00:01Rebecca Schaefer
00:02It's a warm summer morning in West Hollywood, July 18th, 1989.
00:07In a modest apartment on North Sweetser Avenue,
00:1021-year-old actress Rebecca Schaefer is preparing for an audition that could change her life.
00:15She's best known for the light-hearted sitcom My Sister Sam,
00:19but today she's waiting for the script for The Godfather Part 3.
00:24This is her chance to escape the sitcom stigma and be taken seriously as an actress.
00:30The doorbell rings.
00:31She opens it and sees a young man, a bit awkward, holding a fan card and a photo.
00:37She recognizes the type. He was here an hour ago.
00:40She had sent him away, kindly but firmly.
00:44She's in a hurry. She needs to prepare.
00:47But he's back.
00:49His name is Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan from Arizona who has been writing her letters for years.
00:55In his twisted mind, Rebecca is an angel, a symbol of innocence.
01:00An image he created himself and that was brutally shattered when he saw her in a love scene in the
01:05film
01:06Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.
01:09For him, that was an unforgivable betrayal.
01:13He hired a private investigator to get her address, a shockingly legal practice at the time.
01:18In the brown paper bag he's holding is a .357 Magnum.
01:23Rebecca's patience is gone.
01:25You came back again, she says, her voice sharp with irritation.
01:29She makes it clear that he really needs to leave now.
01:32For Bardo, this is the final, humiliating rejection.
01:36The angel he worshipped sees him as a nuisance.
01:39He pulls the revolver from the bag.
01:42From the doorstep, less than a meter away, he shoots her in the chest.
01:47As she stumbles back into the hallway, the words leave her mouth.
01:51Not a scream, not a curse.
01:53Just a question, full of disbelief, pain, and childlike confusion.
01:59Ouch! Why? Why?
02:05XXXTentacion
02:05June 18th, 2018
02:09Deerfield Beach, Florida
02:1120-year-old rapper Jace Anfroy, better known as XXXTentacion,
02:17is one of the most controversial and influential artists of his generation.
02:21His music is a raw mix of aggression and vulnerability,
02:24and his life is a string of legal troubles and public feuds.
02:29But today is a quiet day.
02:31He's at Riva Motorsports, a dealer of luxury motorcycles and watercraft,
02:36because he's looking to buy a new motorcycle.
02:39Earlier that day, he'd withdrawn $50,000 in cash from the bank,
02:43money he's carrying in a Louis Vuitton bag.
02:46With him is his friend Leonard Kerr, a family friend who's tagging along for the ride.
02:51The two browse the shop, check out some bikes, and eventually head back to Jace's black BMW i8 in the
02:58parking lot.
03:00Relaxed, cap on, not a care in the world.
03:03As Jace pulls out of the lot with Kerr in the passenger seat,
03:06their path is suddenly blocked by a dark Dodge Journey SUV.
03:11The maneuver is aggressive, deliberate.
03:14Two armed men in balaclavas jump out and rush the BMW from both sides.
03:20The taller one points his gun at Kerr and tells him not to move, punctuating the order with a curse.
03:27The other man goes straight for Jace, trying to rip the gold chain from his neck.
03:32Kerr, sitting in the passenger seat, can hear Jace's voice.
03:36Not screaming, not begging, just confused, asking a question.
03:42What's this for?
03:43That's what Kerr later testified in court.
03:46Not a plea, not a challenge, pure bewilderment.
03:50Kerr makes a split-second decision.
03:52If he runs, he might get shot, but he might live.
03:55If he stays, he doesn't finish that thought.
03:58He hits the button to open the passenger door and bolts.
04:01As he looks back over his shoulder, he sees the taller gunman now pointing his weapon directly at Jace.
04:08Then he hears the shots.
04:10At least two loud bangs.
04:12The men jump back into the SUV and speed off with the $50,000.
04:17The whole thing lasts less than a minute.
04:20Jace is hit multiple times in the neck.
04:23His last words, confirmed by the one person close enough to hear them,
04:28are a question that will never get an answer.
04:30What is this for?
04:33Sam Cooke, Los Angeles, December 11th, 1964.
04:39The voice of Sam Cooke is the soundtrack of a generation,
04:43a velvety blend of gospel and soul that captured hearts.
04:47But that night, his story doesn't end on a grand stage,
04:51but in the shabby Hacienda Motel,
04:54a place that stands in stark contrast to his superstar status.
04:57He's there with a young woman, Elisa Boyer.
05:02The details of what happened in room three are forever shrouded in mystery.
05:07She claims he tried to assault her.
05:09His entourage suspects a setup, a trap to rob the wealthy singer.
05:15The result is undisputed.
05:17Boyer flees the room, taking a bundle of Cook's clothes and, crucially, his money.
05:23Cook, furious and now half-naked, dressed only in a sports jacket and one shoe, storms outside.
05:32His dignity has been stripped from him.
05:35He pounds on the door of the motel manager's office, Bertha Franklin.
05:39He shouts, demanding to know where the woman is.
05:43Franklin, a woman later described as hardened and not easily impressed, says she was terrified.
05:50She grabs a .22 caliber pistol.
05:54Cook forces the door open.
05:56A brief, chaotic struggle ensues in the small space.
06:01Then a shot rings out, small but deadly.
06:04The bullet hits Cook in the chest, a fatal wound.
06:09As he collapses, he looks at the woman who pulled the trigger.
06:13His last words are not a cry of pain, but a direct, almost reproachful statement.
06:20A sentence that perfectly summarizes the bizarre, tragic situation,
06:25while leaving behind a mystery that will never be fully solved.
06:29Lady, you shot me.
06:31It's a sentence that will resonate for decades,
06:35the core of a controversy filled with unanswered questions about racism, fame, and justice in 1960s Los Angeles.
06:44Cozy Powell.
06:46April 5th, 1998.
06:49The M4 motorway near Bristol, England, is a wet, gray ribbon of asphalt in the evening twilight.
06:55Cozy Powell, the legendary rock drummer who provided the beat for bands like Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Whitesnake,
07:02is speeding his Saab 9000 down the road.
07:06He was a man who lived for speed, both behind his drum kit and behind the wheel.
07:11His motto was,
07:15That night, he more than lives up to that reputation.
07:19He's driving at around 105 miles per hour, far too fast for the bad weather.
07:25He's ignoring all safety regulations.
07:27He's not wearing a seatbelt.
07:29He's been drinking.
07:31And, as the fatal icing on the cake, he's on the phone with his girlfriend, Sharan Reeve.
07:37During the call, he complains that he's having trouble finding fifth gear.
07:41Then, suddenly, his girlfriend on the other end of the line hears a loud, screeching crash.
07:47A terrible sound of metal on metal.
07:51And then, deafening silence.
07:54What she doesn't hear, but what rock and roll mythology will later record as his last words,
08:00is a short, powerful exclamation.
08:03A perfect, almost comical summary of the ultimate, uh-oh, moment.
08:09As the car, possibly due to a slow puncture, loses control and veers off the road,
08:14there's that one millisecond of pure, unadulterated realization that it's all going wrong.
08:21That moment is perfectly captured in two words.
08:26Oh, shit!
08:28Cozy Powell is thrown from the car and dies at the scene.
08:32His last, albeit apocryphal, words are a fitting, tragicomic epitaph
08:37for a man who always lived on the edge.
08:41John Lennon
08:43New York City, December 8th, 1980
08:46It's a cold evening.
08:49Around 11pm, John Lennon and Yoko Ono return to their apartment in the iconic Dakota building.
08:55They've just come from the record plant studio, where they were working on Yoko's song,
08:59Walking on Thin Ice.
09:01Earlier that day, around 5pm, Lennon had signed an album for a somewhat awkward,
09:07heavy-set young fan in front of the building.
09:10Now, hours later, in the dim light of the entrance, the same man is still there.
09:16Mark David Chapman, waiting in the shadows.
09:20Lennon and Ono get out of their limousine and walk towards the building's archway.
09:24They pass Chapman.
09:26Lennon probably recognizes him from earlier and gives him a brief glance.
09:30A fraction of a second later, as Lennon enters the safe haven of the archway, Chapman pulls out a .38
09:37caliber revolver.
09:39He doesn't shout.
09:40He says nothing.
09:42He assumes a combat stance and fires five shots.
09:46Four of them tear into John Lennon's back and shoulder.
09:49The hollow-point bullets inflict devastating damage.
09:53They shred his left lung in the aorta.
09:57Lennon staggers up the few steps to the doorman's station.
10:00He doesn't fall immediately.
10:02He stumbles inside, towards the light, towards the last semblance of safety.
10:07And there, as life literally drains from him, he speaks his last, factual, almost bewildered words.
10:16I'm shot.
10:17I'm shot.
10:18He collapses.
10:20The doorman, Jay Hastings, sounds the alarm.
10:24The police are there within minutes and race him to Roosevelt Hospital.
10:28But it's too late.
10:29The blood loss is too massive.
10:32John Lennon's last words are not poetry, but the brutal, stark statement of an unimaginable act.
10:40Paul Walker
10:42November 30, 2013.
10:44Santa Clarita, California.
10:47Paul Walker, the blonde god of the Fast and Furious films, is the embodiment of speed and cool cars.
10:54Ironically, he's at a charity event that day for his own organization, Reach Out Worldwide.
10:59It's a relaxed atmosphere.
11:01In the middle of the day, he and his friend and business partner, Roger Rodas, decide to go for a
11:07ride in Rodas' red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT.
11:12A car known as a Widowmaker.
11:14A machine that's a challenge even for experienced drivers.
11:18Before they get in, Walker says something to Rodas that will later go down in history as his last known
11:23words.
11:24It's an innocent, enthusiastic comment that perfectly fits his image.
11:29Hey, let's go for a drive!
11:31They aren't his very last words.
11:34They undoubtedly spoke to each other in the car.
11:36But they are the last words anyone else heard.
11:40What follows is a short, fatal drive.
11:43Rodas loses control of the car at a speed of over 100 miles per hour.
11:48The car crashes into a lamppost and a tree and almost immediately bursts into flames.
11:54Rodas dies instantly from the impact.
11:57But Paul Walker does not.
11:59The autopsy will later reveal the gruesome truth.
12:03Walker's official cause of death is the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries.
12:08This means he survived the crash itself.
12:11He had a broken jaw, collarbone, pelvis, and multiple ribs.
12:15But he was still alive, likely unconscious, when the flames engulfed the car.
12:20The fire actively contributed to his death.
12:23His body was found in a pugilistic stance.
12:26A defensive posture the body assumes when exposed to extreme heat.
12:30A hell that began with that one simple, fatal sentence.
12:35Hey, let's go for a drive!
