Celebrity criminal cases

DEFINITION: Forensic investigations of accidents and alleged crimes involving well-known persons.

SIGNIFICANCE: Whenever a celebrity is involved in an incident requiring law-enforcement investigation, the event receives widespread coverage in the news media. The in-depth reporting on these cases by some media outlets brings public attention to the uses of forensic science and demonstrates the need for investigators to follow correct procedures in the collection of evidence.

Tragedies among the rich and famous typically garner significant attention from the general public. Among others, the cases described below involving entertainment industry celebrities have drawn public attention to the use of forensic techniques in law-enforcement investigations.

Robert Blake

Best known for his role as the star of the television series Baretta (19751978), Robert Blake, who had also been a member of the cast of the Our Gang series of comedy shorts in the 1930s and 1940s, gained renewed notoriety in 2001 as the prime in the of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Bakley was shot and killed as she sat in a car outside a Los Angeles restaurant, and Blake was charged with one count of murder, two counts of solicitation of murder, and one count of murder conspiracy. He was accused of trying to hire Hollywood stuntmen Ronald Hambleton and Gary McLarty to kill his wife. Blake was tried for and acquitted of the murder charge and of one count of solicitation of murder; the other charges against him were dropped. In 2005, however, Blake was found liable for Bakley’s wrongful death by a in a civil suit filed by Bakley’s four children and was ordered to pay the family thirty million dollars, later reduced to fifteen million.

Among the forensic introduced during Blake’s criminal trial was the finding from an analysis of the amount of gunshot residue (GSR)—particles emitted when a gun is fired—found on Blake’s hands after Bakley was shot. An independent scientist testified that she found only five particles of GSR on the actor’s hands and that the killer would likely have had ninety-seven to ninety-eight particles; the GSR found on Blake could have been a result of Blake’s handling his own gun, which was not the murder weapon. Other experts testified that the source of the GSR on Blake’s hands could not be confirmed. Additionally, no latent fingerprints could be found on the murder weapon.

Another area of suspicion for both the prosecution and the defense was the fact that Blake had no blood on his clothes immediately after the shooting. A forensics expert who analyzed the blood-spray patterns in the car where Bakley was killed said that the killer would not necessarily have been sprayed by blood because of the angle of the shooting. Other forensic was presented in the case by a psychopharmacologist, who testified that frequent and use could cause delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations; this testimony was used to discredit the claims of the two stuntmen Blake was alleged to have tried to hire to kill his wife. Blake died in 2023 at age 89.

Christian Brando

Known for having a bad temper fueled by frequent drug and alcohol abuse, Christian Brando, the son of actor Marlon Brando, had an especially close relationship with his sister, Cheyenne, who also had drug and alcohol problems. In 1990, Christian Brando was accused of murdering his sister’s longtime boyfriend, Dag Drollet, whom Cheyenne had accused of abusing her. After a night of drinking, Christian, carrying a handgun, confronted Drollet in a bungalow on the Brando estate. Drollet was shot and killed; Brando claimed that the gun had gone off accidentally.

Evidence reports, as well as two autopsies, called into question Brando’s story that the two men were struggling for the gun when it went off. Forensic analyses indicated that Drollet had died from a bullet to the back of the head, not in the face, as Brando originally reported. Further, investigators found that the scene of the death did not indicate that a struggle had taken place.

Forensic psychologists who testified for the prosecution characterized Christian Brando as a violence-prone threat to society, whereas defense experts described him as chronically depressed with diminished capacity as the result of long-term drug abuse. Key witnesses were not available to testify at the trial, and the court ruled that Brando’s Miranda warning was inadequately administered, rendering his earlier inadmissible. Eventually, Brando pleaded guilty to voluntary and was sentenced to ten years in prison; however, he only served six years and was released in 1996. Brando died in 2008 from pneumonia at age forty-nine.

Bob Crane

The 1978 murder of Bob Crane, who is best known as the star of the television series Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971), remains a mystery. After Crane was found brutally beaten to death in a Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment, investigators determined that he had been bludgeoned while he slept. The murder weapon was never found, but it was believed to be a camera tripod. The prime suspect was a video expert, John Henry Carpenter, who frequently participated in group sex parties that Crane organized. Criminologists found blood in Carpenter’s car that matched Crane’s relatively rare blood type, but at the time, the source of the blood could not be confirmed; (deoxyribonucleic acid) typing did not yet exist. The case was closed for lack of evidence. When it was reopened in 1992, it was discovered that improper storage of the evidence made DNA analysis of the blood impossible. Nonetheless, Carpenter was indicted, and forensic photography experts were called to testify as to the authenticity of photos of an unknown material found in Carpenter’s car. Despite these attempts, Carpenter was acquitted. In 2016, there was a retest done to the DNA found on Carpenter's car. The results established that the DNA was not from Crane as it was believed. After more than forty years, Crane's death remains as mysterious as ever.

John Holmes

Dubbed the “Sultan of Smut,” John Holmes starred in more than two thousand pornographic movies and was the template for one of the characters in the 1997 film Boogie Nights. By the 1980’s, he had become debilitated by drug use, and his career had collapsed. Holmes came under suspicion of being one of the three masked thugs who committed the brutal 1981 quadruple that became known as the “Wonderland murders,” named for the street on which the killings occurred. The murders were later confirmed to be drug-related retaliation killings.

From a forensic standpoint, the Wonderland murders marked a turning point in courtroom evidence. The first law-enforcement investigators at the were so appalled by the amount of blood they found—the victims had all been beaten to death—that they videotaped the scene, and the prosecutors used the tape at trial. This marked the first time video evidence was admitted in court. Despite significant evidence pointing to Holmes’s involvement in the killings, he was acquitted in 1982.

Manson Family

In August, 1969, starlet Sharon Tate was eight months pregnant by her husband, film director Roman Polanski. On a warm Saturday evening, Tate gathered with friends at her home near Beverly Hills. Early the next morning, Tate’s housekeeper discovered a gruesome scene: five bodies, including Tate’s. Investigators found that the victims had been shot, beaten, strangled, and mutilated. The word “PIG” had been scribbled in blood on a door, and the broken grip of a .22 caliber was discovered at the scene.

The next day, in another part of town, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were discovered stabbed and strangled. The word “WAR” had been carved into Leno’s body, and “DEATH TO PIGS,” “RISE,” and “HEALTHER SKELTER” (misspelled this way) had been scrawled in blood. A few days earlier, music teacher Gary Hinman had been stabbed to death, and “POLITICAL PIGGY” had been written on his wall in his own blood.

Initially, the Los Angeles Department (LAPD) refused to draw connections among the three crimes, claiming that the Tate murders were a result of a drug deal gone bad. Two weeks after the murders, a .22 revolver with a broken grip was found in another Los Angeles suburb, but police failed to connect it to the earlier crimes. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD continued to pursue the cases separately for three months. In October, 1969, the two departments began to work together on the cases, and investigations led to a commune run by Charles Manson; Manson and his followers were known as the Manson Family.

A key piece of evidence in the Tate case was a fingerprint found in Tate’s home that belonged to one of Manson’s followers. In addition, bullets matching those found at the crime scene were discovered in the Manson compound. The .22 revolver in LAPD custody was finally rediscovered and matched to the bullets. In March, 1971, Manson was found guilty of first-degree murder. At least eight other people have since been convicted in connection with the 1969 killings, including Susan Atkins, Charles Watson, and Bruce Davis. By 2016, they were all serving sentences in prison except for Steve Grogan, the only Manson family killer released in 1985.

In the years since the Manson murders, forensic historians have frequently referred to these cases in terms of “what not to do” for crime scene investigators. For example, the bodies found at the scenes were initially covered with household sheets, which could have contaminated evidence with unrelated fibers. Blood that had been left by the killers on the security gate button at the Tate estate was smeared by police officers who used the button. Police also smeared possible fingerprints on the .22 revolver when they received it, and pieces of the broken gun grip were inadvertently kicked under a chair. In addition, investigators tracked blood throughout the Tate house, and insufficient blood samples were taken from the crime scene and from the victims.

Marilyn Monroe

Officially, Marilyn Monroe died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, but some experts have suggested that Monroe was actually murdered, speculating that her death may have been related to her involvement with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy . Several elements of the August 5, 1962, death have raised questions. For example, Monroe’s housekeeper found her unconscious at about 3:30 A.M. and called Monroe’s psychiatrist and her physician. Despite confirming the death upon their arrival, the two doctors then waited at least a half hour to call the police. Further, although toxicologists found Nembutal (a barbiturate) in her system (the drug had been prescribed for Monroe as a sleep aid), they also found high levels of chloral hydrate of unknown origin.

The initial was performed by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, who would go on to become somewhat famous as the “coroner to the stars.” Although later investigation would deem his autopsy to have been thorough, Noguchi wanted to investigate further. Shortly after his initial autopsy, he tried to reexamine the tissue samples, but they were missing. In addition, one of the nation’s top forensic pathologists deemed the report incomplete.

Other evidence suggested that Robert Kennedy had visited Monroe in the evening before her death; it has been asserted that he went there to break off contact between Monroe and the Kennedy brothers. Additionally, it has been alleged by some that actor Peter Lawford, who was the brother-in-law of John and Robert Kennedy, may have removed from Monroe’s house any evidence suggesting her involvement with the Kennedys. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office reopened the case in 1982, but after a lengthy examination of the evidence, investigators again concluded that Monroe’s death was a probable suicide.

George Reeves

George Reeves, star of the 1950’s television show Adventures of Superman, died of a gunshot wound to the head in his California home on June 16, 1959. The death was ruled a suicide; it was believed to have been the result of Reeves’s despondency over the cancellation of his television series and his waning career. Much later, unofficial investigations into Reeves’s death raised questions about this ruling, citing forensic evidence that appears to contradict a finding of suicide. For example, no fingerprints were found on the gun, no gunpowder burns were present around the entry wound, and no record exists of any test for gunshot residue on Reeves’s hands. Forensics experts have noted, however, that the gun was too well oiled to retain fingerprints, that gunpowder stippling frequently does not occur when a gun is held directly against the skin, and that tests for gunshot residue were not commonly performed in the 1950s.

Elizabeth Short

The case of the “Black Dahlia” is still considered one of the most notorious Hollywood murders. Nicknamed perhaps for her penchant for black clothes, Elizabeth Short was an aspiring starlet. On January 15, 1947, her nude body was found in a weed-covered lot by a pedestrian. Her remains had been slashed and stabbed, and the body was neatly cut in half. Further, the young woman had been posed spread-eagle with the two halves set a foot apart, and the letters “BD” were carved into her thigh. Perhaps most disturbing, her face had been slashed to resemble a clownish death grin. The body appeared to be washed clean and there was little blood at the scene, leading investigators to surmise that Short had been killed elsewhere.

Forensic technicians working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used fingerprint analysis to identify the body as Short’s. The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office reported that Short had died of massive internal hemorrhaging caused by blows to the head, and no traces of sexual activity were found. The clean bisection of her body led some investigators to believe the murder might have been the work of a medical student or butcher. The young woman’s shoes and purse were found in a trash receptacle several miles away from the scene where her body was discovered.

Although “confessions” began pouring in to the LAPD and the FBI, and investigators eventually interviewed more than one thousand people, it was all to no avail. Nine days after Short’s body was found, the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper office received a package containing Short’s belongings, including photos, her birth certificate and Social Security card, and an address book containing the names of seventy-five men—none of whom could be connected to the murder. The sender had soaked the package in gasoline, apparently to remove any fingerprints or other identifying materials.

One key suspect, Robert Manley, had been the last to see Short alive, but the police released him after he passed a test. Later, he was committed to a mental institution; he was questioned again there after being dosed with sodium thiopental—a so-called truth serum—and he still denied the murder. Over a period of years following Short’s death, police and various news media outlets received thirteen letters thought to be written by the murderer, but they produced no identifying evidence. The case remains unsolved.

O. J. Simpson

O. J. Simpson’s murder trial became one of the most highly publicized trials in American history and brought DNA evidence to the forefront of public awareness. Nicole Brown Simpson, the former wife of sometime actor and retired professional football star O. J. Simpson, was stabbed to death outside her home on the night of June 12, 1994, along with an acquaintance, Ronald Goldman.

After police responded to the crime scene, detectives immediately went to Simpson’s home, where they found a bloodstain on the door of his Ford Bronco along with a trail of blood leading up to his house. As they questioned Simpson, the investigators noticed a cut on his left hand. Crime scene investigators had already concluded that the killer also had been cut on his left hand. In addition, analysis of drops of blood found at the crime scene indicated that they had DNA factors that pointed toward Simpson. Investigators also found footprints in Simpson’s size at the crime scene and determined that they had been left by an exotic brand of shoe that Simpson owned. They also discovered a bloodstained glove on his property that matched one taken from the crime scene. Finally, investigators found traces of Nicole Brown Simpson’s blood in Simpson’s car and house, intermingled with Simpson’s blood.

During the trial, Simpson’s defense attorneys called forensic witnesses who asserted that the blood samples used as evidence by the prosecution had been mishandled, raising the possibility that they were contaminated or too degraded to produce accurate DNA analysis results. The prosecution produced other criminologists to refute these claims, but Simpson was eventually acquitted on all counts. In 1997, the jury in a civil suit brought by Ronald Goldman’s father found Simpson responsible for the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman.

In 2007, Simpson was arrested for taking part in an armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room. He claimed he was reclaiming items of memorabilia that had been stolen from him, but a jury found him guilty in 2008. He was sentenced to jail and served the minimum of nine year before being released in 2017. Simpson died of cancer at age 76 on April 10, 2024.

Phil Spector

Phil Spector, a well-known music producer who had worked with the Righteous Brothers, the Beatles, and many other famous recording artists, was arrested on February 3, 2005, when police discovered the body of actress Lana Clarkson in the foyer of Spector’s home in Alhambra, California. Although Spector initially told police, “I think I killed someone,” he later claimed the shooting was an “accidental suicide.”

Spector’s 2007 murder trial was surrounded by controversy. Famed forensic expert Henry C. Lee was accused by the district attorney of hiding evidence that proved Spector’s guilt. In addition, a concluded that bruises on Clarkson’s tongue indicated that the gun had been forced into her mouth. The defense got a break when a DNA expert testified that only Clarkson’s DNA was found on the murder weapon and that none of Spector’s DNA was found under Clarkson’s fingernails. In addition, a forensic pathologist testified for the defense that Clarkson had mental problems that could have led to suicide.

During the trial, forensic witnesses for the defense used a sophisticated three-dimensional plexiglass bust of the victim to demonstrate how the bullet went through her head and into her spine. The defense ended its arguments by presenting a computer-animated demonstration of the shooting as Spector asserted it took place. The trial ended in a hung jury, resulting in a mistrial, and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office began preparing for a new trial. In 2009, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder.

Cheryl Turner

Cheryl Turner, daughter of movie queen Lana Turner, was fourteen years old when police investigated her role in the 1958 death of her mother’s boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. Lana and Johnny had a tempestuous relationship, and Cheryl had witnessed several incidents in which Stompanato had been violent toward her mother. During one of these episodes, Cheryl apparently intervened and stabbed Stompanato with a knife.

At a grand jury inquest during which Lana Turner gave what was described as a stunning performance, the Los Angeles coroner introduced an autopsy report outlining the extent of Stompanato’s injuries. Further testimony indicated some confusion over details such as the lack of fingerprints on the knife, strange fibers in the blood on the knife, and a lack of blood on Lana Turner’s clothes. Nonetheless, the jurors deemed the death justifiable homicide, and the decided not to file charges. Stompanato’s family subsequently brought a wrongful-death suit against Lana Turner; it was eventually settled out of court.

Bibliography

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Bugliosi, Vincent, with Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. 25th anniversary ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.

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