Bethlehem Township husband who told police ‘my wife is dead in the bathtub’ pleads guilty to murder

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A Bethlehem Township man pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the March 2025 stabbing death of his wife, the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office announced.

James Christopher Frank, 58, entered the plea before Northampton County Judge Brian J. Panella in the killing of Deborah Glaser, 55, who was found dead in the bathtub of the couple’s home on the 2100 block of 3rd Street, District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta said. Frank is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 17.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison in Pennsylvania.

The plea resolves a case that began the morning of March 11, 2025, when Bethlehem Township police were sent to the home around 8:30 a.m. for a welfare check after a family member reported concern about the residents, according to the district attorney’s office.

When no one answered officers’ repeated knocking, police used a ladder to reach a second-floor window, where they made contact with Frank and asked him to open the front door, prosecutors said.

Frank let officers inside, led them to a bedroom and told them, “My wife is dead in the bathtub,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Police detained Frank and found Glaser dead in the bathtub with multiple puncture wounds to her chest, prosecutors said. Officers also found numerous cutting instruments in the bathroom, including knives, razor blades and box cutters, along with a mallet.

Frank admitted to police that he used a steak knife to cut Glaser’s throat while she was still alive, then punctured her chest and heart with a knife and hammer approximately 10 times to ensure she was dead, the district attorney’s office said.

Frank, who was 57 at the time of his arrest, was charged with criminal homicide and held without bail. Authorities said at the time that the couple had married in 2012 and that Frank had no prior criminal record or reported history of domestic violence. Prosecutors have not publicly identified a motive.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Robert Eyer and investigated by Detective Adam Ebner of the Bethlehem Township Police Department, the district attorney’s office said.