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Man Pleads Not Guilty To Killing Two And Burning Home

Picture of a judge's gavel
bloomsberries/FLickr

A 46-year-old Massachusetts man has pleaded not guilty to killing two Vermonters and then burning down the Townshend home where the bodies were later found.
Justin Orwat, of Springfield, Massachusetts, appeared Monday in Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro where he entered the pleas to charges of aggravated murder and first degree arson following the October deaths of 43-year-old Steven Lovely and 35-year-old Amanda Sanderson.

The bodies were found Oct. 27 after firefighters extinguished a fire at Lovely and Sanderson's home. They had been shot.
WCAX-TV reports Orwat was a housemate of the victims and Lovely had been involved in a dispute before the killings.

Vermont prison records say Orwat was brought to the Southern Vermont Correctional Facility in Springfield on Friday. He's being held without bail.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.