MOVIE
QUEEN IN
GRUESOME EXIT
BEL AIR, CALIFORNIA--The lifeless body of notorious "B" movie star Claire Hastings was found in the living room of her luxury Bel Air townhouse yesterday, apparently strangled to death late Sunday night or early Monday morning.
Sources close to detectives in the Bel Air Robbery and Homicide department refuse to say much about the crime other than they consider all of her ex-boyfriends suspects, of which there are many. No one in particular has been named yet, they said, and no one will be ruled out either.
Police said little about the crime, declining to offer a possible motive or to say exactly when the attack is believed to have occurred, the time of which awaits the coroner's report. Officers said only that there were signs of a struggle and a sexual attack..
There was no evidence of a robbery or a burglary at the crime scene, even though the apartment contained a large number of paintings and objects of art. An unofficial source in R&H (Robbery and Homicide) revealed that the brutal murder was most likely a crime of passion committed by someone who knew Ms. Hastings well, and knew the layout of the apartment.
Many men in the Hollywood movie colony did indeed know Claire Hastings very well. In Lotusland parlance she had a reputation as a high-living "party girl," with a very public history of having deep, intimate relationships with her co-stars. She was often seen at high-level movie premiers, Oscar and Emmy Awards parties in the company of powerful and good looking men,
Bel Air police authorities plan on interrogating all of the men who have been id'd as having known her--information gleaned from news stories, friends, neighbors, actors she's appeared with in movies, and studio executives.
In the hunt for the killer and for possible motives, the police have also discovered a new wrinkle in the case, learned from neighbors: Ms. Hastings had noisy, late-night parties in her apartment, and that attractive young women were often seen arriving in the middle of the night...alone.