Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka enters Lehigh County Court following his attorney Robert Kirwan, II, right, to argue he has the right to have a preliminary hearing in the 1983 murder of his girlfriend in a Whitehall Township motel. Ultimately, this legal matter will be decided by our judicial system. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (third from left) arrives with his wife Carole (right) for day four of his competency hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown on June 1, 2016. "I would only say there wasn't anything significantly said or done and that's why there's no record of it,"Frederick Conjour, the former police of police with the Whitehall Township,told the docuseries. He communicated to her that Snuka was now a free man. Homicide charges against Snuka in the 1983 death of his girlfriend Nancy Argentino, 23, in a Whitehall. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2017 after his death, which actually contradicts those reports. The WWE has also furloughed manyworkers amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At the funeral, I told her mother and father how sorry I was about her death. Then there were Snukas shifting renditions of what led to Argentinos demise. For the part of the retired members of the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department, Romanenko died last year, and Bronstad, who wasnt at the hospital, doesnt remember hearing about McMahon involving himself. Yeah, there was some excitement. For over two decades investigative reporter and author Irvin Muchnick has been namechecking the former Leheigh County District Attorney William Platt (now a state judge) and the lead detective on Argentinos case for the Whitehall PD, Gerald Procanyn (who became a DAs investigator), as purposely bungling the case. A follow-up interview with Snuka was conducted by investigatorson June 1. He writes in his book, Sharon and I fought all the time. Nancy Argentino, in happier times. Ultimately, you look at what he did in the ring, and its remarkable. Finally, I just kept looking at her and trying to talk to her and she didnt even respond like when I left. The episode shineda renewed light about the mysterious death. New information has surfaced regarding the death of Nancy Argentino. The case remains open to this day. Adding to the controversy was that . Snuka told her to hurry up as she jumped across the grass onto the road she slipped and fell backwards and hit her head. There is much that is not publicly known about this case. Jimmy Snuka and Nancy Argentino returned to the George Washington Motor Lodge hotel after a WWF taping at the Allentown, PA fairgrounds. ", Dr. Paul Hoyer, a forensic pathologist for the Montgomery County coroners office, added, "Dementia can be a muddy diagnosis, as there is no clear-cut test to determine whether a person suffers from it." They were driving to Allentown in their purple Lincoln carand Argentino needed to relieve herself. When I got back to the hotel, I remember being very surprised that she was still in bed. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka wrestles in a match on September 4, 1995 in New Hampshire. That was until yesterday when Pennsylvania prosecutors publicly dropped a motherload of hard evidence citing inconsistent Snuka stories, conclusive forensic and revelatory autopsy reportsall pointing to classifying Argentinos death as a homicide, and suggesting that the killer was Superfly himself. All day Snuka claims that he returned to the hotel between TV shoots to check on Argentino. Nobody Ive spoken to from Argentinos sisters, to law enforcement officers, to Snukas lawyer has any recollection of this or anything related, such as the judge rejecting the proposed plea deal. In a contemporaneous memo, addressed from a lawyer identified as DNZ to colleague SRW (Steven R. Waxman, according to filings from the civil case), the lawyer recounts what he learned from his discussions with Platt while going over the prosecutors file, which he wasnt allowed to copy. During the hearings to determine whether Jimmy Snuka was mentally competent to stand trial, his defense attorney Robert Kirwin said that Snuka suffered from brain trauma so severe that he had developed CTE and, subsequently, dementia. Alistair McGeorge. ", Argentinos oldest sister, Lorraine Salome, remembers differently. Its been an exceptionally busymonth for McMahon and his company. The Salina City Court and several others in the surrounding area have been merged into a single district court location for the, pandemic, making it impossible to check the original court records, if they still exist. He later told police he was misunderstood, and Argentino slipped and hit her head when they stopped along the highway to go to the bathroom. My mom told her, Listen, Nancy, youre too pretty and too smart to put up with this. He was 73. According to the Sheriffs Department file for the case, which I obtained via the Argentino familys wrongful death lawsuit against Snuka, at least two officers on the scene witnessed Snuka resuming his attack on Argentino that same night. And he never saw the briefcase again? This is the disturbing story of Nancy Argentino, who was once the lover of professional wrestler Superfly Jimmy Snuka. He was very protective, a showman, Steinberg said. A follow-up interview with Snuka was conducted by investigatorson June 1. From the autobiography Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story by Jon Chattman: "At the funeral, I told her mother and father how sorry I was about her death. A Lehigh County judge has dropped homicide charges against Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka after viewing the former WWE wrestler's medical records. But if he did this, this should have been settled a long time ago.". Even though he suffered from serious head trauma from his wrestling career and was perhaps suffering from dementia, he was still competent enough to hang himself after the murders. Nancy Argentino, seen in a family photo, was a 23-year-old from Brooklyn, N . A recent episode of an ongoing docuseries dedicated to the dark underbellyof professional wrestling tackles a mysterious death and asks,was a young woman's death anaccident or was she killed by a professional wrestling superstar? The man responsible for the original autopsy, Dr. Isidore Mihalakis, in 1983 commented to The Morning Call about the investigation. Procanyn didnt say to me, We didnt have enough evidence to indictwhich at least would have been plausible. This was a week after District Attorney Jim Martin announced he was re-opening the case. Accident is accident brudda., To the responding police officer, according to the complaint, Snuka said they were fooling around outside [sic] room door when he pushed her and she fell striking her head. That same night Snuka told a paramedic that the couple got carried away in horseplay. Four months before Nancy Argentino died, Snuka was charged with assaulting her in a New York Howard Johnson motel. If this is correct on their part, I do not know. She had a headache but no blood. Investigating the mysterious story of Jimmy Snuka, whose girlfriend Nancy Argentino died in their motel room in 1983, and revealing her family's 30-year struggle for justice. It became clear pretty soon that [Platt] had no intention of presenting the evidence that I amassed. They definitely do not want any tickets reserved for them for the April 7th wrestling match and would not attend. The date was May 11, 1983, . During one of the hearings, prosecutors noted Snuka did not begin complaining of head trauma until after he learned he was under investigation. Cushing spent weeks in Allentown, Pennsylvania, visiting scenes, studying the case records, and interviewing witnesses. Most documented cases have occurred in athletes of contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby, boxing, and professional wrestling. When Argentino was killed, the WWF had been bringing its TV tapings to Allentown which borders Whitehall every three weeks for several years, making the company key to the local economy. , an ebook that Argentinos sisters collaborated on with, , who had been doing the seminal reporting on the case. Homicide charges against Snuka in the 1983 death of his girlfriend Nancy Argentino, 23, in a Whitehall Township . Some outlets inexplicably found humor in it: The Associated Press wire story, for example, glosses over the underlying domestic violence, choosing to frame Snuka violently resisting arrest in joking terms like a pro wrestling match, using phrases such as the match was on and a nine-deputy tag-team. Local media wasnt much better, with a short Syracuse Post-Standard item running with the headline, Police, Dogs Win Round.. If you missed it, the immediate things you need to know are that Argentino died of, ; that Snuka initially told a variety of stories that involved pushing her, only to change his tune claiming she slipped and fell at the side of the road . Now 72 years old and stricken with stomach cancer, the defamed brawler yesterday posted $100,000 bail after forfeiting his passport. Hello! . Then they get to the motel and napped. All of these defenses were given in Snukas autobiography, various interviews, and other sources such as what Snuka supposedly told the nurses in the ER and what they reportedly overheard him say. Shawn Michaels And Diesel Good Friends, Better Enemies, Monday Night SmackDown! Hours later, paramedics responded to their motel room where Argentino was found unresponsive. With this information, the cause of death would have been termed accidental if a formal autopsy report was prepared., As it would later transpire, the paragraph contradicts the complete coroners office file, which I obtained as part of the same civil case appendix mentioned earlier. The Lehigh County jury will . Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. But according to newly uncovered police records, Vince McMahon himself may have played a larger role in the events that led to Argentinos later death. In real time, though, all her sisters knew was that she went from calling late at night in a panic, saying Snuka was chasing her, to saying the next morning that nothing had happened beyond a misunderstanding. Snukas wife, Carole Snuka, told the producers of Dark Side of the Ring that her husband told her that McMahon came into town with his briefcase and told him it was done.. Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka wrestles on September 4, 1995 in New Hampshire. Some additional context is needed here to truly understand where both Snuka and McMahon stood at the time. Shortly after Snukas arrest in 2015, Judge Banach had issued a gag order (to not talk about the case in public) to all the attorneys involved and to Snukas and Argentinos families. Recovering from that[,] I observed that the male had grabbed the female by her hair and was dragging her face along the wall (north) of the building. (When I reached Bronstad recently, he basically told the same story, including volunteering the detail about Snuka resuming his attack on Argentino in front of him. Three weeks after The Morning Call published the story recalling the death of Nancy Argentino and revealing an autopsy report and police interviews never seen by the public, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin asked Chief Deputy District Attorney Charles Gallagher and Detective Gerry Procanyn "if theres anything to be gained by opening a grand jury investigation." In his 2012 memoir Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story the pro wrestler claims he showed respect to Argentinos parents. The male was forcing the female back towards room #1 while the female was yelling for help., After seeing this, Donovan finally called the Sheriffs Department. Jimmy Snuka was at or near the height of his professional popularity in 1983, as his matches typically drew better responses from fans than anyone else on the roster at the time, including then WWF Champion Bob Backlund. Three months before Argentino was pronounced dead she was screaming bloody murder while Snuka was pulling her hair and dragging her naked body through the corridors of a Howard Johnson hotel in Salina, New York. In another version, Snuka claims he called the authorities as soon as they got to the hotel room. After pulling over on the side of the road Snuka claims he sat in the car sipping something potent and somehow his girlfriend complained about her head. WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon speaks at a news conference announcing the WWE Network on January 8, 2014. In 1985, Nancy Argentino's family won a $500,000 judgment against the Superfly in a federal wrongful-death civil lawsuit; but after filing for bankruptcy the retired wrestler reportedly. 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