Truth always has a way of coming out, and in WWE legend Jimmy Snuka's case, it was his 2012 autobiography that brought a buried secret to light. A 32-year-old murder mystery has been cracked, thanks to "Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story", and now, Snuka has been charged with third degree murder of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino.
Argentino, Snuka's "East Coast girlfriend" (as he refers to her in the book), was found unconscious in a Whtehall Township motel on 10 May, 1983, by him. According to The Morning Call, Snuka said in his police interview, "I thought, my God, I better try to call a doctor right away... Right away, I just went out of my mind. I didn't know what to do with her, I just called the front desk. I told them my girl is having a hard time breathing, just seems like she can't even breathe at all, whatever you do, please hurry up."
She was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1.50 am on the next day. Five different witnesses claim that Snuka told them she had slipped and fallen down, hitting her head, the reasons for which ranged from him "pushing her during an argument" to them "fooling around". However, Snuka later claimed they had all misunderstood him.
Although the autopsy determined she died of traumatic brain injuries and she suffered more than two dozen cuts and bruises -- a possible sign of "mate abuse" -- on her head, ear, chin, arms, hands, back, buttocks, legs and feet", no definitive proof against Snuka was collected by the police and the case went cold.
It was a detailed investigative article by The Morning Call that provoked the reopening of the case. In the article, they had quoted Mihalakis -- a pathologist who helped convict many series killers -- as saying "The clear-cut forensics weren't there, but the suspicion was there...I did not have a clear-cut case. It was a very worrisome case. Obviously, there was enough there to arouse my suspicion but not enough to take it to trial. ... Just because she was beaten doesn't mean she was beaten to death."
A Grand Jury that heard all aspects of the case came to the conclusion on 17 July that "his [Snuka] assaultive acts and his failure to act to obtain medical attention resulted in her death". The jury also recommended that he be charged with homicide. One of the greatest sources for their research into the murder was Snuka's autobiography, in which it has been mentioned that his personal life began "getting a little crazy" in 1983 because of his frequent use of alcohol, steroids and cocaine.
Snuka has been charged with third degree murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 20 to 40 years imprisonment, be has been granted bail, because "is not facing a life sentence, he is not considered a flight risk because he surrendered his passport, and because of his life-threatening illness (stomach cancer)," reports The Morning Call.
Meanwhile, Snuka, who is currently recovering from stomach cancer surgery, maintains his innocence. He says: "Many terrible things have been written about me hurting Nancy and being responsible for her death, but they are not true... "This has been very hard on me and very hard on my family. To this day, I get nasty notes and threats. It hurts. I never hit Nancy or threatened her."
