Troopers arrest Columbia woman for felony warrant for abandonment of a corpse
UPDATE: The deceased male found Monday on Leeway Drive has been identified as 60 year-old Steven Summa. According to the Columbia Police Department, an autopsy was conducted by the Boone County Medical Examiner and preliminary results do not indicate foul play. Toxicology results are pending in the case.
Public information officer Latisha Stroer told ABC 17 News a judge granted them a warrant to ask Berardi’s cellphone provider to pinpoint her location using just her phone number. The department did not release which company it asked.
Columbia attorney Dan Viets does not represent Berardi, but said law enforcement’s use of cellphone location. While CPD said they obtained a warrant, which gets judicial oversight, he was interested in knowing what justification they gave the judge for a process he said invades privacy.
“Those electronic devices we find so convenient are also a portal for the government to not only locate where we are at any given time, but to access our most private communications,” Viets said.
The probable cause statement in Berardi’s case does not indicate they searched the contents of her cellphone. CPD alerted nearby law enforcement when the location of her phone came back in south St. Louis.
ORIGINAL STORY: A Columbia woman was in the Boone County jail Wednesday morning, accused of abandoning a corpse.
Arrest records from the Missouri State Highway Patrol show troopers arrested 55 year-old Deborah Berardi just before 9:00 Tuesday night in Montgomery County. ABC 17 News checked Case Net Wednesday morning and found a warrant was just issued for Berardi’s arrest Tuesday out of Boone County. Jail records show Berardi is held on a $20,000 dollar bond. She’s scheduled to make her first appearance in court Wednesday at 1:30pm. Berardi’s arrest comes just one day after Columbia police confirmed they were investigating a death on Leeway Drive. The probable cause statement obtained by ABC 17 shows that Berardi was the spouse of the deceased male, identified in the document only as S.S. The criminal complaint also states that officers were dispatched after a call was received from the property owner of the apartment Monday afternoon. When officers arrived, they found the victim’s body in the early stages of decomposition, indicating he had been dead for several days. Witnesses told investigators that there had been loud music playing during the evening and morning hours for several days and they also heard movement in the apartment every day. During the investigation, it was found that Berardi was the account holder for the utilities for that address, and investigators also found a pizza delivery receipt dated Sunday afternoon. Berardi was identified in a photo lineup by the delivery driver as the person receiving the delivery Sunday. Investigators say they obtained the GPS information from Berardi’s cell phone that showed her near Lindbergh Blvd. in St. Louis. She was later arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol Tuesday night. We will continue to follow this story and will report further details as they become available.
