NY teen girls killed in quiet suburban area by stalker who ran then down in a jeep

Question

Two teenage girls were mowed down and killed Monday in leafy Cranford, New Jersey, by a hit-and-run driver who had allegedly been stalking one of them.

The two 17-year-old Cranford High School students, Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, were riding on an ebike together around 5:30 p.m. when a black 2021 Jeep with tinted windows rammed into them, according to authorities and local reports.

Both girls later died at the hospital.

Answer 1

This claim is true, but more developments have been made since the original statement was posted on October 3rd. According to the New York Post, the suspect in the case "allegedly mowed down...the two 17-year-olds [as they] rode an e-bike on a Cranford road around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 29," the two victims were Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas (Becker, 2025). Along with this, according to CBS News, the 17-year-old suspect Vincent Battiloro is "accused of intentionally driving an SUV into 17-year-old friends Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, before allegedly ditching the car and fleeing the scene," Battiloro is currently facing first degree murder charges in New Jersey. In the same CBS News article, "The victims' relatives and friends claimed Battiloro was stalking one of the girls and a restraining order had been sought against him before the crash," which upholds the claim that he was one of the girls' stalker (Prussin, 2025).  
CBS News tends to lean more left, however with this specific article and case, it is unlikely that they have a bias while reporting it. The New York Post tends to lean more to the right, and just like CBS News, it is unlikely that there was a bias present when reporting this case.
Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/cranford-nj-hit-and-run-suspect-vincent-battiloro/

https://nypost.com/2025/10/29/us-news/teen-charged-in-fatal-hit-and-run-of-2-nj-girls-cut-loose-to-ex-cop-dad-records/

Answer 2

The information provided within the claim can be seen as semi-accurate. While the claim does not provide much specific information such as the names of the victims or even case names, we still see that the details themselves bring up multiple articles detailing all the information currently disclosed.  

The most prominent article is that of The New York Times, detailing how Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas were with Maria's family in New Jersey getting ice cream when they were run over. However, certain parts such as the stalker claim have not been fully proven yet. While investigations are ongoing due to the juvenile aspect of the suspect, it has not been made public in records. The stalker theory is mainly from the families and friends of the girls rather than the actual police proving it. This is further reiterated within FOX5 New York. 

The article, while having some truth, is misleading between the belief of family members and the actual information the judicial system has published. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/nyregion/hit-and-run-deaths-girls-new-jersey.html

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/crandford-teens-family-speaks