A Bucks County man has been charged with murder after the body of his 72-year-old mother was found bullet-ridden inside a Frankford shed.
Prosecutors allege Sean Rivera, 28, drugged his mother, Carol Clark, with fentanyl Saturday night at their Falls Township home before driving her to the 4300 block of Waln Street in Philadelphia.
Inside a shed near the back of the property – a historic Quaker meeting house – he shot her several times and used a recently purchased padlock to seal the door, according to authorities.
Clark, who recently had a stroke and used a wheelchair, was discovered early Monday morning when police, equipped with a key from Rivera, opened the shed, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.
In addition to murder, Rivera was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and a host of other crimes, and he is being held without bail. Information on his legal representation was not available Monday.
Rivera texted “911” to his brother, Adam Clark-Valle, Sunday morning, and, when Clark-Valle called, Rivera said their mother had passed away, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Clark-Valle rushed to the Falls Township house where Clark and Rivera lived, and Rivera reported that their mother had a heart attack and was hospitalized in Frankford, investigators said. But Clark-Valle contacted local hospitals and found no record of his mother, the complaint said.
Police responded to the Bucks County home around lunchtime Sunday, when the dispute between the brothers over Clark’s whereabouts escalated, according to court documents.
Later Sunday, officers executed a search warrant on the home, in the Morrisville section of the township, and discovered two handguns in a dresser drawer, the complaint said.
On the ground was a plastic Home Depot bag with a receipt for two padlocks, according to authorities. One of the boxes was empty, according to court documents.
Rivera then admitted to detectives that he had slipped fentanyl in Clark’s ice tea Saturday after picking up food from a Chinese takeout for their dinner, authorities said.
Early Sunday morning – Easter and Clark’s birthday – Rivera wheeled Clark, who he said was conscious but lethargic, to her vehicle and drove about 20 miles to Frankford, according to police.
He allegedly took her to Unity and Waln streets, home of a behavioral health center and the Unity Street Friends Meeting House, a house of worship dating to the 1700s. A woman named Carol Clark is listed as the meeting’s clerk on the website of the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, a citywide Quaker organization.
Bucks County investigators arrived at the property early Monday and found Clark’s body covered in a blue tarp inside the shed, the complaint said. Detectives also recovered a projectile and spent shell casing in the area, according to authorities.
