# Celebrities Who Murdered

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730>\
**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:** 19\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/41 "2009-01-31T00:42:43Z")

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If manslaughter counts, Keith Moon inadvertently ran over his driver:

> [@](#):
>
> On 4 January 1970, Moon was involved in a car-pedestrian death outside the Red Lion pub in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Trying to escape hostile skinheads from the pub who had begun to attack his Bentley, Moon ran over and killed his friend and bodyguard, Neil Boland. Although the coroner said Boland’s death was an accident, and Moon was given an absolute discharge having been charged with driving offences, those close to him said Moon was haunted by the accident for the rest of his life. Boland’s daughter investigated and suggested that Moon may not have been driving

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**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/42 "2009-01-31T00:55:08Z")

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Felicia Pearson - ‘Snoop’ on _The Wire_, shot and killed a girl on the sidewalk when she was 14 years old. She did time.

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/43 "2009-01-31T01:22:27Z")

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> [@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.

I just realized I saw this on _Law and Order_ (you know the sense in which I mean this).

Also, William Randolph Hearst, depending who you ask and what you believe about Thomas Ince.

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**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/44 "2009-01-31T01:53:14Z")

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[Jayson Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Williams), former NBA player, is being retried on reckless manslaughter charges. Not quite murder, but close.

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**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/45 "2009-01-31T01:58:59Z")

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I know we haven’t decided if vehicular manslaughter counts, but Matthew Boderick was involved in a car crash that killed two women in Northern Ireland Ultimately, he was convicted of a much lesser charge of negligence and fined.

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/46 "2009-01-31T02:43:13Z")

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Ted Kennedy? At the least it was a homicide.

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/47 "2009-01-31T03:52:54Z")

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> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Ted Kennedy? At the least it was a homicide.

I think you mean manslaughter-homicide is intentional murder, manslaughter is accidental.

I don’t know if this counts, but what about the whole [Evelyn Nesbit/Stanford White/Harry Thaw](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Nesbit) murder trial?

Nesbit was a famed chorus girl and once a model for Charles Dana Gibson; Stanford White, the victim, a famous architect and Nesbit’s former lover; and Thaw, heir to the Thaw family fortune and Nesbit’s abusive, jealous husband.

It was the O.J. trial of its day.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/48 "2009-01-31T04:12:28Z")

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Oh, murder, never mind. I was going to mention the remarkable number of celebs who fought in WWII.

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/49 "2009-01-31T04:18:55Z")

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> [@Wile\_E](#):
>
> [Claudine Longet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Longet), French singer and ex-wife of Andy Williams, killed her ski-instructor lover “Spider Sabich”, but it was ruled negligent homicide and she only got 30 days in jail.

There once was a girl named Longet,  
Who moved into Aspen to stay.  
When along came a Spider,  
Who sat down beside her,  
And she blew the poor fucker away.

I think this was one of National Lampoon’s ‘Letters From the Editors’ back in the seventies.

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**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/50 "2009-01-31T04:45:35Z")

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\*Season 1, Episode 18 of Saturday Night Live featured a skit titled “The Claudine Longet Invitational,” which parodied the shooting incident, showing skiers making runs down the slopes until they are “accidentally” shot by Claudine Longet, resulting in abrupt wipeouts.[15] \*

> **[Claudine Longet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Longet#.22Spider.22_Sabich)**
>
> Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
> Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer Andy Williams from 1961 until 1975. She has maintained a private profile since 1977, following her conviction for negligent homicide in connection with the shooting death of her boyfriend, former Olympic skier Spider Sabich.
> Her first appearances as an actr...

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/51 "2009-01-31T05:22:29Z")

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[Former Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson convicted of murder](http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/7765582/)

[Champion Bodybuilder Craig Titus convicted of murder](http://bodybuilding.elitefitness.com/craig-titus-convicted-victim-beaten-drugged-tasered-injected-strangled-and-burned)

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**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/52 "2009-01-31T15:42:19Z")

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> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> Yes. She was born Juliet Hulme, so she was Kate Winslet.

I just found out the other one (the actress in the movie) is Rose the stalker on TWO AND A HALF MEN.

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**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/53 "2009-01-31T15:58:31Z")

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[Gesualdo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Gesualdo)

> [@](#):
>
> In 1586 Gesualdo married his first cousin, Donna Maria d’Avalos, the daughter of the Marquis of Pescara. Two years later she began to have a love affair with Fabrizio Carafa, the Duke of Andria; evidently she was able to keep it secret from her husband for almost two years, even though the existence of the affair was well-known elsewhere. Finally, on October 16, 1590, at the Palazzo San Severo in Naples, when Gesualdo had allegedly gone away on a hunting trip, the two lovers took insufficient precaution at last (Gesualdo had arranged with his servants to have the locks of his palace copied in wood so that he could gain entrance if it were locked), and he returned to the palace, caught them in flagrante delicto and murdered them both in their bed; afterwards he left their mutilated bodies in front of the palace for all to see. Being a nobleman he was immune to prosecution, but not to revenge, so he fled to his castle at Gesualdo where he would be safe from any of the relatives of either his wife or her lover.

The murders certainly influenced his music thereafter which became very dark, complex and way ahead of it’s time.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/54 "2009-01-31T16:56:53Z")

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If that guy’s fair game, then so is Antonio Scalieri.

Ray Lewis got away with it because the circumstances were a little muddled.

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/55 "2009-01-31T17:32:18Z")

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> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> 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?

I believe he played Marc Anthony. [http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln72.html](http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln72.html)

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**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/56 "2009-01-31T17:56:17Z")

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Rutger Kopland is a famous poet in the Netherlands. He murdered his landlady in 1937.

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/57 "2009-01-31T18:40:29Z")

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Norman Selby, a.k.a. Kid McCoy, a.k.a [“The Real McCoy”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_McCoy), former world middleweight champion. He fatally shot his girlfriend and then went on a bizarre rampage after the murder (eventually did eight years in prison for manslaughter).

Busby Berkeley, the famous movie choreographer, was driving home after a party in 1935 when his car hit two other vehicles, killing three people in one of them. His first two murder trials ended in hung juries; the third time he was acquitted.

These two cases are connected by the fact that both defendants were represented by a noted lawyer who was involved in many celebrity cases, Jerry Giesler.

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**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/58 "2009-02-01T02:56:34Z")

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> [@Omega\_Glory](#):
>
> Charles S. Dutton

:eek: Holy crap, what a short but informative Wiki page!

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-murdered/483730/59 "2009-02-01T04:18:35Z")

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> [@Fish](#):
>
> Clark Gable was _believed_ to have struck and killed a pedestrian while driving drunk. Again, that doesn’t look likely.

Artie Shaw wrote in his autobiography that he struck and killed a pedestrian while driving in New York in 1929. As a result, a judge ordered him not to leave the city until a trial could be brought. This took several months. As a young, unknown musician whose only work was with traveling bands, Shaw was forced to near starvation during that time.

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