CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against two western Pennsylvania men awaiting trial on charges they beat, strangled and sexually assaulted a woman they met in a bar, before pushing her nude body into a river.
According to Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE, Fayette County District Attorney Jack Heneks filed paperwork Thursday to pursue the penalty against 24-year-olds Paul Bannasch, of Hopwood, and Craig Rugg, of Connellsville.
Heneks said death is warranted because the men tortured 52-year-old Margaret "Peggy Sue" Kriek, and killed her in the course of committing other felonies, including kidnapping and sexual assault.
Police said Rugg told them the men killed Kriek shortly after she left a Connellsville bar with them early June 22, because she changed her mind about having sex with them.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.