Suspect arrested in connection with Greensburg man's death

A Greensburg man is in custody charged with the death of Robert Friend, whose body was found on state game lands near the Mannitto Golf Course in Loyalhanna in late October.

Joseph C. Zvara, 47, was arrested Thursday by Pennsylvania State Police from the Kiski Valley barracks. He was charged with homicide and abuse of a corpse, according to court records.

Two hunters contacted state police on Oct. 25 after discovering Friend’s body. Police said Friend had sustained a large wound on his face and had injuries consistent with defensive wounds and two broken fingernails, according to a police affidavit.

Friend, who was 64 at the time of his death, was described by investigators as a transient who typically found places to stay across the Greensburg area.

An employee at a Greensburg pizza shop told investigators she had seen Friend at the shop on Oct. 21 with Zvara, according to the police affidavit. The two stayed for an hour before the employee asked Friend to leave due to inappropriate behavior and because he appeared to be highly intoxicated.

The employee and Zvara also exchanged text messages the same evening about Friend. According to court papers, the employee asked Zvara not to bring Friend to the shop anymore. Zvara texted that Friend had “disrespected my son” in an earlier confrontation at a Sheetz gas station in Greensburg, and later texted that “He will never come back after tonight (laughing/crying emoji).”

Police obtained video surveillance from the Sheetz on Harvey Avenue from Oct. 21 which showed Friend approaching several customers and having brief conversations before taking a seat inside the store. Shortly afterward, Zvara pulled up in a truck and parked directly facing where Friend was sitting, before entering the gas station and approaching him. The video showed Zvara standing over Friend “in an intimidating way,” police said, before the two shook hands, and Zvara motioned for Friend to join him in the truck. The two left Sheetz and went to the pizza shop.

Police applied for a warrant to obtain location data from Zvara’s cell phone. The data showed Zvara’s phone moving away from the pizza shop in a northern direction at 9:09 p.m. on Oct. 21. At 9:21 p.m., the data showed the phone hovering for 28 minutes directly over the area where Friend’s body was discovered.

In a subsequent interview with police, Zvara said Friend left the pizza shop on foot, while he remained there and later went home, both of which directly contradicted the pizza shop employee and his phone’s GPS data.

Police said Zvara also implicated himself through text messages he later sent to his son.

He was taken into custody on Thursday. He was denied bail and taken to Westmoreland County Prison. An attorney for Zvara was not listed in court records.

Zvara faces a Nov. 17 preliminary hearing in Judge Charles Moore’s East Huntingdon court.