Judge orders Arnold man accused of fatally stabbing his mother to undergo mental health evaluation

A Westmoreland County judge ordered an Arnold man jailed earlier this month after being charged in connection to the fatal stabbing of his mother to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Brian Rebold, 38, was charged with criminal homicide and first-degree murder following the Aug. 4 death of his 73-year-old mother outside her Liberty Avenue home. He is being held in jail without bond in that case.

Rebold appeared by video from the jail for a detainer hearing related to another criminal case in which prosecutors are seeking to revoke his parole related to a conviction from earlier this year to a charge that he made terroristic threats to a resident at mental health group home where he briefly lived at in Mt. Pleasant Borough in May 2023.

According to court records, police said Rebold slashed a chair cushion as he threatened to stab another resident.

Rebold was charged earlier this month after police said he stabbed his mother multiple times during a dispute near the family home. Officials said the body of Diana Rebold was found wounded in the street with her son standing nearby. According to the criminal complaint, police said Rebold confessed to stabbing his mother in the throat and back and that detectives also identified multiple stab wounds to her head.

Rebold is scheduled to appear Aug. 22 for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.

On Tuesday, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears ordered Rebold to be detained pending a parole revocation hearing related to terroristic threats case.

In that case, Rebold pleaded guilty in April to the one misdemeanor count and was sentenced to time served to 23 months in jail, was paroled and ordered to participate in a mental health treatment program.

In court documents made part of his guilty plea, Rebold reported earlier this year he had previously been diagnosed and was being treated for schizophrenia.

According to court records, Rebold has other prior convictions related to acts of violence, including convictions for assaulting three people at the New Kensington YMCA in 2020 and for an assault while incarcerated at the county jail in 2023.

He pleaded guilty to the assault at the jail in July, just two weeks before the fatal stabbing, and was sentenced to 8 to 23 months behind bars. But he paroled after given credit for time served.