CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — North Middletown Township Police announced Friday they have charged a 66-year-old Carlisle man in the 2019 homicide of his wife.
Ronald Wert, of the 3700 block of Waggoners Gap Road, is accused of killing his estranged wife, Linda Brandt, 64, outside her Pleasant Hall Road residence in North Middleton Township on July 22, 2019.
Brandt was found dead outside the home around 5:30 p.m., police say. She had multiple gunshot wounds to her back, and her death was later ruled a homicide, according to police.
Moments after discovering Brandt's body, police say they were dispatched to the 3700 block of Waggoners Gap Road for the report of a gunshot. They found Wert alone at his secluded residence with a gunshot wound to the head, and a .22-caliber Ruger handgun next to him, according to police.
Wert survived the wound, and was charged with prohibited possession of a firearm and obstruction of administration of law, police say. Wert was barred from possessing guns because Brandt had a Protection of Abuse order against him on June 18, 2019, according to police.
Police executed a search warrant of Wert's home and found other guns there, including a shotgun and two other .22-caliber handguns, according to a criminal compalint.
Brandt and Wert were reportedly in the midst of a contentious divorce at the time of the alleged murder, police say.
During the investigation of Brandt's death, police say, the firearm allegedly used in her murder was found in a home where Wert often provided lawncare services. The firearm underwent forensic and ballistic tests, and matched the spent rounds found outside Brandt's home at the time of her death.
Charges against Wert were filed and he was taken into custody on Friday, police say. He was arraigned in a video conference by District Magistrate Paul M. Fegley, who denied bail.
