[S]T. JOHNSBURY – Allen Draper is being held without bail after police say he used a metal radiator pipe to strike a man over the head in a robbery that turned into murder as he then doused the man’s home with fuel before igniting it.
That set off a blaze that left the man dead, his residence a burned pile of rubble, and an investigation that ran several days before Draper’s arrest this week on a slew of charges, including first-degree arson and first-degree murder.
When questioned in the case, police say, Draper, 30, who had been living in a halfway house in St. Johnsbury and was on furlough, initially pointed the finger of blame at others for killing 52-year-old Timothy Persons on the night of May 15.
A court document made public Tuesday reveals new details into the police investigation, but provides little connection between the two men other than that Draper lived at the halfway house where Persons spent his free time helping out.
Persons is described in the document as “a contractor by trade who would often volunteer his time to the Covered Bridge Therapeutic Community Center,” where Draper had been residing.
The Pearl Street facility, according the affidavit, is a housing facility for men dealing with substance abuse and addiction.
Vermont State Police Capt. Dan Trudeau described the two men as “acquaintances” through the facility.
David Piers, described in the filing as the center’s supervisor, told police the last time he saw Persons was on Sunday, May 13, two days before the fatal fire.
Piers added that Persons volunteered his time at the facility and would routinely take people from the center to a church on Sundays and bring them back after services, according to the affidavit.
Piers could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The Rev. Clifton Bullock of Union Baptist Church in St. Johnsbury said Persons was a member of the church, and an active volunteer at the Covered Bridge facility.
“He was a very caring and generous man who spent a lot of time giving a hand to those who needed an extra hand in life,” Bullock said Tuesday evening. “He spent time working with people to help reintegrate them into society. Instead of spending time on himself, he spent time helping other people.”
Persons, as a carpenter, served as a mentor and taught carpentry skills to many of the men at the center, Bullock said.
“He encouraged people to learn and to become the people God intended them to be,” the reverend added.
Bullock said he recalled seeing a smiling Persons on Sunday, May 13, at a church service, two days before the fatal fire.
“He had those big hands of his and he was always reaching to give a handshake and sometimes they’d swallow up your hand when he gave you a handshake,” Bullock recalled of Persons.
While Draper made his initial appearance in Caledonia County Superior criminal court Tuesday afternoon, he did not address the judge.
A police affidavit supporting the charges against him, which became public following the arraignment, included statements Draper provided to investigators in the days leading up to his arrest.
In the latest version of events, according to that affidavit, Draper admitted to killing Persons.
“Draper described the pipe he hit Persons with was an old radiator pipe with an elbow at one end,” Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Potter wrote in an affidavit filed in court Tuesday.
Persons then fell to the ground after being struck, Draper told police.
Just prior to hitting him with the pipe, Draper said he asked to borrow money from Persons, but the man refused.
“Draper described lifting the pipe in a more threatening manner, and asked again to borrow money from Persons,” Potter wrote.
Again, Draper said, Persons refused, according to the affidavit.
“In response,” the trooper wrote, “Draper struck Persons in the back of the head with the pipe as Persons was turning away from him.”
Draper told police he then went through Persons’ clothing in search of money.
“Draper advised Persons did not have any cash in his pockets, only checks, he did not end up stealing anything from Persons’ residence,” the sergeant wrote.
But before he left Persons’ home, Draper said he torched it, using old fuel and a long lighter he found in the garage, the affidavit stated.
Authorities said they were notified of the deadly blaze after receiving “multiple emergency 911 phone calls” reporting a structure fire at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Persons’ home at 319 Crepeault Hill Road, a steep and winding dirt road on the outskirts of town.
Arriving on the scene, the whereabouts of the homeowner, Persons, who lived there alone, was not known, Potter wrote in the affidavit, and one of his two vehicles was missing, a green 2005 Dodge Caravan.
State police investigators later called to the fire scene discovered Persons’ body inside a garage portion of the home, the affidavit stated.
An autopsy later revealed that Persons died of blunt force trauma to his head and smoke inhalation, and his death was ruled suspicious, court records stated.
On the morning of Thursday, May 17, police say, they found Persons’ van parked at the Covered Bridge facility.
Piers told police that the vehicle had been parked there since the evening before, and that nobody had told him they had left the vehicle there or dropped it off, according to the affidavit. Draper gave varying accounts of how the van ended up at the facility.
Police interviewed Draper over the next couple of days, each time he provided differing versions of events, including blaming two men known for collecting and selling scrap metal for killing Persons because he refused to give them some of the scrap metal he had in his yard.
Draper ultimately provided police with a version stating that he rode his bicycle from the Pearl Street facility to Persons’ residence late on the night of May 15, according to the affidavit.
Draper said he when he got to the residence, Persons was in the garage, Potter wrote. Draper added that as he entered the garage he grabbed a heavy pipe, keeping it at his side, hidden from Persons, the affidavit stated.
That’s when Persons refused to give him any money and Draper said he struck him over the head with the pipe, the sergeant wrote in the filing.
“Draper said the reason for asking Persons to borrow money was because he was suffering cocaine withdrawal,” the affidavit stated.
The man who Draper described as his cocaine dealer lived outside of town, and denied to police that he ever planned to sell drugs to Draper.
On Monday, police executed a search warrant at the Covered Bridge facility, seizing several items, including Draper’s bicycle, according to the affidavit.
Draper pleaded not guilty Tuesday to several offenses, including charges of first-degree murder, arson, assault and robbery, and three counts of providing false information to police.
In addition, prosecutors charged Draper as a habitual offender, an enhancement due to his many previous convictions. Those previous convictions including three counts of violating abuse prevention orders and two counts of aggravated domestic assault, court records stated.
One of the allegations against him involved injuring a baby by shaking the infant, according to the many court records on file in his cases.
In a plea agreement reached in 2016, Draper pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated domestic assault and two counts of violating an abuse prevention order. He was sentenced as part of a plea deal to six months to 12 years in jail. The jail sentence was suspended, except 30 days.
Draper, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and gray sweatpants, walked into court Tuesday in shackles, aided by two crutches police say he uses as a result of a physical disability. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and was ordered held without bail
Draper’s attorney did not contest the prosecutor’s request to hold him without bail.
Caledonia County State’s Attorney Lisa Warren, the prosecutor, said in court that Draper was already being held in jail as a result of his furlough being revoked over the weekend. She said his maximum release date was in 2026.
Trudeau, of the state police, spoke to reporters after the hearing, described the investigation as having many “complex parts” to it, with investigators conducting “numerous interviews all over town.”
Both Trudeau and Warren referred specific questions to the affidavit, saying they didn’t want to comment beyond what information was contained in the filing.
Asked if he believed any other suspects may have helped Draper, Trudeau replied. “At this time we don’t know.”
He added the case remains under investigation.
“Any information from the public that we can vet is certainly helpful,” Trudeau said.
Bullock, the reverend, said Tuesday evening that Persons’ death shouldn’t discourage church members or any other community members from reaching out to help those in need.
“We have a message of life and hope and we want people to know that message,” he said. “A human being cannot live without hope.”
