Prosecutors say Jonathan Gatto was a stay-at-home father and believe Dr. Julia Pederson was killed as their marriage was ending.
HARRISBURG, PA — A Harrisburg man accused of killing his pediatrician wife and setting a fire inside their home was a stay-at-home father, and investigators believe the killing occurred as the couple was preparing to end their marriage, according to the Dauphin County district attorney.
Jonathan Gatto, 41, is charged with murder and five other offenses in the death of his wife, Dr. Julia Pederson, 41. Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said investigators view the killing as connected to the breakdown of the couple’s marriage. “This was a murderous manner of terminating the marriage,” Chardo said in an interview Thursday. The statement describes investigators’ theory of the case; Gatto has not been convicted of the charges against him.
Pederson was found after emergency crews responded around 7:05 a.m. Oct. 10 to a fire at the couple’s home in the 2900 block of Green Street. Investigators said the fire was small and confined to a lower-level bedroom. Authorities later determined it had been intentionally set and that Pederson had died before the blaze began. An autopsy conducted Oct. 13 ruled her death a homicide from multiple traumatic injuries, according to court documents and police accounts.
Police allege Gatto strangled Pederson and then set the fire while the couple’s 7-year-old daughter was asleep elsewhere in the house. Harrisburg police arrested Gatto on Oct. 14. He faces charges of murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, endangering the welfare of a child, arson involving danger of death or bodily injury and aggravated arson involving a person inside the property. Police records state that Gatto is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Gatto gave investigators a different account of the hours before the fire, according to an affidavit of probable cause. He told police that his marriage with Pederson was not good and that the couple planned to separate. They were trying to decide when and how to tell their daughter, he said. Gatto also told investigators that Pederson had not been feeling well after recently starting medication and that he heard a noise late that night that sounded as though someone might have fallen down the stairs.
According to the affidavit, Gatto said he later entered Pederson’s room to offer her ibuprofen and then returned to sleep. He said he eventually awoke to smoke alarms, took the couple’s daughter outside and called 911. Gatto told investigators he went back into the home to try to reach Pederson but burned his hand when he opened her bedroom door. Investigators say forensic findings and other evidence led them to conclude Pederson was dead before the fire and that Gatto was responsible for her death and for setting the blaze.
Chardo said Gatto did not have outside employment and cared for the couple’s child while Pederson worked as a physician. Pederson was a pediatrician with UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics. She graduated from Harvard University, earned her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at Northwestern University’s Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She joined the UPMC practice in February after previously providing pediatric care in other communities.
Authorities disclosed another development Friday involving Pederson’s concerns in the period before her death. Chardo’s office said Pederson had worried that her husband might be drugging her and had scheduled an appointment for bloodwork the day before she died but did not attend it. Authorities have not publicly established that Pederson was drugged, and the allegation remains part of the investigation rather than a confirmed forensic finding.
Investigators returned to the Green Street home Friday with a search warrant. Chardo said they were looking for items including bottles of water, water containers, food containers and other potentially relevant evidence. Officials have not publicly said what was seized during the search or whether laboratory testing has identified any substance that would support Pederson’s reported concerns.
The couple’s daughter is staying with relatives, Chardo said. Family members have sought temporary custody, with proceedings in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas focused on the child’s best interests while her mother is dead and her father remains incarcerated. UPMC described Pederson as a valued pediatrician who devoted her career to caring for children and supporting families.
Gatto remains in custody without bail, according to court records cited by local news organizations. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28, when prosecutors are expected to begin presenting the case supporting the charges. The homicide investigation remains active, including examination of evidence collected from the family’s home and the circumstances surrounding Pederson’s reported health concerns before her death.
Author note: Last updated October 17, 2026.