Updated: Sep 2, 2016 - 4:43 PM 
 
 WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. - An investigation is ongoing after a man was able to remove his monitoring bracelet without police knowing, kidnapped his wife whom he abused in the past, and allegedly killed her in a remote area of Washington County. 
 
 Tierne Ewing, 48, was found dead Tuesday night in a West Finley Township barn with a gunshot wound to the head. Her estranged husband and accused abductor, 47-year-old Kevin Ewing, was found alive with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced brain-dead at UPMC Presbyterian hospital on Wednesday afternoon, officials said. The medical examiner said an autopsy is pending, as Kevin Ewing remained on a ventilator until a decision about organ donation was made. 
 
 Kevin Ewing was previously accused of holding Tierne Ewing hostage for 12 days and torturing her in July, when police said he repeatedly beat and burned her. She had a protection-from-abuse order against him, and online court records show an arrest warrant was issued for Kevin Ewing on kidnapping, terroristic threats, weapons charges and other crimes. 
 
 "She was scared to death of him. He threatened her all the time," said Tierne Ewing's father, Richard Kopko. "He beat her several times." 
 
 Police said from June 26 to July 8, Kevin Ewing held Tierne hostage, brutally beating her with a hammer and firearm; keeping a cord around her neck; duct-taping her mouth and hands; and repeatedly telling her he was going to kill her and kill himself. 
 
 North Strabane police arrested him on July 8 and Magistrate Mark Wilson set bail at $100,000. On July 11, Kevin Ewing posted bail. On July 15. Assistant District Attorney Kristin Clingerman filed an emergency motion asking to keep Kevin Ewing in jail by increasing his bail. But on July 19, Judge Gary Gilman denied the request and Kevin Ewing was released on $100,000 bail. 
 
 WPXI legal analyst Phil DiLucente looked at the case, and said he thinks the bail combined with the ankle monitoring system was set high enough. "The judge is not permitted to punish the defendant through high bail for the purpose of giving high bond and keeping him in jail," DiLucente said. Meanwhile, Clingerman said she fought heard to keep Tierne safe and that Tuesday night's outcome is exactly what she feared would ultimately happen. 
 
 “She was terrified, shaking, scared. She kept saying, ‘I know he’s going to kill me,'” Clingerman said. 
 
 Kevin Ewing had been wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet, but police said he cut it off before he abducted Tierne Ewing. No one was notified when the ankle bracelet was cut, and Clingerman said once the monitoring is in place, it’s in the hands of Adult Probation Services. 
 
 Channel 11 attempted to contact officials at Washington County Adult Probation and the presiding judge, but a court administrator said he was the only person allowed to answer questions. 
 
 The administrator said the GPS uses a cellphone signal and the bracelet is a mix of plastic, rubber and metal banding that is not typically easy to remove. He said officials are not aware of any issues with the bracelet technology or its alert system. He said an alert is sent if the bracelet is tampered with or opened, but that alert is not instantaneous. 
 
 When asked specifically if Kevin Ewing’s bracelet worked, he said he could not comment on an open investigation. 
 
 "They put a bracelet on him and she's six miles away. Oh, give me a break. …Something’s wrong with the judging system in this country," Kopko said. 
 
 On Tuesday -- about two months after Kevin Ewing tortured his wife and held her hostage -- he allegedly abducted her from a home on Blockhouse Run Road in West Finley Township at about 12:30 a.m. Authorities said the home belongs to Kevin Ewing's parents and that Tierne Ewing had been staying with them. 
 
 Police said the pair were traveling in a gray Hyundai Veloster that was found earlier in the day by investigators. There was no sign of either Ewing at the time. 
 
 Around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, police converged on Walnut Valley Road in West Finley Township, where they believed Kevin Ewing was armed and hiding in a barn. As police arrived, they heard gunshots. When a SWAT team secured the area, investigators found the Ewings inside the barn. 
 
 Brenda McCullough, whose own daughter grew up with Tierne, said her heart breaks for Tierne’s parents, children and her two young grandchildren. 
 
 “I think the powers that be really need to start listening to people who have fears,” McCullough said. 
 
 At the scene on Wednesday, there were heavy tire tracks in the grass and latex gloves tossed in the gravel on Walnut Valley Road. Anthony Hinch, who lives in the area of the barn, said state police and a SWAT team were parked in his driveway an on the road for hours on Tuesday. Hinch said the area is so remote that a person cannot get to the barn without an all-terrain vehicle. 
 
 "He (Kevin Ewing) was from the area evidently so he brought her a mile and a half through the woods without being seen,” Hinch said. 
 
 Capt. David Heckman of the Pennsylvania State Police said police found a .22-caliber firearm, a sleeping bag and other camping items on the second floor of the barn, indicating Kevin Ewing planned to be there for a long time. 
 
 © 2017 Cox Media Group. ||||| The prosecutor handling the case of Kevin Ewing, the Washington County man now accused of murdering his wife, said Wednesday she believes Ewing should not have been allowed out of jail after his last arrest for torturing his wife. 
 
 'She was scared to death of him': Father of woman... The woman state police say was abducted by her husband in Finley Township was found dead Late Tuesday night, the woman's parents tell Pittsburgh's Action News 4. More 
 
 "My heart just dropped," assistant district attorney Kristin Clingerman said. "My gut reaction was this is not going to end well." 
 
 VIDEO: Watch the latest report from Bob Hazen 
 
 Tierne Ewing was found dead in a barn, and her husband -- who had allegedly removed an electronic monitoring device and kidnapped her at gunpoint -- is brain dead following a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. 
 
 The medical examiner's office ruled Tierne's cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. 
 
 In July, Kevin Ewing was accused of holding his wife captive for 11 days, during which time he allegedly tied her up, burned her, and tortured her. 
 
 He was released from jail on $100,000 bail set by Washington County Magisterial District Judge Mark Wilson. The bail was paid by a bondsman. 
 
 Clingerman filed a motion to get the bail increased, writing "the current amount of bond set at a mere One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars is insufficient and an inappropriate amount for the gravity and severity" of the crime. 
 
 She also wrote "the defendant is unlikely to comply with the conditions of the bail bond." 
 
 "It was horrific what happened, and it was so serious and scary," Clingerman said. "I would have liked to see him stay in jail." 
 
 But at a hearing on the motion, Judge Gary Gilman kept Ewing's bail at $100,000 while requiring GPS and home monitoring, essentially to put him on "full lockdown" while out of jail. 
 
 State troopers at the Washington barracks said Kevin Ewing, 47, is suspected of abducting Tierne Ewing, 48, from his mother's house on Blockhouse Run Road in West Finley Township at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. 
 
 The woman's body was found late Tuesday night at a barn near Walnut Valley Road, about 2 miles from the alleged kidnapping location. Police said she had been shot twice -- once in the body, and in the head. 
 
 Authorities said Kevin Ewing was also found there with a gunshot wound and flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. He was ruled brain dead Wednesday evening, according to the Allegheny County coroner. He remains on a ventilator until a decision of organ donation is made. 
 
 Police said there were sleeping bags and camping items in the barn, as well as a .22-caliber firearm that they believe he used. 
 
 "I'm lucky they got him before I did," said Tierne Ewing's grieving father, Richard Kopko. 
 
 The woman's parents said the Ewings had been together since the eighth grade, and there was a long history of abuse in their relationship. 
 
 "He threatened her all the time. He's beat her up several times. I tried to get her away, but I don't know what the deal was, but, well, it's over now," Richard Kopko said, as he began to choke up. 
 
 Video: "She was scared to death of him," says victim's father 
 
 Kevin Ewing was arrested in July after his wife accused him of holding her captive for several days and beating her severely. Trooper Stefani Lucas said he removed an ankle bracelet that was being used to monitor him after that arrest before leaving with the victim early Tuesday morning. 
 
 "There is an active PFA naming the actor as a defendant and the victim as a protected person," police said in a written statement. "The actor was in possession of a firearm, and he threatened the victim and took her against her will." 
 
 "She told me years ago, 'Dad, if you can't ever find me, I'll be buried on his dad's farm,'" Richard Kopko said. 
 
 "I need my daughter," Annelle Kopko said. "You have grandchildren. How would you feel if this was your grandchild that somebody was doing something to? How would you feel?" 
 
 Photos Kevin Ewing and Tierne Ewing 
 
 According to a criminal complaint filed against him, the house where the kidnapping happened belongs to Kevin Ewing's mother, and despite the recent violence, Tierne Ewing had been staying with him there in recent days. 
 
 Around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, the mother told investigators she heard the two arguing downstairs, then saw her son holding a gun while "yelling at the victim and destroying items in the house." 
 
 Ewing's mother told police that Kevin ordered Tierne to pack bags full of clothing and food, then forced her into a vehicle before handing his mother the ankle bracelet that he had cut off, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Photos Police look for evidence inside a gray vehicle in which Tierne Ewing and her husband, Kevin, were last seen. 
 
 Kevin Ewing was released on home confinement after posting $100,000 bail following his earlier arrest, in which authorities said he was accused of keeping his wife captive from June 26 to July 8. 
 
 In that previous case, Tierne Ewing told authorities that Kevin Ewing beat and pistol-whipped her, spat on her, kept her hands tied with wire and branded her legs with a piece of hot metal, according to the criminal complaint. 
 
 Tierne Ewing escaped when her husband sent her into a credit union to withdraw money and she told tellers she was being held against her will and feared that her husband would kill her, the complaint said. 
 
 Bank officials called police, who found Kevin Ewing in the parking lot with a rifle, handgun and a knife, the complaint said. 
 
 "July wasn't the worst. She's been beat so bad before," Richard Kopko said. 
 
 District Attorney Eugene Vittone said his office had asked a judge to keep Kevin Ewing in jail after he unexpectedly posted bail last month. Prosecutors were concerned because of the seriousness of the charges, Vittone said. ||||| This undated driver's license photo provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation shows Tierne Ewing of West Finley Township, Pa. Pennsylvania State Police say Kevin Ewing, a man free on bond... (Associated Press) 
 
 PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man free on bond while awaiting trial on charges he abducted and beat his wife while holding her captive for nearly two weeks earlier this summer kidnapped her again Tuesday and is on the run, state police said. 
 
 Kevin Ewing, 47, abducted his wife, Tierne, at gunpoint at about 12:30 a.m. from a residence in West Finley Township, about 50 miles southwest of Pittsburgh along the West Virginia border. 
 
 A car the couple was believed to be riding in was found abandoned in a wooded area of West Finley at about 9 a.m. Troopers got a warrant to search the car but wouldn't immediately say what they found, said Trooper Stefani Lucas, a state police spokeswoman. 
 
 Troopers weren't sure whether the couple was now on foot or got into another vehicle, Lucas said. 
 
 Ewing had been wearing an electronic ankle bracelet to confine him to his home since he posted $100,000 bail on the earlier charges July 11. 
 
 According to county adult probation officials, such devices can be programmed to provide GPS information but only if the court orders that. That wasn't ordered in Ewing's case, so his bracelet merely sends out a signal to authorities if he's left the house, they said. 
 
 Ewing was accused earlier of keeping his wife captive from June 26 to July 8. 
 
 Tierne Ewing, 48, had told authorities he beat and pistol-whipped her, spat on her, kept her hands tied with wire and branded her legs with a piece of hot metal, according to a criminal complaint charging him with kidnapping, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, false imprisonment and other crimes. 
 
 Tierne Ewing had staples closing a cut on her head — a home remedy, not hospital-administered — that she told police was caused when her husband hit her with a wooden gun stock. She had also been locked in a closet, police said. 
 
 Tierne Ewing escaped when her husband sent her into a credit union to withdraw money and she told tellers she was being held against her will and feared that her husband would kill her, the complaint said. 
 
 Bank officials called police, who found Kevin Ewing in the parking lot with a rifle, handgun and a knife, the complaint said. 
 
 Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone said his office had asked a judge to keep Ewing in jail after he unexpectedly posted bail last month. Prosecutors were concerned because of the seriousness of the charges, Vittone said. 
 
 But the judge allowed Ewing to remain free at home with the ankle bracelet. 
 
 State police warned Tuesday that Ewing should be considered armed and dangerous. His attorney said he didn't know where Ewing would have gone but was hoping for a good outcome. 
 
 "We just pray for everyone's safe return," Benjamin Goodwin told The Associated Press.
– A Pennsylvania man who was unexpectedly released on bail after being charged with kidnapping and beating his wife kidnapped her again, police say—and this time, she did not escape. Police say 48-year-old Tierne Ewing was found dead late Tuesday after being kidnapped for a second time by estranged husband Kevin Ewing, 47, WTAE reports. He forced his wife into a car at gunpoint Monday night, saying he "should have killed the victim and himself the first time," police say. The abandoned car was discovered Tuesday morning, sparking a massive search. Police tell WPXI that they heard gunshots as they approached a barn in West Finley Township late Tuesday. They found Tierne Ewing dead and Kevin Ewing injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was flown to a hospital for treatment. The AP reports that Ewing was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, and other crimes in July after his wife told police he had kept her captive for almost two weeks, during which he beat and pistol-whipped her, spat on her, and branded her legs with a piece of hot metal. She said she escaped after he sent her into a credit union to withdraw money and she alerted the tellers. Cops found him in the bank's parking lot with a rifle, handgun, and a knife. The local DA says he wanted Ewing to stay in jail but a judge freed him July 11 after he posted $100,000 bail. Ewing was ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to confine him to his home—but probation officials say that even though the court could have called for a bracelet that provides GPS information, that didn't happen in this case.