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Police have charged a Bedford County woman with murder after she allegedly shot her sleeping father to death in his bed early Wednesday morning.
State troopers arrested Christy Ann Zelanko, 48, of Six Mile Run and charged her with first-degree murder, criminal homicide and other crimes for killing James Albert Zelanko, 68, also of Six Mile Run.
Citing family members and witnesses in an affidavit, police detailed Christy Ann Zelanko’s seemingly sudden decision to allegedly walk to her parents’ home next door and shoot her father. She “just snapped” after an emotional discussion on past abuse, according to a police interview with her mother, Gail Zelanko.
In a late-night talk that lasted more than an hour, Gail Zelanko allegedly detailed decades of mental and physical abuse at her husband’s hands – abuse Christy Ann Zelanko had witnessed as a child, police reported.
Sometime between 1:30 and 2 a.m., Christy Ann Zelanko walked to her parents’ house on Longs Run Road in rural Broad Top Township, entering through a basement door and tearfully hugging her mother. Christy Ann Zelanko’s live-in girlfriend, Kirstie Runk, followed close behind.
Christy Ann Zelanko walked upstairs alone toward her father’s bedroom, her mother and girlfriend told police.
Both said they assumed she would merely bother or wake her father, but they soon heard a series of pops or “slapping sounds.”
Runk ran upstairs to find James Zelanko lying in bed, a series of small-caliber gunshot wounds on his body. Along with another Zelanko family member who had been asleep in another room of the house, Runk tried to resuscitate the mortally wounded man.
“I need a hug,” Christy Ann Zelanko told her girlfriend, according to police.
When her mother arrived in the nearby hallway, Christy Ann Zelanko allegedly said: “I’m sorry, I think I killed dad.”
Her .380-caliber pistol lay on the floor, witnesses told police.
Other family members and acquaintances who lived nearby came upon the scene, all of them allegedly telling police that Christy Ann Zelanko had admitted to her father’s murder.
One, a sister who lived nearby, said she awoke to a knock at her door and a family acquaintance’s announcement that her father had died.
“She initially thought her dad had died of a heart attack or something,” a state police investigator wrote in an affidavit. “When she walked into her dad’s house, she saw her sister, Christy, and Christy said to her: ‘I did this, I did this.'”
State police received a call shortly afterward, with an unidentified woman claiming she had killed her father. Troopers arrived at the scene and placed Christy Ann Zelanko under arrest.
Hours after the shooting, her friends and acquaintances expressed disbelief in posts online. Several said Christy Ann Zelanko had much to look forward to. Her social media accounts detail a happy life with friends, family and children.
“Christy just snapped tonight,” her mother allegedly told police hours after the shooting.
Christy Ann Zelanko remains in Bedford County jail without the possibility of bail.
She faces charges of first-degree murder, criminal homicide, aggravated assault, possession of a concealed weapon and reckless endangerment.
Her father’s body was set for an autopsy Wednesday in Windber.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled Wednesday at Bedford County Central Court, according to online court documents.
Mirror Staff Writer Ryan Brown is at 946-7457.