20 Most Infamous Hollywood Murders In History


 

The social circles and environment of Hollywood are frequently regarded as among the most glitzy. Even though it may seem as though celebrities live in an invincible bubble thanks to endless award shows, extravagant parties, and red-carpet appearances, tragedy may strike anyone, even the most famous ones.

In Hollywood, there have been several killings. These infamous killings shocked Hollywood and exposed the murky side of the City of Dreams. Every homicide is unsettling. But Americans have been fixated on these actual stories from the City of Dreams for years, maybe even decades. More murders than we would want to admit have happened in Hollywood, and this is how many of our favourite celebrities we know met their terrible demise.

For some of Hollywood鈥檚 most horrifying murders, including Phil Hartman鈥檚 unexpected passing and the unsolved killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, continue reading about the 20 famous murders in Hollywood.

1. The Notorious B.I.G Murder

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On March 10, 1997, after leaving a party thrown by Vibe magazine and Quest Records, Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed. The driver of a Chevrolet Impala approached the Brooklyn rapper鈥檚 SUV and started shooting as B.I.G was travelling through the Miracle Mile neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Read about the  Top 10 Facts About Rapper Notorious B.I.G 

2. The Elizabeth Short Murder

Elizabeth Short Murder is one of the most chilling unsolved in Hollywood. The actress was killed in 1946. The damaged body of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, also known as “The Black Dahlia,” which had been severed at the waist, was discovered.

Short鈥檚 body had been damaged; it had been entirely severed at the waist, and blood had been drained from it, turning her complexion a sickly white. Her death occurred either in the late afternoon or early morning of January 14 or 15. According to medical examiners鈥 estimates that she had been dead for around 10 hours before she was discovered.

According to the murderer, the body had been washed. The 鈥淕lasgow smile鈥 was produced by the slash marks on Short鈥檚 face that extended from her mouth corners to her ears. She had numerous wounds where large chunks of flesh had been torn out, particularly on her thighs and breasts. Numerous suspects were identified in the case, but none were found guilty. Several retellings in books and films were also inspired by it.

3. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman Murders

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The murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994, in the affluent Brentwood district of Los Angeles, are the most well-known Hollywood murder cases in history. The bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were discovered with their throats cut in front of her condominium. The main suspect was her ex-husband O.J Simpson, who was detained and accused of the crime but exonerated in 1995.

Read about the  Top 10 Facts About the O.J. Simpson Murder Case And Trial

4. Ronni Chasen Murder

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On November 16, 2010, four gunshots were fired through the front passenger window of Ronnie Chasen鈥檚 Mercedes-Benz as she was driving through Beverly Hills following a movie premiere. Ronnie Chasen, a powerful and rich Hollywood publicist, was 64. Her friends speculated about possible targeting.

Harold Martin Smith, 43, a poor ex-con with a history of robberies in the neighbourhood, was later held accountable by the authorities. Two weeks later, as police approached him, Smith shot himself to death. In an attempted heist gone awry, they claimed he killed Chasen on his own.

5. The Murder of Lana Clarkson

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Lana Clarkson, an actress and model, was discovered shot to death in a Los Angeles residence owned by renowned record producer Phil Spector. Clarkson, 40, had first met Spector that day and went with him home.

After an hour, Spector鈥檚 driver heard a gunshot and spotted Spector leaving the house brandishing a weapon. Spector said, 鈥淚 think I just shot her,鈥 the driver reported to the police. Later, Spector labelled the death of Clarkson as an 鈥渁ccidental suicide.鈥

Spector was tried again and found guilty of second-degree murder during a 2007 trial that resulted in a deadlocked jury. He received a state jail term of 19 years.

6. Sharon Tate and The Mansion Family

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Actress Sharon Tate, 26, was a rising celebrity. She was also the expectant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski when she and four other people were murdered in Los Angeles. The killings took place at their home on the evening of August 9, 1969.

According to the best-selling book Helter Skelter, Charles Manson was a charismatic cult leader whose trial earned him notoriety that outweighed his victims. The police linked the murders, as well as two more the next night with Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, to the followers of Manson. In the Tate-LaBianca killings, Manson and three other people were found guilty. On November 19, 2017, he passed away in custody.

Read about the 10 Gruesome Facts About The Tate鈥揕aBianca Murders

7. The Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer

Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, was shot once in the heart at the entryway of her Los Angeles apartment building on July 18, 1989, killing her instantly. She was already a cast member of the CBS sitcom My Sister Sam.

Robert John Bando, a 19-year-old enthusiast obsessed with her, was killed. He hired a private detective to find her home address. He is still incarcerated in California after being found guilty in 1991. The murder sparked a nationwide effort to pass anti-stalking legislation.

8. Mervin Gaye Murder

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Marvin Gaye, a musician, songwriter, and record producer, died due to domestic abuse on April 1, 1984. His death was a result of domestic abuse between his parents. Gaye stopped his parents from fighting while they were in his Los Angeles home. After a while, the argument became physical.

Marvin Gaye Sr. Pointed a revolver at his son at 12:38 pm, shooting the Grammy-winning artist in the left shoulder and heart. He was already dead when Gaye arrived at the California Hospital Medical Centre.

After being identified as having a brain tumour, Marvin Gaye Sr.鈥檚 initial first-degree murder charges were dropped. Gaye received a six-year sentence after being found guilty of willful manslaughter. However, in 1998 he passed away.

9. Sal Mineo

Bronx-born Sal Mineo鈥檚 success came while he was just a teenager and featured alongside James Dean in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. The film led to him being nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

When he was fatally murdered outside his West Hollywood flat in 1976, his life was cut short at 37. There were many different ideas regarding who killed him.

The solution was revealed in 1979 when pizza deliveryman Lionel Ray Williams admitted to stabbing Mineo during an unprovoked mugging while claiming he was unaware of Mineo鈥檚 identity. Williams received a 57-year prison term for killing Mineo and ten other crimes.

10. The Murder of Phil Hartman

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Phil Hartman, a cast member of Saturday Night Live for eight seasons, was killed by his wife Brynn in their home in 1998. Hartman and Brynn were married for ten years and were parents of two kids.

Brynn, who had been sober for ten years and had started drinking again at the time of the incident. She was a recovering alcoholic and cocaine user at the time of the murder-suicide.

Read about the  Top 10 Amazing Facts about Phil Hartman

11.Linda Sobek Murder

In 1995, Linda Sobek, a former NFL cheerleader who later became an actress and model, had been missing for eight days. However, the photographer who had killed her finally led investigators to her body in the Angeles National Forest.

The 38-year-old photographer, Charles Rathbun, first said he inadvertently hit Sobek, 27, while they were taking pictures, he changed his story and said she asphyxiated during an argument.

Before being apprehended, Rathbun attempted suicide. This precipitated a dramatic event that resulted in gunshots and Rathbun鈥檚 capture but no major injuries. He was subsequently found guilty of both first-degree murder and sexual assault.

12.The Murder of Selena Quintanilla-P茅rez

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Yolanda Saldvar, who rose from being a mere admirer to serving as the head of Selena’s fan club, was dependable in Selena鈥檚 inner circle. The Quintanillas grew sceptical of her motives when her friendship with Selena bordered on obsession.

Yolanda鈥檚 relationship with Selena was forbidden forever by Selena鈥檚 father. However, Selena agreed to see Yolanda since she didn鈥檛 want their friendship to end.

After arguing with Selena in Yolanda鈥檚 hotel room on the morning of March 31, 1995, Yolanda shot Selena in the back of her right shoulder. Selena managed to escape to the motel lobby, where she named Yolanda as her murderer before passing out.

Yolanda was given a life sentence with a 30-year minimum before becoming eligible for parole. She will be eligible for parole on March 30, 2025, because she was convicted in 1995.

13. Dominique Dunne Murder

Dominique Dunne, the Poltergeist actress, had a bright future in Hollywood. However, she was tragically killed by her violent ex-boyfriend at 22. A few weeks after their breakup, Dominique was practising lines for her upcoming television project, V, with fellow actor David Packer when John knocked on her door. While David stayed inside, she consented to talk to him, and they fought on the porch.

Then David went out the back door, and when he got to the driveway, he noticed John choking Dominique in nearby bushes. When the police showed up, John claimed he had slain his girlfriend.

John Sweeney was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter despite the authorities clearing him of second-degree murder. He was given a six-year prison term but was freed after just over three years.

14. Gavin Smith Murder

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Nearly a year after he vanished, former Fox executive Gavin Smith鈥檚 vehicle was discovered in a storage location related to John Creech in Simi Valley. Smith鈥檚 remains were buried in a shallow burial in the Angeles National Forest. Creech was given an 11-year prison term after being found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

15. William Desmond Taylor

The director and actor of silent films was discovered dead in his Westlake, California, apartment on a February morning in 1922. Taylor had taken a bullet to the back. Numerous suspects were mentioned in numerous dramatic media reports, but Taylor鈥檚 murder was never definitively solved due to a modified crime scene and a missing murder weapon.

16. Tupac Shakur

Due to his success with songs like 鈥淒ear Mama鈥 and 鈥淐alifornia Love,鈥 Tupac Shakur was one of the biggest names in rap during that time. On September 7, 1996, however, the music ceased. Suge Knight, West Coast鈥檚 Death Row Records co-founder, and Tupac went to a nightclub after Mike Tyson鈥檚 boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

But on their way there, halted at a red light, a Cadillac drew up next to them. The unknown number of passengers in the vehicle slid down a window and started shooting at Tupac.

He received four blows: two to the chest, one to the arm, and one to the thigh. Tupac was brought to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma after trying to get out of bed many times. He suffered an internal haemorrhage and passed away six days after the shooting. He had 25 years on him.

Read about the Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Tupac Shakur

17. Christina Grimmie

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Young singer Christina Grimmie, 22, who competed on season six of The Voice, was shot while performing in June 2016. Around 120 people were waiting for Christina to sign their autographs when 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl started shooting behind her. Marcus, Christina鈥檚 brother, instantly tackled the shooter to the ground, but he managed to escape and shoot himself in the head. After being taken to the hospital, the celebrity later died from her wounds.

Read about the  30 Famous People Who Were Murdered

18. Gianni Versace

An accomplished Italian fashion designer named Gianni Versace was tragically killed at 50. Gianni had taken a morning stroll and was heading back to his mansion on July 15, 1997. Andrew Cunanan shot him twice in the head as he approached his front steps, instantly killing him. Eight days later, while engaged in a standoff with the police on a houseboat, Andrew committed suicide. Later it was discovered that Andrew had killed five more people in the months before he killed Versace, making him an active serial killer.

Read about the Top 10 Unknown Facts about Gianni Versace

19. Bob Crane

During his lifelong career in Hollywood, there was hardly anything Bob Crane could not do. The star seemed to have it all as an actor, drummer, radio host, and disc jockey, but everything fell apart in June 1978. His co-star Victoria Ann Berry entered his flat after he skipped a lunch appointment and found him dead there. The star was strangled and had an electrical cable tied around his neck after being fatally struck with what authorities assume to be a camera tripod.

20. The Murder of Natalie Wood

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Natalie Wood travelled to Catalina Island in California on their boat Splendour in November 1981 along with her husband Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Walken. The three actors had consumed alcohol on November 29th. In a moment of rage at Wood鈥檚 relationship with Walken, Wagner is said to have broken a bottle. Wood and Wagner quarrelled after the occurrence.

Wood鈥檚 body was found the following morning floating in the ocean off Catalina Island close to a dinghy from the Splendour, despite Wagner鈥檚 claims that he could not find her later that evening. Her demise was classified as an unintentional drowning. According to the theory, Wood fell into the water after securing the dinghy to stop it from striking the boat. Given Wood鈥檚 hydrophobia, some relatives and acquaintances disputed this interpretation. The husband was later suspected of the murder but never charged.

Read about Who Killed Natalie Wood? 20 Facts You Need to Know

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