Many celebrities have met violent ends over the years, the latest being director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. Here’s an overview of some of the highest-profile cases.
Rob Reiner, Michelle Reiner
Rob Reiner gained fame on the 1970s sitcom “All in the Family” before directing hit films including “When Harry Met Sally.” The couple was found dead Sunday at their home in Los Angeles. A law enforcement official said investigators believed they suffered stab wounds. Their son, Nick Reiner, was being held on $4 million bail in connection with the deaths.
John Lennon
A 25-year-old who’d recently worked as a security guard, Mark David Chapman, shot Lennon outside the Beatles star’s apartment building in New York on Dec. 8, 1980. Chapman said he considered Lennon a “phony” and was inspired by the main character of J.D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye.” Denied parole since 2000, Chapman remains in prison.
Marvin Gaye
The R&B and soul musician’s father shot Gaye when he intervened in a confrontation between his parents at the family’s home in Los Angeles on April 1, 1984. Marvin Gay Sr. pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was given a six-year suspended prison sentence. He died of pneumonia in a nursing home in 1998.
Tupac Shakur
Gunned down in a car in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996, the rapper and actor died in a hospital six days later. Trial for the only man charged in the killing, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, is set for early next year. Davis is an ex-gang leader who was arrested in 2023. Accused of orchestrating the Shakur’s killing, he has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
The Notorious B.I.G.
Six months after Shakur’s death, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a similar drive-by shooting on March 9, 1997, after he left a party in Los Angeles. He was 24. The murder of Shakur’s friend-turned-rival, whose legal name was Christopher Wallace, remains unsolved.
Sam Cooke
Cooke was known as the “King of Soul” with dozens of hits in the seven years before his death. He was shot in the chest by a motel manager in Los Angeles after he forced his way into the motel office on Dec. 11, 1964. The killing was ruled a justifiable homicide and the motel manager wasn’t prosecuted.
Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano music star known as “Selena,” was shot in a motel room in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 31, 1995. Selena, 23, identified her shooter as Yolanda Saldívar, manager of her clothing boutiques and president of her fan club, whom she’d suspected of embezzling money. Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. She was denied parole in 2025.
Sharon Tate
The actress and model, 26, was one of five people killed by members of the Manson Family cult on Aug. 8, 1969, at the Los Angeles house she shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Tate was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. Manson and three members of his cult were convicted on Jan. 26, 1971, for the murders of seven people, including Tate.
Phil Hartman
Hartman, a “Saturday Night Live” cast member who helped Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman, was shot and killed in his sleep by his wife, Brynn Omdahl, on May 28, 1998. He was 49. Omdahl took her own life soon after.
Jam Master Jay
The rap musician and DJ for Run-DMC was 37 when he was shot and killed in his recording studio in New York. In 2024, jurors convicted Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington of killing the pioneering DJ — born Jason Mizell — in a case prosecutors described as revenge for a failed drug deal. The case stalled while investigators pursuing numerous leads struggled to get witnesses to open up.
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