Jason Bernatine
Appearances
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
He had my phone number saying, you know, hey, I had a really good time with you and your friends last night. You know, you guys are so cool. I would love to come hang out with you guys and go to some barbecues or go hang out on the lake with you guys. And at the time, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, sure. Someday we could do that, Jonathan. Cool.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
But then the text messages started coming every couple days. And this guy was not a really close friend of yours. No, no. It was to the point where it was obsessive to where I was getting multiple texts a day. And I started showing Kelly, like, hey, look, it's Jonathan again.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
I thought Jonathan was hitting on me.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
One of the text messages said, Jason, I really need to talk to your buddy Rob. I need his phone number. I thought this was suspicious. I went outside, and I called Jonathan. And I asked him, like, Jonathan, What's up, man? Why do you want to talk to Rob? Are you having an affair with Sabrina? Is something going on? No, it's your radar that's going on. Yeah, my radar finally goes off.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
And he says yes. He says, Jason, I'm sorry, but I've been living my life... I've been living my life wrong. He says that particular phrase. I've been living my life wrong, and I need to get right with God, and I really need to talk to Rob. I just really need to talk to Rob.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
So I told him, well, if you're not going to tell me, Everything that's going on, you need to tell Rob, and then you disappear. Like, this is over. This is done. And he said, okay, thank you, Jason.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
I'm pretty upset because I realized that all these text messages he sent me, he's been trying to get close to Sabrina.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
So I go inside the house and I tell Rob, I don't know how to tell you this, Rob, but I got Jonathan Hearn on my phone and he wants to talk to you. Apparently he's been having an affair with Sabrina. And Rob says, I know, buddy. I know. I found out the other day.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 4: David and Bathsheba
She took him to church with his sister again and was introducing him to our friends.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
I called him, and I said, Jonathan, what the heck are you doing in Costco talking to Sabrina? And at this point, Jonathan starts saying, you know, Jason, I'm sorry, it's not like that. Sabrina and I are just friends now. We have a spiritual relationship. And I told him, well, Jonathan, you've had an affair with this woman. You've caused damage to this family. You don't need to be talking to her.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
Yeah, I said a lot of words I probably can't say here. But there was a lot of yelling. And at one point in time, he tells me, so what am I supposed to do? Just not see her anymore?
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
Yeah. I started to get a really bad feeling. Like he believes he has a right to see her. He doesn't see this as an out of bounds for him to be talking to a woman he's had an affair with. So in the end, I tell him to never go into her Costco again. And I'm yelling at him emphatically. And he agrees. He says, okay, I won't. Six months after that,
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
So 12 days after Rob's murder, my phone rings. I look down at it. It's Jonathan Hearn. I was in a doctor's office with my son. I wanted to take my phone and smash it against the wall because he is the one person I did not want to hear from. And I didn't answer it. I let it go to voicemail. A few minutes later, I started getting texts from him. saying he needs to talk to me.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 1: Death in the High Desert
How blessed are we to have known Rob Lamone? Rob became my best friend. And the amazing thing about Rob is I know there's at least 10 guys in this room that would also call Rob as their best friend.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 6: He Said, She Said
I told him to never contact the Lamones, stay away from Sabrina.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 1: Death in the High Desert
You remember that first dinner? Yeah, I remember the first time I met Rob. He's actually kind of a scary dude. That's Jason Bernatine. He's got tattoos all over his arm, and he's got his last name tattooed on the back of his head. So his appearance was not like his personality.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 1: Death in the High Desert
Yeah, he was really proud of it, really proud of working for the railroad.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 3: Tickling the Wire
So I used to always tell Jonathan, like, you're kind of wasting your life becoming a fireman. You could become much more. You could be a doctor, lawyer. That's Kelly Bernatine's husband, Jason, a San Bernardino County fireman and a close friend of Rob Lamone's. Everyone else saw that in him. And he would just say, oh, you know, no, this is what I've always wanted to do.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 1: Death in the High Desert
It was just after that that he got the overtime. He got a phone call. and said, hey, I just got overtime tomorrow in Tehachapi, and we were supposed to do fantasy football draft the next day, and he couldn't make it because he got that overtime. The next day was Sunday, August 17th.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 3: Tickling the Wire
Jason is a little fuzzy on when he first met Jonathan Hearn.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 3: Tickling the Wire
He was an explorer, and then he became a paramedic, and then the apprentice. And then he eventually got hired with Redlands Fire Department.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
Sabrina told us, like, hey, I met one of the guys you used to work with. That's Jason Bernatine. And I was like, oh, what's his name? She says, John. And I know a lot of Johns from the fire department, so I said, well, find out what department he works for next time you see him, and then maybe I can figure it out. So next time I saw her, she said that he worked for Redlands.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
And I'm like, oh, it's got to be Jonathan Hearn. I mean, one of the smartest guys I've ever met. I said a lot of good things about him. How long did you work with him? He wasn't actually assigned to my station. So I would work what we call overtime. I would go work his station sometimes. I can't really recall.
Dateline Originals
Deadly Mirage - Ep. 2: The Man on the Motorcycle
We thought maybe it was some kind of railroad robbery.
Deadly Mirage
Busted
Yes. I am not afraid of her. I'm afraid of somebody else that she might talk somebody into. Not her.
Deadly Mirage
He Said, She Said
I told him to never contact the Lamones, stay away from Sabrina, and yeah, I said a lot of things.