Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday morning at the trial of Allan Kustok, the man accused of murdering his wife Anita “Jeanie” Kustok, who was a well-liked teacher in Riverside Elementary School District 96.
A 12-person jury was selected over the past two days. The trial will take place before Judge John J. Hynes in Courtroom 110 at the Bridgeview courthouse. On Tuesday, the Hynes told prospective jurors that the trail will take approximately two weeks.
About 25 percent of the prospective jurors told the judge that they had seen or heard news of the case.
Kustoks’ children, Zak and Sarah, were included on list of potential witnesses the judge read to the prospective jurors. Both children were sports stars in high school and college. Sarah Kustok was a popular local sports reporter for Comcast Sports until she took a job with the New York based Yes Network in 2012.
Sarah was in court for the first day, sitting right behind her father. They looked at each other and smiled as Allan Kustok, smartly dressed in a dark pinstriped suit, came out and took his seat at the defense table. Zak Kustok was not in court on the first day of the proceedings.
On the morning of Sept. 29, 2010 Allan Kustok told police that he awoke at the couple’s Orland Park home to find his wife dead from a gunshot wound to the head. He waited for approximately 90 minutes before driving his wife’s body to the hospital and never called for an ambulance or for paramedics.
The Kustoks met as college students in the early 1970s at the University of Illinois, where Allan Kustok was a football player.
Kustok has been held in the Kankakee County Jail on a $2 million bond since shortly after his wife’s death.
Much of the trial is expected to center around expert testimony about bullet wounds and forensics. Kustok allegedly told police that he found Jeanie with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver clutched in her right hand. But the medical examiner’s report stated that the bullet entered Jeanie’s left cheek, which would be an awkward shot for somebody holding a gun in their right hand.
Prosecutors are expected to also bring in evidence of extramarital affairs engaged in by Allan Kustok.
