Man Pleads Guilty To Rape Of Lifeguard In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A man pleaded guilty in Alexandria court Thursday to a rape of a lifeguard. The guilty plea came after DNA evidence came to light.

Jesse Bjerke, 37, of Arlington, was charged in February with the alleged sexual assault at a condominium complex's pool on Sept. 3, 2016. There were no DNA matches from the crime scene at first. Alexandria Police worked with Parabon NanoLabs to make a list of relatives and narrow it down to a suspect using genetic genealogy. After identifying Bjerke as the suspect, a detective took DNA from straws left at a restaurant and garbage outside his home. That led to a match with the crime scene DNA.

Prosecutors said they would not seek a life sentence when Bjerke pleaded guilty in court. The guilty plea was for charges of rape, abduction, object penetration, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The victim was a 24-year-old woman who worked as a lifeguard in the 200 block of South Pickett Street. Prosecutors say Bjerke showed up on Sept. 3, 2016 to look for missing shoes, and returned to look a half hour later. The second time, he allegedly pointed a gun at the victim, zip-tied her hands, and gagged her. After raping her, Bjerke fled, and the victim called for help.

Officers found the victim zip-tied so tightly, her hands were turning blue. Upon being taken to the hospital for an examination, a nurse found multiple bruises and abrasions, including internal injuries.

Bjerke, formerly a nurse at Alexandria INOVA Hospital, left work an hour and a half into his shift on the day of his offense. Police looked through his phone records and found his phone connected to the cell phone tower closest to the pool. Bjerke had turned off his phone at the time the victim indicated he had been at the pool. His cell phone records also showed he read articles about how genetic genealogy solved cold rape cases. Around that time, he reportedly tried to delete accounts tracking his location and remove his name from public records databases.

Bjerke will be sentenced on March 19, 2020. According to NBC4, Bjerke is also a suspect in a 2015 rape at a Merrifield pool.