BUTLER, PA. Castration case suspect to stand trial

Police said the woman told them her husband had tried to castrate himself once before.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BUTLER, Pa. -- One of the last people to see James Felbaum alive said the 40-year-old man was coherent and didn't appear to be in an extreme amount of pain two days before he died.
Charles Adams said at a preliminary hearing Thursday that on Feb. 23, Felbaum told him he had been hurt in a car accident the previous day.
He said Felbaum, who lived in Marion Township, never indicated he had been castrated hours before their meeting at Felbaum's mobile home.
"He was talking," Adams said. "He said he was hungry, so I heated him up a bowl of chili. He ate it."
Felbaum died Feb. 25 at United Community Hospital in Grove City after suffocating on his own vomit.
Authorities believe his wife, 42-year-old Tammy Felbaum, a transsexual, performed what they have called a "very crude operation" on him and that the procedure contributed to his death.
An area pathologist ruled Felbaum died because painkillers he had taken interfered with his gag reflex causing his stomach contents to fill his lungs.
Trial: Senior District Justice Frank Wise ordered Tammy Felbaum to stand trial after the hearing in the Butler County Courthouse.
She is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and practicing medicine without a license. She is in Cambria County Jail without bond.
Adams, also of Marion Township, testified he had called Felbaum on Feb. 23 to talk to him about a van Adams had for sale.
He said he became concerned because Felbaum stopped talking 10 to 15 minutes into the conversation.
He said he could hear him breathing, but he wasn't responding. He said he went to Felbaum's residence, a five-minute drive, to check on him.
He said when he arrived Felbaum was sitting up in bed with a blanket over him. He said there was some blood on the bedding, "but not a whole lot."
"He pulled the blanket up to show me," he said. "I offered to take him to see a doctor, but he said he didn't have insurance. So I didn't pressure the issue. He appeared to be getting along OK."
But two days later, around 3:56 a.m. Feb. 25, Tammy Felbaum called 911. Douglas Dick, a paramedic, testified that when he and two other paramedics arrived at the scene, Felbaum wasn't breathing and had no pulse.
Dick, who said he thought he was responding to a possible drug overdose, said Felbaum also had vomit in his throat and mouth.
He said Tammy Felbaum appeared frantic and tried to revive her husband.
Investigation: Trooper Paul Epps of the Pennsylvania State Police in Butler said Tammy Felbaum initially told police she had nothing to do with the castration.
Later, she said Felbaum, her sixth husband, had initiated the procedure on himself and then asked for her assistance to finish it, Epps added.
He said Tammy Felbaum said her husband had been in a drug rehabilitation hospital and that she had begged him to come home. He said she told him Felbaum came home, the couple had sex and got into a fight because she accused him of cheating.
Epps said Tammy Felbaum, who has indicated she castrated herself several years ago, said Felbaum` had tried to castrate himself once before.
Police found a note Tammy Felbaum said was written by her husband. It reads: "During a fit of rage because my wife accused me of being unfaithful, I stabbed myself ... she surgically removed my testicles at my request."
Police said they haven't yet consulted with a handwriting expert to determine the authenticity of the note.