimaginable circumstances that we all fear, both people with children, people without children, everybody in the community, and the public has questions.

‘And I think they deserve answers, and also the family deserves answers.’

Prosecutors can request to move certain juvenile cases to adult criminal court based on the circumstances.

Bramnick said the deaths of Maria and Isabella are exactly the kind of case that should qualify for that transfer.

Isabella Salas, 17, was also killed in the crash

‘There are a number of incidents that occurred prior to the murder of both of the children, and the question we would ask is what was done?’ he said.

Police Chief Christopher Battiloro, the suspect’s uncle, condemned the killings, and made it clear the suspect was not in his immediate family.

The suspect’s father served as a Chatham Borough police officer until retiring in December 2024, and his uncle is the current police chief in Westfield.

The family has asked New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin to review the case.

A GoFundMe has been created to help both grieving families during this time.