PA Woman Charged with Man's Fatal Bat Beating

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Dec. 21, 2005 -- A judge has ordered a Monroe County woman to stand trial for allegedly beating her ex-boyfriend to death with a baseball bat.

Thirty-six-year-old Cheryl Kunkle of Effort is charged with homicide in the death of 52-year-old Benjamin Amato at his home in Chesnuthill Township in November 2001.

Authorities say Kunkle, a former security guard who trained to be a police officer, was involved in a child custody dispute with Amato.

Kunkle's son, 19-year-old Gregory Rowe, testified at a preliminary hearing that Kunkle told him she killed Amato. He said she told him she sprayed Amato with Mace, knocked him down a flight of stairs and beat him with a baseball bat "until he was dead."

Rowe is himself facing trial on homicide charges in another case. He is accused of strangling his girlfriend and drowning their daughter and is scheduled for trial next month in Pike County.

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