Charges filed in College Township shooting
The husband of the woman killed in College Township over the weekend was in custody Tuesday, charged with murder.
State College police arrested Alois Kudlach, 49, Monday night and the College Township resident was arraigned before Judge Jonathan D. Grine Tuesday morning. Kudlach faces first- and third-degree murder charges, plus an aggravated assault charge in relation to the shooting death of his wife, 51-year-old Nuria Kudlach, on Sunday.
State College police responded to Kudlach’s home at 310 Gregor Way Sunday morning for a reported domestic incident. Kudlach called police to say that his wife came at him with a knife and he shot her to defend himself, according to court documents. Officers arrived shortly thereafter to find Kudlach and his son hugging on the front porch and Nuria Kudlach lying in the kitchen. She was declared dead on the scene.
Investigators found that Nuria Kudlach had been shot three times with a .45 caliber pistol. Based on interviews with both Kudlach and his son, an argument between the three of them preceded the incident and the family had planned to go out for breakfast to try to end it.
Detectives interviewed Alois, who reported that Nuria had taken a knife out and placed it on the kitchen table that morning, which concerned him and he grabbed the pistol from another room and carried it in his pocket for his safety. He said he shot her when she grabbed the knife and “stepped toward him” when he returned to the kitchen, then fired again when she didn’t drop the knife, according to court documents.
The son told police that he was in the living room of the home and heard the gunshots, but not any conversation about a knife, according to court documents.
District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said Tuesday that investigators don’t believe self-defense was a factor based on forensics and the accounts from Kudlach and his son.
“In this particular case, self-defense, we do not believe, is in any way credible,” she said. “She was shot three times and she was turned away from him.”
Karen Muir, Kudlach’s attorney, said she is considering arguing self-defense at Kudlach’s preliminary hearing next week and that she will be prepared to defend Kudlach and “question the forensics” at the hearing.
Kudlach’s son was at the arraignment Tuesday, and Muir said he is what her client is most concerned about since being arrested.
“Under the circumstances, I think he’s just shocked and he’s trying to figure out what’s going on,” Muir said. “He’s more concerned about his 19-year-old son and what’s going to happen with him.”
Muir declined to comment on any history of domestic instances between the two, but Parks Miller said the couple faced financial problems, was planning to divorce and was going to see a divorce lawyer the day after the shooting.
“This was a marriage that was over,” Parks Miller said.
Kudlach is held at Centre County Correctional Facility without bail. He also faces a felony charge relating to recording the conversation without his wife’s consent on Saturday. The preliminary hearing, also before Grine, is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 1 p.m.
This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 9:07 AM with the headline "Charges filed in College Township shooting."