", 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." 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." This was a week after District Attorney Jim Martin announced he was re-opening the case. The autopsy report has never been transcribed, wrote the lawyer. We slept together each time, but we also hung out., But while he admits his marriage to his wife, Sharon, was terrible and that he was unfaithful, he seems to misremember how he put a brutal beating on her months after Argentino died. As the docuseries points out, there was another passenger in the car with them who doesnt recall any fall. Finally, I just kept looking at her and trying to talk to her and she didnt even respond like when I left. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Despite the tumble they drove to the motel, despite reports that Snuka lacked a drivers license. Bronstad does remember, though, that someone claiming to be Snukas manager showed up to post bail, going on and on about how he needed to be able to wrestle the next night. Most documented cases have occurred in athletes of contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby, boxing, and professional wrestling. And Tarzan likely never took steroids, boozed or binged on cocaine like The Superfly admitted he had. [Photo: Patriotpost.us]As told to The Daily Beast, Muchnick, while researching the incident, says that Detective Procanyn never told him that they didnt have enough evidence to indict Snuka. Nancy was Italian, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 115 pounds with dark, curly hair and brown eyes. Lorraine reveals that Nancy's childhood friend Ellen was engaged to Johnny Rodz, a legendary journeyman wrestler and trainer, and this was how she was introduced to the world of wrestling. Her defiled face was on display in an open casket during a wake at a funeral parlor in her hometown of Flatbush, Brooklyn. In his autobiography, Jimmy Snuka publicly admitted to drinking heavily, smoking tobacco, liberal marijuana use, ingesting cocaine and using anabolic steroids throughout his adult life. In his 2012 memoir Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story the pro wrestler claims he showed respect to Argentinos parents. she died; that the coroner ruled it a homicide in a report that wasnt made public; and that the case mysteriously stalled out after just three weeks. It was 1983 and only days after Nancy Argentino was found barely breathing, oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose while laying almost lifeless, while holed up in Room 427 at the George Washington Motor Lodge in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Alistair McGeorge. The investigators had help. Per Donovans statement in the Onondaga County file, the guests in the adjacent room called the front desk because their neighbors were raising hell and a male was beating up a female in there., He called the room to no answer, walked over and heard the man inside say, Im sorry I hit you. Being a 61-year-old man in 1983, he then left and thought the problem was over. But after he heard some yelling, he looked outside to see Argentino wrapped in a bed sheet, saw her return to the room, heard more screaming and then looked outside his office again. All the pieces were there. Procanyn, meanwhile, was no longer available at a phone number that he had been giving out last year; neither the Lehigh Valley DAs office (where he worked more recently) nor the reporter who covered his retirement had updated contacts. The Events of Nancy Argentino's Death. (It would not be the first time that outrageous rumors have swirled aboutwrestling mogul McMahon.). Speculation has long swirled around McMahons involvement in the murder investigation, specifically his presence during Snukas last police interview, the contents of which unlike every other interview summary in the Whitehall file are notoriously not described in the report at all (a fact that then-Chief Frederic Conjour wrote off as nothing in the VICE documentary). Oh, and hed donate $1,500 his alleged purse for his return to Syracuse that same day to Sheriff John Dillons favorite charity, the, Reality is seemingly more complicated: Sparkes, Snukas lawyer, had suggested not just a deal based on the donation and a public apology, but a public apology, , at the Onondaga County War Memorial on April 7th, where he would leave tickets for the officers involved. Kyle Dunning. . 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. I would never hurt any of them.. Yeah, there was some excitement. Other doctors in 2010 said they also noticed developing signs of dementia. I dont think its Chris Benoit. She moved away as he strode toward her. Muchnick is the author of Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandaland the 1992 book JUSTICE DENIED: The Untold Story of Nancy Argentinos Death in Jimmy Superfly Snukas Motel Room. This was to prove that he was lucid. Vice's "Dark Side of the Ring" took on the death of Nancy Argentino in a new episode, which aired April 12. Current contact information for Platt couldnt be located, while the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office didnt respond to an email about the discovery, beyond saying that they were forwarding it to current DA Jim Martin. I moved to the other side of the doorway and saw a woman on the bed against the north wall of the room lying down crying and huddled in a fetal position, added Bronstad, in his own affidavit. He writes in his book, Sharon and I fought all the time. The only thing I know for sure is that I didnt hurt Nancy.. 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. On top of being the top WWF star, Snuka, according to his then on-screen manager/real-life babysitter Buddy Rogers, also had a massive cocaine problem. Again, speculation has long run rampant about whether or not McMahon swooped in after her death with his briefcase to finagle Snuka out of trouble (which has never been proven, and McMahon has denied doing so through counsel and a company spokesperson). Picture made on Wednesday, October 7, 2015. All Ill say is I think his legacy is intact. But Tarzan never faced a murder rap. In his autobiography, Superfly The Jimmy Snuka Story, written by Jon Chattman, he says that after coming back from the TV tapings, he was surprised to find her still sleeping, and thats when he called for help. Nancy Argentino, in happier times. Snuka, having lost his physical green card in 2007, began the process to get a new one, which included a new criminal background check. 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. It was devastating.. Snuka seemed to faintly recall how his knight dressed in a tailored suit saved the day while he was in a perpetual daze. It adds, Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately., It stated that the furlough of some employees is expected to be temporary in nature.. I think she died of a fracture to her skull. Patreon: https://goo.gl/hFwQbF Many More Videos: https://goo.gl/p1cRZN My Twitter Page --- http://bit.ly/1Pes74s My Facebook Page --- http://on.fb.me/1U9C3o. It was a very worrisome case. Author Irvin Muchnick's 1992 article about the incident (later collected in his 2007 book WRESTLING BABYLON) is the most authoritative account of what happened. 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. It adds, Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately.. Nancy Argentino, seen in a family photo, was a 23-year-old from Brooklyn, N . George The Animal Steele His Double Life and Turnbuckle Fetish. Argentino was dating World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling star James Reiher Snuka known professionally as Jimmy Superfly Snuka when she died under suspicious circumstances in 1983. He continued, "Where is the line between dementia and normal? She had a headache but no blood. In a single sentence summary from the same phone interview between Bronstad and Romanenko referenced above, Procanyn wrote, Vince McMahon tried to talk her out of making the complaint against Snuka (emphasis mine). Oh, and hed donate $1,500 his alleged purse for his return to Syracuse that same day to Sheriff John Dillons favorite charity, the Ronald McDonald House. According to the complaint, the nurse described the hulkish beau as a tall man with a Hawaiian skirt who refused to go to the waiting room. But her family thought they were more an item. Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka arrives for the second day of a competency hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse on Wednesday, May18, 2016. These changing stories and the official manner of death werent known publicly until 2013, when the Allentown Morning Call discovered the autopsy report and a Snuka police interview transcript both previously unavailable due to the case still being open in court records from the Argentino familys later wrongful death lawsuit against Superfly. That, and other provable incidents of domestic abuse described to the grand jury, led to an eventual indictment on murder charges, which were dismissed due to Snukas apparent mental incompetence mere days before his 2017 death from stomach cancer. It is considered one of the most authoritative accounts of what happened to Nancy Argentino. At the time of Argentinos death, the leaping phenom was a married man with kids and claimed to have girlfriends everywhere. He was the mouthpiece, trying to direct the conversation.. . After all, in his 1980s prime Jimmy Superfly Snuka was a masterful wrestling specimen tipping the scales in mass popularity and forcing all comers to instantly tap out. He was to re-examine the evidence after Argentinos death and try to persuade then-District Attorney William Platt that this was not an accident. With Sam Fatu, Valerie Franzen, Jim Garfield, Chris Jericho. When I woke her up, I picked her up and said, Are you okay, honey? And Argentino apparently replied, Yeah, but its just my head, my bump.. After being pressed about the moment of impact Snuka told the cops he asked Argentino if she was okay and she was lucid. This speculation, though, is now overshadowed by evidence that McMahon may have helped facilitate the cycle of abuse that kept Nancy Argentino in Jimmy Snukas company, and potentially gave Superfly the opportunity to kill her. Thats to say nothing of any potential reputational harm to the organization. I dont know if he gave Nancys family money or anything. Some additional context is needed here to truly understand where both Snuka and McMahon stood at the time. Something went on, and something got covered up. I will never forget what happened to her." But it appears Snukas big mouth or fuzzy memory caught up to him. Snuka told her to hurry up as she jumped across the grass onto the road she slipped and fell backwards and hit her head. Homicide charges against Snuka in the 1983 death of his girlfriend Nancy Argentino, 23, in a Whitehall Township motel, have been dismissed after Snuka was ruled incompetent to stand trial. He writes, At one point, I went with Vince McMahon Jr. to either a court or a law office, I dont remember which because I was still in shock. He was charged with second and third-degree assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of governmental administration. Photo credits to The Morning Call. An illustration of a heart shape Donate. This is the disturbing story of Nancy Argentino, who was once the lover of professional wrestler Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Dark Side Of The Ring S02E05 Jimmy Snuka and the Death of Nancy Argentino. Then, he along with his (since deceased) handler Buddy Rogers, beelined it to the exit vowing Ill come back for the church [service]., He never showed, Argentinos oldest sister Lorraine Salome told The Daily Beast. Movies. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka had an explosive career even after the death of Nancy Argentino in 1983 until his past caught up with him 30 years later. But if he did this, this should have been settled a long time ago.". She later dropped charges and claimed he didnt hurt her. Snuka recalled the coke-induced bender at the hotel where he and his boys would party and crash. In a televised speech, he firmly denied it was alcohol-fueled. He didnt say anything to me. He's been a frequent guest on several podcasts and has a few bylines on TheLogBook.com, where he shares stories of pop culture and retro-related awesomeness. Talk moves to Nancy Argentino the person, with Lorraine talking about despite living in a big city that she led a sheltered life and was a very hard worker. As those in the center of the true crime/wrestling fan Venn diagram will likely be aware, VICE TVs pro wrestling documentary series, death of Nancy Argentino, the then-girlfriend of then-top WWF (now WWE) star, . It also chillingly recontextualizes something that, , McMahon told the Argentino familys initial attorney, Richard Cushing, in 1983. ", "I dont know how to reconcile this mans heroic feats inside our world, with the tragedy he likely played a role in outside of it, but I have always found wisdom and comfort in these simple words from Bruce Springsteen: Trust the art, not the artist." 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? Snuka, a native of Fiji who lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey, was charged last year in the death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino, whose body was found in their Whitehall Township hotel. To Snuka, Nancy Argentino was a willing mistress and he referred to her as his East Coast girlfriend. In his book the wrestler added that they were intimate. He argued Snukas head trauma had progressed to the point where he couldnt understand what was happening in a courtroom and commented that his private doctors detected memory impairment in him as early as 2010 and that Snuka might develop CTE in the future. Re-Opening the case Coast girlfriend you okay, honey was the mouthpiece, to., sweepstakes, and something got covered up talk to her and to! 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