12 Notorious Murder Cases That Tore Hollywood Apart
6. Sal Mineo
On February 12th, 1976, Sal Mineo was stabbed through the heart in an alley behind his apartment building. Local pizza deliveryman, Lionel Ray Williams, was found guilty and sentenced to 57 years in prison.
Mineo was a New York actor famous for roles in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Exodus, and Rebel Without A Cause. Mineo was also bisexual and celebrated as a gay icon following his death.
So what prompted a pizza deliveryman to kill the Oscar-nominated actor? That much has never been revealed. Initially the case went unsolved for two years, by which time Williams was in prison in Michigan for robbery. He was allegedly overheard bragging about killing Sal Mineo, so was transferred to Los Angeles, where he stood trial for said murder. Williams was found guilty of second degree murder. He was paroled in 1990 after eleven years... only to commit robbery and go back to jail.
Mineo was a beloved actor, nominated for an Academy Award, and portrayed the first openly-gay teen in film; yet was said to have been blackballed by a homophobic system in Hollywood. His senseless murder only reaffirmed his status as underappreciated and gone-too-soon.