10 Mysterious Celebrity Deaths That Shocked The World

8. Brian Jones

Largely forgotten by everyone except rock n€™ roll purists and Stones aficionados, Brian Jones was the founder of the Rolling Stones, and for years the linchpin of the group. He named the band, recruited each and every member, decided what they would sound like, promoted them, got them all of their earliest gigs and deals. For many, in the early years, Brian Jones was the Rolling Stones. However, as his reliance on recreational narcotics and booze increased (due in part to his alienation from the other members, his loss of control over the band€™s direction and the increasing toll of the band€™s schedule), he slipped further and further away. In 1967, his long term girlfriend Anita Pallenberg left him for fellow Stones guitarist Keith Richards, further distancing him from the band he€™d created, and he was asked to leave on 8th June 1969. Less than a month later, he would be dead. Jones was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at his home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex, on 3rd July 1969. He was only twenty-seven years old. His girlfriend insisted that he€™d had a pulse when removed from the water, but by the time medical assistance arrived it was too late. The coroner€™s inquest recorded a verdict of €˜death by misadventure€™, confirming the damage that had been done to his heart and liver by his lifestyle. That wouldn€™t be the end of the speculation, however. Frank Thorogood, a builder who€™d been working on the farm at the time of Jones€™ death and is likely to have been the last to have seen Jones alive, allegedly made a deathbed confession to murdering the man, but this was later denied by the man he€™d supposedly confessed to. There were other oddities: evidence of a bonfire on the site the day before Jones€™ death with papers and documentation used as fuel, and allegations that pressure had been brought to bear on the police to close the case early. To date, police have upheld the original coroner€™s verdict despite the mounting evidence that foul play may have been involved. But then it€™s easy to whitewash the death of a notorious junkie whose life was already on the slow slide into oblivion...