Famous People Who Have Accidentally (or on Purpose) Killed People

Legendary bluesman Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, famous for the song “Midnight Special,” was convicted of murder and aggravated assault after shooting a relative in a dispute over a woman. He was sent to the Imperial State Prison Farm in Texas where he served seven years of a 35-year sentence before being pardoned by the governor.

In November of 1963 in Midland, Texas, the 17-year-old Bush (née Welch) ran a stop sign and slammed into a vehicle driven by 17-year-old Michael Douglas, who was killed. No charges were filed. She said she was overcome with guilt for years after the accident. Bush would go on to become first lady when George W. Bush became president in 2001.

While driving a vehicle owned by Marco Leonardi, her co-star in the film “Dusk Till Dawn 3,” actor Rebecca Gayheart struck and killed 9-year-old Jorge Cruz Jr. in Los Angeles. Gayheart pled no contest to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to probation, a one-year suspension of her license, a $2,800 fine, and 750 hours of community service. She paid the boy’s funeral expenses.

While hosting a party with friends in their Mexico City apartment, Burroughs took out his gun and proclaimed he and his wife, Joan Vollmer, were going to recreate the William Tell fable. His wife put a glass of gin on her head and Burroughs shot her in the forehead.

He was held in jail without bail on a homicide charge but bribed lawyers and other Mexican officials to be released after just 13 days. He fled to the U.S. and would go on to write 14 books. Literary critics and Burroughs himself said that this accidental killing of his wife was the event that made him a writer.

Christian Brando, son of iconic actor Marlon Brando, received a six-year sentence for manslaughter in California for the shooting death of his half-sister’s Tahitian lover. The younger Brando said he accidentally killed Dag Drollet in a fight, claiming Drollet had beaten his half-sister, who was pregnant.

Boxing promotor Don King was once jailed for killing a man in his earlier years. While involved in Cleveland’s gambling rackets, he got into a dispute with a man who owed him money and beat him to death. King was convicted of second-degree murder, but the charge was reduced to voluntary manslaughter. He served almost four years in Marion Correctional Institution in Marion, Ohio.

The Oscar-winning film director (“Treasure of Sierra Madre”) had already developed a reputation as a hard-drinking carouser when he was involved in a car accident in Hollywood in 1933. Huston struck and killed the wife of a Brazilian actor crossing Sunset Boulevard. He was absolved of responsibility but was traumatized by the accident, leaving Hollywood for Europe and not returning until 1937 to resume his career.

Actor Johnny Lewis played a fictional character who died violently on the well-received cable television series “Sons of Anarchy”. In real life, he strangled his landlady to death and fought with neighbors before he fell to his own death in Los Angeles. The actor who had appeared in TV shows such as “The O.C.,” “Boston Public,” and “Judging Amy,” had mental issues for years before the tragedy.

Henry Ruggs, a 23-year-old former wide receiver with the Las Vegas Raiders, faced felony DUI charges in connection with a fatal crash that occurred on Nov. 2, 2021. Ruggs, who played college ball at the University of Alabama, was accused of driving 156 mph before hitting a car driven by Tina Tintor, killing the 23-year-old woman and her dog. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to three to 10 years and is serving his time at Stewart Conservation Camp.

The drummer for the Who and his wife were fleeing a group of menacing skinheads in London when in a panic, an inebriated Keith Moon jumped into his car and tried to drive off. In the chaos, Moon’s chauffeur, Cornelius Boland, fell under the car and was crushed. Moon pleaded guilty to drunk driving, driving without a license, and driving without insurance. A British court cleared him of all charges.

Pistorius, a South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete, nicknamed “Blade Runner” for his six Paralympic gold medals in sprint events, was found guilty of culpable homicide for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months, but after serving almost nine years, he was granted parole in November 2023, effective January 2024. However,  he must complete the remainder of his sentence in the country’s community corrections system under specific guidelines and restrictions.

Mötley Crüe frontman, singer Vince Neil pleaded guilty to drunken driving in a 1984 crash in Redondo Beach, Calif., that killed his passenger, Nicholas Dingley, a 24-year-old drummer with the band Hanoi Rocks. His conviction on manslaughter and drunken driving charges got him 20 days in jail, and he agreed to pay $2.5 million in restitution to victims.

The Massachusetts senator was driving with political campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne on Martha’s Vineyard when their car plunged off the Dike Bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick. Kennedy got out of the car and said he tried to free Kopechne but was unable to do so and she perished. Kennedy was convicted of leaving the scene with bodily injury and questions about the incident remain to this day.

A California Highway Patrol report said that Norwood, driving a 2007 Land Rover, failed to slow down and rear-ended a 2005 Honda at about 65 mph. The Honda, driven by 38-year-old mother of two Awatef Aboudihaj, then hit another vehicle and slid into the center median, where it was struck by another vehicle. No arrests were made.

Parents of Awatef Aboudihaj, the woman killed in the accident, brought a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Norwood that was dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

Gifted University of Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez was drafted by the New England Patriots, where he played for three seasons until he was arrested and convicted of killing Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of his wife. Five days after he was acquitted of another murder, Hernandez hanged himself in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts.

After his death, the Boston University CTE Center, which has examined the brains of ex-NFL players for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative illness caused by repeated head injuries that can result in behavioral problems, studied Hernandez’s brain. The center reported that the 27-year-old had a severe case of the disorder.

Noted music producer Phil Spector, who worked with the Beatles, Tina Turner, and the Righteous Brothers, who also wrote such hits as “Be My Baby,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” was arrested in February 2003 for shooting actress Lana Clarkson to death in his home. More than six years later, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 19 years to life. He died in 2021 from Covid-19 complications while serving his sentence.

Businessman, film producer, and aviator Howard Hughes struck and killed pedestrian Gabriel S. Meyer with his car in Los Angeles. Although a witness told police that Hughes was driving fast and erratically, an attending physician said Hughes was sober but did note he had been drinking. Hughes was booked for negligent homicide and released on bail. The witness later changed his story and said the victim moved directly in front of Hughes’ car. Hughes was cleared of charges.

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious began dating troubled young woman, Nancy Spungen, a former groupie for the punk band. The two were staying at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City when Spungen was stabbed to death. Vicious initially confessed to the crime, then denied it and was released on $25,000 bail. Four months after Spungen’s death, Vicious was found dead of a drug overdose by his mother and his new girlfriend in a Greenwich Village apartment. The case remains unresolved.

Couple Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey were vacationing in Northern Ireland, and while driving, Broderick drove into the wrong lane and crashed head-on with a vehicle carrying Margaret Doherty and her daughter Anna Gallagher. The two Irishwomen were killed. Broderick had a concussion and Grey had spinal injuries that required surgery. Broderick has no memory of the accident.

Music executive and co-founder and CEO of Death Row Records, Marion “Suge” Knight, who had already done time in prison before, ran over two men in a parking lot, killing one of them. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, and hit-and-run, and in 2018, he pled no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. He’s not eligible for parole until July 2037.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by Actor Alec Baldwin during filming of the film “Rust” at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. Baldwin (“The Departed,” “30 Rock”) was charged with involuntary manslaughter. At the time of the tragedy, Baldwin was rehearsing with a pistol supposedly loaded with blanks when the gun discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Although the film has wrapped, no release date has been set.

One of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Salman Khan, was involved in a hit-and-run in which he had driven over and killed a man sleeping on the pavement. The original charges were dropped, but he was formally charged with culpable homicide in 2013, and in May of that year a lower convicted him and sentenced him to five years in prison.

He was released on bail and remained free with a suspended sentence until December 2015, when a high court in Mumbai overturned the conviction.

The 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, and current reality star, was driving a black Cadillac SUV that was the third vehicle involved in a multiple rear-end collision on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu that killed Kimberly Howe, 69. Prosecutors said that it couldn’t be proved that Jenner’s driving was negligent and they didn’t file a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge.

In 2017, Linda Barson was driving with her husband Jerome in their Hyundai Accent when it crashed into Williams’ Toyota Sequoia at an intersection in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Jerome Barson died two weeks later. Following the investigation of a car accident, no charges were filed against tennis champion Venus Williams.

It was eventually determined that the accident was caused by an unidentified third driver, and the case was dismissed with prejudice after a settlement was reached between Williams and Barson’s estate. No settlement amount was listed.