Kustok Case Plods on As Home Goes Into Foreclosure

A new judge may be presiding over Allan Kustok’s court proceedings, but the case isn’t any closer to trial.

In the second court hearing for the Kustok murder case under Judge John J. Hynes, no further evidence was entered and a June date was selected for the next appearance. Defense attorneys for Kustok, 60, said they are still waiting for the state to turn over evidence for discovery–the initial phase of a criminal court case.

“We’d like to prepare our defense for a trial, but the state keeps dragging their feet,” said defense attorney Rick Beuke.

Each court date since Kustok entered a not guilty plea for the murder charge against him on Nov. 18, 2010, has ended with a new court date and few exchanges in words and evidence between the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and defense attorneys. The only new evidence recently entered was surveillance video taken from Palos Community Hospital from the morning of Sept. 29, 2010.

On that morning, Kustok wrapped the body of his wife Jeanie in a green bathrobe and bed sheets, and took her to Palos Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The next day Allan would be accused of  in the couple's Orland Park home, The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death to be a homicide. Kustok has remained in custody at the Kankakee County Jail on $2 million bond ever since.

The simple brick house with a white side garage at 10932 Royal Oaks, home to the Kustoks since 2001, has sat silently since then, among the other 12 houses and a horse farm along the street.

On March 22, Harris Bank of Frankfort sued to foreclose on the residence. The mortgage in question is for $664,380, taken out on the near-4,000-square-foot house in June 2006, according to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Records show the Kustoks had refinanced the home before the market crashed in 2008.

Judges Hynes took the case over for Judge David Sterba, who recently was promoted to the state appellate court, Sun-Times reporter Lauren FitzPatrick reported. Sterba had served as presiding judge at the Bridgeview Courthouse.

The next scheduled court date is June 23.