The Feast of St. Joseph was always an important day for Donna Bernadzikowski, a devout Catholic who was educated by sisters of the patron saint. And on March 19, 2014, she got the call she'd been waiting years to receive.
Fourteen years after the death of Bernadzikowski's only daughter, Baltimore County police told her they had charged the man they'd suspected from the beginning: her daughter's boyfriend at the time, Stephen Michael Cooke Jr.
Cooke, 44, whose trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, faces charges of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder.
Prosecutors say he hired two men from Colorado to kill Heidi Bernadzikowski because he wanted to cash in on a $700,000 life insurance policy he had taken out on her a few months earlier.
Heidi Bernadzikowski, 24, was found dead in the Dundalk home she shared with Cooke in April 2000.
"It is a story of greed, of planning and violence," prosecutor Matthew Breault told jurors in October during the trial of one of the men Cooke allegedly hired. "But it's also a story about perseverance."
County police say they never gave up on the case.
Cooke's attorney says her client has never wavered, either.
"He's maintained his innocence for 15 years," lawyer Tara LeCompte said. She declined to comment further on the case.
Cooke is being held in the county detention center. His father, Stephen Sr., said last week the family did not want to speak publicly about the case before the trial.
Prosecutors also declined to comment on specifics.
Two men already have been convicted in Bernadzikowski's death.
Prosecutors say Grant A. Lewis, 36, was the middle man in the killing. He was convicted on October of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Police say Alexander Charles Bennett, 36, confessed to killing Bernadzikowski. He pleaded guilty last March to first-degree murder.
The family always believed someone would be charged, said Walter Bernadzikowski, Heidi's father. But they never imagined there would be multiple suspects.
Detectives suspected Cooke from the beginning. But when they made their first arrest in the case three years ago — of Bennett — it looked as if he was off the hook.
Now, Cooke not only faces charges in Bernadzikowski's death, but also accusations that he tried to solicit an inmate to kill Lewis in prison because he believed he would testify against him.
Bernadzikowski's parents, who now live in Delaware, declined to speak in detail about the case before the upcoming trial. But Donna Bernadzikowski said they are thankful for the work of county police Detective Gary Childs and Sgt. Allen Meyer.
"I give very high praise to the dedication and to the determination and diligence of their sticking to it," she said. "They stuck with it from the very beginning."
Heidi Bernadzikowski grew up in Severna Park, the fourth child and only girl in a family of five children. She was athletic, playing soccer and softball and swimming.
She graduated from St. Mary's High School in Annapolis in 1993 and studied at Frostburg State University for a year. At the time of her death, she was working as a customer service representative for a health finance company.
Her family says she loved horses, dogs and cats.
"If there was something going on, she was involved in it," her mother said. "She was very active, very sociable."
Bernadzikowski loved shooting pool — she played it religiously, Breault told jurors in opening arguments in Lewis's trial.
"All of her friends really loved her," Meyer, the primary investigator on the case, said in an interview. "She was just a fun-loving girl, full of life."
Meyer was a 37-year-old detective, new to the homicide unit, when he arrived at Bernadzikowski's home shortly after 9:30 p.m. on April 20, 2000.
There was no sign of forced entry. Bernadzikowski was found on the first floor, propped up against a wall. She was strangled and her throat had been slit.
During the investigation, Meyer testified during Lewis' trial, Cooke's statements didn't match those of other people. Detectives learned that Bernadzikowski had been contemplating leaving Cooke. And they discovered the insurance policy.
In the years following Bernadzikowski's death, Meyer testified, he interviewed more than 200 people.
He worked on the case when he had time, conducting more interviews and checking periodically with the crime lab for updates on forensic evidence.
While he always suspected Cooke, he said in an interview, the evidence to charge him was not there.
"It was extremely frustrating," Meyer said. "It's disheartening when you're responsible for an investigation that you can't clear. Sometimes you feel like you're not doing enough, because the family's mourning."
A few years after her death, Bernadzikowski's family filed a civil lawsuit over the life insurance policy. Family members said Cooke should not profit from her death.
At the civil trial in 2004, Meyer testified that Cooke was the sole suspect in the killing. In a settlement, the family received about 80 percent of the insurance payout, according to a news report at the time. Cooke received 20 percent.
Much has changed in police work since officers started investigating Bernadzikowski's death. A DNA sample from under her fingernails in 2000 could not be matched to a person.
But in 2011, scientists were able to perform more advanced tests, and a search of the FBI's National DNA Index System turned up Bennett.
In January 2012, police obtained a warrant to arrest Bennett.
Cooke told The Baltimore Sun he was relieved. By then, he had started a family; he said police had harassed him throughout the years.
"They pulled a real number on me — harassing me and harassing my family members," Cooke said. "I was absolutely so certain that they weren't even looking for anyone else."
In March 2014, on the eve of Bennett's trial, he implicated Lewis and Cooke in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme. He testified in Lewis' trial and is expected to testify against Cooke this week.
Cooke was living in Pasadena and working for the Veterans Administration in Baltimore at the time of his arrest, according to court documents.
Donna Bernadzikowski says her faith has sustained her in the years since her daughter's death.
"I prayed a lot and I trusted the Lord," she said.
On Heidi's birthday and the anniversary of her death, her family does the things she loved, she said. They play Scrabble, shoot pool and eat shrimp Alfredo, her favorite dish.
Tim Bernadzikowski, Heidi's oldest brother, said the family has been waiting years to see Cooke face the charges.
"We're just looking forward to justice being served — for Heidi and for our family, so we can have closure," he said.
twitter.com/aliknez