Rostraver death ruled homicide
BELLE VERNON – The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office has ruled homicide as the cause of death of a Rostraver Township woman who died Tuesday, two days after she was slashed in the neck with a knife in an apparent suicide pact with her husband.
A spokesman for Medical Examiner Karl E. Williams said Thursday that Wilma Jean Friday, 84, died from hemorrhagic shock due to an excessive amount of blood loss in a short period caused by a wound to the left side of her neck.
Her husband, Edward Paul Friday, 80, remained Thursday in Mon Valley Hospital, where he was taken after Rostraver police found the couple in pools of blood in their patio home at 5127 Cedar Hills Boulevard, township police Chief Greg Resetar said.
“We’re not rushing to judgment,” Resetar said, adding that his department will consult with the Westmoreland County district attorney’s office to determine whether Edward Friday will be charged with homicide.
“We have no immediate plans to make an arrest,” Resetar said.
Edward Friday claimed that he and his wife had decided they had lived long enough and agreed Sunday to a suicide pact. He told officers she went to the kitchen, retrieved a knife and went to a bedroom, where she started to cut her neck. Edward Friday said he took the knife after she stopped cutting herself and that he continued to cut her neck, police stated in court records.
He also told police he cut his wrists and then took 20 Oxycontin tablets after realizing he wasn’t dying.
A neighbor noticed Edward Friday outside of his home and called police.