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Medical Researcher Accused In Wife's Death Arrested In W. Va.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Dr. Robert Ferrante, a prominent UPMC researcher, was arrested Thursday evening by state police in West Virginia after his car was stopped when police executed a rolling traffic stop.

Ferrante is charged in the cyanide poisoning death of his equally, if not more prominent, physician wife, 41-year-old Dr. Autumn Klein.

In court papers made public Thursday, one unidentified witness said when Ferrante was in the hospital emergency room while his wife was being treated back in April, Ferrante seemed fake and was like "bad acting."

The witness said Klein spoke of his wife in the past tense while she was still being treated.

Pittsburgh Police Lt. Kevin Kraus told a news conference Thursday night that there's no timetable on when Ferrante will be returned to Pittsburgh.

The suspect's lawyer, William Difenderfer, reiterated his client's innocence, and predicted "one hell of a trial."

Police said Ferrante purchased the cyanide just days before his wife was found on the kitchen floor of their Schenley Farms home.

Another witness told police that Klein was planning to leave her husband because he did not give her any support for her job or their daughter.

RELATED LINKS:
Husband Arrested, Charged In Doctor's Cyanide Poisoning Death (7/25/13)
More Reports by Ralph Iannotti

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