HAMPTON — Peter Bartoloni, the 70-year-old Hampton man charged in the sledgehammer death of his roommate, remains in police custody after his arraignment at Seabrook Circuit Court this morning.
Peter Hinckley of the New Hampshire Attorney General's office requested Bartoloni not be released on any type of bail due to the serious nature of the charges. The public defender assigned to the case had no objection to that request.
Bartoloni has a history of violent crime, records show.
He was convicted of rape in 1990 and assault to commit rape in 1980. The Associated Press reported in 1972 that Bartoloni was serving an 11- to 20-year sentence for armed robbery, unlawful possession of a shotgun and escape when he stabbed another inmate at what was then called the Walpole State Prison.
Conviction on second-degree murder can bring a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Bartoloni was arrested Saturday and charged with failing to report as a registered sex offender, according to Hampton Police Lt. Dan Gidley. While he was in custody, he was charged with killing Roderick.
Bartoloni also lived in Lowell and Brockton, Mass., in recent years.
A number of friends were in the courtroom in support of the victim in the case, Robert "Bob " Roderick, 56, who was found dead in his Hampton apartment early Friday morning.
Maggie Gauron of Hampton, a former roommate and "very good friend "of Roderick said he was a gentle giant who was handicapped.
"He had no use of his left side that's why I drove him everywhere. " Gauron said.
Roderick was found dead in his apartment on M Street just after midnight Friday.
The attorney general's office announced Monday that Bartoloni was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death.
Court documents allege Bartoloni knowingly caused the death of Roderick by striking him repeatedly with a sledgehammer.
Neighbors in the close-knit community said Roderick was the kind of person who got along with others.
"If you ever had a problem with him it was squashed the next day or even the next hour," Shannon Hodgdon, Roderick's neighbor said. Her unit is adjacent to where Roderick and Bartoloni lived as roommates. She said she didn't hear anything unusual Thursday night, even though she went outside to look for a cigarette from someone in the neighborhood.
Nicole Belanger, a neighbor who lives across the way from Roderick's apartment, said her boyfriend, Scott Anderson, lived with the two men. She said Monday that Bartoloni often bragged about committing crimes when he was drinking. He even claimed to kill his ex-wife and her lover when he found them together, Belanger said.
"They said 'There's blood everywhere. Bob's not OK.' I tried to take care of him. I thought he was going through alcohol withdrawal again," Hodgdon said.
Hodgdon said approximately three weeks ago Roderick was so sick from alcohol withdrawal that he was throwing up blood.
Bartoloni was arraigned Monday on separate charges that he knowingly failed to register and/or report as a sexual offender. Hodgdon and Belanger were at the video arraignment and said Bartoloni showed no remorse for anything.
"When the judge asked him if he wanted a lawyer he just laughed and kind of said, 'You don't know the charges I am facing tomorrow,'" Hodgdon said.
The women said Bartoloni moved to Hampton about three months ago. Roderick offered him a place to stay but did not know he was a sexual offender, they said.
If Roderick had known, he would not have allowed Bartoloni to stay in the apartment, Belanger said. "My kids called Bob 'Grandpa Bob.' It was all a secret," she said. Belanger has two boys, 15 and 12, that live with her and three girls who visit part-time. She said she plans to move with Anderson as soon as possible to escape the neighborhood.
Bartoloni is scheduled to be arraigned at Seabrook Circuit Court at 11 a.m. today on the murder charge.
Maggie Gauren, left, and Nicole Belanger discuss the incident with reporter Kimberley Haas
Video by Kimberley Haas for fosters.com
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