Woman and husband plead guilty in fatal beating of Clovis teacher

Misty Rose Gomez and her husband Antonio Garcia pleaded guilty in Fresno County, California, to second-degree murder for the December 2025 fatal beating of Geoffrey Bernardi, a career technical education teacher in Clovis.

Bernardi, 37, had been dating Gomez after meeting on a dating app, unaware that she was married.

In December 2025, Bernardi was attacked and severely beaten near a canal by his Clovis apartment, suffering broken facial bones, broken hands, and extensive skull fractures. He died from his injuries in the hospital less than two days later.

Gomez arrived at the hospital, wept over Bernardi’s bed, and told both his family and detectives that a homeless man dressed in black had attacked him.

Following the attack, Gomez and Garcia fled to Mexico with her two young daughters under the pretense of taking a trip to Los Angeles. In August 2026, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked the couple down in Mexico and extradited them back to California.

At a preliminary hearing, the woman’s daughter testified that her mother admitted to her while in hiding that she and Garcia had severely hurt and killed Bernardi.

Faced with the daughter's testimony and digital communications linking them to the crime, both entered guilty pleas to second-degree murder and waived their rights to appeal.

Under the agreement, Gomez faces 15 years to life, while Garcia faces 16 years to life at their formal sentencing on December 4, 2026.

For Indian-origin families in California, this case underscores the importance of reporting suspicious circumstances in violent incidents to law enforcement.