Woman wounded in Lower Merion burglary confronts her son’s alleged killers in court
Bernadette Gaudio described the harrowing encounter she had in December with two armed burglars who wounded her and killed her youngest son, Andrew.
On a dark December night, in the flash of a muzzle, Bernadette Gaudio lost her youngest son and her independence. Seven months later, inside a Montgomery County courtroom, she confronted the burglars who prosecutors say robbed her of both.
Gaudio, 62, took the stand Tuesday to describe the physical and mental scars she still bears from when two men broke into her home in Lower Merion and attacked her as she slept.
“I miss this life of independence, being able to drive anywhere,” said Gaudio, who was left paralyzed from the neck down after one of her attackers’ gunshots shattered her spinal cord. “Now it takes me an hour just to get out of bed.”
Charles Fulforth, 41, and Kelvin Roberts, 42, are on trial this week, charged with murder, burglary, and related crimes in the attack, which investigators have said targeted the wrong house. Both have denied shooting anyone during the burglary.
The men, who worked for a junk-hauling company in Willow Grove, allegedly intended to rob guns from an elderly man’s home in Holland, Bucks County, as part of a black market gun ring they are accused of operating.
Instead, they drove to the wrong address and forced their way into Gaudio’s home. She testified that after a full day celebrating her older son’s birthday, she woke up at 2 a.m. to see a Black man pointing a gun at her.
They locked eyes, she said, before the gunman fired, striking her in the neck. She knew immediately that she was paralyzed.
(An attorney for Roberts, who is Black, has said he denies shooting Gaudio.)
Gaudio heard several more gunshots, then heard her younger son, Andrew, yelling for her in confusion and pain. Struggling to maintain consciousness, she listened as her son made his way to her.
Using Siri, Gaudio was able to call 911 and report the shooting. She said she cut the call short when she heard footsteps approaching, closing her eyes as another figure appeared in her room, holding her jewelry box.
“I closed my eyes because I was afraid and didn’t want them to think I was still alive,” she said as an aide wiped tears from her eyes.
Gaudio said she heard two more gunshots, which prosecutor said were fired by Fulforth at her son as he lay wounded on the floor.
As Gaudio waited for police to arrive, she said, she knew that her son was bleeding out from his injuries and would not survive.
Responding officers took Gaudio to Lankenau Medical Center, where she underwent three surgeries to stabilize her spine.
Meanwhile, detectives worked to identify the men who carried out the attack.
As a Lower Merion officer sped to the scene, he passed a Hyundai driving away from the Gaudio home. Dashcam footage shown in court depicted Roberts behind the wheel of that vehicle.
Investigators traced it to the home of Roberts’ girlfriend in West Philadelphia, according to testimony Tuesday.
Inside that home, detectives found Gaudio’s stolen jewelry box, as well as mail with Roberts’ name on it.
And about a block away, they found Gaudio’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been stolen during the burglary.
The trial will continue Wednesday.