Celebs know that part of being in the spotlight is having your every move followed, so it’s not unusual for them having obsessed fans.
Most of them are just happy admiring their favorite celebrities from a far, but some cross the line and become full on terrifying maniacs and extremly dangerous stalkers that will stop at nothing to inflect harm on their favorite celebrity or even kill him.
1. Rebecca Schaeffer and Robert Bardo :
Rebecca Schaeffer was an actress who starred in the sitcom My Sister Sam.
19 year old Robert Bardo became obsessed with her stalking her for three years. He built a shrine to her in his bedroom and sent her numerous letters. He even hired a detective to find out her adresse.
When he saw her in a love scene in one of her movies, he became enraged. He believed she was « losing her innoscence » and needed to be « punished ». He found her home address and showed up at her house.
When she told him to go away, he left, but returned shortly after with a gun and shot Schaeffer in the chest. She died at the age of 22 at the hospital.
Bardo was arrested the next day and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
2. John Lennon and Mark David :
Probably the most famous fan murder of all time, Mark David was an obsessed fan of the Beatles. He was especially obsessed with John Lennon.
In 1980, Chapman waited outside of Lennon’s New york apartment all day. He approached Lennon, asked for an autograph around 5 pm, which Lennon gave him. But Chapman didn’t leave.
Lennon then went to dinner and returned to his apartment around 11 pm. Chapman was still there, waiting. He shot Lennon four times, killing him.
He remained at the scene reading « the Catcher in the Rye » and told the police that the novel was his « statement ». He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years to life.
3. Selena and Yolanda Saldívar :
Selena was a huge latin american pop singer star.
Yolanda Saldívar was an obsessed fan of Selena and the president of her fan club. She soon turned to more than that when she became Selena’s boutique manager and friend.
In 1995, Selena learned that Saldívar was embezzling money from the fan club and fired her.
A few weeks later, Saldívar lured Selena to a hotel room with a story that she had been raped and needed Selena’s help.
During the meeting, Saldívar shot Selena in the back. Injured Selena ran from the room to a nearby hotel lobby. And before she died, selena managed to name her killer.
Saldívar gave her self up and was senteced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
4. Christina Grimmie and Kevin James :
Twenty-two year old Christina Grimmie was a rising star singer, songwriter, and actor. She even won third place on the TV show The Voice.
In June of 2016, Grimmie was signing autographs after her concert when a man named Kevin James Loibl shot her three times.
Kevin James Loibl had traveled from his home in St. Petersburg, Florida to Orlando by taxi with two handguns and a hunting knife.
Grimmie’s brother was at the event and tackled the man, who then shot himself. Grimmie was pronounced dead a few hours later.
5. Jodie Foster and John Hinckley Jr :
After watching « taxi driver », John Hinckley Jr became obsessed with Jodie Foster who was just 15 at the time.
When she was going to Yale, he enrolled as a student in the university so he could stalk her, and even slipped poems and messages under her door.
In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan while he was leaving a speaking engagement.
Hinckley also shot Press Secretary James Brady, a police officer and a Secret Service agent.
All four survived the attack, but Brady suffered brain damage and in 2014 died from his injuries.
Hinckley claimed the attack was to impress actress Jodie Foster, who he became obsessed with after seeing the movie Taxi Driver over 15 times.
6. Theresa Saldana and Arthur Jackson :
In 1982, 27 year old Theresa Saldana was a beautuiful up and comoing actress. She had an obsessed fan named Arthur Jackson, a 47 year old drifter from Scotland who had traveled all the way across the globe to meet her. Jackson’s plan was to find Saldana kill her, and then join her in the afterlife.
He hired a private detective to find her mother’s phone number. Then, he called her and pretented he was trying to contact her about a movie role. Saldana’s mother gave him her daughter’s address. Jackson waited outside her house, when she came out, he stabbed her 10 times with a huntig knife.
A deliveryman rushed to her rescue and subduced Jackson. Saldana made a full recovery and Jackson was given a 12 year sentenced for attemted murder.
7. Bjork and Ricardo Lopez :
The Icelandic singer Bjork had an obsessed and deranged fan named Ricardo Lopez. Lopez sent Bjork a booby-trapped book in the mail. His plan was that when Bjork opened the book, a small bombe would detonate, spraying acid on her. He said he wanted to be « the one person who changed her life the most ».
After he mailed the package, he made a video in which he took off his clothes, shaved his head and painted himself red, green and black. Then, while one of Bjork’s songs played in the background, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.
Thankfully, the parcel bomb was intercepted in the mail before it reached Bjork.
8. George Harrison and Michael Abram :
George Harrison from the beatles was stalked by a 34 year old man named Michael Abram who reportedly hated the beatles and believed they were witches.
He broke into his home and stabbed him in the chest more than 40 times. His wife managed to fend off the attacker by beating him over the head with a poker and a lamp.
George survived his wounds and Michael Abram was placed in a mental hospital.
9. Sandra Bullock and Joshua Corbett :
Sandra Bullock’s stalker, Joshua Corbett, entered her home with a loaded machine gun. Sandra locked herself in a room until the police showed up and arrested him.
10. Madonna :
Madonna was stalked by a man named Robert Dewey Hoskins. He escaped from a mental hospital and threatened to kill her.
He even scaled the walls of her home to get to her, so her bodyguards were forced to shoot him.
He said that he was either going to marry Madonna or « slash her throat from ear to ear ». He was arrested in 1995 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
