A Philadelphia man accused of shooting his new wife through her chest with a crossbow, killing her, faced arraignment overnight.
A judge denied bail for Paul Kuzan, 41, who is charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime and related offenses in the killing of his wife, 42-year-old Pamela Nightlinger. The couple had just married on June 17, according to Philly.com.
Kuzan is no stranger to law enforcement. Police said officers have responded to the couple's home, on the 3100 block of Willits Road in Northeast Philadelphia, in the past for domestic disputes. Court records show that Kuzan was arrested last year for patronizing prostitutes and sentenced to a probation term after pleading no contest to the charge.
Kuzan's record also shows an arrest in 2002 for simple assault and reckless endangerment. Kuzan was not convicted of those charges.
Police said Nightlinger's killing happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday night after a domestic dispute between her and Kuzan. At some point during the dispute, police said, Kuzan shot Nightlinger in the chest with the crossbow, sending the bolt straight through her body, through a couch and into the wall.
Nightlinger managed to stumble to her neighbor's house, where she collapsed in the doorway in a pool of blood. She died a short time later at a nearby hospital, and police arrested Kuzan without incident at the house.
Neighbor Margie Maldonado, whose home Nightlinger ran to after she was gravely wounded, said Kuzan stood naked in his doorway as his wife lay dying, muttering "crazy things." The man then went back into his home as if "nothing happened," Maldonado said.
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Residents of the area said Kuzan had recently been acting oddly and that Sunday night was not the first time he walked out of his home naked.
He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in the case July 13.
