May 25, 2016 3 min read

BELLE VERNON – Edward Paul Friday confessed to Rostraver Township police Sunday that he helped to slash the throat of his wife, who died two days later, before he attempted to kill himself in a botched suicide pact in their home, court records indicate.

Rostraver police Chief Greg Resetar said Wilma Jean Friday, 84, died at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday in UPMC-Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, and that investigators were still treating the case as a homicide.

“It’s unfortunate,” Resetar said Wednesday.

Edward Friday, 80, of 5127 Cedar Hills Boulevard, was in fair condition Wednesday at Mon Valley Hospital, where he was taken after police were summoned to his home at 4:40 p.m. Sunday to investigate an assault.

Police said they found a talkative Edward Friday on his living room floor, where he explained what Resetar considered to be “bizarre circumstances” that took place that afternoon.

“He said they had lived long enough and were going to die today,” police Sgt. Raymond Dugan noted in the affidavit accompanying a warrant to search the patio home.

Edward Friday allegedly told police he and his wife had decided on a suicide pact before she went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife with a silver blade and black handle, according to the warrant signed by District Judge Charles Christner.

He further explained his wife went to the bedroom and started to cut herself on the left side of her neck.

Edward Friday related “she couldn’t do it,” prompting him to grab the knife and cut her throat, the record states.

Police said he was instructed at that point to stop talking and was advised of his Miranda rights. He said he understood his rights and reportedly signed a waiver agreeing to speak to the officers.

Edward Friday then admitted he planned to kill his wife and then kill himself by cutting his wrists, the record alleges.

He said they wanted to die because his wife “has a bad hip and they have other things wrong with them,” the affidavit states.

Edward Friday said at one point his wife grabbed his hands to stop him from cutting her, and he then cut his wrists and lay beside her.

“He stated he wasn’t dying, so he got up and went to the kitchen and cleaned off the knife and placed it under the kitchen sink,” the officer said in the report.

Edward Friday stated he did not intend to do anything to prevent his wife from dying, police said.

He said he next swallowed 20 Oxycontin pills and went outside, where he started to feel sick and decided to go back inside the residence, the court record claims.

Police did find an empty prescription bottle for the drug in the home, along with the knife and other items. A search warrant was also signed Tuesday by District Judge Mark Wilson, allowing police to obtain Edward Friday’s medical records from Mon Valley Hospital, along with other evidence in its possession, court records show.

One of the Fridays’ neighbors said Wednesday there were no warning signs the couple was having problems, and no one in the community was aware that either of them suffered from a terminal illness. The neighbor also said Edward Friday is retired from U.S. Steel Clairton Works, and his wife never came outside of the residence.

An autopsy was performed on Wilma Friday at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, said a spokesman for Allegheny County Medical Examiner Karl E. Williams. A ruling on the cause and manner of her death was pending.