Kriti Mehrotra
While there’s no denying Los Angeles, California, is no stranger to high-profile celebrity cases that range from theft to murder, one of its firsts and most harrowing involved Dominique Dunne. Her 1982 murder is only just touched upon in Netflix’s ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,’ yet even that was enough to ignite interest owing to the sheer fact the victim was an actress. In fact, she was a rising star not only destined for greatness but actually doing her job on the big screen in the cult classic 1982 horror ‘Poltergeist’ – this breakthrough movie of hers was still in the theater when she was killed.
Dominique Dunne Was Attacked Right Outside Her Home
Born in Santa Monica, California, as the youngest child of ranching heiress Ellen Beatriz “Lenny” Griffin and actor-writer Dominick Dunne, Dominique had everything one could ask for as a child. It thus comes as no surprise that she was free to dabble in all her interests as she grew older, only for her passion for the arts to stick around in such a way she even studied it in Italy. Little did she know this would inadvertently inspire her to spread her wings, join director-producer Milton Katselas’ Workshops, and formally evolve into an actress for good.
Dominique reportedly spent her initial few years in the entertainment industry taking on stage productions such as ‘West Side Story’ and ‘My Three Angels’ before moving on to do television films. ‘Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker’ in 1979 was her first role, and it propelled her career to such new heights she was soon securing recurring roles and landing big-screen, feature-length films. That’s precisely when she agreed to play protagonist Dana Freeling in ‘Poltergeist,’ unaware she would never actually be able to enjoy its success in the way she deserved.
That’s because, on October 30, 1982, Dominique was brutally attacked and strangled right outside her one-bedroom home on Rangely Avenue in West Hollywood, California. She was actually immediately rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where it was determined she had fallen into a coma and needed to be placed on life support for any chance of her regaining consciousness. But alas, once her scans revealed there was no brain activity owing to oxygen deprivation, her parents consented for her to be removed from the machines, and so she died on November 4, 1982.
Dominique Dunne’s Perpetrator Was an Ex-Boyfriend
It was reportedly in the fall of 1981 that Dominique first came across John Thomas Sweeney by pure chance at a party, just to soon be impressed by his career as well as his charm. He was the sous-chef at Wolfgang Puck’s renowned restaurant Ma Maison, a position he had earned through nothing but years of hard work – he had climbed the ladder from a line cook to sous-chef. Therefore, despite their 4-year age gap and some early signs of possessiveness from his side, the couple happily moved in together in a one-bedroom West Hollywood home within mere weeks of dating.
However, as per records, their relationship quickly began deteriorating too, especially with John allegedly physically abusing his girlfriend whenever they had intense arguments. He once reportedly yanked handfuls of Dominique’s hair out by the roots before later grabbing her by the throat, throwing her to the floor, and strangling her until a friend who was staying with them interfered. It was after the latter alleged incident that she broke up with him for good via a phone call from her mothers’ place, driving him to move out, her to change locks, and then move back in.
But alas, then came October 30, 1982. Dominique was actually rehearsing for the miniseries ‘V’ with actor David Packer in her home when her ex-boyfriend showed up, only for her to agree to speak with him outside. According to David’s accounts, he soon heard the former couple argue, just for it to suddenly stop and be followed by smacking sounds, two screams, and a loud thud. That’s when he called the police before being told the Rangely Avenue area was out of their jurisdiction, so he called a friend to let them know that if he was found dead, John Sweeney was his killer.
John Sweeney Never Once Denied Hurting Dominique
When David Packer ultimately managed to make his way outside, he saw John kneeling over Dominique in the bushes right by her driveway before urging him to immediately call the police. Once officials arrived at the scene, he actually met them with his hands in the air and stated, “I killed my girlfriend, and I tried to kill myself,” before conceding he doesn’t know how he snapped or what happened. All he could recall was suddenly being on top of her with his hands around her neck, resulting in him being arrested for attempted murder, just for the charge to be updated to first-degree murder after her passing.
However, with the preliminary trial hearings determining there was no premeditation in his actions, he was charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm as well as manslaughter. In the end, according to ‘TMZ Investigates: Killing a Movie Star: Grave Injustice,’ he was eventually only convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to serve a total of six years because a lot of evidence was not allowed into his actual trial. Per the show, by the time of Dominique’s murder, he had been accused of domestic violence 13 times and had once even hurt an ex-girlfriend to such an extent she had to be hospitalized.
The show actually indicates that if the jurors had this information, they would have convicted John of murder rather than manslaughter. Yet, that obviously didn’t happen, so he was released for good after serving 3½ years behind bars. ‘TMZ Investigates’ has since revealed that he didn’t exactly change his ways following his release because he was again accused of domestic violence shortly after. Since then, though, from what we can tell, John briefly returned to his profession as a chef before shifting gears and taking up the role of managing a retirement community in Northern California. That’s apparently what he continues to do to this day.
Read More: Are Erik and Lyle Menendez Gay or Bisexual?
