Publisher's Synopsis
AN INVESTIGATIVE LOOK AT SOME OF TINSELTOWN'S TRUE CRIME MYSTERIESTHE UNSOLVED MURDER OF BOB CRANEHogan's Heroes was Crane's first real taste of fame, but it was also his last. Though he toured the U.S. afterwards as part of a theater group, and starred in another sitcom, his career took a sharp downward turn after the cancellation of the show he was famous for.But in a turn of events that turned his minor stardom to notoriety, Crane was murdered in 1978, in his own home. He was brutally beaten, maybe even strangled, in what seemed like a senseless attack. What made his death confusing was that there was no explanation for it- Crane was a family man, with no known enemies.What came out of his case was a shock to the nation. Bob Crane, who was by all accounts a regular family man, had been living a debauched double life... One that could have led to his death.THE MURDER OF SAL MINEO"Being in the same room with him and looking at him, I realized that one day I would be in the same position as he, facing death. Before it happens I mean to do the things I want to do. I will not end up saying, "I wish I had".When Sal Mineo said those words about his dying father, nobody could have predicted that just four short years later, he would, himself, be facing death.THE MURDER OF ADRIENNE SHELLYAdrienne Shelly was one of Hollywood's most promising young directors and actresses when she was found dead at approximately 5:45 p.m on November 1, 2006. Her husband, Andy Ostroy, discovered the body in the Abingdon Square apartment in Manhattan's West Village that she used as an office. Ostroy had dropped her off that morning but had become concerned because she had not been in contact that day and went to the building, asking the doorman to accompany him to the apartment. They found her body hanging from a shower rod in the bathtub with a bed sheet around her neck. Initially thought to have been a suicide, they would later discover that the actress had been murderedTHE MURDER OF DOMINIQUE DUNNEDominque Dunne appeared in several films and television series from 1979 to 1982, but was best known for portraying the oldest daughter in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist.She seemed destined for stardom until tragedy struck on October 30th, 1982. Dominique was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, in the driveway of her West Hollywood home and went into a coma. She never regained consciousness and died five days later.This is her story.THE MURDER OF ALFALFATo many, the name Carl Switzer doesn't right a bell-the name Alfalfa, however, does. As Alfalfa, the freckle-faced kid with an unmanageable cowlick, Switzer won movie fame in the Our Gang comedies of the early 1930s. He later became known to a new generation of children when the Hal Roach films were reissued to television under the title The Little Rascals. Carl Switzer played the iconic character from 1935-1940, and his popularity surpassed many of the other characters. At the time, no one could've foreseen the tragic circumstances that lead to the end of Switzer's life within twenty years of him leaving the show.
