Crime & Safety

Families of Jeanie & Allan Kustok Say Murder Case Has No Winners

Siblings of the slain Jeanie Kustok and her convicted murderer husband said there were no winners in the case after the jury returned a guilty verdict Tuesday.

A family was shattered when Allan Kustok put a bullet through his wife's left cheek three and a half years ago and the guilty verdict handed down Tuesday hasn't put it back together, relatives of the slain woman and her convicted murderer husband said Tuesday.

"There is no victory in this case. Two families are destroyed," said Kustok's sister, Sharon Crooks.

Crooks and her husband attended each day of the three-and-a-half-week trial, as did John Runko and Patti Krcmery, the brother and sister of Kustok's slain wife, Jeanie Kustok.

"We loved Jeanie very much," said Crooks, who sat behind her brother in court each day despite harboring some doubts about his involvement in his wife's death.

"I can't say I came into this thinking he was completely innocent," she said. "There were a lot of facts I had to hear for myself."

The revelations of Allan Kustok's adultery that came to light after Jeanie Kustok's death stunned friends and relatives who looked at them as the ideal married couple. Runko had believed his sister was married to a devoted, faithful man and told the police as much after she was killed.

"At the time I meant the words that I told them," Runko said

After the verdict, Runko spoke of the healing process for the Kustoks' two children, former Northwestern quarterback Zak Kustok and Brooklyn Nets sideline reporter Sarah Kustok.

"It's going to take some time, I don't know if you ever get over that," Runko said.

"They're strong people and they're great people," he said, "and I know they'll do fine."

After the jury delivered its guilty verdict, Krcmery said, "I knew it" over and over as she hugged family and friends in the gallery.

"It's a sad, sad situation but Justice was served, thank God," she said. "I don't know what else to say."

Her brother felt similarly.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Runko said. "We lost a great sister. Nobody wins this, but I'm just glad justice was served."

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