Family, friends rally as beating victim lies in coma

The attacker apparently brought his weapon with him to the 64th floor, and took it when he left, police said.

"She's still very, very critical, " Atlanta Police Maj. Mickey Lloyd said Tuesday, adding that Cerasoli is at an undisclosed hospital. "She has shown no improvement that we know of."

Faldi and Cerasoli's older sister, Janie Martell, her husband, Skip Martell, and their three grown children all flew to Atlanta from their home in Barre, Vt., after the attack, said Cheryl Riegger-Krugh, a longtime friend and colleague at the University of Colorado, where Cerasoli is an assistant dean.

Meanwhile police want to question a man seen in the hotel on Dec. 30 when housekeeper Elia Banderas, 31, was beaten to death in a room on the 60th floor.

A computer composite of the man looks like a man arrested in the hotel on April 28, 1993. He threatened to return and said they would remember him, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, broke into the hotel circuit breaker room and shut off the power to 10 elevators, trapping people inside for more than two hours.

The man chased two women up a stairwell and into their room. He then grabbed a teacup and placed it over their peephole, while repeatedly telling the women he was with room service.

Lloyd said they are investigating the similarities in the recent two cases. Nothing was stolen and neither woman was sexually assaulted. Both were beaten in the head and face.

"This suggests we're dealing with a very angry person, " Lloyd said.

The hotel, which has added security and is handing out safety tips, is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for either crime.

Called Polly by her friends, Cerasoli had come to Atlanta Feb. 12 for an American Physical Therapy Association Conference. Also director of the University of Colorado's physical therapy program, she was joined by five other faculty members and was excited about networking, said Riegger- Krugh.

Ironically, one of the most challenging cases for a physical therapist is a head-injured patient, Riegger-Krugh said.

Riegger-Krugh met Cerasoli in Boston where they worked together for 12 years, first at Northeastern University and then at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Institute of Health Professions, a school linked to the hospital.

Friends describe Cerasoli as a fun-loving woman who loved to ski at her house near Vail. She is also, they say, a caring and loyal friend who knows how to get the job done without alienating those who work for her.

Riegger-Krugh recalled sneaking two pet turtles up to Cerasoli another time she was hospitalized.

"She would always be the one who came to people's goodbye parties, " she said. "She would always think of other people's needs, even if she was overwhelmed herself."

Cerasoli moved to Denver in 1988 to direct her own physical therapy program.

"She was very far from all of her friends and family in Vermont, " Riegger-Krugh said. "She had never married, because she never met the right person. But now she thought she had. It was a rekindled high school romance. I think he (Faldi) always loved Polly."