Newspaper Looks At The Mysterious Death Of WWE Hall Of Famer's Girlfriend

Last month marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Nancy Argentino, who was the girlfriend of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka at the time of her passing. The Morning Call has a great article looking at Argentino's death here.

The article noted that Argentino started attending WWE matches at Madison Square Garden with a friend who was dating WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz at the time. Argentino became noticed by the wrestlers, and even went on a date with Hulk Hogan once. She then got involved with Snuka, and didn't realize he was married at the time.

Snuka had returned from a WWF taping to his hotel room on May 11, 1983, when he saw Argentino gasping for air with yellow fluid coming out of her mouth and nose. He called the front desk and Argentino was rushed to the hospital, where she died after doctors were unable to save her life. The case was never solved, and her autopsy report has been refused to be released by the Lehigh County district attorney's office.

"I feel like the police didn't take it as far as they should have," said Argentino's older sister, Lorraine Salome. "The whole thing, for our family, is still up in the air. We still walk around wondering, 'What the hell?'"

Snuka wrote in his autobiography that the incident ruined his life, and said that if he was guilty of anything, it was cheating on his wife. He claimed to have never threatened or hit Argentino.

Snuka claims that Argentino fell backwards and hit her head on the road while going to the bathroom on the side of a highway, which resulted in a bad concussion. However, he told the responding officer that he had pushed her and she fell and hit her head while they were fooling around outside the hotel room door. Two emergency room employees told police that Snuka said that she fell and hit her head after he pushed her during an argument.

In June of 1983, Snuka and Vince McMahon – who was said to be completely cooperative with police during the investigation – met with the assistant district attorney, the medical examiner and detectives. According to the assistant district attorney, McMahon did all the talking, but noted that he couldn't remember any specifics of the meeting. Snuka wrote in his book that the only thing he remembered was that McMahon had a briefcase with him, and that he doesn't "know what happened." After that meeting, the article noted that there is no record of police interviewing Snuka ever again.

While no criminal charges were ever filed, the Argentino family did win a $500,000 wrongful death civil lawsuit against Snuka in 1985.

You can read the full article here.

Source: The Morning Call

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