| 11/23/2004 |
| Woman tells cops: I killed my husband |
| Bob Bauder, Times Staff |
NEW SEWICKLEY TWP. - New Sewickley Township police had often been to the secluded house on Cycle Drive in the past for domestic arguments involving Elsie and Edward Kost, and their children. This time, however, Elsie Ann Kost went to the police. She showed up at police headquarters Sunday afternoon with her daughter and announced she was there to report a shooting. The story she told was out of character for a 60-year-old grandmother, who sang during Sunday Mass at St. Felix Catholic Church in Freedom, said friends of the couple. |
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She explained her husband's absence by telling family members that he had gone to his hunting cabin in McKean County.
Kost has been charged with homicide and is being held without bail in the Beaver County Jail.
According to police reports, the killing unfolded Nov. 16, around 5:30 p.m. The Kosts began arguing about their two daughters, who lived with the couple at 132 Cycle Drive in the heights above Freedom. Elsie told police her husband was upset because the daughters, both adults, were not doing any work around the house.
Edward, an avid hunter and fisherman, got the loaded pistol and began threatening to kill family pets. Police said several dogs and cats lived at the house.
A scuffle broke out, and Edward allegedly pushed his wife several times before placing the gun on a kitchen table and walking outside, according to reports.
Elsie Kost picked up the gun, walked outside and shot him, police said. She placed his body in a two-wheel cart and pushed it to the uncovered cistern behind the house, dumping him in.
The cistern, once used to collect rainwater runoff, has been abandoned for several years. The opening is about 3 feet in diameter, police said. Most recently, it was used as a dump for cans and bottles.
Police found the body resting on top of a pile, 3 to 4 feet from the surface of the ground.
The daughters were not home at the time, and Elsie Kost hosed out the cart, cleaned the back porch and put the pistol back in its place in the family den, police said. She kept her secret until Sunday, when she finally told her daughter Melissa, 25, what happened, police said.
The pair arrived at police headquarters around 1 p.m. Sunday.
Police Chief John Daley said his officers had often been summoned to the Kost residence to break up domestic squabbles, which typically amounted to arguments with lots of shouting.
He said Edward Kost was charged more than 10 years ago with domestic violence against his wife. The last time police were there was Oct. 4. "We've been there often because of family issues," he said. "They did not rise to the level where an arrest would be justified."
Cycle Drive is a rural road in the Mengel Heights section of the township. The Kosts have lived there in an old farmhouse with considerable acreage for nearly 30 years. Houses along the lane, which leads to an isolated development, are separated by wooded plots.
Neighbors said they knew the Kosts to wave to them as they passed along the road. They seemed like nice folks and never bothered anyone, neighbors said.
"Everybody kind of keeps to themselves," said Al Gaudino, who lives across the road from the Kosts. "They are real nice. Good neighbors."
The Kosts' close friends said the shooting was out of character for Elsie Kost, whom everyone called "Ellie."
Irene Brown, one of the few neighbors close to the Kosts, described Elsie as a hard worker and devoted to her children and her church. The Kosts have four grown children and several grandchildren.
Elsie Kost worked as a sales associate at Kaufmann's in the Beaver Valley Mall and volunteered her time at St. Felix. She sang in a four-person choir at Sunday Mass and never complained about her husband, Brown said.
"I can't imagine her doing something like that," Brown said. "Of course, sometimes you get stretched to your limit."
Andy Zabrucky of Ambridge said he had known Edward Kost about 40 years. Zabrucky, Kost and two other friends once worked at the defunct Eastern Airlines in Pittsburgh, and together they owned the hunting cabin in McKean County.
After Eastern folded, Kost went to school to become an electrician. He worked for a small electrical contractor until injuring his back while working around his house. Kost had been on disability for years, according to police.
On Monday, Zabrucky and one of the other cabin owners, Bud Parker, drove out to see Kost at his home to discuss an upcoming hunting trip. They were met by a television news crew, who informed them of their friend's death.
It was a shock that brought tears to their eyes, Zabrucky said, still very shaken hours later.
He and Kost spent hours together hunting and fishing. They've been on elk hunting trips to the West, fishing trips to Canada. Elsie Kost, he said, hunted with her husband. He said the couple did everything together.
"She's just a nice person. Good grandmother, good mom," he said. "We all loved her, that's for sure. Still do."
Zabrucky said he didn't know what to think about the killing, but added that people should not judge Elsie Kost until all the facts of the case are known.
"Evidently somebody went to the edge," he said.
Bob Bauder can be reached online at bbauder@timesonline.com.