Former WWF star Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka charged with third-degree murder, 32 years after incident

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka

Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, 72, has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 1983 death of his girlfriend in an Allentown, Pennsylvania motel. The wrestling legend was arrested in his New Jersey home after the case involving the mystery death of his girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, was reopened last year and turned over to a grand jury after 32 years. A never-before-seen autopsy report labelled the death a homicide.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin announced the charges against Snuka in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters that the grand jury had determined Snuka repeatedly assaulted Argentino in the motel room and didn't take her to the hospital, the RollingStone reports.
It was said that Snuka had attended a WWF TV (now called WWE) taping at the Allentown Fairgrounds on May 10, 1983 and returned to his motel room to find Argentino "gasping for air and oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose." She was taken to nearby Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead the following day.

An autopsy determined she died of traumatic injuries and suffered dozens of cuts and bruises – injuries consistent with being hit with a stationary object. In the report, a forensic pathologist wrote that the case should be investigated as a homicide. According to interviews obtained by The Morning Call, Snuka had originally told at least five people, including the responding police officer, that he had shoved Argentino earlier in the day, causing her to fall and hit her head. He later amended his story, saying that Argentino slipped and hit her head when the couple stopped along the side of the road to urinate.
Snuka was the sole person of interest in the case but was never charged, and the investigation reportedly went cold a few weeks later, after a follow-up interview with the wrestler. In 1985, Argentino's family won a $500,000 wrongful death case against Snuka by default, though he never paid, claiming he couldn't afford a legal defense.
Seventy-two-year-old Snuka, now battling stomach cancer and living with his wife in Waterford Township, New Jersey, wrote in his 2012 autobiography that he was innocent in her death, which he said ruined his life.
Court records indicate that Snuka was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.