Dibert

BEDFORD — New details in the case of a Duncansville woman allegedly offering a Lewistown man cash and drugs to kill her estranged wife and the woman’s family emerged during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

Heather Ann Dibert, 43, is facing 32 felony charges, including attempted solicitation – conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to aggravated arson – bodily injury and criminal solicitation to attempt, solicitation, conspiracy to commit murder.

The charges stem from an investigation into an Oct. 28 fire in Napier Township, Bedford County. A resident called police about 12:35 a.m. to report a small blaze on her side deck, according to police reports. Fire Marshal Stephen McGriffith, an expert in arson investigation, found the fire to be arson after a thorough inspection of the scene.

Zachery Sellers, who was allegedly solicited by Dibert to commit the murders, testified for the district attorney. Sellers said he had not been promised anything by the DA’s office and had no plea agreement forthcoming.

Sellers, 34, is facing 25 felony charges in relation to the case, including aggravated arson – person present inside property, aggravated arson – bodily injury and criminal attempt to aggravated assault – attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing, sending his charges to the court of common pleas. Unable to post $1 million bail, he remains in the Bedford County Correctional Facility.

Sellers said that he had known Dibert for years and that they had discussed “doing something” to Dibert’s estranged wife about two or three weeks before Oct. 28.

When Assistant District Attorney Douglas Keating asked why they had that discussion, Sellers said that Dibert told him the victim had taken Dibert’s dog.

“I told her I’d try to get her dog back,” Sellers said. “A couple days later, she called me and said they killed her dog. Well, she wanted (the victim) to pay. She wanted me to kill her.”

Sellers said that Dibert offered him seven balls of meth, seven balls of cocaine and $3,000 to do the job.

Keating then asked how Dibert wanted him to kill the victim, to which Sellers said Dibert wanted him to shoot her but he “couldn’t get a gun.”

“Then she wanted to burn her and, well, we tried that,” Sellers said.

Sellers detailed how he and his girlfriend, Jamie Beers, who is the third person charged in the case, met with Dibert at a gas station the night of the fire. He said Dibert drove them to the victim’s parents’ residence, where she was staying, before taking them back to the gas station.

Dibert then left for a strip club in Virginia “for an alibi” and to get his drugs, Sellers said.

Sellers said that he and Beers went to a state park to give Dibert “time to get to the strip club.” When Keating asked how much Beers knew about the plan, Sellers insisted that she “didn’t know the jist of it.”

Keating also questioned what plan Sellers and Dibert had agreed upon. Sellers said that Dibert wanted him to set the front and back doors on fire “so they wouldn’t have a way out” but “I didn’t do it that way.”

When driving up to the house, Sellers said that Beers noticed children were in the house so they called Dibert to tell her he wasn’t going through with it.

“She said they killed her baby so we had to kill their babies,” Sellers said.

Dibert then added a new vehicle to what Sellers would receive for killing the victim and her family, Sellers said.

Keating asked Sellers how he decided to set the fire and Sellers said that he stood at the edge of the woods with a plastic bottle that contained a small amount of gasoline, put a paper towel in the bottle, lit the paper towel, threw it at the side of the house, turned and ran to the waiting car with Beers inside.

Sellers said he was supposed to receive the money, drugs and vehicle the next morning but got nothing.

“(Dibert) just up and stopped messaging me,” Sellers said.

Keating questioned if Sellers was under the influence of any substances at the time of the incident that would affect his ability to accurately recall what had happened. Sellers admitted that he had meth in his system but that he could “still clearly remember.”

Upon redirect, Dibert’s attorney Mark Zearfaus asked Sellers how he had been connected to the case.

“From what the report said, (Dibert) told (the victim) that if (the victim) left her, (Dibert) would send me, Zachery Sellers, after her,” Sellers said.

The victim’s father and owner of the residence set on fire also testified, saying that on Oct. 18, 10 days before the incident, he received a letter from the victim reading “Dad, please come get me.”

He said he took the letter to the Freedom Township Police Department and officers told him they would perform a welfare check on the victim.

Officers removed the victim from Dibert’s residence for the victim’s safety and took her back to the police department, court documents show.

On Oct. 28, he said that he “luckily put the fire out” and, while his wife called the police, he tried to catch the perpetrator.

“I took a vehicle and tried to catch the person who set my house on fire,” he said, adding that he came up empty.

During cross examination, Zearfaus asked if he had seen someone take off in a specific direction or if he had just started randomly driving. The victim’s father explained that they lived on a road that “you wouldn’t be on unless you lived there,” so he thought “someone would be walking.”

McGriffith was the final person called to testify and said that the liquid found in the plastic bottle on the porch smelled like gasoline but testing hadn’t been completed. Zearfaus asked how large the bottle was but McGriffith said that the bottle had “warped down around the liquid and paper towel” so he wasn’t able to tell.

McGriffith’s ultimate determination from his inspection of the scene was that “the fire was knowingly lit by human hands.”

Neither defense nor prosecution offered closing arguments, with Zearfaus saying he was “saving ours for when the case is in court.”

Magisterial District Judge Tonya M. Osman bound all of Dibert’s charges to court.

Zearfaus asked Osman if Dibert’s bail of $1 million could be reduced closer to $100,000, calling the current amount “excessive.” Keating argued that the $1 million bail should be kept in place as “this is a heinous case.”

“Based on the evidence, the facts, the PFAs, her history, I am more inclined to deny bail altogether because I don’t believe that any amount would ensure compliance and protect the parties involved,” Osman said.

Osman denied Zearfaus’ request and left Dibert’s bail at $1 million. Unable to pay, Dibert was remanded to the Bedford County Correctional Facility.

The Bedford County courtroom was standing room only as more than just attorneys, security, court staff, media and witnesses filled the seats. Several people wearing purple shirts emblazoned with the name Fawn Marie Mountain sat in the last row to watch the proceedings.

Mountain, of Claysburg, was 25 and in a romantic relationship with Dibert when she went missing in late 2012, leaving behind three children. Her family believes that Dibert was involved with her disappearance and are hopeful that this new case will renew interest in finding out what happened to Mountain.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.