By the time Antonia Quesen fatally stabbed a man running on the Montour Trail last year, she was profoundly paranoid.

Since her junior year in college studying art, her mom told a judge on Tuesday, Quesen believed people were poisoning her; that there were 5G chips in the covid-19 vaccine; that random people on the street were sniffing her; that men could vaporize under her apartment door to enter and harm her.

She spent hours crying uncontrollably at home, unable to leave.

She sounded like the kind of person in need who Benjamin Brallier might have tried to help.

Brallier, a liquor control enforcement officer with the Pennsylvania State Police who had de-escalation training, was a man his whole community turned to for love and support.

He was a volunteer counselor for Allegheny County Camp Cadet; he helped his neighbors with untold projects; he organized the annual summer picnic for his housing plan.

Brallier was a caring and loving father who took immense pride in watching his two daughters perform. He raised money through charity runs.

On Tuesday, as he sentenced Quesen to prison for killing Brallier, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski commented on Brallier’s kind nature, speculating it was likely he was trying to help the defendant on the trail that day.

“Unfortunately, he paid for that character trait with his life.”

Quesen, 26, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder in August for killing Brallier, 44, of Coraopolis.

On Tuesday, Borkowski sentenced her to serve 16 to 42 years in state prison.

Psychiatric treatment

According to the prosecution, Brallier was off-duty and running on the Montour Trail in Moon the afternoon of Oct. 21, 2024, when, witnesses said, he had a lengthy interaction with Quesen before she attacked him — stabbing Brallier multiple times in the upper back, torso and hand.

He died a short time later at Heritage Valley Sewickley hospital. Several hours after that, Quesen was arrested nearby, with blood on her clothes and hands. She had been living in the woods near the trail.

After her arrest, the public learned that Quesen, who is transgender, had been charged a year earlier for a robbery at Point State Park. In that incident, police said she attacked a man walking with his son and tried to take his cell phone.

The victim suffered a sprained knee, and Quesen fled by jumping in the river. Although she was arrested, Quesen was released on bond with a recommendation that she follow up with mental health treatment.

It was then, her mother said on Tuesday, that Quesen was hospitalized for the first time for psychiatric treatment.

“I was so glad. I was so relieved,” Sarah Quesen told the court. “I thought she was finally getting help.”

But the help didn’t last long, as Quesen was released from the hospital, and eventually stopped taking her meds.

“I was so mad when they let her go,” Sarah Quesen said.

Worsening symptoms

As the only person to speak on her behalf, she told the court her daughter loved sports as a child, excelled in art and had a lot of friends when she attended Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts.

Her daughter got a scholarship to study art in Maryland and did well for the first few years, her mom said.

But she began exhibiting signs of mental illness, including anxiety and paranoia, in her junior year, her mom said.

Ant Quesen dropped out of school, and her symptoms worsened.

“She started crying uncontrollably for hours,” her mom said.

Her daughter became terrified of men.

After her arrest for killing Brallier, Quesen, who had previously been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, was sent to Torrance State Hospital for treatment.

She has now stabilized with medication, her defense attorney, Jeanne Marie Emhoff, said Tuesday.

“Her paranoia and anxiety have subsided,” Emhoff said. “Ms. Quesen now accepts her diagnosis.”

Quesen apologizes

Emohoff told the court that Brallier’s death was a senseless tragedy.

“Her actions were wrongful. They were inexcusable,” Emhoff said. “It was not, however, a result of malice.

“Her perception of reality was profoundly distorted.”

Quesen, the attorney said, believed she was in danger.

“Her mental illness does not excuse her actions, but it does mitigate culpability.”

Sarah Quesen began and ended her statement by apologizing to the Brallier family.

“I’m very sorry, and I’ll never be able to understand their pain,” she said through tears. “This wasn’t like Ant. Ant was very sick when this happened. She misinterpreted the situation.”

“It hurts so much.”

Quesen also spoke briefly on her own behalf, apologizing for what she did.

“I was so paranoid, I thought someone who was a good dad, a good husband, a good human being, was a murderer,” Quesen said. “It is a mistake I will regret for the rest of my life.”

In sentencing Quesen, the judge acknowledged her mental health diagnoses, but he also noted she stopped taking her medication after the first arrest.

“To the court, that was a choice,” Borkowski said.

In Pennsylvania, as part of her guilty but mentally ill plea, Quesen will be placed in a prison facility that meets her treatment needs.

Anger and silence

Several members of Brallier’s family testified on Tuesday, describing him as kind, smart, loving compassionate and giving.

They described their profound loss, the milestones he would miss in the lives of his daughters, now 12 and 15, and how he dreamed of retiring with his wife, spending time at the beach, listening to the surf.

Brenjamin Brallier Sr. told the court his son was a prankster — once filling his neighbor’s convertible with balls from a ball pit.

“He loved his life and should have had more to enjoy,” his dad said.

Peggy Brallier said her son was the third generation in his family to work in law enforcement.

“I’m immensely proud of my son and the man that he was,” she said. “My world was so much better with my son in it.”

He had a passion for running and participated in the half-marathon each year in Pittsburgh. He loved Dave Matthews Band, his mom said, because their music and the band’s ideals resonated with him.

Brallier enjoyed riding his Indian motorcycle and was refurbishing a Toyota 4Runner in his spare time.

Peggy Brallier asked the judge to give Quesen the maximum possible sentence on the murder count — 20 to 40 years.

She also said that after the hearing, she would never again say Quesen’s name

“My anger at the defendant some days is so overwhelming I lash out,” she said. “I despise Anthony Quesen with every fiber of my being.”

Sarah Brallier told the court that her husband was her partner in everything.

He was a patient and encouraging father who was always ready with a joke, she said.

“There’s a silence in our home that now feels unbearable.”

Ben Brallier loved taking his daughter Bayleigh thrift shopping and watching her perform in theater productions.

With their younger daughter, Chelsea, Sarah Brallier continued, he enjoyed baking and watching her dance competitively.

Her husband, she said, had an energy that drew people in.

“He took pride in every project he started,” she said. “But where Ben really shined was in helping others.”

He taught neighborhood kids to ride their bikes, played catch with them and participated in their games.

“He wanted to help, give back and make the world around him better,” Sarah Brallier said. “There’s no way to make sense of this.

“We lost our center, our sense of security and the future we dreamed of together.”

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