Bucks County DA could seek death penalty in fatal Buckingham fire that killed 81-year-old man

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office has served notice that it may pursue the death penalty against a man who authorities say intentionally set a fire at his girlfriend's parents' Buckingham home, killing her elderly stepfather in December.

Christopher Gillie, 61, was formally arraigned on the charges Friday, and the DA filed notice of aggravating circumstances in the murder case against the man from Dunmore, Lackawanna County.

Julius Drelick, 81, died in the Dec. 5, 2021 fire on Private Drive, when he could not escape the blaze from his second-floor bedroom.

Gillie is charged with criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide, theft by unlawful taking, aggravated arson, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, persons not to possess firearms, two counts each of burglary and criminal trespassing and three counts of arson endangering persons.

DA Matthew Weintraub said three aggravating factors, if Gillie is convicted, could ultimately warrant the death penalty in the case, including that Gillie allegedly committed the murder during the commission of a felony; that he knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person in addition to the victim of the murder, and that he has a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to a person.

Gillie has three previous arson convictions, including one in Bucks County in 1992, and two in Lackawanna County, both of which happened in 2012. He was sentenced to 5 years, 9 months to 13 years and 4 months in state prison, followed by five years of probation, for the Lackawanna County cases. Prison records state he was released from prison in August 2018.

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Drelick's wife was able to escape by fleeing the burning home.

The Drelicks used a chair lift to get up and down the stairs, but the fire knocked out electricity in the home, so Julius Drelick was unable to use the lift to get down, authorities said.

Phyllis Drelick, a grandmother of three and great grandmother to four, stayed at the bottom of the stairs and called for her husband, who stopped responding shortly after, according to police.

The smoke then forced Phyllis Drelick outside. When police and fire crews arrived at the home, it was already well-involved.

"Even through the tree line, you could see the home was fully engulfed in flames from the rear," testified Buckingham Detective James Crusemire, who first responded to the scene, during a preliminary hearing last month.

The DA, in a news release Friday, said as part of the investigation, an accelerant detection K9 was brought to the scene and signaled three areas of the interior of a family room.

Hours after the December fire, Gillie was found in Drelick's stepdaughter's vehicle, in Dunmore, with a rifle that investigators believe was taken from Drelick's home before the arson, according to court documents.

The stepdaugther was Gillie's girlfriend. She would later testify about increasing tensions in her relationship over the care of the elderly couple.

Police said firefighters were called to the home about 3:15 a.m. Neighbors called after they were awoken by screams, police said.

Last month, District Judge Maggie Snow held the case over for trial. The preliminary hearing, attended by family members, in Buckingham was held just five days after Phyllis Drelick died.

Her death was unrelated to the arson fire in December, authorities said.

While Weintraub's office filed documents to reserve its rights to seek the death penalty, it is unlikely that Gillie would be put to death if convicted.

No one has been executed in Pennsylvania since 1999, according to the state Department of Corrections.

In 2015, Gov. Tom Wolf announced he would grant temporary reprieves for scheduled executions until he has received and reviewed a report from the Pennsylvania Task Force Advisory Commission on Capital Punishment, and there is an opportunity to address concerns satisfactorily, according to the DOC.

Staff writer Christopher Dornblaser contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County DA could seek death penalty in fatal Buckingham fire