Hyde Park husband sentenced to up to 26 years in prison for wife's death

Despite being convicted of her murder, Jeffrey Fondrk told a Westmoreland County judge Thursday that he misses his wife.

“She was the world to me and I tried to take care of her the best I could. I regret her death and I miss her. She was a very good wife,” Fondrk said Thursday before he was sentenced to serve up to 26 years prison.

Fondrk, 59, was convicted of third-degree murder after a four-day trial in June. Prosecutors claim 50-year-old Patricia Fondrk died July 18, 2017, after she was beaten into unconsciousness by her husband 10 days earlier in the family’s Hyde Park home.

Witnesses testified that after the attack, Jeffrey Fondrk left his wife of 23 years unconscious on the floor, went to work and later that night, with the help of his 19-year-old son, moved the woman to the couple’s bed before he left the next day to return to his job.

Two days after the beating, Jeffrey Fondrk called for medical assistance for his wife, who was found by paramedics to be unresponsive, prosecutors said. She never regained consciousness.

At trial, Fondrk claimed his wife suffered from persistent alcohol abuse and, on the night she was injured, he pushed her over a gate that separated two rooms and watched as she struck her head on a piece of furniture. Fondrk said he believed his wife was merely passed out from alcohol abuse, not from a head injury.

The prosecution argued the murder was the final act in a yearslong pattern of domestic abuse.

Fondrk also was convicted of aggravated assault in connection with an incident with his wife that police said occurred in November 2016. Fondrk was free on bail awaiting trial for that offense and under a court order to have no contact with his wife when she was killed, according to Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar.

Prosecutors originally sought a conviction of first-degree murder, charging that Fondrk intentionally set out to kill his wife during the July 2017 assault.

“Mr. Fondrk almost got away with it,” Lazar told the judge.

Patricia Fondrk’s cousin, Cheryl Kettering asked the judge to impose a maximum sentence.

“Who wouldn’t turn to alcohol to deal with all the beatings she had to endure at Jeff’s hands? We believe Jeff doesn’t deserve to see the light of day outside of a jail cell,” Kettering said.

Defense attorney Ken Noga argued that Fondrk cared for his wife.

“He’s a flawed man. This is an extraordinary tragedy. This is a complicated situation, and she frankly deserved better,” Noga said.

Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bilik-DeFazio imposed two consecutive sentences that will require Fondrk to serve at least 13 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.