A 25-year-old man was arraigned on a single count of criminal homicide Tuesday in connection with the stabbing death of a Kennedy Township man whose body was found Monday along the Montour Trail in Moon Township.
Anthony Quesen was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge James J. Hanley Jr., who denied Quesen bail and ordered him to return to court at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 1, for a preliminary hearing.
Quesen was being held in the Allegheny County Jail Tuesday evening in connection with the death of Benjamin Brallier, 44, a Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement agent who was working as a recruiting officer at the time of his death.
Brallier’s death shocked and saddened the state police community.
“The Pennsylvania State Police is heartbroken to confirm the tragic loss of one of our own, dedicated Liquor Enforcement Officer Benjamin Brallier, who was fatally stabbed while off-duty yesterday,” state police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris said in a statement Tuesday.
“With over 20 years of service, he was an exemplary officer and a devoted father and husband.”
Valerie Blochberger, who identified herself as a dear friend of Brallier’s wife, Sarah Brallier, started a GoFundMe donation effort on behalf of Sarah Brallier and the couple’s two children.
“While Sarah is an extremely strong woman, there will be many hardships that arise as she navigates the months to come,” Blochberger wrote. “These funds will ensure that Sarah and her girls can navigate these hardships a little easier.”
As of Tuesday evening, the effort had resulted in more than 300 donations totaling $26,760, eclipsing the $25,000 goal.
Moon Township police were dispatched Monday afternoon to the Montour Trail and arrived to find that Brallier had sustained wounds that were consistent with some sort of attack, according to the criminal complaint filed by Allegheny County police.
Paramedics transported Brallier to Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:52 p.m.
Brallier had sustained what appeared to be multiple stab wounds to his back, upper chest and left hand, according to the complaint.
Sarah Brallier told police that her husband was an avid runner and that, based on a smartphone app, she believed he was on the trail at approximately 2:45 p.m. She told police that her husband typically tried to complete his run before their children returned from school.
According to the complaint, the crime scene encompassed about 100 yards of the Montour Trail, and a blood trail led from where Brallier was discovered to a yellow bicycle.
While county police detectives were investigating, a Moon Township police officer told them that a bystander had pointed out a multicolored bag lying in a culvert next to the bicycle. The officer, believing that Brallier had been in a bicycle accident, dumped the contents of the bag and saw Quesen’s state identification card. The officer then returned the contents to the bag and reported his findings to detectives, according to the complaint.
Detectives were able to contact Quesen’s mother, who told them that her son had a bicycle that he would take out on rides, and she provided a photo of the bike. Detectives who viewed the photo determined it was the same bike that was recovered from the crime scene, according to the complaint.
After obtaining a warrant, detectives searched the contents of the bag, and about 90 minutes later, state police troopers located Quesen at the entrance of the Montour Woods Conservation Area on Hassam Road, less than a half-mile from the crime scene.
According to the complaint, Quesen had cuts to his hands and blood stains on his sweatpants and socks. Quesen “made an unprovoked spontaneous utterance alleging that a male stabbed him on the trail and took his bag,” according to the complaint.
Quesen was taken to Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital for treatment of his hand injuries and later taken to county police headquarters, where he was placed in an interview room and advised of his rights. At that point, Quesen requested legal representation.
A person who listed an alias of Anthony Alexi Quesen was arrested in June 2023 and charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor assault, recklessly endangering another person, evading arrest and disorderly conduct in connection with an incident that took place in Point State Park.
The defendant in that case was listed as Antonia Kaseim and the gender was listed as unknown on the criminal complaint. The date of birth was the same as that of Anthony Quesen.
In that incident a man told a state Department of Conservation officer who was on bike patrol that Kaseim was trying to grab him and was harassing his family while they were standing about 10 feet from the Monongahela River.
The victim in that incident told the officer that Kaseim grabbed the victim’s phone while he was trying to take a photo, but the victim was able to wrestle it away. However, the victim told police that Kaseim ripped the victim’s Fitbit Pulse off his right wrist and threw it into the Monongahela River.
The officer began chasing Kaseim and after Pittsburgh Police arrived, Kaseim jumped into the Allegheny River and was eventually taken into custody before being transported to UPMC Mercy for psychological evaluation.
“It should be noted that Kaseim provided another last name of Quesen during the incident,” the complaint states.
According to court documents, Kaseim’s arraignment in Common Pleas Court – scheduled for Dec. 13 – never took place because Kaseim failed to show and that his nonmonetary bail, set by Magisterial Justice Xander Orenstein on June 13, was revoked on Dec. 29. That case is listed as inactive on the state’s online unified judicial system portal.
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