Old Hollywood

A case from many decades ago is now being seen with fresh eyes.

It was always stated as fact that a stalker randomly killed the father of an A list singing family.

It now turns out, it was one of the family that hired the person who killed the father.

William Lennon

Lennon Sisters

Source: Mr. X via Crazy Days and Nights

LENNON SISTERS DAD KILLED BY A STALKER AUGUST 1969

William Lennon, 53, father of the singing Lennon sisters, was shot to death yesterday as he was leaving the golf range where he worked as a pro.
A suspect, described as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, with a heavy growth of beard and brown but sun bleached hair, escaped in a car.

The man was waiting in the parking lot of the Marina Del Rey golf range and jumped out from behind another car as Lennon approached shortly after noon, a witness said.

STRUGGLE

The witness said the man pulled a gun and he and Lennon struggled over it.
Other witnesses said Lennon appeared to know the gunman, who swore at Lennon. Lennon swore back.

Then Lennon shouted, “No, no don’t do it. Help, help.”

Bill broke away and started toward the entrance to the parking lot,” the witness said. “The man fired, hit him once, Bill staggered and ran toward a corner fence. The man fired again and hit him in the back. Bill crawled around the fence, the man ran up to him, put the gun to the side of his head by his ear and fired again.”

CAR

The man ran across the street to another parking lot, threw the gun into the trunk of a car, jumped in and drove off.

Lennon’s brother, Jimmy, said, “The killer could be one of those kooks who insist, after seeing the girls on television, that one of them is in love with him. It could be one of those crank callers. There are so many kooks.

Police checked with the Secret Service about a man who allegedly wrote a letter to former President Johnson making threats because he could not get permission to marry one of Lennon’s daughters. Officers described the man, whom they would not identify, as a mental patient from Colorado.

Lennon, father of 11 children, worked as a pro at the driving range’s golf shop and was president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.

Lennon also managed the careers of his famous singing daughters, Diane, Peggy, Kathy and Janet, who were star attractions for years on the Lawrence Welk television show.

In 1969, the sisters were set to star in their own variety show, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour. However, six weeks before the show premiered, (12 August) tragedy struck the family. Their father, William Lennon, was shot and fatally wounded in the parking lot of the Venice Golf Course in Marina Del Rey where he worked.

He was only 53. The murderer, a delusional stalker named Chet Young, believed himself married to Peggy and was convinced that Mr. Lennon stood in his way of his “marriage” to Peggy and had to be eliminated.

Two months later, Young used the same weapon on himself to commit suicide. The sisters discovered an unopened letter containing a cut out of their father, a picture of a gun pointed at his head, and the words “High Noon” (the time of the murder). – Source