Report: Grand jury to review the death of former girlfriend of Jimmy Snuka
Lehigh Valley District Attorney Jim Martin announced Tuesday that a grand jury will further investigate the death of Nancy Argentino, a former girlfriend of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, according to a report from the Allentown Morning Call.
On May 10, 1983, Argentino was rushed to the Lehigh Valley Hospital from Snuka's hotel room in Whitehall, Pa. She was unconscious from an apparent head injury. On May 11, 1983, she died of traumatic brain injuries. She was 23. According to the autopsy, Argentino's injuries were consistent with "a moving head striking a stationery object."
Argentino also suffered dozens of cuts on her head, ear, chin, arms, hands, back, buttocks, legs and feet. Snuka and Argentino were the only two people in that Whitehall hotel room.
According to the Morning Call, Snuka told police officers that Argentino slipped, fell and hit her head while urinating on the side of a highway.
However, he apparently told at least five people, including a police officer, earlier that he shoved Argentino, which caused her to fall and hit her head. Snuka later told police that those five people misunderstood him in his broken English.
The case went cold on June 1, 1983 when Snuka took part in a follow-up interview conducted by the Lehigh Valley authorities. WWE CEO Vince McMahon was reportedly in attendance. Although the case went cold, it was never officially closed.
In 1985, the family of Argentino sued Snuka for $500,000 for wrongful death and won. Snuka claimed that he was broke and could not afford a legal defense team.
For nearly 30 years, one question has always remained: how exactly did Argentino suffer those injuries that lead to her death.
The Morning Call did a story on the mysterious death and the many questions that surrounded it. The story prompted Martin to re-open the case in June of 2013.
According to the Morning Call, the jury was selected for the case in August and began considering cases in September. It has met every two weeks since and will likely "spend months" working on the case.
"It's important to have a grand jury take a look at it and see what they think," Martin told the Morning Call.
The jury will look at all the evidence and determine whether charges should be filed. The statute of limitations has run out on most of the charges, but the Morning Call notes that there is no statue of limitations on murder. That includes murder in the first, second and third degree and voluntary manslaughter.
Snuka, 70, currently lives in Waterford Township, N.J. His daughter Tamina currently works for WWE.
To read the full report from the Morning Call, click HERE.