Men accused of strangling woman, dumping body in river
CONNELLSVILLE (AP) – Two men have been jailed on charges they strangled and sexually assaulted a woman they were seen with in a Southwestern Pennsylvania bar before dumping her body in a river.
Online court records don’t list attorneys for the 24-year-old suspects, Paul Bannasch, of Hopwood, and Craig Rugg, of Connellsville.
State police say the men were seen with 52-year-old Margaret Kriek at a bar in Connellsville late Friday and then in a parking lot nearby shortly after midnight, early Saturday.
Police contend the men beat and sexually assaulted Kriek, who was dead by the time she was thrown into the Youghiogheny River, where her naked body was found early Saturday afternoon.
The men remained in the Fayette County Prison without bond Monday and face a preliminary hearing Thursday.