# Celebrities Who Murdered **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730 "2009-01-30T17:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/21 "2009-01-30T18:09:39Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > What, no Rappers? Acquitted. > [@wiki](#): > > While recording Doggystyle with Dr. Dre in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in connection with the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was shot and killed in a gang fight. Dubbed The Snoop Doggy Dogg Trial at the time. Snoop Dogg was defended by David Kenner, with his bodyguard McKinley Lee, while Sean Abrams (accompanying member in the jeep) was defended by Johnnie Cochran.[4] Both Snoop Dogg and McKinley Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop Dogg remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years.[5] His video “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” with Tupac Shakur chronicled the difficulties each rapper was dealing with as a result of their unrelated but concurrent criminal prosecutions. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/22 "2009-01-30T18:14:44Z")
My eleventh-grade English teacher told us that a friend of hers was killed in Barbara Mandrell’s [car crash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Mandrell#1984:_Motor_vehicle_accident). I don’t know enough about the details of the crash to know if Mandrell was in any way responsible, but my teacher sure hated her. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/23 "2009-01-30T18:28:59Z")
Ray Sharkey, star of **The Idolmaker** , slept with as many women as he could, sans condom, after he learned he had AIDS. I’d call that murder. John Holmes had some ill-defined level of complicity in the Wonderland Murders. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/24 "2009-01-30T18:32:31Z")
[Gig Young](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gig_Young)- in a murder suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/25 "2009-01-30T18:34:06Z")
Also Albert Salmi. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/26 "2009-01-30T18:41:51Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Ray Sharkey, star of **The Idolmaker** , slept with as many women as he could, sans condom, after he learned he had AIDS. I’d call that murder. Not to nitpick or appear heartless, but unless at least one of them actually died, I’d call it “attempted murder.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/27 "2009-01-30T18:50:57Z")
[Leslie Grantham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Grantham), best-known as “Dirty Den” in _East Enders_ but also having played several other dubious characters, was convicted of murdering a taxi-driver while a young man and served a ten-year stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/28 "2009-01-30T18:56:59Z")
:rolleyes: Car accidents do not equal murder. Double points for Don King. He killed two in separate incidents. One was deemed justifiable homicide (shot a robber in the back, someone robbing his illegal gambling hall. Would have gone to trial as murder in many jusidictions). He also beat someone to death because they owed him money. Ty Cobb (his mother was aquited of murdering his father) was rumored to have murdered someone but I have never seen any evidence of it. Other than he was a miserable person and committed many violent acts. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/29 "2009-01-30T19:02:07Z")
Oh I forgot. Lillo Brancato, lead actor in _A Bronx Tale_ and former Sopranos actor was recently aquitted of murdering a police officer. He was charged as an accesory and somehow got off. His partner was convicted. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/30 "2009-01-30T19:13:14Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > John Wilkes Booth was pretty well known even before he shot Lincoln. From what I’ve heard he was a bona fide star of perhaps the second magnitude or so–think Ronald Reagan in his day, or Kevin Bacon. Interestingly the Wikipedia article mentions that he played in _Julius Caesar_ in 1864. I wonder if in assassinating the President he believed he was carrying out some noble act in the service of the people. Also, did he play Brutus? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/31 "2009-01-30T19:23:10Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > Does vehicular manslaughter count? [Rebecca Gayheart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Gayheart) And Vince Neil. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/32 "2009-01-30T19:42:36Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I wonder if in assassinating the President he believed he was carrying out some noble act in the service of the people. [Possibly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic_semper_tyrannus) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/33 "2009-01-30T19:48:26Z")
Chuck Barris: CIA assassin. ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/34 "2009-01-30T19:48:39Z")
There was a rumour that Jean Harlow killed her second husband, but his death was officially ruled a suicide. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/35 "2009-01-30T20:10:06Z")
[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious\_murders/celebrity/](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/) A list of killers and suspects. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/36 "2009-01-30T20:18:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Also, did he play Brutus? Another Wiki article says Marc Antony. His brother Junius Brutus Booth Jr. played Cassius. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/37 "2009-01-30T20:22:45Z")
Jack Henry Abbott, author of the prison autobiography _In the Belly of the Beast_, wrote so well that Norman Mailer got the NYC literary set to fawn all over him, and convince the board to parole him. It didn’t take Abbott long to whack another guy and go back in, though. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/38 "2009-01-30T20:24:47Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Jack Henry Abbott, author of the prison autobiography _In the Belly of the Beast_, wrote so well that Norman Mailer got the NYC literary set to fawn all over him, and convince the board to parole him. It didn’t take Abbott long to whack another guy and go back in, though. Abbott later killed himself. ETA: Either Lana Turner or her daughter Cheryl Crane killed Lana’s boyfriend[Johnny Stompenato](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Turner#The_Stompanato_murder_case) ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/39 "2009-01-30T21:18:28Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > Fatty Arbuckle > Christian Brando Nope, he was [cleared](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_Arbuckle) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/40 "2009-01-31T00:33:43Z")
Not really what the OP was looking for, but Iggy Pop opens his memoir _I Need More_ with a story about being taken in for questioning by the police in relation to a murder back in 1970. As they soon realized, Iggy had nothing to do with the murder at all. He’d only been picked up in the first place because he matched the physical description of the suspect and seemed a suspicious character. Which he was – at the time he was actually on his way to cash a bad check to get money to buy drugs – but he was never seriously believed to have killed anyone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730.md?page=3)