Keith Scott told an Allegheny County detective that he has no recollection of bludgeoning his girlfriend's two teenage children to death in their Penn Hills home.

But he does remember removing the apparent murder weapons from the house: A pair of blood-soaked, 20-pound dumbbells.

Family members of 18-year-old Ieisha Drake and 14-year-old Naim Drake wept yesterday at a preliminary hearing for Mr. Scott, 42, and some excused themselves from the courtroom as the teens' injuries were described in gruesome detail.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini read a report from the medical examiner that concluded the cause of death for both to be blunt force trauma to the head; the manner of death was ruled homicide.

That fate nearly befell Nikiesha Warren, Mr. Scott's girlfriend and the teens' mother, who survived stab wounds to the chest, face and head and was found locked in the basement.

District Judge Anthony W. Saveikis ordered Mr. Scott to stand trial after hearing testimony from one witness, Detective Patrick Miller of the Allegheny County Police homicide squad.

Detective Miller and two other detectives interviewed Mr. Scott in his hospital bed -- where he was recovering from a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck -- the day after the killings.

Detective Miller said Mr. Scott told him Oct. 14 began like a normal day. He stayed over at Ms. Warren's house, as he did from time to time though he did not live there, and got up early to make sure Naim got off to Linton Middle School. Ieisha, a 2008 graduate of Penn Hills High School, said she didn't want to go to work that day, Mr. Scott told Detective Miller.

The morning rapidly turned dark.

Mr. Scott told the detectives that a call to Ms. Warren's cell phone from another man enraged him, and he found evidence in her text messages that she had been cheating on him. Detective Miller testified that investigators found no evidence of such a phone call.

Mr. Scott said the relationship had been rocky for a little while, and he and Ms. Warren often fought about money.

Mr. Scott told Detective Miller that he couldn't recall any details after that. When asked if he killed the two teens, Mr. Scott replied that he must have because he was the only one in the house. He recalled keeping Ms. Warren prisoner in the basement, and he remembered having to wait all day for Naim to get home from school, Detective Miller testified.

He recalled changing clothes and washing up before he left in Ms. Warren's car, Detective Miller said. After Mr. Scott left, he called an acquaintance, who led police to the blood-drenched townhouse. Naim's body was found on the living room sofa, while Ieisha was in a second-floor bedroom.

Police also found letters of apology inside the house -- one to law enforcement, one to family, one to Ms. Warren.

"He told Nikiesha he had taken something irreplaceable from her," Detective Miller testified, prompting loud sobs from the victims' relatives.

Defense attorney James M. Ecker accused Detective Miller of putting words in Mr. Scott's mouth while he was on morphine in the hospital. After the hearing, Mr. Ecker emphasized that his client never actually said he did it, just that he "must have."

"My client doesn't remember anything at all," Mr. Ecker said.

Mr. Scott had been housed for a time at Torrance State Hospital for mental health treatment and evaluation. While there, Ms. Pellegrini said, Mr. Scott tried to call Ms. Warren.

Judge Saveikis ordered Mr. Scott not to attempt to contact Ms. Warren or any other family members, and Mr. Scott said he understood.

Mr. Scott is now being held without bail in the mental health area of the Allegheny County Jail.