Evans

The Altoona woman and self-proclaimed “white witch” — charged with igniting a fire last February that killed 75-year-old Mark Stewart and nearly killed her own son who lived in the Stewart home — has been incarcerated in the Blair County Prison without bail.

As Altoona police wrapped up their lengthy investigation of the Feb. 15, 2022, fire at 118 E. Fifth Ave., Detective Eric J. Heuston asked suspect Heather Jean Evans, 43, if she caused the fire.

Her answer was, “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t do anything like that. … I’ve never done anything like that.”

But she admitted that during February 2022 she was homeless and a methamphetamine addict.

According to the police affidavit of probable cause, the drug, she said, made her “hyper,” causing her to draw and clean.

It was a period of time in which she said she suffered from “hallucinations and believed bugs were crawling on her,” she stated.

The documents used in her arrest also quoted her as saying, “she hallucinated into believing that she was the Egyptian goddess Isis and had a son named Seth.”

Also during February 2022, Evan said she was homeless — that she was living in an

abandoned garage near Prospect Pool.

While she claimed homelessness, the police affidavit said that just before the fire broke out in the early evening hours, she went to the residence to change her boots for sneakers.

She said, however, she left the residence while her son and Stewart were in upstairs bedrooms.

At 6:24 p.m. police were notified of a fire at the East Fifth Avenue home, and at least eight officers, including Heuston, went to the scene.

People outside the residence said that Stewart was not accounted for.

The officers and a firefighter attempted to enter the residence through the front door but found the smoke too thick.

One of the men outside the residence when police arrived was Seth Matthews, Evans’ son.

He stated he was upstairs in his room and was unaware that a fire had started, but then he noticed smoke seeping under the door to his room.

He said he escaped via a second-floor window that opened onto the porch roof.

Matthews jumped off the roof.

When questioned by police, he said his mother (Evans) had been in the home about 20 minutes before the fire started. He reported that about 10 minutes before the fire, Stewart was in his second-floor room.

As the firefighters knocked down the fire, they were able to locate Stewart, deceased, in a back bedroom.

Three firefighters suffered injuries while fighting the blaze, according to the affidavit.

Second fire reported

The next day, Feb. 16, 2022, police were again dispatched to that section of the city (310 11th St.) to investigate a fire in a chicken coop behind a vacant home.

While going through the debris, officers found a note which said, “Depart from me and my loved one ye cursed into everlasting fire.”

Evans fit the description of an individual seen leaving the scene of that fire.

Based on information that Evans was in the area of two fires on consecutive days, police decided to return to the burned-out Stewart home.

Investigators took several pieces of wood from the area where the blaze started — at the bottom of the steps leading to the second floor. They also took samples of the wood from other areas of the home.

The ensuing lab report indicated “a heavy petroleum distillate” at the base of the stairway. The residue could have come from kerosene, diesel fuel or any of several brands of charcoal starter, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

A city fire inspector ruled at that time “the fire was intentionally started and not accidental.”

On Feb. 20, 2022, Evans was interviewed and said she was in the area at the time of the chicken coop blaze but had only heard about it.

On March 20, police were called to a third fire — at 410 Crawford Ave.

Someone had set a fire in the garage of a vacant home by lighting a pile of clothing in one spot and second grouping of combustibles that included cardboard, styrofoam and Christmas decorations.

A piece of wood was found that included another note like the one found at the chicken coop fire.

Investigation ramps up

Police at that point intensified their investigation into Evans’ possible involvement in all three fires.

They obtained a search warrant for her cellphone and her Google account and began to trace her steps using those devices.

Using forensic investigation techniques, investigators were able to determine that she was in the area of the Stewart home at the time of the fire. She had contended she didn’t know about the fire until contacted later that night by police.

They were also able to debunk an alibi she had given police — that she was at the home of a friend when the fire started.

The police affidavit concluded that “based on interviews and physical evidence” Evans was responsible for starting the fire at the base of the stairwell using “some form of accelerant trapping Stewart and Matthews on the second floor.”

Police concluded, “The defendant made no attempt to warn either (Stewart or Matthews) of the fire, nor contact 9-1-1, leaving both to perish in the fire.”

The investigation showed Evans remained near the Stewart home until Matthews was able to escape from the second floor. Then she left.

Notes linked

Police used the notes left at the chicken coop and garage fires to link her to them.

Evans has been charged with 30 offenses — both second-degree and third-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated arson, burglary, multiple counts of recklessly endangering another person, arson, risking a catastrophe, cruelty to animals (two of Stewart’s dogs suffered injuries in the fire) and criminal mischief.

Evans was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. DeAntonio on Wednesday morning.

Bail was denied due to safety concerns and due to the nature of the charges.

Altoona Police Chief Joseph Merrill characterized the fling of charges resulting from “just a long investigation.”

The investigation will continue, according to Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks, to determine if Evans had a history of starting fires.