murders

‘ One location that has confused me for years is the cottage where writer Susan Berman was murdered in 2000 – so much so that despite stalking it back in August 2015, I have put off blogging about it until now.  I first learned of the locale from the hit HBO docuseries The Jinx: The […]

‘ The second I pulled the July issue of Los Angeles magazine out of my mailbox, I knew I was a goner.  Not only did the publication chronicle the city’s best fried chicken (my favorite food), but six words on the cover stopped me dead in my tracks – “Searching for the Family that Vanished.”  […]

‘ Growing up, I absolutely loved Murphy Brown. This was largely due to the antics of zany housepainter/nanny Eldin Bernecky, played by actor Robert Pastorelli.  I adored Eldin so much in fact that when Pastorelli left the show in 1994, I stopped watching.  I was heartbroken to learn of his death a decade later and […]

‘ Situated at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood is an idyllic complex named The El Palacio Apartments.  The gorgeous Spanish Baroque architecture is hiding some dark secrets, though.  The building has been the site of two infamous deaths, the most notorious of which was the overdoes of actress […]

‘ A couple of months ago, my favorite desert radio personalities “Bulldog” Bill Feingold and Kevin Holmes interviewed Tyson Wrensch, co-author of Until Someone Gets Hurt.  The book, which chronicles the disappearance and murder of 74-year-old Palm Springs retiree Clifford Lambert at the hands of five San Francisco-based grifters (27-year-old playboy Daniel Garcia, 26-year-old Nepalese […]

‘ Earlier this year, while doing research on the various Coachella Valley-area houses formerly owned by pianist Liberace, I came across a blurb in fave book Palm Springs Confidential about the city’s first ever triple homicide, which took place in a Las Palmas Estates residence that once belonged to actor George Nader.  After wiping the […]

‘ Los Angeles magazine’s The Crime Issue had me absolutely drooling when I received it back in July, especially Steve Erickson’s article “Sleep Tight,” which detailed the bizarre 2013 death of 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in downtown L.A.  I was glued to every single word Erickson wrote and, upon finishing […]

‘ Just around the corner from Vincente Minnelli’s former abandoned mansion (which I blogged about yesterday) is the palatial Elm Drive residence where on August 20th, 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez (then 22- and 19-years-old, respectively) shot and killed their parents, entertainment company executive Jose and housewife Mary Louise, aka “Kitty.”  (I honestly cannot […]

‘ A few years ago I read a fabulous murder mystery called Shamus In The Green Room written by one of my favorite mystery authors, Susan Kandel. A significant piece of action in the novel takes place at the real life location of one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in Los Angeles history. […]