The most mysterious celebrity deaths (16 photos)

According to statistics, even in developed countries, one out of three murders remains unsolved. At the same time, oddly enough, not only ordinary people, but also celebrities become victims of mysterious deaths, whose every step is watched by thousands of eyes. However, stars sometimes die a mysterious and enigmatic death, the secret of which the police are unable to reveal.

Jack Nance

Jack Nance is David Lynch's favorite actor, having starred in almost all of his films - from the director's first film, Eraserhead, in 1977, to the cult Twin Peaks. On December 29, 1986, Nance was having dinner with friends when they noticed a bruise under his eye. Nance waved it off: it was nonsense, he got into a fight with some aggressive young punks. It turned out to be no nonsense: the next morning Nance was found dead in his own bathroom. According to doctors, the blow received in the fight caused the formation of a hematoma in the brain, which, growing, killed the actor in two days. But many did not believe this version. Nance had a high level of alcohol in his blood, so the cause of death was both drinking (Nance was a known alcoholic) and conflicts with colleagues (even David Lynch was accused). But alternative versions were never confirmed.

Barbara Colby

Barbara Colby was a TV show star in the 1980s. On July 24, 1975, she and her colleague James Kiernan left an acting studio in Venice, a suburb of Los Angeles. Suddenly, two men approached the couple and shot them both at point-blank range. Colby died on the spot, Kiernan died shortly after her, having, however, managed to give a statement to the police. He said that they did not know the attackers, did not provoke them in any way, and they did not even try to rob them. What prompted the murder is still unknown.

Johnny Stompanato

Johnny Stompanato was famous in 1950s Hollywood solely because of his amorous connections: he was a gigolo who specialized in aging film actresses. At the time of his death, he was living with actress Lana Turner. The relationship between the couple was scandalous: Stompanato beat his girlfriend, threatened her and abused her in every possible way. One evening, in the heat of an argument, he threatened to kill her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl. Cheryl stood outside the door and heard everything, and when Stompanato left the room, the girl stabbed him with a knife. Alphonse bled to death before the doctors arrived. Despite the apparent clarity, this crime still remains a mystery. Many believe that Turner herself killed Stompanato, and Cheryl took the blame because, as a minor, she faced a much less severe punishment. There is another version - that Cheryl herself was in love with Johnny, and killed him, realizing that she would not get him. But to what extent these versions correspond to the truth is now impossible to say.

Elliot Smith

Elliot Smith was a talented and sought-after musician who, in particular, wrote the soundtrack to the film Good Will Hunting. In October 2003, he committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest. The extremely strange choice of suicide method gave rise to a lot of rumors that Elliott was actually killed. Moreover, at the time of his death, his girlfriend was in the house, with whom, in her own words, they had quarreled. According to her, she locked herself in the bathroom for about a quarter of an hour, and when she came out, it was already over. What can I say? Really strange story.

Jill Dando

Jill Dando was a BBC journalist. After a 14-year career, she was shot in the head on the doorstep of her home in suburban London. No one heard the shot, and the body was discovered only 40 minutes later. Neighbor Dando saw a male figure moving away from the house, but could not describe the man. The death of the journalist still remains a mystery, although there are many suspects in her murder: with her bold journalistic speeches, she made many enemies - from Yugoslav terrorist groups to the pedophile mafia.

George Reeves

George Reeves became famous for his role as Superman in The Adventures of Superman, a cult TV series from the 1950s. On June 16, 1959, he descended from the second floor of his house to the first, where his fiancée, Leonor Lemmon, was having a party with friends. After that, he stood back up and shot himself in the heart with a revolver. A typical suicide... except that the revolver with which Reeves allegedly committed suicide did not contain his fingerprints - or anyone else's fingerprints at all. Enthusiastic investigators put forward two versions. The first is that Lemmon was in a fever or accidentally shot her fiance during an argument. The second is that the mafia is to blame for everything, since Reeves was the lover of Toni Mannix, the wife of Eddie Mannix, the president of the MGM studio, who is closely associated with the mafia. However, for some reason the police were not interested in these versions, and Reeves’ death remained a mystery.

Mary Rogers

Mary Rogers was not an actress - she was a simple saleswoman who worked in a cigar store in New York in the 1830s. However, the girl was so beautiful that she was considered a real city celebrity. City newspapers wrote about her, calling her “an excellent cigar saleswoman.” However, in 1841, Mary Rogers unexpectedly drowned in the Hudson. This death gave rise to a whole wave of rumors. One or another of her many fans was blamed for her death. Well, when a month later her fiancé committed suicide, he became the main accused. However, no one's guilt in the death of Mary Rogers has ever been proven.

Thomas Ince

Thomas Ince, the “father of the Western,” who directed more than 800 films, died under the most mysterious circumstances. Together with his wife, he went to the yacht of his business partner, media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, to celebrate his own birthday. However, a day later, Ince was brought ashore dead. The doctor wrote in his conclusion that Ince died of a heart attack, but the port workers and sailors who saw the body saw with their own eyes Ince’s broken head with dried blood. According to rumors, Hearst himself shot Ince in an accident - after which it was not difficult for the millionaire to instill in the witnesses the correct version of what happened.

William Desmond Taylor

William Desmond Taylor was a famous film director during World War II. He was famous for his generosity, cordiality and good manners, so, as far as is known, he had no enemies. All the greater was the public's amazement when Taylor's body was found in his home in Los Angeles with a bullet in his back. No one heard the shot or saw the killer, there was no weapon at the crime scene, and all fingerprints were carefully erased. The police tried to solve the mystery for many years, but were never able to.

Tupac Shakur

In the fall of 1996, Tupac Shakur received several gunshot wounds on the streets of Las Vegas. For several days, doctors fought for his life, but on September 13, 1996, he died in the hospital from internal bleeding. It is known that Tupac Shakur was one of the most active participants in the so-called “War of the East and West Coasts” - a conflict between two rap groups, which often resulted in shootouts. Therefore, the most plausible version is that one of his enemies-colleagues in the rap scene is behind Tupac’s death. However, the police have not yet found either the perpetrator of the murder or his customer.

Notorious B.I.G.

Tupac Shakur's main enemy, East Coast rapper Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace, was killed just six months after his damned rival. Wallace, who was vacationing in Los Angeles, stopped at a traffic light when another car approached and four shots were fired. Wallace died instantly. Despite the abundance of people on the street, no one really saw the shooter, who was never found. Wallace's death is called revenge for Tupac, and some even suspect Los Angeles police officers, tired of endless rap wars, of it. But no one knows the exact answer to the question of who fired and who was behind these shots.

Krista Helm

Christa Helm was a socialite star in the 1970s. A young starlet who played supporting roles in television series, she was a socialite whose admirers included Warren Beatty and the Shah of Iran. At the same time, as it turned out later, she kept compromising materials on all her lovers - their letters, recordings of conversations, in a word, ready-made material for blackmail. It is unknown what Christa Helm intended to do with these materials, because in 1977 her body was discovered in the back alleys of Los Angeles. The girl was beaten to death. But what’s most mysterious is that all her notes disappeared from her apartment before the police arrived, and where they are is still unknown. The name of her killer is also unknown.

Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood was America's sweetheart. By 1981, she was happily married to Robert Wagner and was about to star in another film in which Christopher Walken was to become her partner. On November 28, she and her husband decided to relax on their yacht and, together with the yacht captain, went on board the boat. However, the next day only Wagner returned from the yacht, announcing the disappearance of his wife. Natalie's body was found the next morning. She was severely beaten and traces of painkillers were found in her blood, however, according to doctors, the cause of death was drowning. But how did she end up in the water? According to Wagner, that evening they quarreled, and he went to his cabin and does not know what Natalie did next. It would seem that everything pointed to Wagner’s guilt, but officially the police could not prove that it was he who drowned his wife.

Bruce Lee

On July 20, 1973, the famous actor and karate master Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong. He was only 32 years old, and the official conclusion of doctors - a cerebral hemorrhage - plunged everyone into shock. How could a young athletic man die of a stroke? A variety of versions have been called and called - revenge of the Chinese mafia, a deliberately planted headache pill that could cause brain swelling... True, Bruce's relatives believed in the official version, saying that with his merciless training regime, a breakdown of the body was almost inevitable. But experts still do not name the exact cause of death.

Marilyn Monroe

The only and seemingly undeniable version of doctors has long been known, saying that the Hollywood diva died from an overdose of drugs. But conspiracy theorists are firmly convinced: Monroe was killed by American intelligence services to hide her affair with President John Kennedy, the publication of which could lead to the president’s impeachment. Which one is right? Everyone thinks differently.