He will be sentenced May 18.
“This defendant avoided identification for a decade, but finally was identified after he was arrested for an unrelated crime and his DNA profile matched,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. “Hopefully this victim, now an adult, will finally get some closure knowing that her attacker from 10 years ago will be locked up for many years.”
The victim was sleeping in her bed at her family’s ranch-style home on April 8, 2001.
The weather was warm and the windows were open, according to police.
The attacker removed a screen from a window, entered the room and attacked her.
Her parents and a sister were asleep during the attack. Another sister was on the phone but did not hear anything, according to police.
A DNA profile, obtained from evidence left at the scene, was entered into the Combined DNA Index System.
The case went cold after police were unable to identify any suspects. In 2003, the prosecutor’s office filed a “John Doe” indictment against the person with the DNA profile found at the scene to keep the statute of limitations from expiring.
Miami County sheriff’s deputies arrested Bernardi on July 2 in connection with the abduction of a 15-year-old girl.
He was charged with aggravated menacing and unlawful restraint, according to court records.
But deputies also collected a sample of Bernardi’s DNA, as mandated by a July 1 change in Ohio law.
That change expanded DNA testing of those arrested for but not convicted of crimes.
His DNA was entered into the database, which then identified him as the other girl’s assailant, Heck said.
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