The first episode of Netflix’s Homicide: Los Angeles covers the story of Lana Clarkson, the 40-year-old actress who was murdered by famous music producer Phil Spector, then 63, in 2003.
Clarkson, who appeared in Scarface, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the Barbarian Queen movies, was working as a hostess at the House of Blues in Los Angeles when Spector paid a visit to the club on Feb. 3, 2003.
She he agreed to go back to Spector’s home in Alhambra for a drink. The producer behind beloved songs including The Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is to Love Him” and John Lennon’s “Instant Karma!” was charged with Clarkson’s murder 9 months later in November 2003.
Spector’s defense claimed that Clarkson committed suicide, citing evidence that she was fatally shot in the mouth and the gun was found at her feet. Prosecutors argued that he had staged the crime scene to look like a suicide before police arrived.
He denied killing Clarkson and maintained his innocence. His first trial in 2007 was declared a mistrial due to a hung jury, and he was retried in 2009, at which point he was found guilty of second-degree murder.
Spector received the maximum sentence of 19 years to life in prison and was ordered to pay Clarkson’s mother for her funeral expenses as well as other fees.
Spector died of natural causes 2021, still in imprisonment.
Spector Blamed Clarkson For Her Own Death
One of the Alhambra police officers who arrived at Spector’s home on the night of Clarkson’s murder recorded audio of what Spector was saying that night.
Spector insisted that Clarkson had committed suicide — a point he maintained, along with his innocence, all the way through both trials.
“This is absolute f—ing nonsense,” Spector said in the recording. “I don’t know what that f—ing lady, what her problem is. But she was with security at the House of Blues, and I don’t know what her f—ing problem was, but she certainly had no right to come to my f—ing castle, blow her f—ing head open. What the f— is wrong with you people?”
Lana Clarkson Didn’t Even Know Who Phil Spector Was
Clarkson first met Spector on the night of her murder. She was working at the House of Blues that night as a hostess, and Spector came in as a patron. But Clarkson didn’t know who he was.
“Spector had come in and Lana was working as a hostess that evening. He said, ‘Don’t you know who I am? I’m Phil Spector.’ She, not realizing, stated, ‘Well Miss Spector, you can’t come in.’ She thought he was a female. That didn’t go over too well,” LA County Sheriff’s Department lead homicide detective Rich Tomlin said in the episode.
When a security guard informed her that Spector was a celebrity and that she should treat him “like gold,” Tomlin added, she apologized and let him in.
Fragments of Her Teeth Were Left Scattered
Clarkson was shot in the mouth, causing fragments of her teeth to be scattered throughout the crime scene in Spector’s foyer.
“We had the physical evidence of blood, the gunshot wound that was visible. She had been shot in the mouth, so there were teeth and fragments of teeth that were spread out amongst her remains. They were on the carpeting, they were across the room on a stairway,” said retired LASD homicide detective Mark Lillienfeld.
“We collected it, we photographed it, we diagrammed it, we held it for DNA. You gotta get past the ick factor and the emotional part of that. You gotta get past that. What do these things tell me?”
The Gun Was Pointed Down Instead of Up
The gun Spector used to kill Clarkson was a Colt Cobra .38 caliber revolver.
According to Clarkson’s autopsy, she died of one gunshot wound inside of her mouth. The coroner ruled her death a homicide.
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“The major findings from the autopsy was, there was one gunshot wound inside of her mouth. Where the gunshot was and how it was lodged, Lana died instantly. The bullet was in a downward angle. If you committed suicide, are you going to point the gun downward?” said Rich Tomlin, lead homicide detective for the LA County Sheriff’s Department. “It’d be level, or maybe even an upward angle.”
Spector Had a Habit of Trapping People In His House, According to LASD Homicide Detectives
Spector had a habit of keeping people in his home by taking the locking mechanism off of the deadbolt so that they couldn’t open his front door, homicide detective from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department explain in the episode. That thumb lock was found laying on the floor at the crime scene.
“If you had a good time with Phil and you wanted to leave, he’d say, ‘Okay just wait right here.’ It was always in that foyer area. And he literally would disappear at times for hours until he was ready for you to go. And how he would keep them in — remember the deadbolt lock that was found on the floor? He would remove the lock, and you were stuck,” lead homicide detective Rich Tomlin explained.
“Miss Clarkson was basically imprisoned. She wasn’t free to leave on her own will because she couldn’t open the damn door because Mr. Spector had taken that lever device, that thumb device, off of the deadbolt on the door,” said retired LASD homicide detective Mark Lillienfeld.
Detectives Also Say Spector Had a Habit of Holding People at Gunpoint
Spector was known for pulling out a gun during recording sessions, including with John Lennon, The Ramones, and Leonard Cohen, detectives interviewed in the episode said.
He was also accused of doing the same by other women.
During the first trial, the prosecution called multiple women to the witness stand who had been on dates or spent time with Spector in the past.
“These women were willing to testify that they were in fear of their lives, that they thought he was going to kill them,” said Danny Smith, a retired homicide detective from the LA County Sheriff’s office.
“Phil Spector had a habit of bringing women over to his house, wanting sexual favors from them, and when they didn’t comply or satisfy him, he would pull out at gun,” another official said in the episode.
There Was Blood Spatter on His Jacket
“In the master bedroom we found a white dinner jacket that Mr. Spector had been wearing during his evening out at the house of blues. There was blood spatter on the sleeve of the jacket,” Lillienfeld said.
It was later determined during forensic testing that the blood on the jacket belonged to Clarkson.
“When the projectile struck Miss Clarkson and blood acme out, it got on Mr. Spector’s weapon, it got on his sleeve, it got on his hand,” Lillienfeld added.
Spector Wiped the Blood Off His Gun With a Diaper
There wasn’t just blood on Spector’s jacket — it also got all over his gun and his hand. So he wiped it off with a cloth diaper.
“In the guest bathroom, there was a cotton diaper,” Lillienfeld said.
“Something I learned, when people have guns they will wrap them in diaper,” Tomlin said. “We learned that Lana Clarkson’s blood was on that diaper and in that bathroom.”
“That diaper had blood on it and it was moist,” Lillienfeld continued.
“During her exam of the diaper and exam of the weapon, [Senior Criminalist of the LA County Sheriff’s Department] Dr. Lynne Herold was able to conclude that the diaper had been used to wipe the gun down, and that’s where the moisture and the blood evidence was transferred from the weapon to the diaper,” he added.
You can watch the new season of Homicide: Los Angeles on Netflix.
Main Image: Lana Clarkson in Blind Date (1984), New Line Cinema
Editor’s Note: Corrects main image.