WILLIAMSPORT -- A homicide suspect in Lycoming County disputes the alleged motive prosecutors say he had to stab his wife to death then set fire their home.
Michael Wright allegedly told people that night at the bar that he killed his wife, Lynn.
Investigators testified in court Thursday that he confessed the same thing to them.
Wright covered his face on his way out of the Lycoming County Courthouse.
A judge ruled there's enough evidence against Wright to go to trial on homicide and arson charges.
Police said late last month as their home burned, Wright told people at a bar in Williamsport that he killed his wife, Lynn.
"Them people at the bar are nothing but a bunch of crooked people," said Wright. "I loved my wife, I don't care what anybody says."
Investigators testified that Lynn Wright's body was found in a bedroom closet at the couple's apartment on West Fourth Street. She'd been stabbed more than 50 times, strangled and beaten.
Police say a visibly intoxicated MIchael Wright was questioned at the scene then was taken into custody.
One police lieutenant told the judge that Wright said "I killed my wife, you want a confession, there."
"We don't really know what happened in the apartment that night, it would be impossible to formulate a defense at this point," said George Lepley, Wright's attorney.
Someone has left a single red rose on the porch of the home where Lynn Wright died late last month.
People who knew the couple say they had a history of abuse, one local organization said women who are abused do have a place to go.
"One of the issues we see is that women have a really hard time leaving abusive relationships because they have nowhere to go," said Lynn Bies, program director at Wise Options, a 30-day crisis shelter for victims of abuse at the YWCA.
Bies said usually when domestic abuse cases end in tragedy it's because the victim did not know about the agency and their options.
"It's heartbreaking, heartbreaking to us, to community and family members."
Lycoming County District Attorney Eric Linhardt said he has not ruled out seeking the death penalty in this case.