The death of Nancy Argentino
Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania · May 10, 1983
A pathologist wrote in 1983 that a young woman's death in a wrestlers' motel should be treated as a homicide, a grand jury agreed thirty-two years later and charged a wrestling star, and then dementia ended the prosecution twelve days before it ended him.
Overview
On May 10, 1983, while the World Wrestling Federation taped television at the Allentown Fairgrounds, 23-year-old Nancy Argentino of Brooklyn was found barely breathing in the room she shared with wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka at the George Washington Motor Lodge in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. She died at the hospital without regaining consciousness. The autopsy found traumatic brain injuries and thirty-nine cuts and bruises, and the forensic pathologist wrote that the case should be investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise. Snuka, who said he was the only person with her in her last twenty-four hours, gave more than half a dozen differing explanations, from an argument and a fall onto concrete to a slip during a roadside stop. After he and the head of his wrestling company met the district attorney, police never interviewed him again, and no charges were filed. Her parents won a $500,000 civil judgment in 1985 that was never paid. A 2013 investigation by The Morning Call surfaced the autopsy report, her sisters went to the district attorney, and in September 2015 a Lehigh County grand jury led to charges of third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Snuka was found incompetent to stand trial because of dementia; the charges were dismissed on January 3, 2017, and he died twelve days later. No court ever ruled on how Nancy Argentino died.
Where it stands
The case has no legal ending. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin reopened it in 2013 after The Morning Call's thirtieth-anniversary investigation revealed a previously unseen autopsy report labeling Argentino's death a homicide, and after her sisters approached him. On January 28, 2014, Martin announced the case had gone to a grand jury. On September 1, 2015, the grand jury's findings produced charges of third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter against Jimmy Snuka, then 72. Martin said the evidence showed Snuka repeatedly assaulted Nancy Argentino on May 10, 1983, and then left her on a motel bed without medical care; the grand jury's report counted more than half a dozen shifting accounts from Snuka and heard evidence that he had beaten her in a Syracuse, New York, hotel room four months earlier, an incident for which he pleaded guilty to harassment. Snuka pleaded not guilty in November 2015 and his lawyers called the death an unfortunate accident. The prosecution then ran into his health. After a four-day hearing at which Snuka said he was in his eighties and did not know the year, Judge Kelly Banach ruled on June 1, 2016, that he was not competent to stand trial, rejecting a prosecution psychiatrist's suggestion that he might be faking, and ordered a re-evaluation in six months. In December 2016 his lawyer told the court he had dementia, was in hospice care in Florida and had six months to live. On January 3, 2017, at an unscheduled hearing, Banach dismissed the charges because his condition had not improved. A spokeswoman for the district attorney said the office was considering its options. Snuka died at his son-in-law's home near Pompano Beach, Florida, on January 15, 2017, aged 73. The charges were never tried, and he was presumed innocent of them when he died. The 2015 grand jury did not examine why the 1983 investigation stalled; Martin said it looked only at the evidence of how Argentino died. Her family's civil judgment, and the grand jury's finding, are the only formal findings that exist.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Jimmy "Superfly" SnukaDeceased
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said in September 2015 that the evidence showed Snuka repeatedly assaulted Argentino on May 10, 1983, and left her on a motel bed without medical care; a grand jury concluded he caused the injuries that led to her death, and he was charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Snuka maintained she died from a fall and pleaded not guilty. Judge Kelly Banach found him incompetent to stand trial because of dementia and dismissed the charges on January 3, 2017; he died twelve days later. The charges were never tried, and he was presumed innocent of them.[3]
Sources
- Wrestler Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka charged in 30-year-old cold case killing of Nancy Argentino (September 1, 2015)
“Argentino had 39 contusions and abrasions throughout her body, including her arms, back, buttocks, legs and feet”
- Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka charged in girlfriend's 1983 death (September 1, 2015)
“Argentino's sisters approached him after the story ran, prompting him to give the case another look.”
- Wrestling Legend Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka Charged With Murder in Girlfriend's 1983 Death (September 1, 2015)
“Argentino's family won a wrongful death lawsuit against Snuka in 1985.”
- Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka charged with 1983 murder of girlfriend (September 1, 2015)
“The grand jury also said it heard evidence that Snuka beat Argentino in a hotel room in Syracuse, New York, in January 1983”
- Why did it take 32 years to charge Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka? (September 2015)
“The grand jury did not look at anything that occurred in 1983 other than the evidence in Nancy Argentino's death”
- Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka Pleads Not Guilty to Murder (November 2, 2015)
“At his court appearance, Snuka did not appear to know the day of the week or the location of the courthouse.”
- Judge: Former pro wrestler 'Superfly' Snuka incompetent to stand trial (June 1, 2016)
“Snuka said he was in his 80s. He didn't know it was 2016.”
- Court drops murder charges against former WWE wrestler Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka (January 3, 2017)
“Snuka had pleaded guilty to harassment for a violent confrontation with Argentino four months before her death.”
- Murder case dismissed against former pro wrestler Jimmy Snuka (January 3, 2017)
“Banach had ruled last summer that Snuka was not competent to stand trial”
- Judge Dismisses Murder Charges Against Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka (January 3, 2017)
“We are considering our options and will decide at the appropriate time what action we'll take”
- Ex-Wrestler Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka Dies Weeks After Murder Charges Dropped (January 15, 2017)
“Snuka was taken Sunday to the home near Pompano Beach so that he could spend his last moments there.”
- Jimmy Snuka
“In 1985, Argentino's parents won a $500,000 default judgment against Snuka in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.”