A judge has sentenced 53-year-old Michael A. Pero to 50 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of radiologist Cara Ann Savage Bonawitz, MD, in March 2020.
Pero pleaded guilty to one count of murder on July 21 in a Texas district court, days before a trial was set to begin, the Erie Times-News reported Tuesday.
The man dated Bonawitz, 52 at the time of her death, while in college and relocated to the Dallas area to reconnect. She contacted authorities months prior to her murder to share concerns about Pero’s irrational behavior, which included phoning the radiologist’s previous employers.
A relative went to Bonawitz’s residence to check on her after she had not been heard from in days. The individual found Bonawtiz dead at her residence in Richardson, Texas, on April 3, having suffered multiple stab wounds. Authorities believe the incident occurred several days prior. Police arrested Pero for the crime in April 2020, according to a previously published report.
Bonawitz attended Rochester University for her undergrad degree, playing soccer for the school. The team won the Division III women’s soccer championship in 1987, losing only one game the entire season, according to her obituary. Bonawitz attended the Penn State College of Medicine, completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of North Carolina, and practiced interventional radiology for 20 years in Virginia, Indiana and Texas.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.