A Grove City businessman is headed for prison for the bludgeoning death of his wife.

Randall Harland Leaf, 59, pleaded guilty late last month to a charge of third degree murder in Mercer County Common Pleas Court and was immediately sentenced to seven-and-a-half years to fifteen years in prison.

As part of a plea deal, Charges of Criminal Homicide and Aggravated Assault were dropped.

Leaf has been in the Mercer County since July 2021 when police say he struck his newlywed wife, 53-year-old Gretchen Pallack, over the head with a dumbbell at the apartment they shared over the Superior Bedding store both operated on South Broad Street.

Police found Leaf in the apartment bleeding from lacerations on his wrists and neck that officers believe were self-inflicted.

Leaf told officers that his wife, Gretchen Leaf, was downstairs, where police found her body.