Man faces trial in wife's death

The couple had been housesitting.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- A man accused of beating his wife and then burning down her parents' home with her body inside will go to trial.
A three-day preliminary hearing before District Justice Lawrence Silvis concluded Wednesday and Silvis ordered Scott Dunn of Slippery Rock, Pa., to be held for trial.
Dunn, 27, is accused of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and arson in his wife's Jan. 14 death.
Dunn is being held in Mercer County Jail without bond.
His wife, Brandon Dunn, 22, was found inside her parents' East Washington Boulevard burning home, several feet from the front door with a gas can near her head. An autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma. Court papers say she died before the fire was set.
Dunn initially told police he saw a blond man beating his wife and says he chased the man to some nearby railroad tracks.
Police said they could find no evidence of another man near the house.
The couple had lived in a trailer in Slippery Rock, Pa., and had been housesitting for her parents, John and Deborah Montgomery. The Montgomerys were in California.
Dunn was arrested and charged in April.
cioffi@vindy.com