‘Georgetown Cuddler’ nabbed by D.C. police 12 years after last attack

After over a decade-long investigation, D.C. authorities said Wednesday they arrested the elusive “Georgetown Cuddler” — a mysterious man linked to several rapes in the District and Maryland where the attacker broke into women’s homes and preyed on them while they were sleeping.

Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Ernesto Ramon Mercado, 54, of Arlington, Virginia, was arraigned Wednesday on multiple counts of felony sexual abuse in connection with five attacks in Georgetown and one in College Park, Maryland, between 2008 and 2012.

Each of the victims awoke to find a man sexually assaulting them before the assailant fled, according to court documents.

Det. Alexander MacBean, who had been working the case since 2012, said the assailant in the case was likely a “Peeping Tom” who stalked his victims — all of whom were young, college-aged women who had been out drinking prior to the attacks.  

Det. MacBean also derided the media nickname of “Georgetown Cuddler” during the Wednesday press briefing.

“Over the years, this term has only caused more harm to our victims,” the detective said. “This man is a predator, and his intent was not to cuddle these women, but instead, his intent was to rape them.”

Police said investigative breakthroughs were made possible by advances in DNA technology.

Victims provided rape kits to medical personnel shortly after the assaults, but it wasn’t until 2016 that DNA technology progressed to the point where police could say that the same suspect was behind each attack.

Further advancements allowed police to start creating a forensic genetic genealogy in 2020 — which can help investigators identify unknown persons — and ultimately led to police focusing on Mr. Mercado as a suspect last month.

The chief said Mr. Mercado was arrested Tuesday night after police secured a warrant for him to produce a DNA sample. The suspect’s DNA matched the genetic profile investigators made of the mysterious attacker.

“This is a culmination of really long hours, long days, a lot of work, a lot of DNA testing evidence, but more importantly, the fact that we have law enforcement officers, detectives at the Metropolitan Police Department, and our partners who never gave up,” Chief Smith said.

Mr. Mercado is accused of raping women in Georgetown in June 2008; July 2009; February and August of 2010, and August 2012. The attack in College Park, just outside of the University of Maryland’s campus, took place in November 2009.

Chief Smith said Mr. Mercado is also a suspect in dozens of other sexual assaults, burglaries and voyeurism cases that took place during the same time as the charged offenses.

“The reward from a case like this is being able to tell a victim, years later, that we’ve identified the perpetrator that committed this crime, and that we’re going to do everything we can to hold that person accountable,” Det. MacBean said.

If convicted of all charges, Mr. Mercado would spend the rest of his life in prison.

He is being kept behind bars until his next court date scheduled for Oct. 10.