District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 58 year-old Thomas Murphy of 30 Williamstowne Senior Apartments, Cheektowaga, will be arraigned at 2:00 p.m. before Erie County Court Judge Thomas P. Franczyk on an indictment charging him with Murder in the Second Degree and Arson in the Second Degree. 

It is alleged that between on or about April 22, 2015 and on or about April 24, 2015, Murphy murdered his live-in girlfriend, 63 year-old Jean Hartwig, by strangling her inside their residence and then set her body on fire in the bedroom. 

If convicted of these crimes, Murphy faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life. 

Like all defendants accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.