Barbara McKenna lived and died on the streets of Carnegie, battered to death by a fellow homeless person who called her “Aunt Babs.”
After drinking together, Joseph Beraducci attacked McKenna, who was 64 years old and more than twice his age, on the morning of August 18, 2024.
Beraducci pleaded guilty to third-degree murder on Tuesday and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in state prison as part of a deal with the prosecution.
“I’m extremely remorseful for what happened,” Beraducci, 31, told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Randall B. Todd. “I plan on never doing this again.”
Beraducci, who was admitted to Torrance State Hospital following his arrest, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD.
He is still undergoing treatment.
“Since his return, he’s been like a different individual,” his defense attorney, Sarah McGuire, told the judge.
Patrick McHugh, McKenna’s brother-in-law, questioned the sentence’s severity.
“I understand the diagnosis,” he said, but “given the savageness of what happened … for a 29-year-old to beat a 64-year-old woman on a walker and blind in one eye, that just seems atrocious to me.”
The judge concurred.
“It is,” Todd answered. “There’s nothing I can do to make this right.”
The court bemoaned the closing of local mental health hospitals and stated that there are insufficient social workers to handle the community’s mental health needs.
Snitching accusation
According to the criminal complaint, Carnegie police were dispatched to the area beneath the Mansfield Boulevard Bridge around 4 a.m.
Beraducci said detectives he went to check on McKenna and another man who was living there, and while there, the man had a seizure.
Beraducci claimed he performed CPR on the man until police and paramedics came and transported him to the hospital.
Officers left, leaving McKenna and Beraducci under the bridge, drinking.
According to the complaint, they had an argument around 6 a.m., during which Beraducci accused McKenna of being a police informant.
“He hit her until she stopped moving,” explained Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Michael Borsch.
When officers arrived, Beraducci was holding the victim’s head in his lap. He told officers he was attempting to revive her.
Feeling safer on the streets
McKenna’s family expressed their grief in a written victim impact statement.
“There is a hole where there once was some hope,” they said. “There is emptiness where there once were some wishes.”
The family reported that during a celebration of life service, members of McKenna’s Carnegie church recalled her as warm and generous.
They also stated that she had been like this when she was younger.
“We reached out to Bab over the years and asked her to try to get some help with her substance abuse,” the family said. “We tried many different ways to reach her, but for some reason, she felt that the streets of Carnegie were where she wanted to be.”
The family questioned why the cops left McKenna and Beraducci under the bridge after attending to the initial medical emergency.
“What does this say about society?” Is it permissible for people to live under a bridge in Carnegie?” they inquired. “What did they expect to happen when they left them there?”
“He killed Bab. “And here we are.”
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