A woman with Lehigh Valley ties is accused of killing a 79-year-old man while she was high on methamphetamine and acting like a cat earlier this month in Carbon County.

Ashley Self, 32, of Jim Thorpe, is charged in the Aug. 10 death of Kenneth Greenfield in Penn Forest Township, authorities announced Wednesday afternoon.

Self was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, but those charges were withdrawn recently. State police said in a news release that investigators instead filed charges of homicide and recklessly endangering another person after additional investigation.

She remains in Carbon County Prison without bail. The district court where she was arraigned said she had multiple addresses, including one in Walnutport, Northampton County, and another in Albrightsville, Carbon County.

Court documents state Self called Greenfield’s son and asked to be picked up the morning of Aug. 10. He took her to the house in the first block of Parker Mew, where she took a nap, according to police. It is not clear what the relationship is between the two.

She woke up and began meowing and rubbing her body “as if she were a cat,” against Greenfield’s son, police allege. He told her she had to leave, and she took her clothes off, charging documents state. He went into a garage to call a mutual friend about her behavior, and he came back to find Self pushing Greenfield in his bedroom, police said.

He pushed Greenfield down and “clawed at him,” according to court documents. His son was not able to get her off him, saying she had “superhuman strength,” police said.

Greenfield’s son called 911. Troopers arrived and found Greenfield lying on his bed, unresponsive. Self was found about 100 yards from the home, acting like a cat, police said.

Greenfield was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries shortly after the alleged incident. He suffered from COPD, asthma and emphysema, and investigators said he was never without his oxygen.

Troopers interviewed Self a few days later, and she admitted to taking methamphetamine before Greenfield’s son picked her up, according to authorities. She told investigators that she killed Greenfield, saying “I choked him out,” court documents allege.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/08/28/carbon-county-homicide-woman-charged-meth-attack-acted-like-cat/