Posted: 6:41 pm EST November 13, 2011
Updated: 6:08 pm EST November 14, 2011
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A Westmoreland County man killed his girlfriend during a drunken argument over a lack of beer and his refusal to eat some noodles she cooked for him, state police said Monday.
Keith Allen Kruel, 38, of Wendel, was being held in the Westmoreland County Jail without bond on a charge of criminal homicide.
State troopers in Greensburg announced Kruel's arrest Monday in the death of Tina Marie Ohler, 40, at the Elkart Street home they shared in Herminie.
Kruel pushed the mother of two into a door jamb, then kicked her in the chest after she became upset because they were out of beer and he refused to eat the noodles after a night of bar-hopping, police said. Kruel fell asleep on the couch and found Ohler unresponsive and called a relative who then called 911 shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Kruel told police that he and Ohler were both intoxicated when they returned home from drinking at several bars sometime after midnight, police said in a probable cause affidavit.
Kruel told police that Ohler tried to hit him but missed because she was upset there was no beer in the house. Ohler then agreed to make him noodles while he lay down on the couch, but "Kruel stated that when the noodles were done he told Ohler he didn't want to eat them at which time Ohler got angry," police said.
Police believe Ohler then threw a bowlful of noodles at the wall or onto the floor, prompting the argument during which Kruel told police he pushed Ohler from behind, causing her to hit her head on the doorway. When Ohler grabbed his leg, Kruel said he then kicked her either in the head area or the chest.
Kruel told police he saw Ohler on her knees struggling to breathe properly and that he mentioned calling an ambulance, but she refused before he fell asleep on the couch.
Police said they found dried blood on Ohler's nose, mouth and hands and a bruise just below her right breast. Blood was also found on two different kitchen doorways, and at various points on the carpet leading from the living room to the couple's bedroom. Police said they also found spots of blood on a pair of Kruel's jeans that were hung over the back of a chair in the bedroom.
"It was a horrific scene. There was a significant amount of blood and this woman was beaten to death. She died from trauma from the beating," said Trooper Stephen Limani.
Ohler’s mother, Noreen Wolfe, said her daughter dated Kruel for 10 years. Wolfe said Kruel beat her daughter consistently through their relationship and she recently had her face reconstructed.
Wolfe told Channel 11 News she wants Kruel to "get the chair" because he's an awful man. She said she doesn't want any other family to go through this.
"She doesn't deserve what she got," said Wolfe. "I hope he gets the chair. He is a mean, nasty person and I don't what no one else going through this."
The Westmoreland County Coroner conducted an autopsy late Monday morning. The report showed that Ohler died from blunt force trauma of the head and compression injuries of the chest and abdomen.
Kruel was arraigned and jailed by a district judge. Judges cannot set bond for people accused of criminal homicide, an umbrella charge that means police accuse somebody of criminally causing the death of another.
At trial, a person charged with the crime could be convicted of anything ranging from involuntary manslaughter – which is a criminally negligent killing -- to first-degree, or premeditated, murder.
Greensburg state police spokesman Trooper Steve Limani said Kruel was at the scene when police arrived Sunday morning and questioned at the barracks until he was formally arrested and charged hours later.
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