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BEDFORD – A Duncansville woman accused of assault and of hiring a man to burn down her estranged wife’s home was found guilty by a Bedford County jury Thursday.
After four days of testimony and just over an hour of deliberations, the jury returned to the courtroom and pronounced Heather Ann Dibert, 45, guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and criminal solicitation of first-degree murder. In the Blair County case of assault, which was coupled with the Bedford County arson case, Dibert was found guilty of disorderly conduct, unlawful restraint, simple assault and terroristic threats. Dibert was found not guilty of simple assault.
After the verdict, President Judge Travis Livengood set sentencing for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 12 and revoked Dibert’s $1 million bail. Shortly after Dibert was taken from the courtroom, she could be heard yelling in a nearby holding area.
The prosecution during the trial centered on Dibert’s controlling personality, with the victim reporting she was not allowed to leave their shared residence in East Freedom. The victim testified that she wrote a letter to her father over a lengthy period of time, then put the letter in her shoe until she had the opportunity to mail it.
Once her father received the letter in October 2023, he turned it into the Freedom Township police.
Freedom Township Police Sgt. Nathan Claycomb testified that the victim’s father turned the letter in, leading Claycomb to visit Dibert at the couple’s residence in East Freedom, where he conducted a welfare check. He later took the victim to the police station for more information.
The Blair County charges were brought against Dibert when the father and victim left the police station to enter the father’s vehicle.
Claycomb said Dibert blocked the car while Dibert’s mother parked her car behind her daughter’s vehicle.
Dibert screamed at the top of her lungs, “are you leaving” and “don’t leave with your father,” the victim’s father testified.
Dibert then threatened the victim that if she left with her father, “I’m killing you and your children.”
Claycomb was seen arresting Dibert against the father’s car in a video shown to the jury.
The Bedford County charges were filed after a lengthy investigation into a fire – deemed arson – at the father’s home along Tulls Hill Road, Napier Township, where the victim was living with her family.
On Oct. 28, 2023, the victim’s stepmother was watching a movie when she heard a loud noise outside and noticed flickering light on the ceiling.
She woke up her husband, who used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames while she called 911. The fire damaged children’s toys and some of the home’s exterior. No one was injured.
The prosecution also brought the accused arsonist – 36-year-old Zachary A. Sellers – who testified that Dibert paid him to set the fire.
Defense attorney Mark Zearfaus had Dibert take the stand Wednesday, where she said everyone who testified against her was lying.
Before the jury was given the case Thursday morning, multiple charges against Dibert in the arson case were dropped by Livengood, who said solicitation and conspiracy charges with the same object crime were a “legal impossibility.”
During closing remarks, Zearfaus asked the jury not to find Dibert guilty of the remaining charges, citing insufficient evidence.
When Dibert followed her estranged wife to the East Freedom police station, Zearfaus said it was because Claycomb lied to Dibert when the victim was taken from their shared home.
Zearfaus also told the jury that the victim appeared to have no visible injuries when the victim was taken from Dibert in October 2023, which proves Dibert was not guilty of simple assault.
As for the arson case, Zearfaus said the prosecution team created a “hoax” by luring Sellers on the witness stand to confess to setting the fire.
In his testimony, Sellers said he was not offered a plea deal for his testimony, but Zearfaus pointed out to the jury that the prosecutors “shook their heads no” to make sure Sellers did not confess to a secret agreement.
For the criminal solicitation of criminal homicide charge, Zearfaus said Sellers did not cause any “bodily harm” to the family when he started the fire.
Zearfaus said “the DA wants you to accept their lying witnesses,” stating that Dibert’s actions have not been “proven beyond reasonable doubt.”
Representing the Commonwealth, Assistant District Attorney Megan Will said the victim testified against Dibert for “domestic abuse, control, manipulation and a premeditated plan to hurt her.”
The victim “didn’t care what happened to her, but she cared about her family and kids,” Will told the jury.
Will said she was “so glad” the jury saw Dibert testify Wednesday as Dibert “lost her composure and got out of her chair” while on the stand.
“No wonder (the victim) hid the letter in her shoe,” Will pointed out to the jury, adding Dibert provided conflicting evidence concerning her whereabouts the night of the fire, blocked her phone number while calling UPMC and purchased lighter fluid. Will told the jury that they should find Dibert guilty of all charges.
Following the conviction, Will said that the District Attorney’s office was “grateful the jury found Dibert guilty of the pain and suffering she inflicted on the victim and the victim’s family.”
Zearfaus said the verdict was decided quickly, and he was “disappointed” at the verdict of criminal solicitation of first-degree murder since there was “not enough evidence that would show intent to kill.”
The defense “fought charges the whole way through,” he said.
Dibert turned down a plea deal before the trial began, Zearfaus said.
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.