The death of Tupac Shakur [1971-1996]

Tupac Shakur was a rapper, actor and social activist.

Before he made it big, he was a roadie and backup dancer for the hip hop group Digital Underground.

In 1994, Shakur was shot 5 times and robbed in the lobby of a recording studio by 2 men, twice in the head, twice in the groin and once through the arm and thigh, miraculously he survived and even checked out of hospital 3 hours after surgery.

1995, he was sentenced to 1.5 to 4.5 years in prison on a sexual assault charge.

After serving 11 months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal.

In 1996, Shakur was shot 4 times, in the chest, the pelvis, his right hand and thigh, unfortunately this time he wasn’t as lucky.

A few days later, Shakur died of severe internal bleeding in the hospital.

It is said that after Shakur's cremation. Some of his ashes were mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of Outlawz (a group founded by Shakur).

Although Suge Knight, CEO of Deathrow Records (Instrumental in helping Shakur out of prison) and Biggie Smalls (The Notorious B.I.G.) were later linked to Shakur’s murder the case remains unsolved.

The death of Mia Zapata [1965-1993]

Mia Zapata was the vocalist of the punk band, The Gits.

The Gits were formed in 1986, Zapata was raped & murdered just as they were gaining popularity & mainstream attention in 1993. They disbanded after her death.

Zapata’s murderer, Jesus Mezquia was only convicted 10 years later in 2003 when the police matched his DNA to a saliva sample taken from Zapata’s body.

Jesus Mezquia was sentenced to 36-years in prison, the maximum sentence under Washington State Law.

 

More Details on the investigations can be found here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/05/48hours/main706348.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

 

The death of John Lennon [1940-1980]

John Lennon famous for being a member of The Beatles, was shot dead by Mark Chapman outside his home on 8th Dec 1980.

3 years prior to Lennon’s shooting, Chapman had attempted to commit suicide through carbon monoxide asphyxiation in his car, but he was stopped and brought to a mental hospital where he was diagnosed with clinical depression.

Lennon was shot 4 times and died due to excessive bleeding, after the shooting Chapman remained at the scene, took out his copy of the book “The Catcher in the Rye” and read it until the police arrived.

Mark Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment for 2nd degree murder and remains in prison after being denied parole 5 times.

The death of Euronymous [1968-1993]

Øystein Aarseth, better known to the black metal world as Euronymous, was the guitarist of Norwegian black metal band, Mayhem. 

Formed in 1984, Mayhem was one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene.

Euronymous isn’t the first member of Mayhem to suffer an untimely death as Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead the vocalist of Mayhem committed suicide in 1991, he was discovered by Euronymous with slit wrists & a gunshot to the forehead.

Euronymous took photographs of Dead’s corpse and later used one of them as album cover of a live bootleg called “Dawn of the Black Hearts”.

In 1993, Euronymous was allegedly stabbed to death by Varg Vikernes (who was playing the bass in Mayhem at that time). Vikernes claimed the 23 knife wounds found on Euronymous were out of self-defense & that Euronymous was plotting to torture him to death while videotaping it.

After the trial, Vikernes was convicted of murder & arson (of 4 Churches, which he denies responsibility). He was sent to prison for the maximum sentence of 21 years. While in prison Vikernes recorded 2 albums (Dauði Baldrs & Hliðskjálf) using a synthesizer & tape recorder.

He was released on parole in May of 2009, he now lives on a farm in Telemark, Norway.

Links: 

http://www.myspace.com/peryngvedeadohlin

http://www.peryngveohlin.com/

http://www.burzum.org/

The death of Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott [1966-2004]

 Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott was the Guitarist of Metal Pantera & DamagePlan.

He is one of the best known heavy metal guitarists of the 90s, because of his unique harmonic squeals & dive bombs on his Dean guitar.

Dimebag took up guitar at a relatively late age of 16, but his skill quickly improved and he won several guitar competitions, one of which the prize was a Dean guitar.

In 1981, Dimebag formed Pantera with his brother Vinnie Paul (Vincent Abbott), Pantera was hugely successful producing several hit metal songs, but disbanded in 2003 when Vocalist Phil Anselmo left the band for other projects.

After that, the Abbott brothers formed DamagePlan.

In 2004, during a DamagePlan performance Dimebag was shot 5 times in the back of the head Nathan Gale. Gale also killed 3 others including Nathan Bray who was trying to perform CPR on Dimebag & a member of security who was also shot by Gale.

Gale is believed to have psychiatric problems since age 12, and it had developed into Paranoid schizophrenia.

The death of Lenny Breau [1941-1984]

 

Lenny Breau was Canadian Jazz Guitarist. He took up guitar at the age of 7.He was in a Jazz group called “Three” (with singer Don Francks & Eon Henstridge on bass). The group performed in many US and Canadian cities and appeared on US network television.

After that Breau returned to his hometown, Winnipeg where he became a regular session guitarist for CBC Radio and Television.

Unfortunately, Breau had developed a serious substance abuse problem since his mid-twenties.

In 1984, Breau’s body was found in the swimming pool of his apartment. The official cause of death was strangulation but police were unable to find a suspect (main suspect was rumored to be Jewel Breau, Lenny’s wife) and the case remains unsolved.