Innocence Lost

“A Murder in Hollywood” - the dark story behind the bright lights of Tinseltown.

Before there was Jodie Foster and Brooke Sheilds, there was Judy Turner. You may know her by her stage name, Lana Turner. Discovered at a malt shop in LA in her early teens and thrust before the cameras, she seemed to have it all―a thriving film career and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But she was soon physically abused by directors and studio honchos and sexually preyed upon by the matinee idols of the era, including Errol Flynn, Fernando Lamas and even Ronald Reagan. But that wasn’t enough.

When Lana began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable. Eventually, the physical and emotional abuse became too much to bear, and Lana attempted to break it off with Johnny―with disastrous consequences - Stompanato ending up dead on Lana's bedroom floor, with her young daughter, Cheryl, claiming to have plunged a knife into him in an attempt to protect her mother. The subsequent murder trial made for the biggest headlines of the year, its drama eclipsing every Hollywood movie.

New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman pulls back Tinseltown's velvet curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of celebrity, rife with toxic masculinity and casual violence against women which took place in Hollywood in the 40s and 50s, long before modern day’s MeToo Movement.

A Murder in Hollywood transports us back to the golden age of film and illuminates one of the 20th century's most notorious true crime tales. Return guest, Casey Sherman, joins me now on Murder Most Foul.