Man to stand trial for Derry fatal overdose

A female inmate at the Indiana County jail testified Wednesday that an alleged drug dealer who sold a dose of fentynal-laced heroin that killed a Derry woman in December was worried whether he could be charged with murder after speaking with an investigator.

Ayla Binion, 28, said she was with Dylan C. Blair, 21, at a Saltsburg apartment several weeks ago when he received a telephone call from Westmoreland County Detective Randy Gardner informing him that he likely would be charged for selling the fatal batch of heroin that killed Michelle R. Spillar, 38. She was pronounced dead Dec. 26 at a home on West Fourth Street in Derry.

“There were a lot of people there when he got the call, and when he got off the phone he told us they were going to charge him for selling the drugs to a lady who had died,” Binion, of Saltsburg, testified. “He said, ‘I hope I don't get a murder charge.' ”

Derry District Judge Mark Bilik heard testimony from Binion, who said she is entering into a plea bargain on burglary and theft charges in Indiana; Gardner and Derry area resident Tyler Klapchar before ruling sufficient evidence exists for Blair — who has lived in Latrobe, Ligonier and Saltsburg, Indiana County — to stand trial for drug delivery resulting in death and three charges of delivery of a controlled substance.

Although Blair is not charged formally with murder, under the drug delivery resulting in death statute that state lawmakers amended in 2011 in response to a spike in fatal overdoses, he could face a penalty equal to third-degree murder, if convicted. The new law doubled the maximum penalty to 20 to 40 years in prison.

Gardner testified that when police discovered Spillar dead next to her bed, officers confiscated two full stamp bags of heroin and an empty bag marked “Head Games” as well as drug paraphernalia from the room where her body was found.

Gardner said forensic tests showed the stamp bags tested positive for significant amounts of fentanyl, a potent opioid.

He said Derry police, particularly Chief Randy Glick, assisted in the investigation and provided him with the name of another drug user who had stamp bags of heroin also marked “Head Games.”

That drug user said Blair sold him the drugs, Gardner said.

Bilik also heard testimony from Klapchar, who said he watched Spillar purchase the heroin from Blair in a Derry parking lot on Christmas Day.

Blair was arrested by Westmoreland County sheriff's deputies on May 23 in an Indiana County hotel room. Deputies discovered another man overdosed and unconscious in the bathroom of the Days Inn along Route 22 in Burrell, near Blairsville.

Blair is charged by state police in Indiana with possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia in that case and is awaiting a July 26 preliminary hearing on that case before District Judge Jennifer Rega in Blairsville. He is being held on $700,000 bond in the Westmoreland County Prison.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib.