NORRISTOWN — With tearful and disturbing testimony, a Lower Merion Township woman recalled waking in the middle of the night as intruders invaded her home, shot her in the neck, critically wounding her as she lay in bed, and then fatally shot her son as he rushed to her aid.
“I remember waking up to a blast, a gun blast,” Bernadette Gaudio testified in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday, recalling she saw a man shoot “right at me” as she locked eyes with him. “When the bullet hit me I knew I was paralyzed right away. It was the first blast that hit my neck.”
Gaudio, 61, recalled hearing her 25-year-old son, Andrew, calling out “Mom, Mom” as he tried to make his way from his bedroom to her room and hearing the gunshots that ended her son’s life.
“It was dark and I was afraid,” Gaudio testified about the 2:20 a.m. Dec. 8, 2024, incident, adding she closed her eyes so the intruders wouldn’t know she was still alive.
Seated in a wheelchair, Gaudio recalled the terrifying night for a jury as the trial for Charles Edward Fulforth and Kelvin Roberts Jr., the two men accused in the deadly home invasion burglary, entered its second day. Gaudio testified she was once a very active woman with a wonderful job but the violent attack left her paralyzed from the neck down and “everything has to be done for me.”
Gaudio wept as she recalled the harrowing events and an aide who accompanied her to court used a tissue to gently dab the tears from Gaudio’s face. Gaudio was supported in court by her son, Robert, and more than a dozen friends, some of whom wept as she testified.
The jury of seven women and five men were riveted to Gaudio’s heart-wrenching testimony, some who appeared to be holding back tears.
Bernadette Gaudio with her sons, Andrew, on right, and Robert, on left. (Photo courtesy GoFundMe)
Fulforth 41, of the 1600 block The Fairway, in the Jenkintown section of Abington Township, and Roberts, 42, of the 7200 block of North 21st Street, Philadelphia, face charges of first- and second-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery, burglary and conspiracy in connection with their alleged roles in the Dec. 8 fatal home invasion at Gaudio’s residence in the unit block of Meredith Road in Lower Merion.
Fulforth and Roberts showed no emotion as Gaudio testified.
During the trial, First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and co-prosecutor Brianna Ringwood argued the men were “motivated by greed and determined to use violence” while looking to steal guns to support their alleged gun trafficking “side hustle.” Armed with information from a third man, Fulforth and Roberts mistakenly targeted the wrong residence, prosecutors contend.
Unable to move after being shot, Gaudio used the Siri voice function on her cellphone to call 911. Prosecutors played the 911 call for the jury.
“I’ve been shot. I’m in bed, please hurry. I can’t move. They shot me and my son. Please hurry,” Gaudio softly pleaded with the 911 operator as rustling sounds, presumably of the intruders rummaging through the home, could be heard in the background.
Prosecutors previously called Gaudio “a very brave and courageous woman.”
McCann and Ringwood are seeking first-degree murder convictions, contending the killing was deliberate and intentional. First-degree murder is punishable by life imprisonment.
Prosecutors previously described Andrew’s killing as an “execution,” alleging the young man was shot in the back of the head as he lay face down on the floor of his mother’s bedroom.
Following his arraignment on homicide charges, Charles Fulforth is escorted by a deputy sheriff from a Montgomery County courtroom on Feb. 26, 2025. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
But defense lawyers Francis Genovese, who represents Roberts, and Brooks Thompson, who represents Fulforth, suggested evidence is lacking and that there is reasonable doubt in the case and they urged jurors not to rush to conclusions about their clients.
During her testimony, Gaudio described the man who shot her as “Black.” Roberts is Black. But Genovese argued that during her 911 call Gaudio could not discern for a dispatcher if her attacker was Black, Hispanic or white.
The trial before Judge Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to last about five days.
A third man charged in connection with the deadly incident, Jeremy Fuentes, who prosecutors alleged provided information that was the impetus for Roberts and Fulforth to carry out the deadly home invasion robbery faces a separate trial in September.
Fuentes, 27, of the 7200 block of North 18th Street, Philadelphia, faces charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary. While Fuentes was not present for the home invasion, he was charged with homicide under accomplice liability theories
Roberts, Fulforth and Fuentes were coworkers at Junkluggers in Upper Moreland Township.
Kelvin Roberts Jr., of Philadelphia, is escorted to a Montgomery County courtroom for his homicide trial on July 21, 2025. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
The investigation revealed that on Dec. 6, 2024, Fuentes conducted an estimate for junk removal at a Bucks County residence that had an address similar to the Meredith Road residence in Lower Merion. During a meeting with the Bucks County homeowner, Fuentes observed a large gun safe, gun boxes, gun parts and ammunition, none of which were part of the estimate to be removed by Junkluggers, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective John Wittenberger and Lower Merion Detective James Black.
But following that estimate, Fuentes called Fulforth and shared with him the information regarding the multiple firearms in that Bucks County home, detectives alleged. Fuentes and Fulforth allegedly were interested in stealing the firearms in furtherance of their alleged gun trafficking organization that illegally sold factory-made firearms as well as privately made ghost guns, machine gun conversion devices, or “switches,” and silencers using 3D printers.
What got lost in the translation, prosecutors alleged, was where the intended house was located and Fulforth and Roberts mistakenly went to the Gaudio home on Meredith Road in Lower Merion.
Prosecutors previously said the motive was to steal guns and that Roberts and Fulforth went to the wrong house.
Roberts, Fulforth and Fuentes also face separate charges of corrupt organizations, illegal sale or transfer of firearms and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities in connection with their lead roles in the gun trafficking organization.
Jeremy Fuentes is escorted by a deputy sheriff to his preliminary hearing on March 31, 2025, on gun trafficking charges. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
It was during the Lower Merion homicide investigation that authorities uncovered the gun trafficking organization.
Detectives recovered dashcam footage from a Lower Merion patrol vehicle that captured one of the responding officers pulling in front of a white Hyundai Azera leaving the scene of the homicide, a vehicle that was eventually linked to a Samson Street residence in Philadelphia.
Authorities also recovered dashcam footage depicting someone driving away in Andrew Gaudio’s green Jeep Cherokee, which authorities later found a block away from the Samson Street address, according to testimony. Authorities believe Fulforth drove the victim’s vehicle from the crime scene.
A resident of the Samson Street address identified Roberts as the driver of the white Hyundai.
Wittenberger testified that when detectives searched the Samson Street residence they found mail belonging to Roberts and a jewelry box that had been stolen from the Gaudio residence.
Detectives used cellphone data from both Fulforth and Roberts that allegedly showed both of them at Samson Street shortly after midnight on Dec. 8 and that around 12:40 a.m. their phones moved toward Lower Merion, the area of the home invasion.
Both phones were connecting with each other in the minutes following the fatal home invasion, detectives alleged.
Fulforth and Roberts each have extensive criminal histories, including serving time in county jail and state prison, according to court documents.
Originally Published: July 22, 2025 at 2:54 PM EDT