Man held in parents' killings

TOWANDA, Pa. - A 31-year-old man charged with killing his parents and brother hoped to inherit the family's rural farmhouse, state police said yesterday.

Steven Carl Colegrove of Deposit, N.Y., was arrested early yesterday in the shotgun slayings of his father, Joseph Colegrove, 60, mother, Marlene Colegrove, 56, and 36-year-old brother, Michael Colegrove, police said.

He appeared without a lawyer yesterday morning at an arraignment in Bradford County and was ordered held without bail.

Police had said earlier that Steven Colegrove and a surviving brother, Robert, had been cooperating in the investigation.

Authorities believe the three were shot early Wednesday. Their bodies were discovered later that day by a friend who went to their home in Laceyville, a town of about 400 residents approximately 30 miles northwest of Scranton.

Joseph Colegrove spent 40 years with the Goodwill Fire Company in Laceyville, including 13 years as chief. He owned a barbershop across the street from the fire hall and had been working two days a week on a neighbor's farm, friends said.

The family was well-known in the area, where Marlene Colegrove drove a school bus for the Wyalusing School District and her husband and son served as volunteer firefighters.

Police believe that the two men were killed in their sleep but that Marlene Colegrove awoke before she was killed, State Police Cpl. Michael Giantisco said. Each was shot in the face, police said.

Steven Colegrove sat calmly through the arraignment and did not speak. A preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday.