Affidavit reveals details leading up to Goshen welfare check turned homicide investigation
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The affidavit states on Oct. 13 at around 5:23 p.m., Bermeo's friend called the Elkhart County Public Safety Communication Center seeking a welfare check on her.
An officer then met with the friend and Bermeo's family at the residence in the 800 block of S. Indiana Ave. The officer learned Bermeo was at the friend's house the night before where she told her friend she and her husband, Hector Duran Gomez, had gotten into a verbal argument.
The friend advised Bermeo to stay with her for fear of the argument getting worse. Bermeo is said to have left the friend's home just before 3 a.m. The friend told police she texted and called Bermeo, but got no response, which is said to be out of character.
Police say 45-year-old Gomez currently has a Level 5 Felony Domestic Battery pending in the Elkhart Superior Count 1, where the victim is alleged to be Bermeo, which is currently set for trial in December.
Documents state a No Contact Order was sought by the State of Indiana at the time of the Probable Cause finding, which was granted. The No Contact Order is said to have been read to Gomez by jail staff before he posted bond, but he refused to sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the order.
Police then met with Bermeo's father, who lives with Bermeo and Gomez, who advised Bermeo's vehicle was present and the black and brown wedge shoes she wore when she left for her friend's the night before were found inside the home.
Documents state several surveillance cameras on the exterior of Bermeo's home were moved and broken from the area in which they were supposed to be pointing.
Bermeo's father told police he hadn't seen Gomez all day and his van was also gone. He also told police he noticed at around 8 a.m. that morning, there was a different doorknob/lock on the yellow oversized garage in the back yard area of the property that had been changed since the afternoon/evening before.
Bermeo's father explained he and Hector regularly work on cars and other things in the garage and had done so on Saturday. He told police he had planned to clean up the garage on Sunday morning, but found it was locked with a different handle/lock. He told police it seemed "very odd."
Police say Bermeo's father forced entry into the garage in the presence of officers, where he and an officer found Bermeo in the corner deceased with a zip-tie around her neck.
Police then learned from Bermeo's teen daughter that her mother sent her a text message the night before indicating she believed Gomez was following her. Bermeo told her daughter she had mentioned to Gomez about going to "The Arena" in Elkhart which upset him.
Police say the daughter has access to see Gomez's location from her iPhone under the "Find My" app and observed he was in the area of "The Arena."
At around 5:54 p.m., Oct. 13, with the assistance of the daughter providing the location of Gomez from the "Find My" app., an officer with the GPD located him sitting in his white work van in parking lot at 510 Lincolnway East.
Officers made contact with Gomez who agreed to drive his van to GPD and provide statement due to Bermeo being missing.
During the arrest, police observed scratch marks on Gomez's left forearm. A search warrant was obtained to collect photographs and DNA from him, and during the execution of the warrant, numerous scratch marks were found on both of his arms.
Police say they became aware of a Facebook "live" video Gomez had posted on Oct.12 at around 11 p.m. of him singing along with Bermeo's father in the garage of the S. Indiana Avenue residence.
During parts of this video, police say Gomez is observed wearing a cut off shirt with no scratch marks observed.
Documents state a search warrant was then obtained to enter the residence on S. Indiana Avenue.
During the search warrant, Bermeo's cell phone was found in a cabinet in the living room. During the forensic download of the phone, police say location data shows Bermeo leaving her home on Oct.12 at around 8:16 p.m., heading south on S. Indiana Avenue.
Police say the location data then places Bermeo at her friend's house before 3 a.m. Location data shows the phone in the residence area and then at around 3:03 a.m., her phone is powered off.
The Elkhart County Homicide Unit obtained a search warrant to download the contents of Gomez's cell phone that he brought to the GPD. During the forensic download of his phone, location data shows him leaving south from the home on S. Indiana Avenue at around 11:17 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Location data is then said to show Gomez following Bermeo until location data shows her turning onto Dierdorff Road from Kercher Road where Gomez continues east before eventually returning to the home on S. Indiana Avenue.
At around 12:21 a.m., Oct. 13, location data shows Gomez's phone leaving the S. Indiana Avenue home and traveling to the area of "The Arena" in Elkhart before returning at approximately 2:49 a.m.
Moments later, documents state the data shows Gomez's phone drive a few blocks away before returning to the S. Indiana Avenue home again at around 3:05 a.m.
Police say Gomez's phone continued to transmit data, verifying the cell phone was never powered off and remained at the S. Indiana Avenue home until 4:57 a.m., at which time phone location data shows him leaving.
His phone continued to provide location data until he was located by the Goshen police.
On Oct. 15, an autopsy was performed on Bermeo at the Homer D. Stryker School of Medicine at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Authorities say her manner of death was preliminarily determined to be homicide by asphyxiation.
In addition to the zip-tie around her neck, authorities say she had several contusions to her body and lacerations to her chin and neck area.
During the execution of the search warrant at the home on S. Indiana Avenue, similar zip ties in color and length were found in plastic bag in the garage where Bermeo was found.