A preliminary hearing for a 25-year-old man charged in connection with the stabbing death of a Kennedy Township man last fall along the Montour Trail has been continued until July 11.
Anthony Quesen, whose home is listed as Baltimore in court documents, was scheduled to appear in Pittsburgh Municipal Court Friday, April 25, for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to hold him for trial in connection with the death of Benjamin Brallier.
Quesen is charged with one count of criminal homicide. Friday marked the fourth continuance in the case; Quesen’s preliminary hearing date originally was scheduled for Nov. 1. The latest continuance was granted April 17.
The 44-year-old Brallier was a Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Enforcement agent who was working as a recruiting officer at the time of his death.
Moon Township police who were dispatched to the Montour Trail on the afternoon of Oct. 21, 2024, for a medical call found that Brallier had sustained wounds that were consistent with some sort of an attack, according to court documents.
Brallier was transported to Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities found Quesen later that same day less than a half-mile from the crime scene, having sustained cuts to his hands that required medical treatment. Quesen was taken to Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital and was arrested on a charge of criminal homicide the following day.
An Allegheny County Jail spokesman said Friday that Quesen is not being held at the jail but remains in custody elsewhere. No further details on his custody status were available.
Two months ago, New York State Police said they were looking to establish a potential connection between Brallier’s stabbing death and the death of a hiker in April 2024 on a trail outside Albany, N.Y.
At the time, state police trooper Stephanie O’Neill said similarities in the cases involving the deaths of Brallier and 76-year-old Daniel Frament attracted the interest of New York authorities.
O’Neill said Friday that she had no further information on the potential link but added that the Frament case remained under investigation.
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