Police make arrest in 2019 Rockingham murder

ROCKINGHAM, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont authorities have made an arrest in the November 2019 shooting death of a truck driver in Rockingham.

“It was a Herculean effort in many ways, and we were happy to arrive at this stage,” said Johns Congdon, Vermont Deputy State’s Attorney.

Doctor Joszef Piri is charged with murder over the shooting of a Boston delivery driver.

Vermont state police say the Florida man shot Roberto Fonseca-Rivera, 44, leaving the body of the Boston man in his delivery truck along Route 103.

Fonseca-Rivera’s friend told police he was on the phone with the victim when he was murdered.

The affidavit says Fonseca-Rivera told him he was going to try to pass the car in front of him, which kept adjusting speed. The last noise he heard was a rumble strip before the line went silent.

After Fonseca-Rivera didn’t make it back from the trip, that’s when Fonseca-Riveras friend said he knew there was a problem. Fonseca-Rivera’s employer, Katsiroubas Produce, gave police the coordinates of where the truck appeared to be stopped.

When Vermont State Police arrived, they said they found Fonseca-Riveras lifeless body in his truck with a gunshot wound to the head.

They say using surveillance footage, GPS data, photographs and other information, they found Piri to be driving immediately in front of Fonseca-Rivera just before the shooting occurred. They say the two men did not know each other.

The barrel of a gun found at Piri’s Londonderry home, the one police suspect fired the fatal round, is also missing.

They say using surveillance footage, GPS data, photographs and other information, they found Piri to be driving immediately in front of Fonseca-Rivera just before the shooting occurred. They say the two men did not know each other.

Piri told investigators that he was extremely exhausted the day of the shooting, running late to a Foxwoods Show.

“We are pleased that a suspect has been identified two years after the horrific killing of Roberto, a good man just doing his job driving down the highway in Rockingham, Vermont,” said the Katsiroubas Produce company in a statement.

Piri, who owned property in Londonderry, will be charged with second-degree murder and is awaiting extradition from Florida.

Click here to read the affidavit in the case.

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