Police arrest Londonderry 2nd-homeowner in 2019 Rockingham murder

UPDATE Dec 16 – 2:25 p.m. – Jozsef Piri is being held in the Collier County (Florida) Jail and his first appearance before a judge is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17.

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC

A Florida physician with a second home in Londonderry has been arrested in the 2019 fatal shooting of a produce truck driver in Rockingham. The Vermont State’s Attorney’s office is awaiting his extradition to Vermont.

According to the Vermont State Police, detectives from Vermont and deputies from the Collier County (Florida) Sheriff’s Department arrested Jozsef Piri, 49, of Naples, Fla., on a warrant for second degree murder on Thursday Dec. 16 in connection with the killing of Roberto Fonseca-Rivera, 44, of Boston, on Friday Nov. 1, 2019.

Telegraph articles about the shooting:

• Boston trucker apparently shot dead on Rt. 103
• Driver’s death ruled homicide; police seek video
• Police press for more clues in Rt. 103 homicide
• Police ask public to ID pickup truck

Fonseca-Rivera was making produce deliveries for Katsiroubas Bros. and had left his final delivery in Rutland around 12:15 p.m. and was heading south on Rt. 103 in Rockingham between 1 and 1:30 when he was killed.

Police say that Piri and the victim did not know each other.

According to State Police, Piri was driving a 2018 Toyota Tundra on Rt. 103 near Fonseca-Rivera’s delivery truck on the day in question. Piri lived in Connecticut at the time and was returning home from the home he owns on Mansfield Lane in Londonderry.

Using GPS data and surveillance videos, detectives determined that Piri was driving immediately in front of Fonseca-Rivera when the shooting occurred and that the Katsiroubas truck was in motion at the time.

The affidavit of probable cause, filed in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro outlines the investigation including the use of surveillance camera images, GPS data, gun purchase records, interviews and the results of search warrants executed at Piri’s homes in Londonderry, West Simsbury, Conn., and Naples, Fla. Piri purchased his home in Florida in March of this year.

Police also learned that Piri had been flagged by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for the number of gun purchases he had made over a two-year period.

Piri faces arraignment in Vermont once he has been extradited from Florida. Windham County State’s Attorney Tracy Shriver on Thursday told The Telegraph that she did not know how long that process would take.

A Google search of Piri’s name finds him practicing internal medicine with Physician’s Regional Healthcare Systems in Naples. He previously practiced with Starling Physicians in Connecticut.

Attempts to reach Katsiroubas Bros. for comment were unsuccessful.

The Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit worked closely with the Windham County State’s Attorney’s Office throughout this investigation. Also participating in the case were VSP’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Crime Scene Search Team, Technology Investigation Unit, and Victim Services Unit; the Vermont Forensic Laboratory; the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office; the Boston Police Department; the Massachusetts State Police; the Connecticut State Police; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the FBI.

— Cynthia Prairie contributed to this story.