Slaying Tied to Spousal Abuse (Woman Shot Husband over Pet Threats)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 11/23/04 | Steve Levin

[beyond the sea]

(excerpt)

In the end, Elsie Ann Kost couldn't take any more of the threats from her 60-year-old husband, Edward. She couldn't take the beatings. She couldn't take the verbal abuse.

Last Tuesday, the yelling began again. Then came pushing and shoving. He threatened to shoot some of the couple's five Dalmatians and four cats, and retrieved a .357 Magnum pistol he kept stored with two other handguns. Elsie Kost told police her husband set the gun on the kitchen table and walked outside their two-story home, set on 28 acres in an isolated, forested, hilly area of New Sewickley Township. She followed him outside, where it's unlikely anyone heard the sound of the bullet she fired into the back of his head.

Today, 60-year-old Elsie Kost is in the Beaver County Jail, charged with homicide. An autopsy yesterday determined that Edward Kost died from the gunshot wound. Toxicology tests are pending.

[beyond the sea]

It figures. His threats and evil behavior Kost him his life.

Tough beans.

[GeronL]

she will get off light

[beyond the sea]

update ping!

[beyond the sea]

ping .........update on abuse and shooting.

[beyond the sea]

I see Ridge has dealt with your tagline!

;-)

[GeronL]

yea.. I got 'the visit'

/kidding

[beyond the sea]

update/threats ping........

Pouring gasoline on her and the house, and threatening to burn both.

Swinging a chain saw at her.

Striking and choking her and her daughter, Jennifer, who was 15 at the time.

Pointing a loaded shotgun at a stairway in their home and threatening his daughters Jennifer and Melissa, 11 at the time, with "... if you go upstairs, you'll be dead."

Throwing his wife's clothes outside, dousing them with gasoline and threatening to burn them.

Cutting all phone lines.

Disabling both of the couple's vehicles to prevent his wife and two youngest daughters from leaving.

****

nice guy ends up in cistern (sarcasm off)

[D-fendr]

He threatened to shoot some of the couple's five Dalmatians and four cats, and retrieved a .357 Magnum pistol…

If this is true, in Texas she gets off on the "Needed Killin'" rule.

[Salamander]

I endured 11 years of brutality for the sake of dogs I had no way to feed if "dear hubby" left.

He turned on my old dog when she tried to protect me and that was the end of it.

I only *said* I'd shoot him if he did it again.

He took me seriously because within days, he left.
He moved all the way across the country and assumed a new life.

At one point in our last year together, he showed me a "story" he was writing about a man who kills his wife and gets away with it.


There but for the grace of God....

[beyond the sea]

If this is true, in Texas she gets off on the "Needed Killin'" rule.

Yes...... sounds good to me.

And to all others who were feeling sorry for this guy who ended up in the cistern yesterday, may I add one thing:

It has to do with chronic pain. I've had chronic back pain for around 35 years and chronic knee pain from athletic injuries for about the same period. Chronic pain tries to take all the joy out of your life, it is always with you, it shows on your face. It is relentless in how much it takes from a person with the constant pain.

Now, imagine this kind of pain of this woman ...... and many more like her. I cannot imagine that kind of fear and pain, it must be incredibly terrible. To me, this *sshole guy is right where he belongs, long overdue!

Let's hope no one out there ever knows what this woman apparently went through.

I saw her picture on the news a couple of times yesterday. Believe me, she had already paid the price of living with that sick jerk!

[beyond the sea]

A shot to the face or chest followed by the placement of a knife, hammer, etc. in the "assailant's" hand would have simplified things.

Good idea............ she wasn't thinking well.

[CDHart]

"she will get off light"

I hope so. I wonder who's caring for the pets while she's in jail?

Carolyn

[The Red Zone]

Toxicology tests are pending.

"Doc, it seems a clear case of lead poisoning to me."

[ez]

MARK...

[CDHart]

"Animals are never, EVER more important than a human life."

I don't agree. It depends in large part on the human, IMO.

Carolyn

[zoobee]

Thank you for the update ping.
My hunch was right along with most of you....this man was lucky he lasted this long. That poor woman.

[SampleMan]

I'm glad I'm not the only one familiar with the "needed killin" rule in Texas. I thought that perhaps it was a figment of my imagination.

Years ago (15-20) I was listening to a news report about a murder trial in Texas. When asked why he had killed the man, the defendant simply said, "He needed killin". The simplicity of this struck me at the time, as it is the only honest defense to killing someone, either they needed to be killed or they didn't.

It looks like this a.h. probably needed killin.

[Texan5]

I must agree with D-fendr and say that our Texas "needed killin'" rule applies here.

My first husband beat me up once-I put him out of the house at gunpoint, ending a 20 year marriage. If he had tried to disarm me and hit me again, I would have shot him dead right then and there. One of my neighbors is permanently crippled because her ex-husband beat her several times, breaking her arm, leg and ankle. He then cut the phone line, threw her cell phone in the creek and kept her from getting someone to go to the sheriff for help, which is not hard to do in a remote area like this one. By the time he left for work the following Monday and she was able to limp to a neighbor's house, she had suffered permanent nerve damage. While yours are admirable sentiments, there are unfortunate exceptions-anyone who beats and otherwise abuses their spouse and children is no longer "a human life" in my opinion-and if they are threatening to kill pets as well just makes them more of a lower form of life.