Scorned Man Charged with Homicide after Plan to 'Smoke out' Woman Fails in Lewistown, PA
Madison Montag
pennlive.com
(TNS)
A 40-year-old Mifflin County man was charged Wednesday with aggravated arson and criminal homicide for starting multiple fires at a home after being spurned by a woman, charging documents say.
The man, identified as Robert Zimmerman, 40, of Lewistown, later told investigators he started the fires throughout the home’s first floor, saying the woman might open her door and talk to him if he “smoked her out.”
Just before midnight on May 7, Lewistown police were dispatched to the 200 block of Bratton Avenue for a house fire. Police said the boarding-style house had five bedrooms and multiple people were trapped inside.
The fire killed Brandy Phillippe, 44, and seriously injured two others. The woman who Zimmerman threatened was not injured.
An autopsy completed May 9 determined Phillippe’s cause of death as smoke inhalation. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Several witnesses from the address told investigators Zimmerman started the fires after an argument with a woman who was living in the attic.
Zimmerman, who police initially identified as a person of interest, was arrested at his Lewistown home about two hours after the blaze for an unrelated warrant.
One of the people who safely made it out of the home told police he heard Zimmerman arguing with the woman upstairs. About five minutes later, the witness said he smelled smoke.
As that witness ran out of the front door, he saw Zimmerman walking away from the building. Surveillance footage from the area later corroborated those events, police said.
Officers then spoke with the woman Zimmerman was there to see.
She said she refused to open her door for Zimmerman as he professed his love to her, which led to an argument.
A person living downstairs said he heard Zimmerman say, “I don’t give a [expletive]. I don’t give a [expletive] watch, I’ll take ‘em all out, watch this, [expletive] this,” police said.
During an interview hours after the fire, Zimmerman said he did not recall setting the fires and said he was feeling emotional and desperate, police said.
On Tuesday, police interviewed Zimmerman again.
This time, Zimmerman admitted to starting multiple fires throughout the home’s downstairs. He explained how he used a lighter to set a piece of clothing on fire near the home’s laundry room, police said.
Zimmerman said he didn’t think the laundry room fire was burning, so he went to the kitchen and set fire to papers in the garbage, police said.
As he walked through the dining room, he stopped and lit the tablecloth on fire before leaving through the front door, said charging documents.
The State Police Fire Marshal said fires were lit in the laundry room and kitchen after determining the cause as arson.
Several residents from the home tossed the garbage can into the street in an effort to stop the spreading flames.
One of the people injured in the blaze said he jumped from the second floor after going back inside to find his girlfriend, Phillippe. He was flown to a hospital for burns to his face and smoke inhalation.
The other person injured, a woman, was seen hanging from a second-floor window, according to police.
Despite heavy flames and thick smoke, the woman who was hanging refused to jump to the officers. Police believe she lost consciousness due to smoke inhalation and fell onto a concrete sidewalk, suffering serious internal injuries.
Zimmerman is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated arson resulting in death and arson resulting in death.
He is also charged with seven counts each of the following: aggravated arson, arson and recklessly endangering another person. Other felony offenses filed against Zimmerman include causing catastrophe, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief and aggravated assault.
Zimmerman, who is being held at the Mifflin County Prison with his bail denied, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 20.
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