Victims recount home invasion
BULLSKIN TWP. – Birds are perched on the utility wires above Rilla Drive and neighbors greet one another as they venture to their mailboxes. It wasn’t the content of what residents found tucked in the white and blue envelopes in the metal containers at the end of the driveways that concerned them on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. Instead, it was the events that took place Monday evening at a house just down the road.
Three men forced their way into Agnes and Mario DiMarco’s home, ransacked it and made off with money.
Agnes DiMarco said her family purchased the home nearly 30 years ago and have never had to call for police assistance.
On Tuesday, a wooden board stood next to the front door, and Mario DiMarco said he would be taking additional security measures.
“He’s mad that someone would come into his house and do something like this,” said Agnes DiMarco. “I’m scared. I couldn’t sleep.”
Agnes DiMarco was sitting in her comfortable blue recliner, watching the evening news, while her husband sat nearby. It is a nightly ritual for the two retired business owners to tune in to learn of national and international happenings.
Agnes DiMarco, 63, said they had just settled in when what she hoped would be a quiet evening turned into a frightening experience.
“I had just teased my husband about not buying me any candy for Valentine’s Day when there was a knock at the door,” she said. “I wasn’t feeling too good, so I asked him to answer it and I went into the kitchen.”
A man, holding what appeared to be shoebox, stood at the couple’s front entranceway.
“When my husband opened the door, the man asked if he was Mario DiMarco,” recalled Agnes DiMarco. “When he said ‘yes,’ the man pushed him back through the door and onto the floor.”
Noises from the subsequent struggle drew her back through the dining room into the living room, where she saw her husband being held on the floor by one masked man while two others, also with their faces covered, entered the home.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what they wanted,” said Agnes DiMarco.
She soon discovered the three were searching for money.
“They kept asking, ‘Where’s the money? Where’s the money?'” she said. “I tried to tell them that we didn’t have any money.”
As her husband was still being held on the floor, Agnes DiMarco offered a few dollars that were in her purse, but the three were not interested.
“The strong one holding my husband down started hitting him,” she said. “I told them to take the money I had set aside for my bills.
“I didn’t care. It was only money. I just wanted them to leave.”
The robbers tied the couple’s hands with duct tape, and then ransacked the house.
“They didn’t do a very good job,” said Agnes DiMarco. “I got mine off and starting hitting the one holding my husband down.”
Eventually, the three suspects left through a rear door.
The couple and state police believe that the men were seeking money to purchase drugs.
State police trooper James Pierce, the investigating officer, said police have made several drug-related arrests in the township.
“There is a lot of OxyContin, crack cocaine and heroin being sold and used,” said Pierce.
A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said she learned of the incident with the DiMarco’s from another resident.
“It’s so quiet around here,” she said. “We often talk about the poor people of Connellsville that are having so much trouble with fires. …We thought we were safe. I guess we aren’t.”
According to the unidentified woman, most residents have lived in the neighborhood for decades.
Pierce described the white males as being approximately 5 foot, 9 inches tall with small to medium builds. Two of the men were wearing dark jackets, while the third was wearing a lighter-colored jacket.
After leaving the residence, the three were seen following a path from the rear of the home to Breakneck Road, near the Gilmore Store.
Anyone with information is asked to call Pierce at 724-415-1012 or 724-439-7111.