Burglars who killed Lower Merion man and grievously wounded his mother ‘simply got the wrong house,’ DA says

The violent home invasion in Lower Merion last week was a tragic — and deadly — case of mistaken identity, authorities said Tuesday.

Two men who targeted a home on Meredith Drive in a Dec. 8 burglary that left a man dead and his mother grievously injured were looking for an entirely different house, Montgomery County officials said.

Kelvin Roberts, 42, and Charles Fulforth, 41, had set out to break into a home with a similar address in Bucks County and steal guns they had been told were stored there, District Attorney Kevin Steele said. Both men have been charged with first- and second-degree murder, robbery, burglary, and related crimes.

The two worked for Junkluggers, a junk-hauling business in Willow Grove that had been hired to remove items from the Bucks County address. Another employee at the company, whom investigators did not identify, told them about a cache of weapons at that house, according to the affidavit of probable cause for the men’s arrests.

“They simply got the wrong house,” Steele said Tuesday. “They went into the wrong house with bad intentions, shot a 61-year-old woman as she lay in bed, and executed her 25-year-old son.”

Andrew Gaudio was shot multiple times, including in the back of the head, as he struggled to protect his mother from the intruders, according to Steele. Bernadette Gaudio, who had been bedridden because of a medical issue, was also shot multiple times, he said, in an attack that left her paralyzed.

Steele said the intended victims of the robbery were an elderly couple who had multiple gun safes in the basement of their Bucks County home. They had hired Junkluggers to remove items from their property on Dec. 9.

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Steele declined to give the address of the targeted property in Bucks County out of concern for the safety of the homeowners.

Roberts was taken into custody just before 8 a.m. Tuesday at Junkluggers, Steele said, after another employee at the business called Upper Merion Police to alert them to his whereabouts. He remained in custody Tuesday morning, denied bail. Fulforth was also denied bail after being arrested outside his apartment in Jenkintown last week.

During the home invasion in Lower Merion’s Wynnewood section, Bernadette Gaudio was able to call 911 to report the attack as the burglars ransacked her home. The intruders stole multiple items, including Gaudio’s jewelry box and her Jeep Grand Cherokee, authorities said.

Detectives linked Roberts to the crime through a sedan he was seen driving to the Gaudios’ home. The vehicle was traced to the home of his girlfriend, who lives on Sansom Street near 59th in West Philadelphia. About a block from that address, the officers found the stolen Jeep.

After serving a search warrant on the girlfriend’s home, detectives discovered Gaudio’s jewelry box, as well as boxes for two different handguns and ammunition, the affidavit said.

Days after the crime, investigators arrested Fulforth, Roberts’ boss at Junkluggers. Fulforth has a record of convictions for theft and related crimes, as does Roberts, who had two active arrest warrants — one for receiving stolen property in North Wales and another for a burglary in Philadelphia — when he was taken into custody in the Lower Merion case, according to the affidavit.

After detectives took Fulforth into custody, they searched his apartment in Jenkintown and discovered a 3D printer, as well as tools and materials used in creating “ghost guns,” unregistered firearms assembled from components often purchased online.

They also found the key to Bernadette Gaudio’s stolen Jeep, as well as a 9mm ghost gun that forensic analysts later determined had fired the bullets that killed Andrew Gaudio, the affidavit said.

Detectives also analyzed Fulforth’s cell phone, and found that he and Roberts traveled together from Sansom Street in West Philadelphia to the Gaudios’ home on Meredith Drive on the night of the home invasion. Fulforth’s phone also contained a picture of a gloved hand holding a brown box, with the body of Andrew Gaudio in the background.

Text messages between the two men also showed that, after the burglary, Roberts said he was desperately trying to pull together money to fund a trip to Jamaica, fearful that the police were searching for him, according to the affidavit.

In a later interview with police, Roberts admitted he drove Fulforth to the home on the night of the planned burglary. He said the two had gained access to the home through a basement window, and Fulforth brought zip ties to restrain the victims, the affidavit said.

Once inside, Roberts said, Fulforth went upstairs without him, and he later heard a series of gunshots and a voice calling out “Mom!”

He said he fled the home and drove away after hearing the gunfire, then circled the block, and waited for Fulforth to come outside. Fulforth stole the Gaudios’ Jeep and drove away in it, Roberts said, while he headed back to his girlfriend’s house in West Philadelphia.

Fulforth, he said, later told him he had shot the Gaudios, according to the affidavit.

Fulforth, in a separate interview with police, acknowledged participating in the burglary, but declined to provide detectives with details. According to the affidavit, he said, “It wasn’t supposed to end this way.”

In the days since Andrew Gaudio’s death and his mother’s grave injury, friends and neighbors have rallied to support the family, Robert Gaudio, Andrew’s older brother, said in a statement posted to an online fundraiser. He said he appreciated the outpouring of good wishes and that he and his mother “have such a long road ahead.”

“Mom is the strength of the family, and she’s pushing to fight every minute,” he said. “While I continue to make a poor attempt at being the brains, I need to take a moment to recognize Andrew, our heart.

“Everyone who had the pleasure of spending more than a few seconds with him will carry a little of him for the rest of their lives. Remember him well.”