Overview
- The blaze that tore through a multi-tenant Lewistown home late Wednesday left Brandy Phillippe, 44, dead and two residents badly injured.
- The Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal ruled the fire arson, and Lewistown police say witnesses placed Robert Shane Zimmerman, 40, at the house before it burned.
- Witnesses told police he professed love to a woman at the residence, became upset when rejected, set items on the first floor on fire, and later admitted starting the blaze while watching from a nearby alley.
- Police detained Zimmerman after noting he smelled of ash and smoke, took him to a hospital when he said he had ingested fentanyl, and questioned him after he was cleared by medical staff.
- Zimmerman is jailed at the Mifflin County Correctional Facility on arson charges as the coroner investigates Phillippe’s death as a homicide, and officials have not said whether she was the woman he had pursued.