NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PA - A man in his fifties has been sentenced to life in prison after he admitted to slitting his wife's throat and then repeatedly hammering the knife into her chest to make sure she was dead.
The husband, 58-year-old James Christopher Frank, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 55-year-old Deborah Glaser, according to court documents reviewed by Law & Crime. On Wednesday, June 17, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On the evening of March 11, 2025, officers with the Bethlehem Township Police Department were dispatched to a home in the 2100 block of 3rd Street. At the time, a press release by the Northampton County District Attorney's Office said that a family member had told police that "they were worried about the residents" in the home.
Upon arriving at the house, police announced themselves at the door and windows but got no response until they raised a ladder to a second-story window and found Frank inside. When they told him to open the door, he allegedly told the police, "My wife is dead in the bathtub."
Officers entered the home and proceeded to the bathroom, where they found Glaser with multiple stab wounds. Also in the room were "various cutting instruments, including knives, razor blades, and box cutters, along with a hammer and a mallet."
"Frank admitted to police that he used a steak knife to cut Glaser's throat in the trachea area while she was still alive," the press release said. "Frank then admitted to using a knife and a hammer to puncture Glaser's chest and heart, estimating he did so approximately 10 times."
Frank reportedly conceded that "the purpose of these actions was to ensure Glaser was deceased." Authorities pronounced Glaser dead at the scene. Frank was arrested and initially charged with criminal homicide.
District Attorney Stephen Baratta said that Frank did not show up for work the day before his wife's body was discovered, nor had he called in. He was similarly absent from his job the day the grisly discovery was made.
"He admitted to having sliced her neck open. It was a pretty gruesome injury," Baratta said. "We can't confirm how long she had been dead, but it was pretty clear that it was many hours prior to the police response. It was gruesome and on a very human level, upsetting, especially given that it's a domestic situation," he added.
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