# Is there any good reason to think Sid Vicious didn't kill Nancy Spungen?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 12, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181 "2005-09-12T02:24:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/1 "2005-09-12T02:24:10Z")
I’m not an expert on the Sex Pistols. My understanding of the tragic end of Sid and Nancy pretty much matched [what Wikipedia says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Spungen):
> [@Wikipedia article on Nancy Spungen](#):
>
> Following increased drug abuse and reports of domestic violence the end came on October 12, 1978 when Spungen was found sprawled on the bathroom floor in a black bra and panties, having bled to death from a stomach wound later traced to Vicious’ knife. Sid was immediately arrested for murder. While out on bail he made several remarks which amounted to a confession and on February 2, 1979 Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose which has sometimes been described as suicide. It is likely the details of her death will never be known.
However, I recently read Legs McNeil’s _Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk_. And in there, a couple of people don’t believe that Sid could possibly have killed Nancy, 'cause he loved her so much and was such a gentle guy. Someone (and I don’t have the book handy, or I’d have a name to connect to this story) believes that Nancy got into an argument with a drug dealer while Sid was unconscious, and that this dealer killed her and took off. The murder was pinned on Sid, who didn’t really remember what happened, and once Sid died any other lines of investigation were dropped.
Now, I realized that we’ll probably never know what exactly happened. But is there any good reason to think that someone other than Sid killed Nancy? Or is this more than likely hopeful speculation by people who liked Sid and don’t want him to have done it? _Please Kill Me_ is interesting, but completely driven by interviews, so there’s no reference to any other reports, theories, avenues of investigation, or anything else.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/2 "2005-09-12T06:55:53Z")
From Court TV’s _Crime Library: [Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sid_vicious/5.html?sect=26):_
> [@](#):
>
> It has also been suggested that Nancy Spungen’s killing was the result of a robbery gone bad. Rockets Redglare [a punk hairdresser] claimed that Spungen had cash spilling out of her bag in the early morning hours of October 12, but the next day police investigators found no sizeable amounts of cash in the room. Upon leaving the Chelsea Hotel at about 5 a.m., Redglare saw the mysterious “Steve C” in the lobby. According to author Malcolm Butt, Steve C was a “local drug dealer” with a “history of mental illness.” Perhaps Steve C or someone else entered Room 100 while Vicious was unconscious or out wandering, attempted to take Spungen’s money, and killed her when she put up a fight.
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### Author:  [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/3 "2005-09-12T11:00:43Z")
> [@Interrobang!?](#):
>
> …and was such a gentle guy…
Like the time he gently hit an audience member with his bass, or the time he gently beat that music writer with a chain…
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/4 "2005-09-12T12:22:47Z")
I’ve read Deborah Spungen’s “And I Don’t Want to Live This Life.” Granted, ishe’s Nancy’s mother, but it’s an interesting read. She says Nancy wanted to die, and she could see where Nancy would buy the knife and tell Sid “If you really love me, you’ll do anything for me, including kill me.”
Sid was abusive to her, and apparently had a mean temper.
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### Author:  [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/5 "2005-09-12T16:26:50Z")
I should note that evaluations of Sid’s character are paraphrases of what friends said about him, not my own opinions.
So was the Steve C theory investigated by (and presumably discarded by) the police, or is that a theory that’s come up in the years since the case was closed?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-reason-to-think-sid-vicious-didnt-kill-nancy-spungen/321181/6 "2005-09-13T12:06:39Z")
The theory was floating around a the time of Nancy’s murder. It was thought of by Sid’s manager, and later dismissed. Wtih Sid’s suicide, the cthe murder investigation was closed.