Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder
Ep. 46 | Celebrities Who Were Killed By Their Fans
Sat, 26 Apr 2025
In today's episode, we look into the cases of celebrities getting killed by their unsuspecting, “loving” fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the theme of this episode about celebrities and their fans?
They adored them, worshiped them, framed their faces on bedroom walls, sang their songs in the dark, and memorized their every move. To the world, they were stars, icons, untouchable. But to someone else, they were so much more. Something personal, intimate, and possessive. Some called it admiration and others called it love.
But what happens when obsession crosses the line and when fantasy fractures? When the person that you idolize becomes the subject of your rage? These are the stories of fame turned fatal. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder. All things that I love to consume and I know you do too, you see. twisted, beautiful, intellectually minded freak.
And today we are talking about just that, celebrities who were killed by their biggest fans. So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes, and bust through this windshield into these killer fans together. Before we get into the video, I just wanna say thank you.
Yesterday, which is probably a week now, I got number two on the Spotify charts in North America, right under Joe Rogan. I'm coming for you, Joe. Knocking on your door. But I know it'll be short-lived or whatever because you guys like blew up one of my episodes.
But I just want to say thank you so much for listening here and for listening on Spotify as well, along with all the other listening platforms like Apple and the other ones. And if you didn't know, I am on Spotify as well, if you want to listen there. But I'm floored by the love from you guys and this true crime stuff. It means the world to me.
And I truly enjoy doing this content and learning more, going through these cases and bringing light to certain cases and everything. So I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for listening. And now we can stop being sappy and get into the episode. Mark David Chapman was born May 10th, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. But he was raised in Dakotor, Georgia.
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Chapter 2: Who was Mark David Chapman and what led him to kill John Lennon?
And to those around him, he was often quiet, withdrawn, and deeply imaginative. Sounding like me, honestly. And from a young age, he created an imaginary world called the Little People, where he ruled as their king. This guy's sounding a lot like me right now, and I'm a little scared.
But anyway, this was just a fantasy to escape the instability and emotional coldness of his life at home because his father was reportedly very violent and also very detached from his son. And his mother was just overwhelmed as well and kind of in her own world, if you will. And as Mark grew up and became a teenager, he just began to spiral.
He would use drugs, he would skip school on a regular basis. And he once even ran away from home for two weeks, surviving on the streets of Miami. But in 1971, he became a born again Christian and just threw himself headfirst into faith. And for a while, it seemed like his life had changed for the better. He would volunteer with children and he just won praises at the YMCA where he worked.
And he would also get married to a woman named Gloria Abe, who was a Japanese American travel agent. And he would eventually move to Hawaii and continue to travel even internationally with relief organizations. So just turning out to be an all around good guy. Life is on the up. But even in these good times, the darkness still lingered.
And after a few years, he would fall back into his depression. And in 1977, after a failed slower slide attempt, he would be hospitalized and diagnosed with clinical depression. So eventually he would return back to civilian life and he would find quiet, solitary work as a janitor in Hawaii, where he lived currently. And from there, reality just continued to distort.
And this is when John Lennon would come into the story. Because at a time, Mark had absolutely loved the Beatles. Who didn't? He just admired Lennon's music and his kind of rebellious spirit at the time. But eventually that admiration had twisted into something much more sinister. And Chapman just couldn't let go of Lennon's infamous 1966 remark that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
Because as we know, Chapman was deeply religious. So as his religion deepened, so did his anger for Lenin. But it wasn't just the blasphemy that infuriated him, it was the hypocrisy. And he became fixated on the specific book, The Catcher in the Rye. And for those of you who don't know what The Catcher in the Rye is about, it is a novel written by J.D. Stallinger, published in 1951.
And the novel details two days in the life of a 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has been expelled from prep school. And confused and disillusioned, Holden searches for truth and rails against the phoniness of the adult world. And he ends up exhausted and emotionally unstable. And the events are related after the fact.
So Mark deeply identified with Holden Caulfield's disdain for phonies and just being an outsider in general. And Lennon's wealth and activism sparked a toxic contradiction within Chapman's mind. Because to him, Lennon was both a cultural icon and a man living in hypocrisy. So by 1980, Mark David Chapman had decided that John Lennon needed to die.
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Chapter 3: What was John Lennon's significance and how did his death impact the world?
And in Central Park, 200,000 mourners gathered in stunned silence. I mean, this is up there with Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. This was an incredibly big deal. Radio stations would play Lennon's music on loop. And for millions, it felt like the voice of peace itself had been silenced. And in later interviews, Chapman would admit that his motive was completely selfish.
He just wanted fame to become somebody and killing Lennon in his warped logic was the only way to do that. So Mark would be convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life. And he remains in prison to this day and has been denied parole repeatedly.
But I don't know why he didn't get first degree because he clearly pre-planned all of this like months and months before, but that is, it's not my shit and he's in jail for life, so whatever. But John Lennon imagined a world of peace, free of violence and full of possibility.
And in the end, he was just brought down by a man who mistook obsession for righteousness and found his place in history through an act of irreversible tragedy. Kevin James Loible was a 27 year old from St. Petersburg, Florida. And he was known to be pretty quiet, withdrawn, and for many accounts, deeply isolated. Sounds like somebody else we know from the last story.
So Kevin kind of kept to himself, but he had a job at Best Buy. And his coworkers would describe him as strange and emotionally distant. And every single time he spoke, he would speak about the same person. And that person was Christina Grimmie. And what began as a fan's admiration evolved into something much darker. Kevin was known to watch her videos obsessively. He believed he knew her.
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Chapter 4: How did Mark David Chapman plan and carry out the assassination of John Lennon?
The parasocial relationship was strong with this one. And Kevin even thought that they were spiritually connected. And he would even go as far as to tell coworkers that they had actually played video games together, him and Christina, when they actually had never spoken at all or even met for that fact.
So he was determined to make himself more presentable for her when he did finally get to meet her. So he would undergo LASIK eye surgery. He had his teeth whitened. He started a vegan diet and he even got hair implants. It was just a full transformation, not just rooted in self-care, but in pure delusion.
And since he spent most of his time with his coworkers, they began to notice his aggression whenever someone questioned his claims about Christina, because he believed in his soul that they were soulmates. So when images surfaced online of Christina and another man, Kevin did not take it well at all. And in June of 2016, he decided if he couldn't be with her, than no one could.
Now, for those of you who do not know Christina Grimmie, she was born on March 12th, 1994 in Marlton, New Jersey. And her rise to fame began in her bedroom where she uploaded covers of popular songs to YouTube. I was actually a big fan when she was on YouTube. She was so, so talented. And she quickly stood out to the masses, not just for her incredible vocal range, but for her authenticity.
And her fans didn't just admire her voice, but they actually felt connected to her. And in 2014, Christina Grimmie actually competed in season six of The Voice. And she would place third under the guidance of Adam Levine, which she should have won, in my humble opinion. But her influence extended way beyond the show.
During the show and during her YouTube career, she would build a following that followed her through live streams, concerts, and fan meetups. And her music spanned pop, acoustic, and even rock. And she often cited artists like Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion as inspirations to her. Offstage, she was known as warm and approachable and deeply connected to her fan base.
And she never saw herself as above them, like a lot of people in the industry unfortunately do. And that humility that she had would ultimately be what brought her face to face with her killer. But in the months leading up to her murder, Kevin became increasingly fixated on Christina and he would start to make a
So he would legally purchase two handguns and multiple rounds of ammunition and a large hunting knife. And he would even encrypt his phone and remove the hard drive from his computer before leaving for Orlando, hiding evidence. Basically an intentional effort to just leave no trace of his plans.
So he would go to Orlando and book a hotel room near the Plaza live, traveling with absolutely no luggage. And that alone caught the attention of the front desk clerk at the hotel. But no action was taken because although it rings alarm bells, what are you going to do? The guy just traveled light.
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Chapter 5: Who was Kevin James Loible and what was his obsession with Christina Grimmie?
So while being in the institution, he was continuing to do school, but he would drop out of high school and work odd jobs after getting out of the institution. including a brief stint as a janitor. And over the years, he would just become increasingly reclusive and he would become very withdrawn with reality and become obsessed with fame and celebrity.
And before fixating on this particular celebrity, Bardo had attempted to contact and stalk several other public figures, including child peace activist, Samantha Smith and pop singer, Debbie Gibson and Tiffany. But his obsession with Rebecca Schaefer would be all consuming. because Bardo just saw her as the embodiment of innocence and purity, which is...
coming from just a man who doesn't know her at all, just very icky. And when he watched her in the sitcom, My Sister Sam, he believed she was speaking directly to him. So the delusion was real.
So he began sending letters on letters on letters, one of which was actually received and had a polite reply, which was basically a gesture of kindness that would later be twisted in a delusion of connection. And for those of you who don't know who Rebecca Schaefer is, she was born on November 6th, 1967 in Eugene, Oregon.
And she became a model as a teenager and transitioned into acting, landing commercial and minor television roles. But her big break came in 1986 when she was cast as Patty Russell, the sweet bubbly young sister in the CBS sitcom, My Sister Sam. And the show was a modest hit and Schaefer became a rising star in the eyes of the public.
Known for her girl-next-door charm and wholesome appeal, she was carefully crafting a future in both television and film. And unlike many of her peers, Rebecca remained very grounded, friendly, and very professional. So her future just looked very bright in Hollywood.
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Chapter 6: What was Christina Grimmie's background and rise to fame?
And she was only 21 years old when she auditioned for a part in The Godfather Part III, a role that, had she lived, might have taken her career to new heights. Now, Bardo's obsession with Rebecca would intensify when he saw her in a provocative bed scene in scenes from The Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Because in his deluded, delusional, stupid mind, this was some sort of betrayal against him.
Even though it was just TV, she was... acting. The scene just made her no longer pure in his eyes. So he was just convinced that she sold herself out. So Bardot's adoration just curdled into hatred. And he would even go as far as to hire a private investigator for $250 to obtain Rebecca's home address through California DMV records. Which like, how the fuck Is that legal or was legal?
So he would get that information and then he would ask his brother to help him get a gun since his mental illness disqualified from buying his own. But he would ultimately secure a .357 Magnum revolver. And on July 18th, 1989, Bardot flew from Tucson to Los Angeles and tracked down Rebecca's apartment.
And that morning, he would ring her doorbell carrying an autograph she had once sent him, the one letter that he received back. And Rebecca, who unfortunately was just expecting a script to be delivered at that time, just answered the door with no question. So she would She would open the door and she would see him and actually speak very kindly to him, but ask him just not to return.
So he left, but less than two hours later, he would come back. So at approximately 10 a.m. Bardot would return to Rebecca's doorstep. And this time when she unfortunately answered, he would pull out his revolver and he would shoot her once in the chest at point blank range. And she would immediately collapse inside the doorway of her apartment.
And he would later recount after being caught that she asked why. And paramedics arrived very quickly and rushed her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. But despite resuscitation efforts, she was pronounced dead 30 minutes later. And Rebecca Schaefer was only 21 years old at the time of her death. And the murder of Rebecca Schaefer just sent shockwaves through Hollywood and the nation.
Visuals were held in Los Angeles and across the country. And for many, it was the first they truly saw the dangerous power of unchecked obsession in the celebrity fan relationship. And Bardot would be arrested the next day in Tucson after wandering the streets. Because he was actually found weaving in and out of traffic, reportedly shouting, "'I killed Rebecca Schaefer.'" Subtle.
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Chapter 7: How did Kevin Loible prepare for and execute the attack on Christina Grimmie?
But thankfully, he would be charged with first-degree murder. And in 1991, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And Rebecca's death led to sweeping changes in privacy laws. California actually passed the first anti-stalking law in the United States. And the Driver's Privacy Protection Act was signed in federal law in 1994.
Which, like, why the fuck was that ever open to public? It just doesn't make any sense to me. but it basically made it illegal for DMV records to be disclosed without a person's consent. And her murder also prompted the creation of the LAPD's Threat Management Unit, dedicated to handling cases involving celebrity stalking.
And though her life was incredibly short, Rebecca Schaeffer's legacy has protected thousands. She wanted to live quietly, work hard, and build a meaningful life through her craft, but instead she became a symbol of how celebrity, when distorted through obsession, can turn. Yolanda Salvador was born September 19th, 1960 in San Antonio, Texas.
And she was raised in a very conservative American Mexican household. She was known by many to be very studious and soft spoken. And Yolanda even earned a degree in nursing and worked in various hospitals throughout the 1980s. but eventually she would settle in Corpus Christi. But outwardly, she was unremarkable, a dedicated nurse who was a devoted fan of Tejano music.
But in 1991, she became more than just a fan, because Yolanda would begin calling Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr.,
repeatedly begging to start an official selena fan club and with persistence and a polished image she eventually convinced him and as president of this fan club yolanda quickly gained selena's trust and access to her inner circle and over time she was even promoted to manage selena's growing fashion empire selena etc boutiques but behind the polished surface yolanda's behavior turned increasingly possessive and employees would report that she was very controlling manipulative
and increasingly unhinged when challenged. And in early 1995, financial discrepancies began to surface. Complaints would start to roll in from fans and customers about missing merchandise and unreturned phone calls. So not doing a really good job at managing. And Abraham, Selena's father, would launch an investigation. And what he found would set the stage for betrayal. But who is Selena?
Selena was born April 16th, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. And she would be the youngest of three children. And Selena's talent was evident from a very early age. Her father, Abraham, who was a former musician, actually formed the family band, Selena y Los Dinos. And by the age of 10, Selena was performing at weddings, fairs, and festivals across Texas.
And though she spoke English at home, she sang in Spanish. But Selena just captivated audiences with her vocal range, infectious charisma, and magnetic stage presence. And she quickly just became this sensation in a male dominated Tejano music scene. Selena would actually go on to win the female vocalist of the year at the Tejano Music Awards at just the age of 15.
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