Left: Anthony Kistle (Colorado Bureau of Investigation). Right: Karen Kistle (National Gun Violence Memorial).
A Pennsylvania man was arrested after killing his wife and moving across the country, Keystone State law enforcement says.
Anthony Kistle, 45, stands accused of criminal homicide, theft by unlawful taking involving a firearm, and theft by unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The underlying incident occurred in May 2024 at a residence on Vandien Court in Dingman Township – a small community in the Pocono region – and took the life of 61-year-old Karen Kistle.
The victim was discovered at the residence suffering from a gunshot wound and died of her injuries as paramedics were in the process of trying to airlift her to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, state police told the Pocono Record at the time.
A multiple-agency investigation, headed by state police, ensued. For years, however, very little happened in the public eye.
On Tuesday morning, Anthony Kistle was arrested in Colorado during a traffic stop while heading northbound on I-25 near Castle Pines – a small city some 20 miles south of Denver, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced. In a terse press release, he was referred to as “[a] murder suspect wanted in Pennsylvania for a 2024 homicide.”
For some time authorities believed the victim died by suicide.
“Evidence gathered at the scene, witness interviews, forensic examination and subsequent investigative findings concluded that Karen Kistle’s death was the result of a homicide rather than a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Pennsylvania State Police said on Thursday.
For some of Karen Kistle’s loved ones, however, the suicide narrative never made much sense.
One of the slain woman’s friends said the victim suffered from carpal tunnel in both hands from years of working at ShopRite – a supermarket chain in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
“I cannot imagine how you can take a gun and hold a gun in a position,” the friend told Colorado Springs-based ABC affiliate KRDO.
The friend also said the victim had her own gun and questioned why she would have used her husband’s gun to take her own life.
Another friend, who was a co-worker at the ShopRite, told the TV station they have been waiting for the arrest for years.
“A lot of us, we’re pretty hopeless that anything was going to be done because nothing was being said in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, where she lived,” the second friend said. “So we just assume that the cops were investigating.”
The second friend added that having two years pass without an arrest suggested that maybe the case had fallen by the wayside.
“We really want, you know, all her friends want justice,” the friend continued in comments to KRDO. “You know, justice for Karen. Because we don’t feel that she really got it, you know?”
Anthony Kistle is being detained in the Centennial State and will be extradited back to Pennsylvania to face the charges in Pike County.
