Trial ordered in strangulation murder of woman

Trial ordered in strangulation murder of woman

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A man has been ordered to stand trial in the strangulation death of his girlfriend, whose burned body was found by firefighters battling a roadside brush fire last month.

Twenty-four-year-old Anthony Darrell Heath of Allentown is charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse and related counts in the death of 35-year-old Angela Steigerwalt of Tamaqua.

A state police trooper testified Tuesday in Lehigh County Court that Heath said he had been having an affair with Steigerwalt, whose body was found in Carbon County on Feb. 1 off a wooded road by Jim Thorpe firefighters.

The trooper testified that Heath said he killed the victim with a television set electrical cord because he thought she was reneging on a promise to take him to a custody hearing.