Colo. man charged in 2000 Dundalk murder

GREELEY, Colo. - A Colorado man has been arrested and charged for the 2000 murder of a Dundalk woman.

Colorado law enforcement officials, working with the Baltimore County police, served Alexander Charles Bennett, 32 with a warrant charging him with first degree murder.

Baltimore County Police linked Bennett to the 12-year-old case through DNA evidence collected from the murder scene.

Bennett currently awaiting extradition back to Maryland.

Heidi Louise Bernadzikowski, 24, was killed on April 20, 2000 in her home. Police found her in the living room of the townhome she shared with her boyfriend in the 2000 block of Codd Avenue.

She had been strangled and her neck had been cut.

Detectives have been pursing this case since 2000, but in September or 2011, the finally learned that DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene matched a specimen from the FBI's national database.

That evidence led them to Bennett's front door.

Police were able to determine that Bennett was in the Baltimore area at the time of the murder. On March 30, 2000, Maryland Transportation Authority Police found him walking along the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway.

The investigation is still ongoing as police try to figure out what connection, if any, Bennett had to the victim.