GREENSBURG, Pa. -- A Westmoreland County man will stand trial on charges that he killed his live-in girlfriend last year during a drunken fight over some noodles.

State police said Keith Kruel, 38, of Wendel, killed Tina Marie Ohler, 40, on Nov. 11 at their Elkart Street home.

Police testified at a preliminary hearing Monday that Kruel denied responsibility until a trooper told him autopsy results showed the woman had been assaulted.

Kruel pushed the mother of two into a door jamb, then kicked her in the chest after she became upset because they were out of beer, and he refused to eat the noodles she cooked after a night of bar-hopping, police said. Kruel then fell asleep on the couch, later finding Ohler unresponsive. He called a relative, who called 911, police said.

Kruel told police that he and Ohler were both intoxicated when they returned home from drinking at several bars sometime after midnight, police said in a probable cause affidavit.

Kruel told police that Ohler tried to hit him but missed because she was upset there was no beer in the house. Ohler then agreed to make him noodles while he lay down on the couch, but "Kruel stated that when the noodles were done, he told Ohler he didn't want to eat them, at which time Ohler got angry," police said.

Police believe Ohler then threw a bowlful of noodles at the wall or onto the floor, prompting the argument during which Kruel told police he pushed Ohler from behind, causing her to hit her head on the doorway. When Ohler grabbed his leg, Kruel said he then kicked her either in the head area or the chest.

Kruel told police he saw Ohler on her knees struggling to breathe properly and that he mentioned calling an ambulance, but she refused before he fell asleep on the couch.

Police said they found dried blood on Ohler's nose, mouth and hands and a bruise just below her right breast. Blood was also found on two different kitchen doorways and at various points on the carpet leading from the living room to the couple's bedroom. Police said they also found spots of blood on a pair of Kruel's jeans that were hung over the back of a chair in the bedroom.

"It was a horrific scene. There was a significant amount of blood, and this woman was beaten to death. She died from trauma from the beating," said Trooper Stephen Limani.

Ohler’s mother, Noreen Wolfe, said her daughter dated Kruel for 10 years. Wolfe said Kruel beat her daughter consistently through their relationship and she recently had her face reconstructed.

Wolfe told Channel 11 News she wants Kruel to "get the chair" because he's an awful man. She said she doesn't want any other family to go through this.

"She doesn't deserve what she got," said Wolfe. "I hope he gets the chair. He is a mean, nasty person and I don't want no one else going through this."

The Westmoreland County Coroner’s autopsy report showed that Ohler died from blunt force trauma of the head and compression injuries of the chest and abdomen.