Mother charged with son’s death granted bail
A Masontown woman accused of killing her 2-year-old son in 1976 was granted bail. Fayette County Judge John F. Wagner Jr. ruled Tuesday that Glenda Masciarelli, 53, can be released from prison while awaiting trial on a $125,000 bond. Wagner indicated that the bond was percentage, so Masciarelli will have to post $12,500 to secure her release.
Masciarelli was charged with criminal homicide for allegedly drowning Alfred Masciarelli Jr. in a Georges Township creek near Route 857 on Sept. 26, 1976.
State police arrested Masciarelli last year after authorities re-interviewed her in connection with the toddler’s death. During an interview with a polygraph examiner, police alleged Masciarelli admitted making up a story about a man grabbing her son the day the child died.
She allegedly acknowledged to police that she might have hurt her son, but said she could not remember how.
Masciarelli testified last week that if released she would live with her boyfriend, where she was living before her October arrest.
Prosecutors opposed bail for Masciarelli.
In Pennsylvania, criminal homicide defendants are not allowed bail if they may be sentenced to life in prison, or prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
During last week’s bail hearing, Masciarelli testified that she had been seeing a mental health professional for at least 30 years to help her deal with sleep walking problems.
Based in part on her alleged mental problems, Masciarelli’s attorney has filed a motion to challenge any statement she gave to police during interviews before her arrest.
Defense attorney Nicholas Timperio also challenged forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht’s determination that Alfred Masciarelli Jr. died from drowning and his manner of death was homicide. Wecht testified previously that he made that determination after examining records and photos from the scene 30 years earlier. Another person performed the autopsy.
Wecht testified previously that he made the homicide determination because the creek in which the child was found was 11/2 feet deep.
Wecht reasoned that the child, at 2 years old, could have stood up in the creek and got out of the water without difficulty.
Timperio held that the initial autopsy does not have enough information in it for Wecht to base a medical opinion on, and asked that it be suppressed.
Judge Steve P. Leskinen on Wednesday handed down an order scheduling a hearing on those motions for June 21.