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On May 10, 1983, a few hours after Snuka had performed in a WWF TV taping at the Lehigh County Agricultural Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Snuka placed a call for an ambulance. When emergency personnel arrived on the scene at Room 427 of the George Washington Motor Lodge in nearby Whitehall Township, they found Snuka’s girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, in bad shape. She was transported to Allentown's Sacred Heart Medical Center, where she died shortly after of "undetermined craniocerebral injuries." Deputy Lehigh County coroner Wayne Snyder said “Upon viewing the body and speaking to the pathologist, I immediately suspected foul play and so notified the district attorney." Snuka was the only suspect involved in the subsequent investigation.
Three months before Argentino’s death, police were called to a Howard Johnson's hotel in Salina, New York over a violent incident involving Snuka assaulting Argentino. Snuka pleaded guilty to violent felony assault with intent to cause injury, received a conditional discharge on counts of third-degree assault, harassment, and obstruction of a government official, and donated $1,500 to a deputy sheriff’s survivors fund.
* Nancy Argentino’s younger sister alleged that she was threatened with serious violence by Snuka. Argentino family members say that they were contacted by a former Snuka girlfriend, who said he had broken her ribs, he had a habit of slamming women against walls, and that she had tried to warn Nancy about him.
Charges were not pressed against Snuka, although the case was left officially open, meaning no official judgment on whether the incident was accidental or homicide was ever made. In 1985, Argentino’s parents won a $500,000 default judgment against Snuka in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, although Snuka appears not to have ever paid, claiming financial inability to do so. (Wikipedia)
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