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Tragedies that befall celebrities, often make the media cycle because they are celebrities. But the parents of a celebrity usually stay in the background. It is a rare occurrence when the parent of a celebrity is murdered, especially when they were just a child. There is no single theme behind why the parents of these 20 celebrities were murdered. In several cases, the murders remain unsolved. In a few other cases there were celebrities involved in the murder.<\/p>\n

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1. Michael Jordan\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan, was\u00a0killed in 1993. He was lethally\u00a0shot in an apparent carjacking, in which the killer or killers took two NBA championship rings that Michael had given him as\u00a0gifts.<\/p>\n

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In 1996,\u00a0two men, Daniel Andre Green and Larry Martin Demery, were arrested and found guilty of Jordan Sr.\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

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2. Sean Lennon\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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John Lennon, founder of the Beatles and father of musician Sean Lennon, was shot to death at his home on December 8, 1980. by Mark David Chapman.<\/p>\n

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Chapman waited from mid-morning in front of Lennon\u2019s home that day, handed Lennon an album to autograph, and after getting the autograph waited for Lennon to turn and walk away before shooting him 5 times in the back.<\/p>\n

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Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and\u00a0was sentenced\u00a0to 20 years to life.<\/p>\n

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3. Dylan McDermott\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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In 1967, when Dylan McDermott was 5 years old, his mother\u00a0Diane\u00a0was shot dead in what police deemed an accident.<\/p>\n

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After McDermott called the police with\u00a0questions about his mother’s death, the case was\u00a0re-opened in 2011.<\/p>\n

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Police filed murder charges against\u00a0John Sponza, Diane’s boyfriend at the time of her death. Sponza\u00a0had ties to organized crime, and was found dead in the trunk of a car in 1972.<\/p>\n

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4. Kelsey Grammer\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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If anyone has had the kind of childhood that involved significant tragedy, few can compare to the childhood of Kelsey Grammer.<\/p>\n

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His parents divorced when he was only 2 years old. After the divorce, Kelsey\u2019s mother brought him and his sister Karen back to New Jersey to be raised by mom and granddad. When Grammer was 11, his granddad died.<\/p>\n

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Only two years later, a mentally ill man named Arthur Niles had set his father\u2019s car on fire for reasons unknown. When Grammer\u2019s father came out to find out what was going on, he was shot twice and murdered.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0His sister Karen was raped and murdered when she was 18 by two men, who were either mentally ill or on drugs. He was 20 years old at the time.<\/p>\n

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5. Charlize Theron<\/h3>\n

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In 1991, Charlize Theron’s mother Gerda\u00a0shot and killed Charlize’s father\u00a0Charles.<\/p>\n

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According to\u00a0Gerda’s testimony, Charles drunkenly threatened to kill her and Charlize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The actress’s mother wasn’t prosecuted, as the\u00a0attorney general determined\u00a0that Gerda\u00a0had shot Charles in defense of\u00a0her daughter and herself.<\/p>\n

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6. Jennifer Hudson\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Oscar-winning \u201cDreamgirls\u201d actress and singer\u00a0Jennifer Hudson\u00a0suffered a horrific tragedy when her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were murdered by her estranged brother-in-law, William Balfour.<\/p>\n

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Balfour went into a shooting rage at the family\u2019s Chicago home, thinking that his wife, Julia Hudson, was dating another man.<\/p>\n

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He was convicted of the killings and sentenced to\u00a0three life sentences.<\/p>\n

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7. James Ellroy<\/h3>\n

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In 1958, crime fiction author James Ellroy’s mother, Geneva Ellroy was ra**ped and murdered in a criminal case that remains unsolved to this day. He was only 10 years old at the time.<\/p>\n

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Her body was discovered with one of her stockings around her neck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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8. Melvin Mora\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Melvin Mora was a player for several major league baseball teams, his longest stint came with the Baltimore Orioles.<\/p>\n

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His father was murdered in Venezuela in a case of mistaken identity.\u00a0 Mora was 6 years old at the time.<\/p>\n

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Father and son were walking in front of their home when a stranger comes up in a car, points a gun, and kills his father.<\/p>\n

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The result was the family plunged into poverty, and Mora was passed around from relative to relative to have a place to stay.<\/p>\n

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9. Patrick Duffy\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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\u00a0Marie and Terence Duffy,\u00a0the parents of actor Patrick Duffy were killed in 1986 during an armed robbery of their Montana bar.<\/p>\n

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The killers, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, who were teenagers at the time, were convicted of the murders and sentenced to 75 years in prison. Miller was released in 2007, on parole.<\/p>\n

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10. Omarosa Manigault\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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The lack of available information on the death of the father of Omarosa Manigault is puzzling.<\/p>\n

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Omarosa admits that her father was murdered in Youngstown, Ohio in 1988 when she was just 7 years old.<\/p>\n

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Other than that, not much public information is available. Tragically, her brother\u00a0Jack\u00a0was also shot to death\u00a0in 2011.<\/p>\n

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11. Dave Navarro<\/h3>\n

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In 1983, Dave Navarro’s mother, Constance, was shot to death in her West LA apartment. Her friend, Sue Jory, was also killed.<\/p>\n

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Constance’s ex-boyfriend, John Riccardi, was arrested in 1991 thanks in part to\u00a0America’s Most Wanted<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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12. Sean (Diddy) Combs\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Interestingly, Combs\u2019 father was an associate of convicted drug dealer Frank Lucas portrayed in the movie of\u00a0American Gangster<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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When Sean was just 3 years old, his father was found shot dead in his car.<\/p>\n

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13. Malcolm X\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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In 1931, Malcolm X’s father, Rev. Earl Little, was found dead on streetcar tracks near his home in East Lansing, MI. Two weeks prior to that, the house of his father was burned down.<\/p>\n

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Police ruled Rev. Little’s death\u00a0an accident,\u00a0though the family suspected it was the work of\u00a0white supremacists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As a result, his mother suffered an emotional breakdown and was committed to a mental institution. And the family was split up to live elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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14. Paul Harvey\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Harry Aurandt, father of radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, was killed in Tulsa, OK, in 1921.<\/p>\n

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While he and a\u00a0fellow police officer\u00a0were rabbit hunting, a group of men attempted to rob them and\u00a0shot\u00a0Aurandt. He died two days later.<\/p>\n

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The Two men were convicted of the killing and sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

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15. Gregg and Duane Allman\u00a0:<\/h3>\n

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Brothers Duane and Gregg Allman were just 3 and 2 respectively when their father, an Army lieutenant, was murdered the day after Christmas, 1949.<\/p>\n

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Willis and another officer, Robert Buchanan were driving a hitchhiker home. The hitchhiker pulled out a gun, robbed the two men, and told them to take off their shoes.<\/p>\n

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In the process, Willis made a move to take the gun away, while Buchanan ran for his life. Buchannan stated he heard two shots fired, and one struck Willis in the chest, killing him.<\/p>\n

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