Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanado: The Mobster and the 14-Year-Old Who Killed Him

On April 4, 1958, one of Hollywood’s most glamorous movie stars became the center of a scandal that stunned America. Lana Turner was at the height of her fame when her volatile relationship with Johnny Stompanato, a former Marine with ties to Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen, turned deadly. Their romance had been marked by jealousy, threats, and allegations of physical abuse, but on that Good Friday night inside Turner’s Beverly Hills home, the violence finally reached a breaking point. According to Turner and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, Stompanato threatened Lana during a vicious argument. Terrified for her mother, Cheryl grabbed a kitchen knife. When the bedroom door opened and Stompanato moved toward Lana, Cheryl stabbed him once in the abdomen. He died shortly afterward. Suddenly, the teenage daughter of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars was at the center of a homicide investigation. The spectacle that followed had everything the newspapers could want: a movie goddess, a teenage girl, an abusive lover, organized-crime connections, and a killing inside a Beverly Hills mansion. Lana Turner gave dramatic testimony at the coroner’s inquest, and Cheryl maintained that she had acted because she believed her mother was in danger. The coroner’s jury ultimately ruled Johnny Stompanato’s death justifiable homicide, and Cheryl Crane was not prosecuted for killing him. But almost immediately, rumors began to swirl. Had fourteen-year-old Cheryl really killed Stompanato? Had Lana actually wielded the knife and allowed her daughter to take responsibility? Or was the story told by mother and daughter exactly what happened inside that bedroom? No evidence ever overturned the official finding, but the speculation helped turn the Stompanato killing into one of the most notorious scandals of Hollywood’s golden age. This is the true crime story of Lana Turner, Cheryl Crane, and Johnny Stompanato—a tale of Hollywood glamour, mob connections, domestic violence, a teenage daughter with a knife, and the killing that became almost as legendary as the movie star herself. Sources used for this podcast Support the show JOIN THE  HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE IN-LAWS AND OUTLAWS START KRIS CALVERT'S BOOKS TODAY FOR FREE Send Kris and Rob a Message H2H WEBSITE H2H on TWITTER H2H on INSTA Lana Turner, Johnny Stompanato, Cheryl Crane, Johnny Stompanato death, Lana Turner murder scandal, Johnny Stompanato killing, Lana Turner daughter, Cheryl Crane stabbing, Mickey Cohen, Hollywood gangster, Hollywood true crime, Old Hollywood scandal, Beverly Hills murder, 1958 Hollywood scandal, justifiable homicide, celebrity true crime, Golden Age Hollywood, true crime podcast #LanaTurner, #JohnnyStompanato, #CherylCrane, #HollywoodTrueCrime, #OldHollywood, #HollywoodScandal, #GoldenAgeHollywood, #CelebrityTrueCrime, #MickeyCohen, #BeverlyHills, #TrueCrime, #TrueCrimePodcast, #TrueCrimeCommunity, #CrimeHistory, #HistoricalTrueCrime, #Hitched2Homicide   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.