Pennsylvania husband strangled doctor wife then set her body on fire while their daughter slept, prosecutors say

Jonathan Gatto, 41, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, faces accusations of strangling paediatrician Dr Julia Pederson and then setting her body alight in their bedroom while the couple's seven-year-old daughter slept nearby. Arrested on Wednesday on charges including murder, abuse of a corpse and arson, Gatto was taken into custody four days after firefighters were called to the family home. Police established that the fire was not the cause of Pederson's death.

Gatto told police his marriage was 'not good' and that the couple had planned to tell their daughter they were separating.

He claimed he woke to the sound of someone falling on the stairs, then later to smoke alarms, before taking his daughter outside and calling 911.

Investigators determined the bedroom fire was deliberately set by Gatto after he had already killed Pederson.