Crime & Safety

70-Year-Old Sex Offender Arrested for Hampton Murder

Peter Bartoloni will be arraigned Tuesday on a charge of second-degree murder.

A 70-year-old man has been charged with murdering a Hampton man with a sledgehammer last week.

The Attorney General's Office, Hampton and state police said in a statement issued Monday that Peter Bartoloni, 70, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the homicide of Robert Roderick, 56, in Hampton. Bartoloni was one of Roderick's roommates.

Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley told Hampton-North Hampton Patch that the alleged murder weapon was a sledgehammer. He said Bartoloni has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, and that one count says he purposely used the sledgehammer against Roderick. He would not comment on the motive.

Bartoloni will be arraigned in Seabrook District Court on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

An autopsy showed that Roderick died as the result of "multiple blunt impact injuries to his head." He was found dead on the couch in his home at 19 M St. with a blood-soaked shirt covering his head early Friday morning.

According to the Union Leader, Bartoloni was arraigned Monday in Seabrook District Court on an unrelated charge for failing to report his status as a sex offender to Hampton Police after moving to town five months ago.

The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry lists a "Peter L. Bartolini" with a last known address of Lowell, MA as a Level 3 sex offender stemming from a 1990 rape charge. Level 3 offenders are those that have been determined to be at a high risk to reoffend and to pose a high degree of dangerousness to the public.


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