Coroner confirms College Township homicide, releases name

Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers has released the name of the victim of Sunday’s fatal shooting in College Township.

Sayers identified the woman as Nuria Kudlach, 51.

In a release Monday, Sayers said that Kudlach’s autopsy had been completed, and her death ruled a homicide. Cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller also said Monday that the case is being investigated as a potential homicide.

State College police responded to the victim’s home at 310 Gregor Way after reports of a domestic dispute Sunday morning.

Police said the dispute was described as happening between a husband and wife. The husband of the deceased woman was at the scene waiting for police to arrive, as was their 19-year-old son, according to the release. The release stated that at no time was there a threat to the neighborhood or community.

Sayers and Parks Miller were contacted and also responded to the scene.

Sayers pronounced the woman dead at the scene and scheduled the autopsy.

State College police said Monday that no additional details will be released for the time being, but more information will be made available as developments in the case continue.

“The case is still being investigated,” State College police Lieutenant Keith Robb said. “We’re sticking with our original release, as it would be too premature to release anything else.”

No one is currently in custody, police said.

Knocks on the door of the College Township home were not answered Monday afternoon, but two vehicles were parked out front.

A jar full of flowers stood at the end of the driveway.

Neighbor Norita Chyle said she is “saddened and shocked” by the events. The neighborhood, Clover Highlands, is very quiet and Chyle described her neighbors as “very friendly and sociable.”

“Things like this don’t happen to people you know and not in this neighborhood,” Chyle said.

In fact, Kudlach — a real estate agent affiliated with Home Edge Realty Group in State College — was known to sing the praises of central Pennsylvania’s smaller towns and their safety on social media.

“People care which is one quality I find lacking elsewhere...If you love traffic, more violence, crowds and a general lack of courtesy, have at it. I can leave and visit that anytime, but I like living here,” she said in a Facebook comment in 2010.

The case represents the latest in a short but tragic list of domestic calls that have turned deadly in the area since 2000.

In March 2013, Traci Raymond Miscavish was murdered at work in the Philipsburg area after her estranged husband, a retired state trooper, was released from Centre County Correctional Facility on bail. Mark Miscavish had been charged with terroristic threats and assault against his wife, who had filed for divorce and had a protection from abuse order in place. He shot himself after taking his wife’s life.

In April 2007, Jodi Warshaw Barone met a similar fate when her estranged husband, Benjamin, shot and killed her at what was supposed to be a simple custody exchange in Mill Hall. He also committed suicide.

In November 2001, Amy Homan McGee was shot and killed by her husband as she stopped by their home after an argument. Vincent McGee is serving a life sentence at Fayette state prison.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Coroner confirms College Township homicide, releases name."