The wife of an off-duty officer is speaking publicly for the first time after the person accused of killing him was sentenced.
“Benjamin Brallier was an amazing man. And I hope everyone remembers who he was,” Sarah Brallier told Channel 11.
Ben Brallier was a husband, dad, son, and law enforcement officer.
Those are just a few of the roles he played before he was murdered in October 2024, as he was jogging along the Montour Trail.
“He loved to joke, he liked to have fun, he loved hard, he worked hard, he played hard. That’s just who he was,” Sarah added.
Today, Anthony Quesen was sentenced for randomly stabbing Brallier to death when they came across each other on the trail.
During today’s sentencing, several of Brallier’s family members made victim impact statements and told the judge how much they miss him.
One of those statements came from Brallier’s 15-year-old daughter, who told the judge about all of the life events her dad will miss, like her 16th birthday, first day of high school, and eventually walking her down the aisle on her wedding day.
“It truly broke my heart. It really broke my heart. I just hope I can fill some of that void for her as well as move through all the great things in her life that she’s going to do,” Sarah said.
Quesen’s defense team told the judge that Quesen was very mentally ill at the time of the murder, paranoid, and terrified of men.
Before sentencing, Quesen apologized to the Bralliers and said they “were so paranoid that I thought someone who was a good dad, husband, and beautiful human being was a murderer. It’s a mistake I regret every day and will for the rest of my life.”
“I understand this person is mentally ill, but right now I’m not at that empathy part. My empathy is for my children, and family, and the people missing my husband…. Not for the person who did this to us,” she said.
A judge sentenced Quesen to 16-42 years behind bars.
“I pray and hope that the 40 years is how long he will end up in prison. If not, he’s out at the age of the man that he took… he will be before he’s 44, which is my husband’s age when he took his life,” Sarah added.
The parole board will determine the exact length of his sentence.
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