One minute Kenneth James Cernobyl was preparing to run errands with his wife, police said.
The next minute he struck her in the head with a baseball bat, police said.
The criminal complaint filed Saturday against Kenneth Cernobyl says the living room attack was unprovoked and Holly Ann Cernobyl, 48, was facing away from her husband when she was struck. It offers no motive for the alleged homicide.
The complaint says Kenneth Cernobyl, 49, admitted to police that he struck his wife around 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, in their home in the 1000 block of Fifth Street in North Catasauqua.
Her body was found in the home at 8:39 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8. North Catasauqua police initially responded to the address for the report of a cardiac arrest, then called in state police to take over the investigation upon finding the victim, according to state police.
The report says Kenneth Cernobyl used a shirt to strangle his wife after he struck her with the bat. Both the bat blow and the strangulation resulted in her death, police said.
Then he removed his bloody clothes and her bloody clothes and dragged her body up to their second-floor bedroom, the report says. It says he put the bloody clothes in a trash bag which he then took to the basement.
On the morning of Friday, Dec. 8, he allegedly moved his wife's body from the bedroom to the base of the stairs next to exterior Bilco doors. That's where police found her, the criminal complaint says.
Kenneth Cernobyl was arraigned Friday by District Judge Antonia Grifo. He was sent to Northampton County Prison. Defendants charged with criminal homicide are not eligible for bail in Pennsylvania.