Chemicals removed from home

Hazardous materials crews removed chemicals from a rural Butler County home Thursday, while investigators sought to determine the cause of death of its occupant, who had been castrated.

Trooper Randall McPherson of the Pennsylvania State Police said the chemicals posed no danger to the community.

The grisly scene in a rural neighborhood of Mercer Township came to light after James Felbaum, 40, died Feb. 25 at Grove City Hospital, where he had been taken after suffering cardiac arrest. Investigators first thought it was a result a drug overdose.

However, when the Mercer County Coroner's Office did an autopsy, the medical examiner found that he had been castrated in such a crude manner that it apparently was done by someone without medical training, according a Butler County State Police search warrant.

Police investigators and a hazardous materials crew later searched the house Felbaum shared with Tammy Felbaum, 42, whom neighbors believed to be his common-law wife.

According to the search warrant, investigators looked for narcotics, prescriptions, equipment to make narcotics, videocassettes, books on surgical procedures, photos of medical procedures, medical equipment and human body parts or tissues.

While hazardous materials crew removed chemicals from the home yesterday, Trooper Randall McPherson of the Pennsylvania State Police said there was no danger to the community.

McPherson said officers found 'bottles upon bottles' of unknown chemicals. McPherson said Tammy Felbaum might have been a taxidermist.

When questioned whether the chemicals could have been used in a drug lab, McPherson said police are keeping all options open.

Valerie Vicari, director of Butler County's Drug and Alcohol Agency, said she wouldn't be surprised to learn of a methamphetamine lab operating in the county, given the area's rural nature.

She said meth labs have a characteristic smell to them, and lab operators often choose remote areas for the operations.

'They usually manufacture it where nobody is around,' Vicari said.

A spokeswoman with the Mercer County Coroner's Office said yesterday that James Felbaum's death still is under investigation. She would not release any other information.

Neighbors describe James Felbaum, or Jimmy as he was known, as a friendly man who supported himself by working odd jobs.

Tammy Felbaum was taken to the Butler County Prison on March 1 and charged with failure to pay a $650 fine related to trash removal. Yesterday, Tammy Felbaum was transferred to the Cambria County Jail because of crowding at the Butler prison.

Police would not comment further about the investigation.

Ellen James can be reached at ejames@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123. Staff writer Lawrence Sanata and WPXI-TV contributed to this report.