Saltsburg man guilty of selling fatal batch of fentanyl-laced heroin

A Westmoreland County jury on Wednesday convicted the Indiana County man prosecutors said sold fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a 38-year-old mother in December 2016.

After more than five hours of deliberations jurors found Dylan Blair, 23, of Saltsburg guilty of a felony count of drug delivery resulting in death and two related drug offenses in connection with the death of Michelle Spillar. Spillar was found dead of an overdose in a Derry home the day after Christmas more than three years ago.

“We’re pleased with the verdict and believe the victim’s sons will take comfort in the jury’s verdict,” said Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar. Spillar, who had no fixed address, leaves behind three adult sons.

Blair, who has been in jail since his arrest five months after Spillar’s death, will remain behind bars as he awaits to be sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani.

Lazar said Blair faces up to 20 years in prison but will ask that he be sentenced under state guidelines to five years in custody.

Defense attorney Emily Smarto declined comment following the verdict.

Prosecutors during the three-day trial said Blair sold Spillar the fatal doses of drugs on Christmas Eve. An eyewitness to the sale was a friend of one of Spillar’s sons who testified he watched as she paid Blair for what he believed to be drugs similar to what he had bought for himself hours earlier.

Tyler Klapchar, 25, said 11 packets of what he believed to be heroin from Blair for $100. Those tiny bags were marked with a stamp that read “Head Games” and a picture of a skull and soccer ball, he told jurors. One empty and two full stamp bags with the same markings were discovered near Spillar’s body, according to the prosecution.

Lazar, in his closing argument to jurors, said Klapchar’s testimony was to be believed.

“He took the same drugs she did, and he overdosed two times. The only difference is he had people with him and she didn’t,” Lazar argued.

The defense presented no evidence during the trial and Blair did not testify.

Smarto argued the prosecution’s case against Blair was based on a faulty police investigation. She contended that Klapchar was unreliable witness who lied during his testimony in exchange to have pending drug and theft charges dismissed.

Smarto criticized investigators for failing to test drug paraphernalia found near Spillar’s body, not challenging statements from Klapchar and seeking other potential sources of the drugs blamed on the fatal overdose.

The defense also contended Spillar died from a mix of drugs.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht testified Wednesday morning that small amounts of a prescription anti-depressant as well as Tylenol and Benadryl were found in Spillar’s blood during her autopsy in addition to a lethal level of fentanyl.

None of the other drugs could have caused Spillar’s death, Wecht said.

“I believe Ms. Spillar died as a result of fentanyl even in the absence of all the other drugs,” Wecht said. “She would not have died with the absence of fentanyl.”