The Tragic Death Of Poltergeist Actress Dominique Dunne

Sadly for Dominique Dunne, John Thomas Sweeney remained fixated on her. He returned to Dunne's house the night of October 30, 1982, hoping for a reconciliation, while she was rehearsing with actor David Packer. The pair were co-stars in the science fiction miniseries "V," and she had already filmed two of the three episodes (via Turner Classic Movies). Dunne stepped out onto her porch to speak to Sweeney. When she refused to get back together with him, Sweeney grabbed her and pulled her to the yard next door. There he strangled her until she was unconscious. A later report indicated that he had choked her for about five minutes (via People magazine). Packer left the house and ran into Sweeney. He told Packer that "I killed my girlfriend."

Dunne was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She remained in a coma for several days, but she showed no signs of brain activity. Dunne died on November 4, 1982, after being taken off life support. Shortly after her death, her appearance on the police drama "Hill Street Blues" aired. As her father Dominick wrote in Vanity Fair, "She played a battered child. What we would not know until the trial was that the marks on her neck were real, from John Sweeney's assault on her."

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