http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010 ... ng+News%29====================================================
Bail of $2 million was set today for Allan Kustok, accused of killing his wife Anita in their Orland Park home and then driving her body to a local hospital.
Kustok has denied killing his wife. He has told authorities in a video statement that he woke up to a loud noise Wednesday morning and found his wife in bed, dead from a gunshot wound.
Her arms were crossed over her chest and her right hand was holding a Smith and Wesson .357-caliber handgun, he told police. He grabbed the gun and tossed it across the room, then held her and wiped the blood from her face, authorities said.
After the bond hearing, the couple's children made their first statement about the killing, saying through an attorney they do not believe he killed their mother, who went by the name Jeannie.
"Jeannie Kustok was a saint," attorney Pete Rush said. "She lived her life for everyone else. For her family, for God.
"The children know that their father could not have committed these acts the state accused him of."
The couple's two children, Sarah and Zak Kustok, sat in the front row of the courtroom during the hearing, holding each other as prosecutors laid out details of their mother's death.
Kustok told authorities he threw the gun across the bedroom as he held his dead wife. Then he wiped blood from her face, retrieved the gun and put it to his own head, according to prosecutors.
He then fired the five remaining rounds into an armoire in the bedroom, he told police. He did not call 911 or seek any emergency response, but after an hour and a half he drove her to the hospital.
Anita Kustok was wearing bed clothing and wrapped in Allan Kustok's green house robe and the fitted sheet and top sheet of the master bed, prosecutors said.
At the hospital, Allan was asked to go with police. He told authorities he and his wife were alone in the house and had retired to bed.
Prosecutors also detailed the autopsy report on Anita Kustok.
The bullet entered the left cheek below the eye and exited out the right side of her neck, prosecutors said. The Cook County medical examiner's office said Kustok died within seconds.
The office also said it appeared the gun was just a few inches from her cheek when it was fired, prosecutors said. The gun -- bought by Allan Kustok in 2009 at Anita Kustok request -- has a trigger pull of between 10 and 12 pounds, prosecutors said.
Kustok's attorney asked for bail of $200,000, explaining the family could only afford that. The attorney told Judge Joan Margaret O'Brien that Kustok has been a resident of Orland Park his entire life and is not flight risk.
But O'Brien agreed to prosecutors' request for a bail of $2 million.
At a later news conference, Assistant State's Attorney Peter Troy explained why he didn't believe Kustok's story.
"I found it striking that, according to him, she was lying on her back with her arms crossed and a weapon of significant power and weight was still in her right hand," he said.
"I believe any reasonable person would find it unreasonable to wait an hour and a half before you take your loving spouse to the hospital with a gun shot wound to the head," he added.
Asked about a motive, Troy would only say that authorities are investigating "all of the circumstances regarding the domestic situation between the defendant and his late wife."
The slaying has sent shockwaves through Orland Park, where the Kustoks were the ideal suburban family.
The Kustoks' daughter Sarah was a standout DePaul basketball player who is an anchor/reporter at Comcast SportsNet. Their son Zak led Northwestern to the Big Ten football title in 2000. He played briefly in the NFL, including with the Chicago Bears.
Allan and Anita met while he was an offensive tackle at the University of Illinois from 1969-1973, said the couple's friend Mike Navarro.
Navarro was Allan Kustok's teammate at Illinois and later coached Zak at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park.
"I would never expect anything like this to happen -- if it's true," said Navarro, who sounded shaken. "They were like the perfect couple. They had a very happy marriage."
"(The Kustoks) have been great friends for a long time to my wife and I. She was the kindest, sweetest person you'd want to meet. Al is a quality individual who I have a lot of respect for."
At Central Elementary School, Anita Kustok managed the gifted program and was responsible for teaching the most advanced third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. She worked in the district for seven years and made friends with most of the staff.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
