Nurse, Cop Retell Kustok Bringing Dead Wife to Hospital After Shooting

Patricia Fleming saw what looked like the shape of a person wrapped in layers of sheets and a blanket inside the SUV Allan Kustok had driven to Palos Community Hospital about three years ago.

“We asked if she was still alive but couldn’t get a ‘yes’ or ‘no,” Fleming said, a registered nurse with Palos Community Hospital, about initial talks with Allan about his wife Anita.

Fleming was working a 3 a.m. to 7 p.m. emergency room shift at the hospital, when Allan Kustok pulled up to Palos Community Hospital on Sept. 29, 2010 around 6:50 a.m., she said during a June 26 court hearing in Bridgeview. Inside the white Toyota Sequoia was the body of Anita “Jeanie” Kustok, who was shortly there after declared dead from a single gunshot wound to the left cheek.

One day later, Allan Kustok would be charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife. About three years since then, the case has yet to go to trial.

On June 26, Judge John J. Hynes listened to testimony from Fleming, as well as an Orland Park police officer about details of Kustok bringing his dead wife to the Palos Heights hospital. Hynes is expected to decide on Wednesday whether unspecified records from the hospital will be included as evidence in the murder trial.

According to Fleming’s testimony, after Kustok arrived at the hospital, he went into the emergency room, where a vitals monitor was attached to Anita and hospital staff confirmed that she died.

Allan was then instructed to leave the room, and was directed to another room within the ER for an examination, said Fleming, who has worked at PCH for the last seven years. During the examination, Allan said his wife was anxious about burglars in the house, which is why he bought a .357 Magnum pistol as an anniversary gift, out of concern for safety, Fleming said.

“He said he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and when he got out, he found she had shot herself,” Fleming said.

During the June 26 court hearing, Fleming was questioned by Kustok’s defense attorney Rick Beuke as to whether she followed protocol in reporting information about Kustok and his wife to police. Beuke asked if Fleming checked with any hospital legal department or administrator to find out of it was OK that she provided police with information, and she said no.

While Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Gonzalez questioned her, Fleming said by law hospitals must report gunshot victims to police, and that medical privacy laws do not restrict communicating with police.

Orland Park Police Officer Jeff Cavender was first called to the hospital about a woman brought in with a gunshot wound at 6:54 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2010, he said during his testimony.

Cavender said when he arrived at the hospital, Allan Kustok was being evaluated about whether he was a suicide risk.

“When I entered the room, I saw a white female wrapped in dark brown bedding with a single gunshot wound below the left eye,” Cavender said, about first going into the ER on Sept. 29, 2010. “Around the gunshot wound were powder burns. The firearm appeared to have been in close proximity.”

Hynes made no ruling on June 26. He agreed to view a DVD with additional case information before the upcoming hearing on Wednesday.

“I am looking at trial dates in October,” Hynes said, just before the June 26 hearing concluded. “I want to proceed as expeditiously as we can with everyone’s schedules.”

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