Top Ten Greatest Unsolved Mysteries In Hollywood
5. Lana Turner
Crane immediately confessed to the crime. The young girl stated that she had grabbed the knife to protect her mother during a violent argument Turner was having with Stompanato.
It happened so quickly, Crane said. After the incident, mother and daughter immediately called for help and Turner was found giving Stompanato mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when the doctor arrived.
Turner concurred with her daughter’s testimony. Stompanato, the court heard, was an alleged gangster who had regularly abused the “Peyton Place” star. The jury found Crane guilty of justifiable homicide because she killed Stompanato to defend her mother from him.
But, as there were no fingerprints on the knife, speculation grew that Turner had stabbed Stompanato herself, either in a violent confrontation or because Turner wanted to end the relationship, and let her teenage daughter take the blame. As a minor, she would face a much lighter penalty than her mother.
Stompanato’s death rejuvenated Turner’s career. She went on to make many movies and star in the long-running television series “Falcon Crest.” To this day, Crane insists that she was the one who killed Stompanato.
