DNA Testing Helped Catch ‘The Cuddler’
By • November 13, 2024 0 21
By Christine Axsmith
“It happened again.” My friend’s voice woke me up quickly. We lived in Glover Park and there had been another sexual assault the night before by “The Cuddler,” a name given to a serial rapist who targeted female residents of Glover Park and Georgetown in the early 2000s. The neighborhoods were the center of a series of sexual assaults that seemed unstoppable. It was before advances in DNA technology or the availability of commercial databases of genetic information, which would later lead to an arrest.
Council member Brooke Pinto has similar memories of that time. “I remember visiting my sister and brother in Georgetown during a string of attacks from ‘The Georgetown Cuddler’ and receiving the warnings to make sure all the windows and doors were locked,” she told The Georgetowner. “My hope is that this arrest brings some comfort to the victims and neighbors who were traumatized and sends a clear message that law enforcement doesn’t give up on solving cases.”
In September of 2024, those assaults were tied to a single serial predator. On Oct. 2, Ernesto Ramon Mercado, 54, of Arlington, Virginia, was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances and five counts of second-degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances. The suspect was identified and arrested, using DNA evidence, as part of the Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative, a joint effort by the Metropolitan Police Department Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
From June 26, 2008, to Aug. 31, 2012, women in Georgetown, Glover Park and College Park, Maryland, were sexually assaulted in their homes. “The suspect targeted young women in off-campus shared residences and the attacks occurred in the late night, pre-dawn hours,” said MPD Chief Pamela A. Smith.
Mercado is alleged to have followed young women home from bars. According to the arrest affidavit, he allegedly broke windows or removed window air conditioners to enter homes. The women were assaulted while they were sleeping and awoke to being attacked. “In each case Mercado allegedly identified his victims through stalking and ‘Peeping Tom’-type activities. Sleeping and intoxicated victims were targeted and attacked in their homes with the intent of raping them,” Det. Alex Mac Bean explained.
Smith said: “Throughout the years our Cold Case detectives retested certain items of evidence and followed up with victims in person. Because of their hard work, and a lead from forensic genetic genealogy and other investigative methods, our detectives were able to develop a suspect.”
Pinto explained that the Secure DC law allows for DNA collection for violent offenses only after judicial review. “DNA testing played an important role in ‘The Georgetown Cuddler’ arrest,” she said. “This provision intends to help solve cases of serial sexual violence.”
The investigating police believe there may be more sex crimes tied to Mercado.
“Based on assailant lookouts, modus operandi, geographic crime scene locations, victimology and patterned behavior, the perpetrator whose DNA is linked to these offenses is also suspected of committing dozens of additional ‘Peeping Tom’ voyeurism, burglary and home-invasion sexual assault offenses in both Georgetown and College Park between at least 2006 and 2012,” wrote Mac Bean in the arrest affidavit. A 2011 Baltimore CBS news investigation mentioned five similar attacks in the College Park area which may or may not be connected to Mercado.
Mercado attended the University of Maryland, College Park, from 1992 to 1995, when he graduated. His familiarity with campus “gave him an intimate knowledge of the College Park, Maryland, area” according to the arrest affidavit, “where investigators believe these crimes possibly began.” Mercado was stopped 19 times in the late night or early morning hours in both D.C. and College Park over a several-year period.
From Sept. 3 to Oct. 3, 2010, MPD assigned officers to patrol in the area of 3800 S St. NW, the site of one of the assaults. The goal was to observe men in the area late at night. One of the men stopped at 3 a.m. was Mercado. The officer noted that Mercado “could give no legitimate reason as to why he was in the area,” according to the officer’s report.
