Peter Bartoloni, Sex Offender, Charged With Sledgehammer Murder Of Roommate

A 70-year-old Hampton, N.H., man registered as a Level 3 sex offender faces murder charges over a gruesome death.

Peter Bartoloni was charged with second-degree murder Monday after the body of his roommate, 56-year-old Robert Roderick, was found last week, WMUR-TV reported.

Roderick was found dead and bloodied in his apartment, and authorities said he suffered blunt force trauma to the head.

"The alleged weapon contained in the complaint is a sledgehammer," said Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley.

Bartoloni was arrested and charged on Saturday for failing to report his sex-offender status to police before being charged Monday with the murder.

In 1990, Bartoloni was found guilty of rape and given a Level 3 sex offender status -- the highest possible. Level 3 offenders are those who have been determined a high risk to reoffend and to pose a high degree of danger to the public, according to Northhampton Patch.

A third roommate, Scott Anderson, told Seacoast Online he and his girlfriend, Nicole Belanger, found Roderick's body.

Anderson said that after he saw Roderick on the couch with what he thought was a red shirt covering his face, he thought nothing of it and went to shower.

“He thought he was just sleeping,” Belanger said. “He was the type of guy if he was sleeping, you don't wake him up.”

It wasn't until later that Anderson realized his roommate wasn't sleeping. Belanger told Seacoast Online the wound was so bad she initially thought Roderick had been shot.

“I then heard my boyfriend say, 'The shirt [covering Roderick's face] is not red, it's white,'" Belanger said. "'Oh my God, it's blood. Blood all over him.'”

A motive for the killing is unknown at this time. It is unclear how Bartoloni sustained injuries to his face in his current mug shot. The alleged killer is scheduled to be arraigned later Tuesday.