Man to go on trial in slaying of sisters
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Trial is scheduled to open today in the Western Pennsylvania robbery and murder of two sisters of an Iowa state lawmaker two years ago.
Authorities in Allegheny County allege that 45-year-old Allen Wade killed Sarah Wolfe after she returned home to find Susan Wolfe already dead in February 2014. The women were the sisters of Democratic Iowa state Rep. Mary Wolfe.
The sisters were found dead in the basement after they didn’t show up for work. Sarah, 38, was a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and Susan, 44, a teacher’s aide at a private school. Both women were shot in the head but also were beaten.
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Wade is convicted of first-degree murder, citing the circumstances of the killings and the defendant’s criminal history.
Authorities have cited DNA evidence and surveillance videos they say link Wade, a next-door neighbor, to a pair of sweatpants found near Sarah Wolfe’s vehicle and to bank cards belonging to the victims.
Defense attorneys unsuccessfully challenged the DNA evidence and a software program that interprets such evidence using a statistical model, but the judge barred prosecutors from using two previous convictions that they maintained showed a pattern on the part of the defendant.
At the request of defense attorneys, Judge Edward Borkowski has issued a gag order barring lawyers or investigators from talking about the case outside of court.