NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — As Montgomery County prosecutors near the end of their case against two men accused of a deadly home invasion in Lower Merion, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the 25-year-old man killed testified that he could have survived had he not been shot “execution-style.”
Prosecutors on Wednesday said the evidence left no doubt Charles Fulforth, 41, and Kelvin Roberts, 42, were responsible for breaking into the Wynnewood home Andrew Gaudio, 25, shared with his mother Bernadette on Dec. 8. They said the two men were trying to steal guns from a Bucks County house with a similar address, but went to the Gaudios’ home by mistake.
As prosecutors laid out, the two men shot Gaudio five times, killing him, then shot his mother in the neck, leaving her paralyzed.
Medical examiner Ian Hood told prosecutors Gaudio could have survived four of those shots. A shot to the back of his head, however, would have been almost immediately fatal. Hood said the bullet was found in the floor under Gaudio’s head, suggesting he had been lying face-down when he was shot.
Jurors also saw video from a doorbell camera of the two men outside Roberts’ girlfriend’s home in Philadelphia, not long after the homicide, discussing why and how they shot someone.
In that video, Fulforth wore a ballistic vest, and detectives showed a vest they found in his minivan that matched the one in the video. Roberts’ girlfriend testified she recognized an image of Roberts and their car in a press release the district attorney’s office put out shortly after the homicide.
In addition, a detective showed a photo found on Fulforth’s phone, which he said was clearly from the crime scene. On cross-examination, that detective was asked why the file data indicated that photo was created nearly 20 hours after the homicide.
Fulforth and Roberts have been charged with first-degree murder, burglary and related offenses. They both denied shooting anyone.