A Philadelphia man was convicted of first-degree murder for starting a 2022 blaze that killed a paraplegic 20-year-old woman in Darby Township.
Aaron C. Clark, 33, of the 1100 block of South 60th Street, was also found guilty of four counts each of attempted murder and aggravated assault for the other inhabitants of the house, as well as one count each of arson, strangulation, stalking and resisting arrest.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning a verdict finding Clark guilty on all charges for the fire that killed Olivia Drasher inside her home on the 600 block of Sharon Avenue on Dec. 4, 2022.
Jurors heard from the victim’s sister and Clark’s ex-girlfriend, Amira Rogers, who said they had worked together for a few years at the U.S. Postal Service Center at 7300 Lindbergh Blvd. in Philadelphia before they began dating in February 2022.
She said he assaulted her in October and then again the morning of Dec. 3, 2022. Rogers said she learned that morning that Clark was still talking to an ex-girlfriend. She said she told him it was over and he put his hands around her neck, squeezing until she couldn’t breathe.
“I felt terrified because I didn’t know if he was going to stop,” she said.
Rogers told Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher that she pleaded with Clark and he did release her, then told her to pick him up for a haircut before taking him to work.
Rogers said Clark did not have a car and she usually drove them both to work together for the 12-8 shift.
After leaving his residence, Rogers said Clark began blowing up her phone with texts and calls, but she ignored him. She did not pick him up for work that day and he continued to harass her, she said.
Clark, represented by defense counsel Michael Dugan, called Rogers more than 200 times that day, rendering her phone unusable.
Rogers said Clark also texted her numerous times beginning at 11:09 a.m. asking where she was, then proceeded to send her images of her own nude photos, stating that he was going to use them to make Instagram and Twitter accounts, then invite her friends and co-workers to befriend the accounts.
She said he actually did make one Instagram account that she later located and reported, and that other friends had also reported it. She believed it was taken down.
Rogers said she tried to file a report against Clark with Sharon Hill police Dec. 3, but learned the address was actually in Darby Township, so fielded the report with that department instead.
She also reported Clark at work for harassment. Rogers said she spent a couple of hours at work, then asked to switch to night shift. She was given the rest of day shift off and later advised that her switch had been approved.
Fateful night
She was escorted to her car and went home where she confided in her mother what was going on, then returned to work at about 8 p.m.
The calls and texts continued unabated, she said. At 8:58 p.m. Clark texted, “Pick up before I’ll do something crazy” and then at 9:17 p.m. Clark texted her, “Hope you don’t miss the show.”
Jurors heard from experts who placed Clark near the scene between 9 p.m. and midnight that day based on cellphone data. A neighbor had also placed Clark at the scene and calls to Rogers stopped right around midnight.
Jurors heard two 911 calls at 12:12 a.m. from two different passersby who reported the front of the single-unit home was on fire. One alerted dispatch that there were people inside.
Also testifying was one of the first officers on scene, then-Sharon Hill Officer Ruben Pagan-Rodriguez, who now works in Plymouth Township.
Pagan-Rodriguez said he got the dispatch at 12:13 a.m. and arrived on scene within two minutes to find the entire front of the house covered in flames. He hopped a fence to the rear yard and went in the back door, finding a person inside the house.
Pagan-Rodriguez said that person told him another was still inside toward the front of the building. He said he tried to re-enter the home but could not go more than a few feet because of the intense heat and smoke filling the house.
The victim’s mother, twin sister and longtime nurse were able to make it out alive. Pagan-Rodriguez said Amira Rogers was also on the scene at some point and that she was speaking on a phone with a male. He said that she indicated “it’s him” while pointing to the phone.
Pagan-Rodriguez said he recognized Amira Rogers because she had tried to report her boyfriend to him for domestic violence earlier that same shift. He was the one who had directed her to Darby Township instead.
Rogers said she spoke to detectives in the early morning hours of Dec. 4 and coordinated a meet-up with Clark while they were listening. She said she stayed on the phone with Clark until his arrest at about 6 a.m.
Rogers also read from additional texts she had received from Clark after that time, beginning with one that read, “I thought you really loved me” at 6:33 a.m., followed by three more until 7:53 a.m.
Gallaher said Rogers alerted police to the incoming texts but Clark at that point had already been searched and had his phone taken away. Officers strip-searched him an found he had an Apple watch hidden in his rectum that he was using to continue harassing Rogers, Gallaher said.
She said he fought and spit at police as they searched him.
Cause of death
Jurors also heard from Delaware County Medical Examiner Dr. Albert Chu, who performed a forensic review of the original autopsy.
Chu found Drasher was killed by smoke inhalation and that the manner of death was homicide due to the arson.
Chu noted Drasher’s body was badly burned in the fire, but her trachea had evidence of soot, indicating he was still alive and breathing in smoke while the fire was going.
Additional investigation with X-rays did not show any other potential causes such as bullets, Chu said. A toxicology report likewise only showed the presence of a prescribed medication in a non-lethal dosage.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 23 before Common Pleas Court Judge Deborah Krull.