Apr 6, 2007 By Jennifer Harr 3 min read

More than 30 years ago, a state police corporal interviewed the father of a 2-year-old who was found dead after his mother claimed he was kidnapped. At the time, Alfred Masciarelli Sr. told the now-retired corporal that there was “a good possibility that (Glenda Masciarelli, the child’s mother) imagined what happened on Sunday and it didn’t really happen.”

Now, Glenda Masciarelli, 52, of Masontown is in Fayette County Prison, charged with drowning Alfred Masciarelli Jr. The child’s body was found in a Georges Township creek after Glenda Masciarelli told police a man kidnapped her son on Sept. 26, 1976, while they were taking a walk.

Last year, troopers re-interviewed her, and she reportedly told police that she concocted that story and acknowledged that she harmed her son. However, she reportedly told police she could not remember what happened.

Court records released this week include police documents and interviews, and records from mental health caseworkers who talked to her 30 years ago.

Masciarelli’s husband told police that his wife was a sleepwalker who frequently claimed she was being followed by a man with a knife. The sleepwalking started about 16 months before Alfred Masciarelli Jr.’s body was found, according to mental health reports, filed on July 9 and 16, 1975.

The report indicated that Masciarelli, who formerly lived in Ohio, did not want to move back there because of the sleepwalking incidents because she feared she may harm her son. Another report indicated that she lost interest in life when she learned she was pregnant.

She twice sought mental health counseling, and did not return after the second visit.

Her now-ex husband told police that his wife would “crawl like a baby around the house.”

Earlier this year, Masciarelli’s attorney, Nicholas Timperio, challenged that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to charge her in her son’s death.

However, Judge John F. Wagner Jr. ruled that evidence from a forensic pathologist that Alfred Masciarelli died of drowning in 1 1/2 feet of creek water was sufficient to use in support of the criminal homicide charge.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht testified that the water would have come to the boy’s waist, making it likely that he would have been able to get out of the water. Wecht indicated the boy died from asphyxiation due to drowning.

To make his determination, Wecht examined photos of the boy from the scene and at the time of the child’s autopsy. He said he found no indication that any other trauma would have led to the child’s death.

Wagner found that Wecht’s testimony satisfied a court rule that requires evidence independent of Masciarelli’s recent statements to police to show that a crime occurred.

Since the discovery documents were filed, Timperio has 30 days to file any additional motions associated with the case before it’s scheduled for trial.