Mom turns in fugitive sought in Narberth assault

With her son a fugitive from the law, Karen Varela did the unexpected - she alerted police.

Now Glenn L. Minch, Jr., 26, is behind bars at a Middlesex County, N.J., jail, facing an extradition hearing perhaps tomorrow in connection with the near-strangulation of his on-again, off-again girlfriend in Narberth.

Police there believe that Minch attacked Cortney Baird, 34, on Tuesday night in her Main Line apartment, leaving her with a crushed larynx and trauma injuries to her neck. He then fled with their 18-month-old daughter, Macie Lynn, in Baird's black Honda Accord and headed to his mother's home in Woodbridge, N.J.

Baird lay unconscious for nearly an hour before waking up and calling 911, authorities said. Moments later, as she struggled to breathe while lying on her kitchen floor, Minch left a message on her cell phone, according to the affidavit of probable cause signed yesterday by District Judge Kathleen M. Valentine.

The roofer told her he was "sorry" and pointed out that he had left her "still breathing," the documents said.

Minch, who lives on Silverwood Street near Ripka in Manayunk, faces charges in Montgomery County of attempted murder, aggravated assault and related crimes, said Risa Vetri Ferman, first assistant district attorney.

Cortney Baird is still at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital "in very serious condition," Ferman said. She's suffering from "a number of traumatic injuries to the neck and upper part of the body.

"She was strangled to a point of near death," Ferman said.

Baird has since undergone various medical procedures, Ferman said, adding that "we don't know the long-term effects" of the attack.

When police burst into Baird's first-floor apartment, they found her with red marks around her neck and with broken capillary vessels in her eyes, according to court documents. Cops believe that Minch used a belt to strangle the mother of his child.

The couple has had a rollercoaster relationship, often breaking up, then reconciling, said Minch's friends.

"It was pretty up and down," said Leslie Lochten, whose husband, Duane, was a roofer with Minch.

Minch dropped off the child with Varela about 9 p.m. on Tuesday. "He told his mother to watch the girl and left," court documents said.

Authorities picked up the child after an Amber Alert was issued following the attack and kidnapping.

His mother called him a few times between Wednesday and yesterday, asking him to come to her Fulton Street home, Ferman said.

"The defendant went back to his mother's home and at some point his mother called police," Ferman said. Woodbridge police and FBI agents descended on the house and arrested Minch as a fugitive from another jurisdiction. *