Mother charged in fire death out on bail
Billie Jo Ohler left the Fayette County Prison Tuesday morning to await her sentencing for involuntary manslaughter related to the deaths of three young children jointly in her care. Ohler, 22, of Dunbar posted a bail bond of $35,000 at 10 percent, earlier this week by Judge Ralph C. Warman. Ohler’s fianc? posted the $3,500 bail in the Clerk of Courts office.
Ohler and Margie Povlik, 32, of Connellsville were convicted in September of three counts each of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children. The women left Ohler’s 8-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son and Povlik’s 3-year-old son alone in their shared Marion Villa Washington Township apartment.
The apartment caught fire on Dec. 14, 2000, and Rebecca Ohler, Gerald Younkin II and Tomas Long died as a result of the blaze. Ohler and Younkin were Ohler’s 8-month-old and 2-year-old; Long was Povlik’s 3-year-old.
The women were at a neighboring apartment looking for a cell phone that Povlik’s boyfriend took earlier that morning when the fire broke out. According to testimony at the trial, the women were gone between 10 and 20 minutes.
State police fire marshals have been unable to determine the cause of the fire, but know that it began in the living room near a sectional sofa. Police also ruled out electrical causes and accelerants, and believe an open flame started the fire.
A motion to release Ohler, filed by attorney Mark F. Morrison, indicated that Ohler has a 3-month-old daughter at home and a fianc?. Morrison also noted that Ohler was a second-semester student in Penn State Fayette’s school of nursing.
Both she and Povlik are scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 16 before Warman. They each could face a maximum of 15 to 30 years in prison on the manslaughter convictions.