A man that police assume is a well known sex-related killer that acquired into the properties of assorted women close to the Georgetown and University of Maryland faculties and raped them whereas they rested has truly been jailed.
Ernesto Mercado, 54, was butted in hyperlink with 5 home-invasion sexual offenses from 2008 to 2012 within the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington claimed that his DNA likewise hooked up him to a sixth strike in Maryland in 2009.
His apprehension notes an enormous break for cold scenario personal investigators making an attempt to find out the male known as the “Georgetown Cuddler,” a label that spread among students additionally because it was generally slammed for showing to reduce the severity of the assaults.
An investigator with the Metropolitan Police Department condemned the “cuddler” time period in a news conference Wednesday and claimed it created added harm to the targets.
“This man is a predator, and his intent was not to ‘cuddle’ his victims. Instead, his intent was to rape them. And it was only when they would wake up that the assault would end and he would flee,” MPD investigator Alexander Mac Bean claimed.
HuffPost linked to the lawyer offered on court docket recordsdata as standing for Mercado nonetheless didn’t get hold of a immediate motion.
Investigators claimed that DNA gathered within the targets’ sexual offense forensic checks was examined within the FBI’s nationwide knowledge supply of DNA accounts and was discovered to return from the very same male. Because he actually didn’t have a felony background, nonetheless, they may not decide him.
Mercado was finally acknowledged making use of hereditary ancestry strategies, to call just a few units, personal investigators claimed.
The felony actions Mercado is billed with occurred in June 2008, July 2009, February and August 2010, and August 2012. All occurred late in the course of the night time or proper earlier than daybreak, Police Chief Pamela Smith claimed on the press convention.
The assailant acquired entry to the targets’ properties in numerous strategies, consisting of lowering a house window show, wrecking a glass door panel and eliminating a house window cooling gadget.
Nothing was taken all through the house intrusions, personal investigators claimed in court docket recordsdata. In one scenario, a sufferer’s laptop computer laptop and iPad have been nonetheless on the mattress the place she had truly left them previous to going to relaxation, cops claimed.
After figuring out Mercado as a suspect, personal investigators tried to accumulate his DNA surreptitiously to establish if it was a go well with with the DNA situated on the targets. They positioned a common practitioner tracker on his car and arrange a put up cam on the block the place he stayed in Arlington, Virginia, to trace his actions, nonetheless fell quick to accumulate a possible instance. Ultimately, they acquired a search warrant to execute a cheek swab onOct 1 and despatched it to a laboratory for screening along with a seminal fluid instance gathered from among the many targets. The laboratory claimed they matched.
Mercado completed from the University of Maryland College Park in 1995, authorities claimed, and stayed in College Park from 2002 to 2007. His residence needed to do with a mile the place the third goal was attacked. He has truly stayed in Arlington on condition that 2012.
Mercado was billed with 8 issues of felony sexual assault. He would possibly take care of a sentence of life behind bars if he’s based responsible of sex-related offenses related to 2 numerous targets, UNITED STATE Attorney Matthew Graves claimed Wednesday.
Investigators likewise assume that Mercado could be hooked up to plenty of added felony actions that haven’t been linked “forensically,” consisting of assorted different home-invasion sexual offenses, thefts and voyeurism in Georgetown and College Park from a minimal of 2006 to 2012.
Investigators claimed they’re remaining to discover comparable unresolved felony actions in these areas all through this second construction and are asking anyone that was a sufferer of sexual offense or which may know pertaining to those or numerous different situations to get in contact with the cops.
Mercado is being held with out bond. An preliminary listening to is organized forOct 10.