Police: 90-year-old NY man hit, suffocated his wife of nearly 68 years; no word on motive

NY cops: Man, 90, hit, suffocated wife of 67 years

AMHERST, N.Y. — A 90-year-old man accused of bludgeoning and suffocating his wife of nearly 68 years leaned on a walker as he made his way into court on a murder charge Thursday, both eyes blackened and his neck bruised.

Dressed in orange jail clothing, John Bunz said nothing as his lawyer waived his right to a felony hearing in the death of 89-year-old Virginia Bunz. The case will now go to a grand jury.

Police charged Bunz with second-degree murder Sunday after Virginia Bunz was found dead inside their apartment at the Amberleigh retirement community, a manicured complex of three-story buildings in the well-off Buffalo suburb of Amherst.

John Bunz was briefly hospitalized with injuries described as self-inflicted after his wife’s body was discovered by a relative about 10:25 a.m. Sunday. Police estimate she was killed between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., according to a felony complaint.

No motive has been released and little is known about what happened between the elderly couple that morning. Neither police nor prosecutors will release details about how Virginia Bunz died or discuss Bunz’s injuries. Police have said they had no reason to believe it involved a suicide pact or mercy killing.

“It’s a domestic homicide as far as we can tell,” Assistant Police Chief Timothy Green said.

Bunz’s lawyer declined to discuss the case or his client’s physical appearance Thursday.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Bonanno said Bunz initially declined to appear for the court hearing, which lasted only a few minutes but started two hours late.

“I’m really going to make no comments until the case is over,” Bunz’s attorney, Dave Steinhilber, said.

Bunz was returned to a Buffalo jail, where he has been held without bail since being released from the hospital. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at his bedside arraignment Sunday.

The Amberleigh complex, with its inviting gazebo and park benches against a forested backdrop, is an independent living community, meaning residents come and go independently and care for themselves, according to its executive director.

A 2007 item in The Buffalo News said John and Virginia Bunz celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on April 4 of that year. It described John Bunz as a retired chemist and technician for Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.

A telephone message left with a relative was not returned Thursday.