Death is never an easy thing to accept, but sometimes people are taken much sooner than we expect. In Hollywood, death is in an even bigger spotlight than our own lives.
Many of us imagine the life of a celebrity to be all glitz and glamour. All we see are the fancy clothes, the red carpet premiers, the interviews, and all of the excesses that come with being world famous and wealthy beyond belief.
But there is another side to celebrity that none of us will ever have to deal with. A darker side filled with strange, scary, and even murderous people. Most of us will never have to face death simply because we’re famous, because we may have given an interview at one time and said something that somebody half a world away took great offense to – and then began plotting your death because of it. Most of us will thankfully never have to live inside that sort of fishbowl.
Though fame and celebrity comes with certain advantages – a lot of them – it also comes with tremendous pitfalls. Pitfalls that can even lead to somebody’s death at the hands of some deranged, freakishly obsessed and/or overly-zealous “fan.”
Though there have been many more, here are just 20 celebrity murders that shocked the world…
| No. | Case Name | Synopsis |
| 20. | The Murder of Phil Hartman | His wife Brynn shot him on May 28, 1998, and shortly afterward shot herself to death. |
| 19. | The Case of Christian Brando | He shot Dag Drollet on May 16, 1990. |
| 18. | The Murder of Dorothy Stratten | Her estranged husband/manager Paul Snider shot her on August 14, 1980. |
| 17. | The Menendez Murders | Jose and Mary “Kitty” Menendez were shot by their sons Lyle and Erik on August 20, 1989. |
| 16. | The Murder of Dominique Dunne | Her estranged boyfriend, John Sweeney, choked her into a coma October 30, 1982; she died November 4, 1982. |
| 15. | The Amityville Murders | Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr. murdered his entire family November 13, 1974. |
| 14. | The Murder of Marvin Gaye | His father shot him to death April 1, 1984. |
| 13. | The Murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley | The wife of Robert Blake, who was tried and acquitted of her shooting murder of May 4, 2001; unsolved crime. |
| 12. | The Murder of Biggie Smalls | Shot to death March 9, 1997; unsolved crime. |
| 11. | The Murder of Gianni Versace | Shot to death July 15, 1997 by spree killer Andrew Cunanan. |
| 10. | Bob Crane | Bludgeoned to death and an electrical cord was tied around the corpse’s neck on June 29, 1978; unsolved. |
| 9. | The Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer | Shot to death July 18, 1989 by stalker Robert John Bardo. |
| 8. | The Death of Lana Clarkson | Shot to death February 3, 2003 by Phil Spector. |
| 7. | The Wonderland Murders | July 1, 1981, Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Joy Miller, and Barbara Richardson were bludgeoned to death by henchmen sent by Eddie Nash, who were let in by John Holmes; Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack but sustained debilitating injuries. |
| 6. | The Murder of Selena | Shot by Yolanda Saldívar March 31, 1995. |
| 5. | The Black Dahlia | Her body was found mutilated, drained of blood, and cut in half at the waist, January 15, 1947; unsolved. |
| 4. | Tupac Shakur | Shot by unknown assailants September 13, 1996. |
| 3. | The Murder of Former Beatle John Lennon | Mark David Chapman shot him December 8, 1980. |
| 2. | The Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman | Both were knifed multiple times and struck on the back of the head June 12, 1994; Brown Simpson’s ex-husband, OJ Simpson - the prime suspect - was found not guilty in a criminal trial but in a civil trial was ordered to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. |
| 1. | The Manson Murders | The documentary addresses only the Tate murders on August 8, 1969 and the LaBianca murders on August 9, 1969, despite other documented crimes committed by Manson Family members. |
(See also Top 10 Unsolved Murders)
(See also Top 20 Unsolved Hip-Hop Murders)
20. The Murder of Phil Hartman
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| (Phil Hartman and Brynn Omdahl) |
Phil Hartman was an Emmy-award winning actor and screenwriter. You may remember him from such TV shows as Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.
Hartman married his third wife, aspiring actress Brynn Omdahl, in November 1987. Their marriage would produce two children, but it was certainly not without issues. Brynn was reported to have felt intimidated by her husband’s success, while also frustrated that she had not been able to make it on her own. She also had alcohol and narcotics problems which resulted in several stints at rehab.
On the evening of May 27, 1998, Brynn had a heated argument with Hartman, who threatened to leave her if she started doing drugs again. After he went to sleep, at around 3 AM, Brynn shot Hartman three times with a .38-caliber handgun — twice in the head and once on his side. She was intoxicated and high on cocaine when the crime was committed. Brynn then drove to the home of a friend, Ron Douglas, and confessed the murder. They went back to the crime scene, and Douglas subsequently called 911. By the time police arrived, Brynn had locked herself in the bedroom and committed suicide via shooting herself in the head.
19. The Case of Christian Brando
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| (Christian Brando) |
Christian Devi Brando was the only child of actor Marlon Brando and Anna Kashfi.
As the eldest of Marlon Brando's 10 children, Christian developed a protective relationship with his younger siblings. This was particularly true with his half-sister Cheyenne, who led a sheltered life on the island of Tahiti but was plagued by bouts depression and schizophrenia, as well as alcoholism and drug addiction. When she became pregnant by her longtime boyfriend Dag Drollet, the son of a prominent Tahitian family, she and Drollet came to stay with Christian and Marlon at Brando's Hollywood home.
During their stay in May of 1990, Cheyenne told Christian that Drollet had been abusing her, which was a ploy for attention with little basis in truth. Christian, himself fueled by alcohol, then shot Drollet in a drunken rage, later claiming it was an accident. In January 1991, Christian Brando was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and received a 10-year sentence. He served his time at California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo and was released in 1996. He died of pneumonia on January 26, 2008, aged 49.
18. The Murder of Dorothy Stratten
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| (Dorothy Stratten) |
Dorothy Stratten was a Canadian model and actress who rose to fame as a Playboy Playmate. She was named Playmate of the Month in August 1979 and Playmate of the Year for 1980.
Stratten was 17 years old in 1977 when she met her future husband Paul Snider, a Vancouver club promoter and pimp. Her career as a Playmate took off after Snider took nude photos of her and sent them to Playboy. Before long, she was able to parlay her success in Playboy into acting roles. In 1980, she landed a role in the Audrey Hepburn movie They All Laughed, where she began an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich. It was also during this time that she separated from her husband. On August 14, 1980, Stratten came to Snider’s house with the intention of offering a cordial divorce. She even brought $1,000, which she planned to give to Snider. But Snider had other plans; he proceeded to rape Stratten before killing her with a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun. He then abused the corpse afterwards, before committing suicide using the same shotgun.
Since her death, Stratten became the subject of two movies, a song, and several books, including Jamie Lee Curtis's portrayal of her in Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, and singer Bryan Adams's song "The Best Was Yet to Come." She was only 20 years old when she was killed.
17. The Menendez Murders
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| (Lyle and Erik Menendez) |
From a young age, Lyle and Erik Menendez were attached to each other in a way that seemed abnormal. Dealing with a successful business executive father who enforced rigid rules and expected nothing but the best from his sons may have made them too dependent on each other — and too willing to reinforce each other's misbehavior. They committed home burglaries together, did poorly in school and avoided contact with others. Their mother, Kitty, reeling from her husband's infidelity and both her sons' diagnosed sociopathic tendencies, kept a close eye on Lyle, 21, a Princeton student, and Erik, 18, who was UCLA bound. But not the kind of watchful eye that parents usually have — this was a woman who feared for her safety.
After watching the Billionaire Boys Club — a T.V. mini-series about a Southern California investment and social club that turned to murder after its Ponzi scheme began to unravel — Lyle and Erik decided they would rid themselves of their abusive father and save their mother the anguish of living without him by killing her too. They shot their parents to death at their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989. For seven months after the murders they went on shopping sprees, started fake businesses and lived in hotels paid for by their father's company. By the end of 1989, they had spent more than a million dollars. Police found the spending suspicious, but what actually led to the brothers' arrest was Erik's breakdown and full confession to a psychotherapist.
16. The Murder of Dominique Dunne
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| (Dominique Dunne) |
Just four months after appearing in the 1982 blockbuster supernatural thriller, Poltergeist, 22-year-old actress Dominique Dunne was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, sous-chef John Thomas Sweeney, at her West Hollywood home. The attack put her in a coma for five days until she was declared brain dead and taken off life support.
Dunne was the daughter of heiress Ellen Griffin and Dominick Dunne, a film producer, writer, investigative journalist, and television host, and the niece of novelists Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. Her first break as an actress came when she was cast in the 1979 movie, Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. She soon appeared in the hit '80s television shows, Lou Grant, Hart to Hart, and Fame, before landing her first feature film role in the Steven Spielberg-produced supernatural thriller Poltergeist.
The trouble with her boyfriend Sweeney began shortly after the two moved in together, just weeks after meeting. A few months prior to her murder, two altercations occurred, one being his first attempt on her life by strangling. In 1983, Sweeney was acquitted of the second-degree murder charge, but was still found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and also convicted of a misdemeanor assault for a previous attack. He was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison, but only served three years and seven months.
15. The Amityville Murders
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| (The DeFeo family) |
Around 6:30 PM on Wednesday, November 13, 1974, 23-year-old DeFeo entered Henry's Bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York, and declared: "You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot!" DeFeo and a small group of people went to 112 Ocean Avenue, which was located near the bar, and found that DeFeo's parents were indeed dead. One of the group, Joe Yeswit, made an emergency call to the Suffolk County Police, who searched the house and found that six members of the same family were dead in their beds.
DeFeo, also known as "Butch", was the eldest son of the family. He was taken to the local police station for his own protection after suggesting to police officers at the scene of the crime that the killings had been carried out by a mob hit man, whom he named. However, an interview at the station soon exposed serious inconsistencies in his version of events. The following day, he confessed to carrying out the killings himself; and the alleged hitman had an alibi proving he was out of state at the time of the killings. DeFeo told detectives: "Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast". He admitted that he had taken a bath and redressed, and detailed where he had discarded crucial evidence such as blood-stained clothes and the Marlin rifle and cartridges before arriving to work as usual.
DeFeo's trial began on October 14, 1975. He and his defense lawyer William Weber mounted an affirmative defense of insanity, with DeFeo claiming that he killed his family in self-defense because he heard their voices plotting against him. The insanity plea was supported by the psychiatrist for the defense, Dr. Daniel Schwartz. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo was an abuser of heroin and LSD, he had antisocial personality disorder and was aware of his actions at the time of the crime.
On November 21, 1975, DeFeo was found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder. On December 4, 1975, Judge Thomas Stark sentenced DeFeo to six concurrent sentences of 25 years to life.
DeFeo is currently held at Sullivan Correctional Facility in the town of Beekman, New York, and all of his appeals and requests to the parole board to date have been denied.
The murders were popularized in several novels and films, including The Amityville Horror: A True Story.
14. The Murder of Marvin Gaye
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| (Marvin Gaye, Jr. and Marvin Gay, Sr.) |
The fatal shooting of Motown's "Prince of Soul," Marvin Gaye, Jr., goes down in the record books as one of the most famous and tragic deaths in music history.
Born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (he later added the "e" in his surname) in 1939 in Washington, D.C., the R&B/soul singer had 18 Top 10 hit singles and is best known for such classics as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Going On," "Let's Get It On," and his 1982 comeback song, the chart-topping "Sexual Healing," which earned him two Grammy Awards.
Plagued by drug abuse, the artist moved in with his parents, preacher Marvin Gay, Sr., and Alberta Gay in the West Adams area of Los Angeles. A day before his 45th birthday on April 1, 1984 at approximately 11:38 a.m. PST, a fight broke out between father and son over the senior Marvin's treatment of his mother during an argument over insurance papers. The fight allegedly turned physical when, as Alberta said in a 1985 Ebony article, that her son pushed and kicked his father. As the story goes, Gay Sr. allegedly retaliated with a gunshot from a .38 pistol to his son's chest followed by a second gunshot reportedly fired at point-blank range.
He avoided first-degree murder charges by pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to a six-year suspended sentence and five years probation. Marvin Sr.’s wife of 49 years divorced him shortly after sentencing.
13. The Murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley
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| (Robert Blake and Bonnie Lee Bakley) |
Bonny Lee Bakley was married to actor Robert Blake when she was shot to death in a car outside a Studio City restaurant on 4 May 2001. Blake was nearby, having returned briefly to the restaurant where they had just dined; he denied involvement in her death. (Blake was carrying a gun but the murder weapon, another handgun, was found in a dumpster nearby.) Investigation by police and journalists revealed complicated and peculiar details.
Blake reportedly first met Bakley at a local nightclub and they began a casual romantic relationship; they married in 2000 only after paternity tests confirmed that Blake was the father of her infant daughter Rose. (Bakley also had been carrying on an affair with Christian Brando, son of actor Marlon Brando). Bakley was said to have had a starstruck history of pursuing actors and other famous people; she also had a record of arrests for small-time crimes, and apparently made money by wheedling money by mail from men she met through lonelyhearts newspaper ads. Los Angeles police investigated nearly a year before arresting Robert Blake on 18 April 2002; they charged Blake with murder, saying they believed the actor had pulled the trigger himself. After many delays, Blake's trial began late in 2004, and the jury acquitted Blake of the murder charge on 16 March 2005. Later that year Bakley's children brought a civil suit against Blake.
Bakley was shot with a Walther PPK, the same model of gun favored by fictional secret agent James Bond… Bakely was shot outside Vitello’s Restaurant, a favorite haunt of Blake’s… Blake’s bodyguard and handyman, Earle Caldwell, was also charged with conspiracy in Bakley’s death, but was cleared of the charges in 2003.
Officially Bakley's murder remains unsolved. (And due to federal and state protections against double jeopardy, if Robert Blake is ever proven to have committed the murder, he cannot be charged and prosecuted for it.)
12. The Murder of Biggie Smalls
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| ("Biggie Smalls", "The Notorious B.I.G." , born as Christopher Wallace) |
Born as Christopher Wallace on May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York, Biggie Smalls, also known as Notorious B.I.G., became a drug dealer at a young age. He started experimenting with music as a teenager and, not long after, befriended Sean "Puffy" Combs. His 1994 debut album, Ready to Die, was a smash hit, and his long-running feud with fellow rapper, Tupac Shakur, helped to shape his career. Biggie was killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997.
For many fans, the murder was viewed as retaliation for Shakur's murder. Biggie's death shook the music world, prompting fears that the hip-hop world might erupt into a full-fledged war, ending numerous other lives. That didn't happen, fortunately, but Biggie's friends, family and fans never received any answers regarding his death. Despite years of speculation regarding the identity of the gunman, Biggie's case was never solved. Biggie's family has been outspoken about its disappointment with the handling of the case, going as far as accusing the Los Angeles Police Department of employing rogue officers who were involved in the murder.
In 2002, filmmaker Nick Broomfield released the documentary Biggie and Tupac, which featured a round of interviews with people associated with both men. More recently, in May 2012, former L.A. police detective Greg Kading, who had worked on Biggie's case, told VH1 that he had incriminating evidence against Wardell "Poochie" Fouse, a gang member belonging to the Mob Piru Bloods. Kading, who had quit the LAPD after he was pulled from the case, asserts that the murder will never be solved.
11. The Murder of Gianni Versace
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| (Gianni Versace) |
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Versace, an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, make-up and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films. As a friend of Eric Clapton, Diana, Princess of Wales, Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Elton John, Cher, Sting and many other celebrities, he was the first designer to link fashion to the music world. Openly gay, Versace and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene.
Versace was shot dead on 15 July 1997, aged 50, on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion as he returned from a morning walk on Ocean Drive. Usually, Versace would have an assistant from his home walk to the coffee shop to receive his morning papers, but on this morning he was in high spirits and took the chore upon himself. He was murdered by Andrew Cunanan, who used the same gun to commit suicide on a boat eight days later. Police have said they do not know why Versace was killed. "I don't know that we are ever going to know the answers," said Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto. Versace's body was cremated and his ashes returned to the family's estate near Cernobbio, Italy.
In September 1997, the media announced that Versace's brother, Santo, and Jorge Saud would serve as the new CEOs of Gianni Versace S.p.A. Versace's sister, Donatella, became the new head of design.
In his will, Gianni Versace left 50% of his fashion empire to his niece Allegra Versace. Her younger brother, Daniel, inherited Versace's rare artwork collection. Allegra inherited her stake, worth around half a billion dollars, when she turned 18 years old in 2004.
10. Bob Crane
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| (Bob Crane as Colonel Hogan on Hogan's Heroes (circa 1969)) |
Bob Crane was the star of the popular 1960’s sitcom Hogan’s Heroes and had a short-lived eponymous series in 1975.
He faced waning success following the cancellation of Heroes in 1971, and unfortunately remains known mostly because of his gruesome, unresolved 1978 murder.
Crane, a photography enthusiast and reputed sex addict, had been friends with John Carpenter, a videographer at Sony, for several years. In later years, Carpenter photographed some of Crane’s sexual escapades with various women.
In 1978, the year that Crane was starring in and directing a play in Scottsdale, he allegedly called Carpenter to tell him that their friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a camera tripod) in a Scottsdale apartment building.
DNA testing did not exist at the time, so the blood later found in Carpenter’s impounded car could not be identified. Other suspicious factors included the multiple phone calls Carpenter had made to the apartment and his seeming lack of surprise to find that the police were there that evening.
Due to insufficient evidence, Maricopa County Attorney Charles F. Hyder declined to file charges. The case was reopened in 1990 and Carpenter went on trial in 1994, where he was not found guilty. He maintained his innocence until his death on September 4, 1998, and the murder remains officially unsolved. However, authorities continue to believe that he was the killer, and no other serious suspect has ever been mentioned in the case.
9. The Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer
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| (Rebecca Schaeffer) |
Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer was an American actress best known for her role in the sitcom My Sister Sam.
On July 18, 1989, Schaeffer was murdered by Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her for three years. Bardo had become fixated on Schaeffer after his previous fixation, child peace activist Samantha Smith, was killed in an airplane crash. Bardo then traveled to Los Angeles for a third time and, after locating Schaeffer's apartment, wandered the neighborhood asking passersby if Schaeffer actually lived there. Confident that the address was correct, he rang the doorbell. Schaeffer, who was preparing for an audition for a role in The Godfather III, answered the door. Bardo showed Schaeffer the letter and autograph she had previously sent him and, after a brief conversation, Schaeffer asked Bardo not to come to her home again. The two shook hands and Bardo left.
He then walked to a local diner and ate breakfast. An hour later, Bardo returned to Schaeffer's apartment for a second time.Schaeffer answered the door again with "a cold look on her face," Bardo later said.Bardo pulled out a gun from a brown paper bag and shot her once at point-blank range in the chest in the doorway of her apartment building. Schaeffer screamed and collapsed in her doorway as Bardo fled. A neighbor phoned paramedics, who arrived to transport her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Schaeffer was pronounced dead 30 minutes after her arrival. The following day, Bardo was arrested in Tucson, after motorists reported a man darting through traffic on Interstate 10. He immediately confessed to the murder. Bardo was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder. Schaeffer's death helped prompt the 1990 passage of America's first anti-stalking laws, in California.
8. The Death of Lana Clarkson
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| (Lana Clarkson) |
Lana Jean Clarkson was an American actress and fashion model. During the 1980s, she rose to prominence in several sword-and-sorcery films.
On February 3, 2003, Clarkson was found dead in the mansion belonging to record producer Phil Spector. In the early hours of that morning, she met Spector while working at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. They left the House of Blues in Spector's limousine and drove to his mansion. Spector and Clarkson went inside while his driver waited outside in the car. About an hour later, the driver heard a gunshot before Spector exited his house through the back door with a gun. He was quoted as saying, according to affidavits, "I think I just shot her." Spector later said Clarkson's death was an "accidental suicide" and that she "kissed the gun".
Spector was tried for the murder of Clarkson in 2007. On September 26, 2007, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury ten to two for conviction. He was tried again for second-degree murder on October 20, 2008. On April 13, 2009, the jury found Spector guilty of murdering Clarkson. Spector was sentenced on May 29, 2009 to 19 years to life in state prison.
7. The Wonderland Murders
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| (The Wonderland Murders) |
The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. It is assumed that six people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, five of whom were present. Four of those five died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries: Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Joy Miller, and Barbara Richardson. Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack, which was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. He, his henchman Gregory DeWitt Diles, and porn star John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders.
Because his palm print was found at the scene, Holmes was arrested and charged with four counts of murder in March 1982. However, Holmes' court-appointed defense lawyers, Earl Hanson and Mitchell Egers, successfully presented Holmes as one of the victims, having been forced by the real killers to give them entry to the house where the murders took place. Holmes was acquitted of all criminal charges on June 26, 1982. For refusing to testify or cooperate with authorities, he spent 110 days in jail for contempt of court.
Holmes died of AIDS in 1988 (he had continued to work in the porn industry even after being diagnosed with HIV). One month before Holmes died, two police detectives visited him at the VA hospital to question him about what he knew about the murders. Nothing came out of the visit because Holmes was barely awake, and his responses to their questions were incoherent. Even on his deathbed, Holmes refused to answer the detectives' inquiries about whether he took part in the murders or divulge anything else about his involvement.
6. The Murder of Selena
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| (Selena Quintanilla-Pérez and Yolanda Saldivar (above right)) |
Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, AKA Selena, was the best-selling Latin artist of the ’90s, even though she lived for only the first half of the decade. She was killed by 34-year-old Yolanda Saldivar (above right), a disgruntled former employee who had recently been fired for embezzling money from her positions as president of Selena’s fan club and head of the company that manufactured Selena’s clothing line. Selena arranged to meet Saldivar at a Days Inn motel to obtain financial documents she needed for her tax returns, but when she arrived, Saldivar pulled a gun on the singer and shot her once in the back, piercing a major artery that caused her to bleed to death. Although Saldival claimed that the shooting was accidental, she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole in 2025, at age 64.
At the time of Selena's death, Tejano music was one of the most popular Latin music subgenres in the United States. She was called the "Queen of Tejano music" and became the first Hispanic artist to have a predominantly Spanish-language album—Dreaming of You (1995)—debut and peak at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Jennifer Lopez was cast as Selena in a 1997 biopic film about her life and became famous after the film's release. Spanish-language networks in the U.S. often broadcast documentaries about Selena on the anniversary of her death; they are among the most-watched programs in the history of American television and often score high ratings.
5. The Black Dahlia
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| (Elizabeth Short "The Black Dahlia") |
Hollywood's famous murder case unfolded on January 15, 1947 when the raven-haired, 22-year-old actress Elizabeth Short was found dead on Norton Avenue between 39th and Coliseum streets in Los Angeles. Her body had been cut in half and appeared to have been drained of blood with precision. The murderer had also cut 3-inch gashes into each corner of her mouth, creating a spooky clown-esque smile.
Short's murder quickly became a sensation, not only because of its location in the show biz capital, but also because the police worked in tandem with the press to disseminate clues in hopes of locating a suspect. Several people confessed, only to be later released for lack of evidence. Much speculation surrounded the details of Short's life. Grieving after the death of a man she fell in love with, she reportedly befriended many men while frequenting jazz clubs, making it nearly impossible to pin down who she could have been with before she died. Her unsolved murder has spawned several movies, television specials, and books. One such account was written by Steve Hodel who implicated his own father, a Los Angeles doctor, as the Black Dahlia murderer. No charges were ever filed.
4. Tupac Shakur
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| ("2Pac" Tupac Shakur) |
An offspring of the Black Panther movement, the New York City–born, California-based Tupac Shakur (birth name: Lesane Parish Crooks) developed his vocal skills in inner-city America, watching and learning from the urban life he experienced firsthand as a child in Harlem and Baltimore. With his 1991 debut 2Pacalypse Now, Shakur showed he could be both explicit and charismatic. He espoused camaraderie with songs like "Keep Ya Head Up" and "If My Homie Calls" and abrasiveness with songs such as "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and "Hit 'Em Up." But his fame and frustration soon led to a near fatal robbery at a Manhattan recording studio in 1994. The incident spiraled into a feud between himself and ex-friend Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, which escalated to a large-scale battle between East Coast and West Coast rap factions that eventually led to Shakur's untimely death at age 25.
There are many theories as to who actually fired the fatal bullet at Shakur's chest as he left a boxing match in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996 (he died a week later), but after 15 years, the murder remains unsolved.
Shakur's life has inspired numerous books and theatrical productions, including the 2012 musical Holler If Ya Can Hear Me. That same year, he made a posthumous appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with the help of technology. A 2-D image of the late rapper accompanied Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during one of their performances at the California event. Shakur's return to the stage from beyond the grave stirred up a new wave of interest in his videos and his music.
3. The Murder of Former Beatle John Lennon
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| (Mark David Chapman and John Lennon) |
On Monday December 8, 1980, the former Beatle spent much of the day with his wife Yoko Ono at their luxury New York apartment, the Dakota, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, opposite Central Park.
They took part in a magazine photo shoot and Lennon also did a radio interview before he and Yoko left to go to a recording studio at 4pm.
Before getting into their car, Lennon paused to sign autographs for fans, including one for a 25-year-old man who thrust a copy of the couple’s recent album, Double Fantasy, in front of the legendary singer.
The man had been waiting all day outside the building and seemed satisfied with getting his hero’s signature.
The moment was even caught on camera. At about 10.50pm, Lennon and his wife returned home in their white limousine. They planned to say goodnight to their five-year-old son Sean before heading out for a meal.
Leaving the car on the street, the pair walked up the driveway when suddenly a figure emerged from the shadows, took up a combat stance and fired five shots from a .38 handgun.
The first bullet missed but four more hit their mark, blasting into Lennon’s back. He staggered up a few steps into the entrance lobby before collapsing, the cassettes of the new single he’d been recording clattering to the floor along with his bloodstained glasses.
Yoko screamed: “John’s been shot” and the porter called police who, arrived within minutes.
The star was rushed to St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center in a police car but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Once news of Lennon’s death spread, thousands of people spontaneously gathered at the Dakota building in a vigil for their lost icon.
Mark David Chapman, a former security guard from Hawaii, did not flee the scene. Instead he sat reading a book, JD Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, as the murder weapon still smoked beside him, until police came to bundle him away.
The following January he was charged with second degree murder. It emerged that Chapman had once idolised Lennon, but had turned against his hero after the star’s comment during a 1966 Beatles tour that the group were “more popular than Jesus”.
Despite his defence team advising him to plead insanity, Chapman pleaded guilty to murder.
He stated that he had heard voices in his head telling him to shoot the legendary musician.
On August 24, 1981 Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life for the crime. He has been repeatedly denied parole and is currently behind bars in a prison near New York.
2. The Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman
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| (Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman) |
Nicole Brown Simpson, famous football player O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, and her friend Ron Goldman are brutally stabbed to death outside Nicole’s home in Brentwood, California, in what quickly becomes one of the most highly publicized trials of the century. With overwhelming evidence against him, including a prior record of domestic violence towards Brown, O.J. Simpson became the chief suspect.
Although he had agreed to turn himself in, Simpson escaped with friend A.C. Cowlings in his white Ford Bronco on June 17. He was carrying his passport, a disguise, and $8,750 in cash. Simpson’s car was spotted that afternoon, but he refused to surrender immediately. Threatening to kill himself, he led police in a low-speed chase through the freeways of Los Angeles as the entire nation watched on television. Eventually, Simpson gave himself up at his home in Brentwood.
The evidence against Simpson was extensive: His blood was found at the murder scene; blood, hair, and fibers from Brown and Goldman were found in Simpson’s car and at his home; one of his gloves was also found in Brown’s home, the other outside his own house; and bloody shoeprints found at the scene matched those of shoes owned by Simpson.
However, Simpson’s so-called “Dream Team” of defense lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey, claimed before a national television audience that Simpson had been framed by racist police officers such as Detective Mark Fuhrman. After deliberating for three hours, the jury acquitted Simpson. He vowed to find the “real killers,” but has yet to turn up any new leads.
In a civil trial brought about by the families of the victims, Simpson was found responsible for causing Goldman’s death and committing battery against Brown in February 1997, and was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million, little of which he has paid.
In 2007, Simpson ran into legal problems once again when he was arrested for breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room and taking sports memorabilia, which he claimed had been stolen from him, at gunpoint. On October 3, 2008, he was found guilty of 12 charges related to the incident, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
1. The Manson Murders
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| (Manson Family victims) |
On the night of August 8, 1969, members of Charles Manson’s cult kill five people in movie director Roman Polanski’s Beverly Hills, California, home, including Polanski’s pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate. Less than two days later, the group killed again, murdering supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in their home. The savage crimes shocked the nation and, strangely, turned Charles Manson into a criminal icon.
Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1934 to an unwed 16-year-old mother. He spent much of his childhood in juvenile reformatories and his early adulthood in prison. After his release in 1967, Manson moved to California and used his unlikely magnetism to attract a group of hippies and set up a commune, where drugs and orgies were common, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Manson preached his own blend of eccentric religious teachings to his acolytes, who called themselves his “Family.” He told them a race war between blacks and whites was imminent and would result in great power for the Family. Manson said they should instigate the war by killing rich white people and trying to make it look like the work of blacks.
Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist), was not the cult leader’s intended target. Manson, an aspiring musician, chose the Polanski house because he had once unsuccessfully tried to get a recording deal from a producer who used to live there. Polanski was out of town at the time of the murders, but his wife and her friends, including coffee heiress Abigail Folger, were shot or stabbed to death. Manson stayed out of the Polanski house on the night of the crime and didn’t take part in the LaBianca killings either. However, he would later be charged with murder on the grounds he had influenced his followers and masterminded the crimes.
After initially eluding police suspicion, Manson was arrested only after one of his followers, already in jail on a different charge, started bragging about what had happened. Manson’s subsequent trial became a national spectacle, in which he exhibited bizarre and violent behavior. In 1971, he was convicted and given the death penalty; however, that sentence became life behind bars when the California Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972.
Manson has been the subject of numerous movies and books, including the best-seller Helter Skelter (the title is a reference to a Beatles’ song of the same name, through which Manson believed the group was sending secret messages to start a race war). Manson remains in a California prison.