Ex-con to be tried in killing of two women in Holmesburg

After 67-year-old Dollie Mae Evans was shot to death, neighbors recalled the woman known as "Grandmom" as a kindly presence on her block in Holmesburg.

That was one face. But the one that got Evans and 57-year-old roommate Ruby April Thomas killed, according to court testimony Tuesday, was that of a woman who sold crack cocaine from her house in the 4700 block of Vista Street.

It was the lure of the cash and drugs that Evans purportedly kept in her purse that allegedly tempted her 25-year-old ex-con boarder, James Mears, and another man on Aug. 23 to stage a robbery that ended in two slayings.

Mears was held for trial on two counts of murder after a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan.

Defense attorneys Helen Levin and Stephen B. Gross argued unsuccessfully that Mears should not face trial on first-degree murder because he was not the shooter.

The only evidence introduced against Mears by Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy was Mears' Aug. 26 statement to homicide investigators, which Detective James Crone read aloud.

Conroy said Mears had lived with Evans about 21/2 months after he was paroled from prison on a 2010 gun conviction and then absconded from a halfway house.

While living with Evans, Mears took turns selling drugs with her grandson, Conroy said.

Mears at first said he knew nothing about the killings and denied being present when they happened.

But when confronted with cellphone records of calls between him and another man, Mears' statement said he agreed to let that man enter the Vista Street rowhouse on Aug. 23 to rob Evans. Mears said he would pose as a victim, and later he and the other man, who Mears identified as "Mann," would split the proceeds.

According to Mears' statement, Mann shot Evans in the back of the head and then went upstairs. Mears said he heard sounds of a struggle and a gunshot. Thomas was found with an electrical cord wrapped tightly around her neck and was shot in the head.

Conroy said the person known as "Mann" has been identified but has not been charged. The investigation into the slayings, however, is continuing, Conroy said.

Mears told detectives that Mann left the house with about $700 cash and $500 in drugs, and said they would meet in a week to divide the spoils.

Mears, however, said he feared being arrested, and called Mann and asked to meet Aug. 24 at the Frankford Transportation Center, but was arrested before the meet could happen.