ER Doctor: Kustok Debated Suicide After Wife was Shot Dead

Elizabeth Hatfield didn’t see Jeanie Kustok’s body when she was first brought in to her emergency room.

The Palos Community Hospital doctor first saw the shape of a body wrapped in bloodstained blankets and sheets, sitting in a wheel chair that was being pushed down a hospital corridor. It was only after she removed the blankets did she see actually see Jeanie Kustok, finding the gunshot wound in her left cheek and blood around her nose and mouth.

Early in the morning of Sept. 29, 2010, Hatfield then spoke further with Allan, who told her “he was contemplating hurting himself,” she said during court testimony.

Hatfield testified Wednesday in Judge John J. Hynes’ Bridgeview courtroom during a pre trial hearing for Allan Kustok, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife Anita “Jeanie” Kustok.

Hynes is in the process of deciding whether statements made by Allan Kustok to medical staff and police officers on the date his wife died will be allowed in the upcoming murder trial. Allan Kustok’s lawyers have contended that medical and police protocols for collecting and sharing information between the two entities were not followed. 

According to Hatfield, about an hour and 20 minutes passed between when Allan said he first heard a gunshot in his Orland Park house, and when he arrived at the hospital with his dead wife. Kustok told Hatfield that he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue living, but he then fired all the remaining bullets in a .357 magnum found inside the house so he couldn’t use the gun on himself, Hatfield said.

“He said this was the last time he would see her,” Hatfield said. “He said he wanted to spend time with her knowing he’d never see her again.”

Hynes did not rule on the motion Wednesday. A court date was set for Aug. 13 for further arguments on the motion.

Read testimony from an ER nurse about the day Kustok brought his dead wife to the hospital.

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