Celia and Richard Flewellen. The husband was arrested earlier today by police on homicide charges.

Pittsburgh police this morning arrested Richard Flewellen in connection with the slaying of his wife, Celia Flewellen, the principal of Homewood Montessori School, who was found dead yesterday in her Beechview home.

Celia Flewellen, 40, was found dead in the third-floor master bedroom of the house, with head and stab wounds.

Pittsburgh police issued the arrest warrant last night for her husband, Richard, 38, on homicide charges. Today he was in custody and being treated at West Penn Hospital for an undisclosed condition.

Flewellen was arrested at 8:30 a.m. at West Penn Hospital where he had been taken by his father.

Pittsburgh Police Lt. Kevin Kraus said Flewellen had called his father, Charles Cabiness, and told him he was committing suicide by drinking anti-freeze. Cabiness found his son in the parking lot of a church and transported him to the hospital where his condition today, according to police, was critical, but stable.

Flewellen will remain under police guard until he is incarcerated.

In related developments, the Allegheny County Coroner's office today said that Celia Flewellen had died from blunt force trauma to the head, and that the manner of her death was homicide.

According to a police affidavit released yesterday, Flewellen told his father that he had killed his wife and that he was going to commit suicide by drinking anti-freeze.

Kraus yesterday said evidence indicated that Flewellen attacked his wife, took the couple's two daughters, drove across town, left them with his mother and returned to the house at 2304 Candace St., setting it afire in five places around 7:30 a.m.

The children had been sleeping in their second-floor bedroom when they heard their parents fighting and woke up between 6 and 6:30 a.m. They told police they heard breaking glass, pounding and moans from their mother. Their father had them put on their clothes and walked them out of the house.

Police found the children, Cassie, 12, and Erika, 10, safe a short time later.

Police said Celia Flewellen was found on her bedroom floor with a head wound. A hammer was found beside her body.

Police said she also had suffered a stab wound.

Murder is rare in this section of Beechview, a place of well-kept brick homes and sturdy apartment buildings. Neighbors said the Flewellens were a pleasant, striking couple -- the last people on Candace Street that anybody would have expected to be involved in violence.

"This feels like a nightmare that I'm trying to wake up from. It's unbelievable," said Ed McMullen, who lived next door to the Flewellens for 12 years. When McMullen and his wife went away, they turned over their house keys to the Flewellens to keep tabs on it.

Another neighbor, Lois Iversen, said the Flewellens' children always seemed happy.Richard Flewellen, a Port Authority bus driver, was cordial but reserved with most people in the neighborhood. Still, everybody knew him, for he possesses a physique that is hard to forget. He has competed in bodybuilding contests during the past three decades and won the title of Mr. Pennsylvania in 1987.

Even with his rippling muscles, Flewellen was devoid of aggression, McMullen said.

"Gentle as a lamb. He would do anything for you," he said of his friend.

Mrs. Flewellen, equally well-liked by neighbors, was in her third year as principal of Homewood Montessori. The Pittsburgh public school is home to about 230 children from prekindergarten to eighth grade.

Peter Moskos, the school's librarian and computer teacher, rated Mrs. Flewellen an extraordinary boss.

"She was the finest person on our staff," he said. "Working with her was a luxury."

But employees at the school learned last week that life was not as easy as Mrs. Flewellen always made it seem.

She confided to her staff that she was having difficulties with her husband. Moskos said she disclosed such intensely personal information to assure teachers that, if she seemed preoccupied or out of sorts, it had nothing to do with them.

Arthur Waller, Mrs. Flewellen's father, said he also learned about a week ago that her marriage of 14 years was troubled.

Waller said his daughter and granddaughters spent about 90 minutes at his Beechview home Friday night, during which he heard more about the problems.

The Flewellens bought their home on Candace Street in 1991. The deed now lists Celia Waller -- her maiden name -- as the sole owner. Kraus said police believe Flewellen and his wife had separated and he was living elsewhere. No civil court records in Allegheny County mention any legal separation or divorce filing involving the Flewellens.

Neighbors never sensed any tension between the couple, but several people mentioned that they had seen less of Richard Flewellen recently. Few gave it much thought until yesterday.

On the surface, the couple always seemed to get along. Plus, everybody knew how much pride Richard Flewellen took in his yellow-brick home. He spent the past 18 months remodeling the interior. Much of the work was intricate, including hand-finishing wood on the banisters.

"He did a magnificent job," said Waller, his father-in-law.

A few teachers on Mrs. Flewellen's staff drove to Beechview yesterday morning after hearing about the fire. One wept uncontrollably after neighbors told him she was dead.

The mother of a Homewood Montessori student also ventured to Mrs. Flewellen's home. She, too, broke down as she sat on the McMullens' grass.

Parents said she was a consummate pro at running a school.

"The Homewood Montessori community is stunned and deeply saddened by the loss of our charismatic principal, Celia Flewellen. She was a rising star in the Pittsburgh public school system who exemplified all that was good in public education," said Michael J. Novara, president of the parent-teacher organization.

Mrs. Flewellen began working in Pittsburgh's school system in August 1993. She started as a kindergarten teacher at Brookline.

Since becoming principal of Homewood Montessori in July 2002, Mrs. Flewellen oversaw the start of the prekindergarten program and the school's relocation to a larger builder. She had plans for an after-school enrichment program.

An open house at the school, scheduled for tomorrow, has been postponed.

Administrators said counselors will be at the school Tuesday and perhaps beyond to help students and staff cope with Mrs. Flewellen's death.

"I'm hurting for her and her family," said Pittsburgh school board member Randall Taylor. "I can't thank her enough for her great work."