A serial arsonist pleaded guilty to setting a blaze that killed his girlfriend’s father in Bucks County
Christopher Gillie's negotiated plea for first-degree murder spared him the death sentence that prosecutors had sought.
A Lackawanna County man who set a fire that killed his girlfriend’s elderly stepfather pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday, sparing him the death sentence that prosecutors had sought.
Christopher Gillie, 62, was sentenced to life in prison in the death of Julius Drelick, 81, after a hearing in Doylestown before Bucks County Judge Raymond McHugh. Gillie also pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the danger the fire presented to Drelick’s wife, Phyllis. He was sentenced to an additional 25 years to life on that charge.
McHugh, in handing down the sentence, offered his condolences to Drelick’s children, who were in the courtroom, telling them he wished he had the words to heal their pain. And he admonished Gillie for not only ruining his life, but also those of people who cared for him.
“I appreciate the fact that you pled guilty, but the pain and suffering you caused is immeasurable,” McHugh said. “In one night, you ruined all of these lives. I don’t know that this punishment is sufficient.”
Gillie’s attorney, Laura Riba, told McHugh that Gillie accepted responsibility for his crimes, and negotiated the plea to spare the Drelicks’ family from the ordeal of a public trial.
Choking back tears, Gillie turned to address the family and apologized for his actions.
“I don’t know if mere words can add up to an apology, but I am truly sorry,” he said. “It’s a shame that this all happened.”
In December 2021, Gillie, a serial arsonist with previous convictions in Bucks and Lackawanna Counties, drove from Dunmore to the Drelicks’ home in Buckingham Township, prosecutors said. He had been dating Drelick’s stepdaughter, Lisa King, for some time, and had recently had a falling-out with her mother during an earlier visit to their home.
After a night of heavy drinking, Gillie stole King’s car, broke into the home and set a series of small fires, according to Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber. He then fled, taking with him an antique rifle belonging to Drelick.
The couple awakened to the smell of smoke about 3 a.m. and attempted to flee the home, authorities said. Phyllis Drelick tried to reach the front door from the second-floor bedroom using an electric chair lift, but the fire cut off the home’s electricity, stranding her halfway, the arrest affidavit said. She was able to make her way down to the front door but could not send the chair back up for her husband, who later died from smoke inhalation and thermal burns.
After learning of the fire from her mother, King noticed that both Gillie and her car were missing, Furber said. She reported the vehicle stolen to police, and an officer from Dunmore pulled Gillie over not long after. There was a strong smell of gasoline emanating from him, investigators said, and he was carrying two lighters.
Additionally, beer cans scattered around the scene of the fire tested positive for Gillie’s DNA.
After the fire, Phyllis Drelick was never the same, her daughters said in evocative, emotional testimony at Tuesday’s hearing, and died of a stroke in April 2022. In the final months of her life, their mother fell into a deep depression, King and her sister, Donna Carr, wrote in a letter read by Furber, and even questioned her lifelong faith in God.
“She struggled with fighting the conflict of what she knew to be right, with what she felt in her heart,” the women wrote. “Her beautiful life was cut short by a selfish, self-serving monster.”
Prosecutors initially vowed to seek the death penalty against Gillie, but his willingness to admit to the crimes caused the office to reverse that decision, Furber said.
“This was the right thing to do for a number of reasons,” he said after the hearing. “And primarily among those for the family, to give them some closure sooner rather than later, with the least amount of pain that we could possibly assure them.”