They were rich. They were famous. And they had fans adoring them for their talents. But behind closed doors, these celebrities were just men with their own issues and drama.
From iconic singers to Olympic medalists, these stars had their lives cut short by an enraged woman.
Some of these stories prove the often-quoted saying: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
One chilling story features a wife willing to stage an elaborate robbery to have their famous husband slain at the hands of a co-conspirator. Another particularly haunting story tells the tale of a devoted wife, who ended her husband’s life to put him out of his misery, only to be found lifeless right next to him.
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
#1 Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman, who made America laugh as a Saturday Night Live cast member, was shot in his sleep by his own wife before she turned the firearm on herself hours later.
The beloved comedian was married to Brynn Omdahl for 10 years and was busy raising their children, 9-year-old son Sean and 6-year-old daughter Birgen, when he was slain at the peak of his career.
Behind their picture-perfect marriage, the couple had marital problems and even had an argument before the dreadful night of May 27, 1998.
Brynn had met with a friend and television producer Christine Zander at an Italian bistro hours before the sinister events.
She had two drinks and “didn’t talk about any problems,” Christine told People after their tragic passings. “We made plans to see each other the following weekend.”
When Brynn returned home, she had a fiery argument with her husband, who “made it very clear that if she started using d**** again, that would end the relationship,” Phil’s attorney and friend Steven Small said.
Steven explained that the couple had similar arguments in the past, where Brynn would get “amped up” to get her husband’s attention.
“And when she got amped up, he would simply go to sleep. He would withdraw,” he told the outlet. “And in the morning he’d wake up, and everything would be fine.”
However, things took a different turn after she returned from dinner with Christine.
While the NewsRadio was fast asleep, Brynn shot him thrice in his sleep, twice in his head and once in his right side, from a close range.
She then left the bloodbath behind and went to her her longtime friend Ron Douglas’ home.
Ron refused to believe her tale and eventually accompanied her back to her home. He then called the cops upon discovering the horror scene waiting for them.
Meanwhile, Brynn locked herself in the room with her husband’s corpse and shot herself in the mouth when cops were inside the house.
Brynn’s body was found lying next to Phil’s at the crime scene.
Investigators later revealed that she had a dangerous combination of alcohol, illegal substances and antidepressants on the night of the slaying.
Image credits: Getty / Ron Galella
#2 Sam Cooke
“Lady, you shot me!”
Those were the final words of Sam Cooke, whose song A Change is Gonna Come became a civil rights anthem after his passing.
Conspiracy theorists have long disputed the official version of events that unfolded before the popular singer’s body was found lifeless at an LA motel.
Sam, aged 33, was enjoying his last night alive with his close friend and longtime producer Al Schmitt, sipping on martinis at an Italian restaurant named Martoni's, which was frequented by the who’s-who in Hollywood’s music scene at the time.
The You Send Me singer unabashedly waved around a wad of cash, worth $5,000, as spoke to his famous friends at the bar.
He was later spotted chatting with 22-year-old Elisa Boyer, whom he later took 15 miles south to the Hacienda Motel and checked in just after 2:35 a.m. on December 11, 1964.
The singer was known to be a serial adulterer, even to his wife Barbara Campbell, who shared children Linda and Tracey with him.
Sam and Elisa checked as Mr. and Mrs. Cooke at the motel, known at the time as a hub for pimps and adult workers.
As per Elisa’s account, she was “dragged” into the room before the singer tore her clothes off.
“I knew he was going to r*** me," she later told the cops.
She claimed that she escaped when Sam entered the bathroom. In the rush to leave, she said she grabbed his clothes as well, which contained his wallet and the wad of cash he was flaunting around earlier.
After fleeing the motel, she found a phone booth and called the cops to report that she was kidnapped.
Meanwhile, a drunk Sam threw a sport coat on himself and burst into the office of the motel manager Bertha Franklin.
In his fit of rage and intoxication, he thought Bertha was hiding Elisa and broke down her door.
“He grabbed both of my arms and started twisting them and asked me, ‘Where was the girl?’” Bertha said as she narrated her version of events.
“I started kicking. I tried to bite him through the jacket. I was fighting, biting, scratching, everything,” she continued.
The motel manager then grabbed her .22 pistol and fired three shots, one of which pierced the singer’s chest and left him bleeding on the floor.
Many have poked holes in Bertha and Elisa’s story, with conspiracy theorists saying he was targeted by music moguls with mob links.
Some theories claim the FBI had the singer under surveillance due to his connection to the civil rights movement and might have been involved in his passing.
Image credits: Getty / Gilles Petard
#3 Dave Laut
1984 Olympic medalist Dave Laut was found fatally shot in the yard of their Oxnard, California, home on August 27, 2009.
His wife Jane Laut had called 911 and claimed her husband had been shot by a prowler in the area.
But when all the evidence pointed at her, she claimed she acted in self-defense and had suffered domestic violence throughout their 29-year marriage.
She said she shot him only after he threatened to fatally harm her, their adopted son Michael, and their dogs.
But she showed a “consciousness of guilt” on the night of the shooting by changing her clothes, hiding the weapon in a grandfather clock, and calling 911 to report an intruder that never existed, the court said.
“At the time of her arrest, the defendant was in possession of a legal article which detailed how to claim self-defense in a murder prosecution by alleging battered woman’s syndrome,” Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Rameen Minoui told People.
“By trial, the defendant changed her story, claiming a history of domestic violence and that she shot her husband six times during a physical struggle.”
The last bullet was found to have pierced into the back of his head.
Jane’s attorney Ron Bamieh said more than 40 witnesses testified to seeing “black eyes and unexplained bruising on [her] legs and arms,” indicating signs of violence at home.
But the jury concluded that her claims of domestic violence were uncorroborated.
Dave’s family didn’t buy the claims either and claimed the Olympic medalist planned to leave her on the night he was shot.
“[He] was planning on leaving her. He was looking up divorce attorneys hours before his d****. I believe he was leaving her that night and he was planning to take their son and she was not going to allow it to happen,” Dave’s sister-in-law Rebecca Laut told the outlet.
Jane was sentenced to at least 50 years in prison for his passing.
Image credits: UCLA Library / Jayne Kamin
#4 Felix Pappalardi
As her husband Felix Pappalardi lay in bed with a gunshot wound, Gail Collins made an urgent call. But it wasn’t a 911 call. She had instead phoned her lawyer, who then advised her to seek medical help for her husband.
Shortly after, cops found Felix lying in bed, wearing only his underwear, with a gunshot wound on April 17, 1983. The news left the rock world shaken.
Investigators found that his wife Gail had shot him using the same .38 Derringer that her husband gifted her a few months before.
Felix and Gail wrote songs together and had an open marriage, with guests often sharing their bedroom with them.
However, it is believed jealousy creeped into their marriage when Felix began sleeping with aspiring singer Valerie Merians.
Gail called her husband’s family, tearfully telling them about their marriage troubles, about four months before cops charged her with the slaying of her husband.
“She called her attorney instead of calling for help,” Judge James Leff said in court. “She was concerned with her own well-being.”
Felix’s ex-bandmate Leslie West once called Gail a “witch” during an interview.
“Buy your wife a diamond ring, some flowers, a pushup bra,” he advised fellow rockstars. “Don’t buy her a gun.”
Image credits: Getty / Larry Hulst
#5 Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan was one of jazz’s brightest stars, but his life was cut short on a snowy night in February 1972.
His success was credited to his common-law wife, Helen Morgan, who took him in, nursed him, and changed his life for the better after he was hooked on illicit substances.
“She was his confidante, his friend, his lover… She had a real quiet strength about her, and he really trusted her,” said instrumentalist Bennie Maupin.
Even though they never officially married, she took his last name and even handled his money, booked gigs for his comeback, and transformed his life.
But she became suspicious of him when she noticed Lee became distant. He was, indeed, seeing another woman, Judith Johnson, and was spending more and more time at her New Jersey home.
On the night of February 19, 1972, Lee was playing at a nightclub in New York City called Slug’s Saloon. Sitting right by the door was his mistress Judith.
In a fit of rage and jealousy, Helen shot Lee and struck him in the chest in front of his friends and fans. Due to the snowy weather, Lee bled to his end by the time the ambulance came an hour after being shot.
Helen pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and spent some time behind bars for the shooting.
Image credits: Getty / Heritage Images
#6 Henrik Kauffmann
Henrik Kauffmann, one of Denmark most famous diplomats, suffered from prostate cancer towards the end of his life.
He had been married to his American wife Charlotte for 36 years before a nurse found both their bodies together in 1963.
Charlotte had left behind letters addressing family and friends before she and her husband were both found lifeless.
After writing the letters, Charlotte took a bread knife and slit his throat and then took her own life with the same knife.
Police described Henrik’s passing as “mercy k***ing,” carried out to save him from the sufferings of cancer.
“She k***ed him to stop his suffering,” a police spokesperson said at the time.
Image credits: CPH POST
#7 Taliep Petersen
The tragic passing of South African music legend Taliep Petersen left an entire nation in disbelief.
His wife Najwa Petersen was sentenced to prison for nearly three decades for orchestrating his passing in 2006, with the help of her co-conspirator Waheed Hassan.
Taliep lost his life in a staged robbery at the couple’s home in Athlone, Cape Town, in 2006. Witnesses said Taliep wanted to divorce his wife prior to the violence.
During the staged robbery, about $6803 (R120,000) was planted in the house as payment for Waheed, who was assigned the task of pulling the trigger.
Najwa had promised to pay the remaining amount for the staged robbery and homicide later to Waheed.
The musician was tied up and “cold bloodedly” taken out in an act of “sheer savagery,” Cape Town high court judge Siraj Desai said during Najwa’s sentencing.
Najwa was found guilty and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Image credits: UCT News
#8 Fred Lane
Fred Lane was unassumingly walking in the front door when he was shot in the chest and head.
His estranged wife Deidra Lane “laid in wait” to pull the trigger on the former Carolina Panthers running back, prosecutors said.
Deidra was waiting for Fred to return to North Carolina after visiting his relatives in Nashville, Tennessee.
The woman claimed she shot him in self-defense, but prosecutors said she was a manipulative woman who ended her husband’s life for insurance money.
Friends and family claimed Deidra and Fred were having money problems.
“He was going to sell [a] motorcycle, so he would have some money,” his father Fred Lane Sr. said Saturday in 2000. “She wouldn’t tell him where [the couple’s money] was.”
In 2009, Deidra was released from prison after serving nearly six years behind bars for her conviction of voluntary manslaughter.
Image credits: Getty / Sporting News Archive
#9 Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl Of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, who came from an illustrious, wealthy family in Britain, met Jamila M'Barek in 2001, back when she was an escort.
She became his third wife, but his dilly-dallying with other romantic interests was common knowledge.
Anthony had plans of marrying another young escort girl and met with Jamila on November 5, 2004 to discuss matters of their divorce. But an argument took place between him and Jamila’s brother Mohammed M’Barek.
It is believed Anthony lost his life in the altercation, and his body was placed in the back of a BMW before being dumped in a remote area.
His body was found in a ravine on 7 April, 2005.
“Jamila, I do not believe that you ever loved my father and I believe that you are manipulative and scheming, and ultimately an evil person,” Anthony’s youngest son said in court.
Both Jamila and her brother were convicted and given prison sentences, he for the gruesome slaying and she for aiding and abetting.
Image credits: Getty / Evening Standard
#10 Edward Jancarz
Edward Jancarz, adored by fans for his daring rides, was fatally stabbed by his second wife, Katarzyna, on January 11, 1992.
It is believed she had a confrontation with him about his drinking problem and began having an argument with her drunk husband, who was 11 years older than her.
At some point, Katarzyna grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him thrice, once in his face, his heart, and his neck.
She then waited on the steps of the house for an ambulance, which arrived within seven minutes, while her husband bled profusely in the bathroom.
Katarzyna spent about a decade in prison before leaving jail and re-marrying another man.
Image credits: Wikimedia
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