A year after the deaths of Maria Niotis and Isabella Salas, friends, relatives and neighbors gathered in Cranford, New Jersey, to remember the two 17-year-old girls and reflect on the impact they left on the community.
The candlelight gathering Tuesday, Sept. 29, was held on Burnside Avenue, the same street where the two Cranford High School students were fatally struck while riding together on an electric bicycle in September 2025.
For the families, the anniversary brought back the pain of losing two teenagers who were described by friends as inseparable.
“We miss our girls very much,” Isabella’s mother, Mary Salas, said while thanking the community for continuing to support the families. Maria’s mother, Foulla Niotis, also expressed gratitude for the people who have continued to remember her daughter.
Friends spoke about the girls’ kindness and the memories they shared with those around them. Pastor Carlos Cedeño of Christ Fellowship Church encouraged those gathered to let the girls’ memory serve as a reminder to express love while there is still time.
Father Peter Delvizis of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church offered another message of remembrance, explaining the meaning behind the traditional Greek phrase, “May their memory be eternal.”
A case that is still moving through court
While Tuesday’s gathering centered on Maria and Isabella, the criminal case connected to their deaths continues.
The girls were killed on Sept. 29, 2025, after a vehicle struck the e-bike they were riding on Burnside Avenue. Authorities later arrested Vincent Battiloro, who was 17 at the time, and charged him with two counts of murder. Prosecutors allege that he intentionally struck the girls.
Battiloro, now 18, was initially handled through the juvenile justice system because of his age at the time of the incident. In June 2026, a judge approved the move of the case to adult court. He has since appeared in court and remains detained while the case proceeds.
The case is now before the Union County Superior Court’s Criminal Division. Prosecutors are pursuing an indictment as the legal proceedings continue.
Relatives and friends have also previously alleged that Battiloro had been stalking Maria before the crash. Those allegations have been raised by the victims’ families, but investigators have not publicly confirmed them as established facts.
A community determined to remember them
The anniversary gathering was part of a series of efforts in Cranford to keep Maria and Isabella’s memory alive.
In July, a memorial bench was dedicated at Cafe Teasia, a place the girls frequently visited with friends. The bench was donated by the Cranford High School PTSA and was created as a permanent place where students, friends and community members could remember them.
For those closest to the girls, those tributes are about more than remembering how they died. They are about remembering who they were before the tragedy.
One year later, candles, photographs and memories brought people together on the same Cranford street where the community lost two young lives.
The legal case will continue through the courts, but for Maria and Isabella’s families and friends, the anniversary remained focused on the two girls themselves — their friendship, their kindness and the memories they left behind.
