A man with a history of violence toward women was arrested Wednesday on police accusations that he killed a Latrobe woman in her apartment.
Latrobe police and Westmoreland County detectives believe Glenn James Whittier, 54, stabbed Pamela Puskar in her Loyalhanna Apartments home and left her to bleed to death early Saturday. Whitter was charged Wednesday with homicide and tampering with evidence.
Investigators quickly zeroed in on him as the suspect after another resident at the Jefferson Street apartment building reported having Whittier over to drink on Friday night, according to court papers filed by county detective Ray Dupilka and Latrobe police Lt. Michael Wigand. That resident told police Puskar came to visit and later took Whittier to her apartment to get cigarettes, police said.
Whittier did not return to his friend’s place and Puskar, 59, could not be reached by phone for hours.
While being led out of the Latrobe police station Wednesday afternoon, Whittier said he didn’t know Puskar before that day.
“That was the very first time we met through a friend,” he said before being put in a police car to go to his arraignment.
Court papers indicate that after Whittier left his friend’s place to go to Puskar’s apartment, the friend called Puskar around 2:40 a.m. Saturday and Whittier answered. During that phone conversation, Whittier said he was going to engage in a sex act with Puskar and she was heard in the background saying “you’re not touching me,” police said.
Additional phone calls made to Puskar between 3:57 a.m. and 10:23 a.m. Saturday were not answered. Knocks on her door Saturday and additional attempts to call her Saturday weren’t successful, witnesses said.
Puskar was found dead in the kitchen of her apartment around 8 a.m. Sunday and cans of Canada Dry ginger ale were scattered about. She had wounds to her torso, hands, legs and back, police said.
Video surveillance showed a man, identified as Whittier, leaving Loyalhanna Apartments at approximately 7:10 a.m. Saturday. He was carrying a ginger ale box and appeared to be concealing items under a sweatshirt belonging to Puskar, according to court papers. The images of the man with the box were released to the media on Monday.
During a subsequent search of Whittier’s Ligonier Street home, police did not locate Puskar’s sweatshirt, the clothing Whittier wore to the apartment building the previous night, or the ginger ale box.
Whittier was denied bail and was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 8.
He previously served time behind bars in connection with two assaults on women, according to court records.
Whittier was sentenced to two years and six months to five years in a state prison in a 2015 Latrobe case in which he was accused of holding a woman captive for days, repeatedly beating her with a hammer and pouring bleach into her eyes, according to police. The woman had numerous bruises and injuries all over her body.
A 2021 case in which Whittier was accused of assaulting and choking a woman as she attempted to break off their romantic relationship ended in a guilty plea to lesser charges after a mistrial. Whittier was sentenced to time served to 23 months in jail plus a year of probation. Court records showed he spent about 16 months in jail after his arrest.
The woman in the 2021 case testified during trial that she feared for her life after Whittier grew angry when she tried to end their relationship. She testified Whittier became enraged, knocked her to the ground, grabbed her by the throat and repeatedly pushed her head into couch pillows.
Staff writer Joe Napsha contributed.
