MORRISVILLE, Pa. — A 28-year-old Bucks County man has been charged with lacing his mother's drink with fentanyl and driving her to Philadelphia, where he shot and killed her, the county's district attorney announced Monday.
Sean Rivera, of Morrisville, left the body of his 72-year-old mother, Carol J. Clark, in a shed, Bucks County DA Matthew D. Weintraub said in a press release.
Clark's body was found overnight, and she was pronounced dead early this morning.
Rivera is charged with criminal homicide, kidnapping to facilitate a felony, kidnapping to inflict terror or injury, aggravated assault, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of the instrument of crime, possession of a weapon, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint, and recklessly endangering another person, according to Weintraub.
Rivera was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Jan Vislosky and was remanded to Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.
Authorities began investigating Sunday afternoon after police responded to a reported domestic disturbance between Rivera and his brother, regarding the location of their mother.
During the investigation, detectives learned Rivera lived with his mother on the 500 block of Berwyn Road.
On Sunday morning, Rivera informed his brother, who lives in New York, that their mother had died. When the brother arrived, Rivera would not say where their mother was.
The Falls Township Police Department put out an alert, asking the public to help them locate Clark. Detectives later obtained warrants to search the home and the victim’s vehicle, locating two firearms, as well as a Home Depot receipt, a padlock, and an empty padlock package. A set of bolt cutters was found inside the victim’s vehicle, according to investigators.
The investigation concluded that Rivera diluted fentanyl in his mother’s iced tea sometime Saturday night. With his mother in a conscious but lethargic state, he placed her in her vehicle and drove her to the shed in the 4300 block of Waln Street in Philadelphia sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. Sunday.
There, investigators claim, he used the bolt cutters to cut off any padlocks, placed his mother inside and then shot her multiple times. He then closed the shed and locked it with one of the padlocks he had purchased.
The shed was opened with a key recovered from the defendant, and Clark's body was found inside.
This case was investigated by Detectives from the Falls Township Police Department and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department, Homicide Unit.
