Virginia and Roger Houck
Prosecutors seek death penalty in Palmer Township double killing that they say included torture
By Riley Yates
Morning Call
Northampton County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged with the arson killings of a 97-year-old bedridden woman and her son in Palmer Township.
Authorities say Drew A. Rose, 38, of Bethlehem, needed rent money last year when he hatched a plot to rob the ailing Virginia Houck at her home. He is accused of strangling her 61-year-old son, Roger Houck, then returning hours later and burning her alive in a blaze that destroyed the house.
On Friday, Rose was arraigned by Judge Jennifer Sletvold on charges that include homicide, arson, robbery and abuse of a corpse. Prosecutors formally notified Rose that they will seek his execution if he is convicted of premeditated murder.
Pennsylvania allows the death penalty in cases of first-degree murder with at least one of 18 aggravating circumstances. Rose’s notice cites several of those factors, saying he had multiple victims and killed in commission of several felonies. With Virginia Houck, prosecutors also say the way she died amounted to torture, and that Rose killed her because she was a witness to her son’s slaying.
“There was as many aggravating circumstances in this case as I’ve seen,” said District Attorney Terry Houck, who is not related to the victims.
Defense attorney Matthew Potts declined to comment after the hearing.
Rose was arrested after a seven-month investigation hampered by the extensive damage that the Jan. 4, 2019, fire dealt to Virginia Houck’s Stephens Street house. Police said Rose is the son of a former caretaker of Virginia
Houck, didn’t have money for his rent, and knew the elderly woman was often at home alone.
After the blaze, the Houcks’ bodies were discovered severely burned and unrecognizable in the basement. Virginia Houck was bound at the head and died of smoke inhalation and burns, authorities said. Roger Houck, a Boeing employee who was visiting from Seattle, was bound at the feet.
Rose was charged after his now ex-girlfriend, Amanda Rouselle, told authorities that he admitted to the killings after she confronted him with suspicions that he was involved, according to the arrest affidavit.
Rose allegedly confessed to Rouselle that he strangled Roger Houck in the afternoon of Jan. 3, 2019, then returned to the home and set it on fire, killing Virginia Houck, police said.
https://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc...vdq-story.html
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