Braden Zvara testified Monday that he had suspicions about his father after hearing that a man had been found dead on state game lands in Loyalhanna.
After reporting a strange encounter at the Greensburg Sheetz on Oct. 21 to his father, Zvara grew uneasy upon finding out state police were looking for help from the public to figure out who killed Robert Friend, 64, and dumped his body north of New Alexandria.
He testified Monday that he brought the subject up repeatedly to his father — Joseph C. Zvara, 47, of Greensburg — in the days and weeks after that realization, only to get different stories.
“I started to question the reality of the situation,” he said. “I had my suspicions.”
District Judge Jason Buczak ruled at the end of a preliminary hearing Monday that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to hold homicide and abuse of a corpse charges against Joseph Zvara, 47, for trial.
Braden Zvara testified against his father, one of three witnesses who provided testimony during the hearing.
Friend’s body was found Oct. 25 by hunters. Troopers used fingerprints to identify him. Friend was dressed in socks, underwear and a T-shirt and had a head wound that caved in his skull, testified Trooper Anthony Derry. Authorities believe he was dumped on the game lands north of New Alexandria and Route 22.
Investigators described Friend as transient and said he typically found places to stay across the Greensburg area. That led them to Greensburg where they found surveillance footage that showed Joseph Zvara with Friend on the evening of Oct. 21. Zvara was arrested Nov. 6.
Braden Zvara said he was pumping gas at the Sheetz when Friend, who appeared drunk, approached him and asked for a ride in exchange for $2. He declined and called his father, joking about a way to make a couple bucks, he testified.
Pizza Siena bartender Brittany Bales testified that she served both men alcohol Oct. 21 when Zvara brought Friend to the establishment for a couple hours after getting a phone call.
“They would laugh and then they would argue and then they would laugh again,” she recalled. “It was a very weird engagement between the two of them.”
Both had been there in the past separately, she said. Bales testified that she texted Zvara not to bring Friend there again.
“I didn’t wait on (Friend) very often, but when I did he was mean, just not a very nice person,” she said.
Zvara responded by text message that Friend had disrespected his son and wouldn’t be back to the bar after that night, she said.
Derry testified that troopers got surveillance video from both Sheetz and Pizza Siena that showed the two men together the evening of Oct. 21. They appeared to get into a confrontation at the gas station, he said, before Zvara drove Friend to the bar.
The video showed Friend was wearing glasses, dark pants, a large jacket, shoes and a T-shirt, the same one he was wearing when police found his body, Derry said. Police didn’t find the pants, jacket, shoes or glasses.
Braden Zvara testified that he got text messages late on Oct 21 from his father, who claimed he had messed up. Later, he saw a black-rimmed pair of glasses in his father’s Chevrolet pickup truck and Joseph Zvara threw them out the window, he testified.
Braden Zvara recalled having a conversation with his father on Nov. 5, the day before the arrest, that made him uneasy. He didn’t remember the exact wording his father used, but testified that he was left with the impression Joseph Zvara was involved in Friend’s death. Zvara denied involvement during an interview with state police.
The game lands where Friend’s body was found surround Loyalhanna Lake near Mannitto Golf Course.
Friend has a criminal history dating to 1990, according to online court records. In recent cases, his address was listed as Emlenton and Youngwood.
Zvara remains at the Westmoreland County Prison without bail. His criminal record dates to the late 1990s and he previously served time in state prison for robbing a strip club in Salem in 2007, according to court records.