HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pennsylvania – Heather Jean Evans, 45, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, accepted a plea bargain in regards to a 2022 house fire in Altoona that led to the death of Mark Stewart, a 75-year-old man. Evans’s identity as a “white Witch,” along with several items linked to Witchcraft and the occult, were significant features in both the police investigation of the incident and subsequent media coverage.
The plea bargain, as reported by the Altoona Mirror, involves guilty pleas on “single felony counts of third-degree murder, aggravated arson, burglary and criminal mischief; two felony counts each of arson and aggravated assault; three felony counts of causing catastrophe; single misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and possession of an instrument of crime with intent; and two misdemeanor counts each of criminal mischief and recklessly endangering another person.” 13 other charges were dismissed.
The charges will result in 20 to 40 years of imprisonment and another 20 years of supervision.
Heather Jean Evans [Blair County Prison]
The house fire took place on February 15th, 2022. Evan’s son Seth Matthews, was on the scene of the fire when police and firefighters arrived, after having escaped through a second-floor window. The fire was initially too intense for the first responders to enter; several firefighters were ultimately injured putting out the blaze. Stewart was eventually found deceased in a back bedroom with burns over 75% of his body. His cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
Evans initially denied having anything to do with the cause of the fire, though Matthews said they were in the house prior to the incident.
The next day, there was another fire about a mile away from the first, in a chicken coop behind a vacant home. Police found a note at the scene that read “Depart from me and my loved one ye cursed into everlasting fire.” The note also contained a pentagram. Evans was questioned about this second fire and said she had been in the area but had only heard about it.
About a month later, on March 20th, there was a third fire in the area, this time in a garage in a vacant home. This fire contained a note like the one found at the chicken coop fire. There was also a piece of wood present with “Egyptian” writing that was “meant to help people pass over to the afterlife,” according to the lead investigator on the case, Altoona Detective Eric J. Heuston.
Investigators used evidence from the chicken coop and garage fires to tie Evans to the initial house fire, which they claim had been set at the bottom of a stairwell using some kind of petroleum-based chemical, according to WJAC Channel 6 News.
Evans’s identity as a Witch has been a major part of the investigation and reporting of the incident. Matthews, Evans’s son, testified that Evans believed in Witchcraft and had written symbols on the walls of the basement in the home where Stewart perished. She also told Matthews she was “going to hell” prior to the fire.
In February 2023, Evans admitted that she had been homeless, had not been using her psychiatric medications, and had been using methamphetamine. She admitted to setting the chicken coop and garage fires, and claimed the messages left behind were “part of her being a white Witch.”
The goddess Isis [Public Domain]
Evans also claimed that methamphetamine caused her to hallucinate “into believing that she was the Egyptian goddess Isis and had a son named Seth,” according to the police affidavit. (Evans’s son is named Seth, but Seth is also a name of the Egyptian god Set; it is unclear whether Evans hallucinated that her son was in some way the deity.)
Evans also claims that she sometimes “loses track of time” and has other hallucinations, such as bugs crawling on her skin, while using drugs.
Ultimately, police used Evans’s “digital footprint” and messages from her cell phone to show that she had been in the area during the fires, along with information from interviews and physical evidence.
Blair’s charges had been stayed pending her competency to stand trial while she underwent psychiatric treatment. The plea deal requires that Evans attend further psychiatric treatment while serving her sentence.
Evans’s “white Witch” descriptor – along with her hallucination of being an “Egyptian goddess” has appeared in many headlines about the story, both in traditional local news sources like the Mirror and WJAC and in more lurid aggregators like TrueCrimeNews.
It is unclear whether Evans had any ties to a Pagan or Witch community.
During the plea hearing, the judge, Jackie Bernard, asked Evans if she could explain what had happened to cause the fatal fire in 2022. Evans could not offer one. When Bernard then asked what measures could prevent future incidents, Evans simply said that she would take her medications.
The Wild Hunt is not responsible for links to external content.
To join a conversation on this post:
Visit our The Wild Hunt subreddit! Point your favorite browser to https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Wild_Hunt_News/, then click “JOIN”. Make sure to click the bell, too, to be notified of new articles posted to our subreddit.