Dominique Dunne ////// 797 | Forensic Files

n [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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me and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
crime [Music] stalking is a very serious and not so well understood criminal offense that
many times can lead to violence while every case is different people who stalk can be very
dangerous stalkers May threaten attack sexually assault and or even kill their victims unfortunately there is no single
psychological or behavor behavioral profile that predicts what stalkers will or will not do stalker behaviors can
escalate from more indirect ways of making contact like phone calls and text to more direct contact like delivering
gifts or an unwelcome visit many victims struggle with how to respond some victims try reasoning with their
stalkers hoping that being nice will make it stop many victims minimize their experiences
telling themselves it's not that bad still others may confront or threaten the stalker to try to fight back while
victims cannot control the stalking behavior they should feel empowered to take steps to keep themselves their
families and their loved ones safe if you or someone you know needs help there are many resources available if you feel
you are in imminent danger or are in fear call 911 immediately if you or a friend are
seeking individual assistance please reach out to your local law enforcement agency even when the stalking is not
related to domestic violence domestic violence Andor sexual assault service providers are often the right people to
contact about stalking please always remember that website history can be monitored and it is impossible to erase
completely it is possible that an abuser and or stalker is monitoring one's browser history it would be best to seek
help via phone call or text if possible two recommended resources are first the victim connect resource center it's a
referral helpline where Crime Victims can learn about their rights and options confidentially and compass
they are available 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time the phone number is 1
8554 victim and perhaps the best may be the National Domestic Violence Hotline they can be reached by texting start to
88788 or by calling 1800799 safe that information will be included in Today's Show notes but
remember if you are in danger call 911 and please talk to your local law enforcement agency this is true crime
[Music] garage check out Empire on blood it is a great binge listen Empire on blood is an
almost unbelievable true crime story about a fascinating case filled with plenty of WTF moments go and listen to
Empire on blood podcast [Music] tonight on November 23rd 1959 proud parents Ellen Dunn and Dominic Dunn
welcomed their third third child Dominique into the world and this time it was extra special as this baby would
be the couple's third child but their first baby girl she was born in Santa Monica California and little Dominique
would be the couple's pride and joy she was named after both of her parents her full name Dominique Ellen Dunn her
father was an investigative journalist actor and producer her mother Ellen who went by the name name of Lenny came from
a pretty well-to-do family as said they had two boys already this is Griffin and
Alex dun when Dominique was still young her parents split up they divorced in 1967 but that didn't slow her upbringing
down because Dominique went to some of the finer schools attending Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles Taft
school in Connecticut and Fountain Valley School in Colorado after graduation Dominique spent a year in
Florence Italy a year abroad studying art and she learned to speak Italian after all of this she went back
to California this time to study acting this is sort of the family business Dominique's father Dominic Dunn worked
in television for a time and her older brother Thomas Griffin dun went into acting at the age of 19 he later starred
in An American Werewolf in London which was a film from 1981 werewolf's London that was also one
of the first horror films that I ever saw and it's uh I I remember it to be quite good I don't know if it holds up
after all these years Dominic's first role in TV was a TV movie this was in 1979 where she played in a TV movie
called Diary of a Teenage hitchhiker and then she landed several supporting roles
in episodes of popular 8s TV shows and this included heart-to-heart and fame now most people today I believe will
remember her from her role in the cult classic supernatural horror movie Poltergeist this was produced by Steven
Spielberg and released in 1982 yeah it was the eighth highest grossing movie of that year Dominic
played Dana freeling the oldest daughter of the freeling family whose Suburban life is upturned when they are haunted
by malevolent Spirits the movie was a box office hit like the captain just said with a budget of less than 11
million Poltergeist brought in over $120 million at the box and was nominated for
three Academy Awards and Captain you and I are too young to have seen this in the
movie theater in fact I don't think I saw this until I was a teenage but I do recall being quite young and
hearing people talk about this movie like hearing kids my age talking about it because their older brothers or
sisters had seen the movie and it scared quite a bunch of kids back back in the 80s when this movie came out yeah it's
kind of interesting uh it's supposedly created by step Spielberg but there were was actually a lawsuit because this was
kind of based off of a Twilight Zone episode where a girl goes missing and and is sucked into the house but because
Stephen Spielberg was directing ET at the time they didn't want him to be directing both films they actually had
Toby Hooper direct the film and and you would know him from directing the first Texas Chainsaw massacure Dominic Dunn
was cast for several roles both on TV and film in large part from the Poltergeist film success but also
because she was a talented budding star at the time let's go to September 27th of
1982 Dominique had a starring role on a television show this was the old show Hill Street Blues her role was for one
episode titled recream for a hairbag in the episode Dominic played a teenage mother who was a victim of Parental
abuse and chose to give up her baby for adoption not wanting to repeat the cycle
of abuse that she endured from her parents little did anyone know at the time Dominique didn't have to do a whole
lot of acting for this role as she was trying desperately to get out of and separate herself from a real life
abusive Rel relationship in fact it would later be learned that her onscreen bruises for
this TV episode required no makeup at all her bruises clearly visible on screen were naturally caused by a
violent altercation the day prior when Dominique suffered abuse from her onetime boyfriend his name is John
Sweeney so a little bit of background on how they met yeah so Dominic met John Thomas SW he was a sue chef at a very
popular restaurant Meson they met for my understanding captain at a party in 1981 so this would be shortly before
she's she's already an actress by this time but this would be before the success of poltergeist this was a place
that had no phone number you couldn't call to make a reservation wolf game puck I believe got his start at this
Hollywood hotspot a lot of people that went there would say that the parking lot would be packed with rolls-royces
the captain is right this was a very popular restaurant as said didn't even have the phone number in the phone book
because they would get too many calls for reservations and so this was a very in
demand high class restaurant located on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles California
this was the in place the place to be just as the captain had said the restaurant had been feed featured in
movies over the years and is where world-renowned Chef Wolf Gang Puck launched his career it sounds like their
relationship moved quite fast here Captain because the reports are that just after a few weeks of dating the two
moved in together into a rental property in West Hollywood but due to John's Behavior what Dominique is going to
learn about this this man very quickly is that he's extremely jealous and possessive and because of
this the relationship is going to quickly deteriorate yeah and I believe that she was sharing some of this
information with her friends but I don't think she was leading her family on to believe that John was anything other
than just a nice guy yeah especially early on in the relationship that seems to be the case Jon was a few years older
than Dominique some of the reports that I've seen captain during their time together he regularly accused her of
cheating on him and even going to the extremes of accusing Dominique of having abortions to hide her cheating of course
none of that is true none of this is true at all John was just as we're going to learn was just a straight up madman
an example of such this is according to One account during an argument on August
27th 1982 John pulled Dominique's hair like tugging on her hair yeah so forcefully so that he yanked out
handfuls of her hair by The Roots this of course frightened Dominique to the point that she left and
went to her mother's house John Sweeney then shows up there yelling screaming shouting threats to the point of even
pounding on doors and windows demanding that he be let into Dominic's mother's home yeah it
seemed like John S could not only could he not control his temper but he couldn't control his irrational thoughts
like you said oh you're cheating on me and you must be pregnant so you must you must have terminated the pregnancy with
no evidence no no reason to believe any of these thoughts well and here he can't
even control his actions in front of Dominic's mother right like he could have she could have showed up to Mom's
house with accusations of John did this or John did that yeah and I'm sure her mother would have believed her and taken
care of her but you could also one could suggest that truly what says that this is the truth is that he shows up
screaming and yelling and pounding on the door now Mom knows for sure well my little girl's not crazy
she's got involved with the wrong guy yes the the proof is in the pudding rightfully so Dominic's mother tells
John Sweeney I'm calling the police and he eventually leaves for her that altercation seemed
to be handled by Mom at least now regretfully just a few days later Dominique returned to her home that she
shared with John Sweeney and it's reported that the two resumed their relationship but it seems like
everything was would end then soon so because the next month we're going to go just to the very next month almost
exactly a month to the date of this incident that we just discussed right this is during another
argument at their home that they they shared where they were both staying this takes place September 26 1982 John
Sweeney grabed ABS Dominique by the throat he throws her to the floor he's choking her he's strangling her there is
a friend thankfully there was a friend that was staying with the at this rental property at the time this friend is in
another room but hears like loud gagging sounds and can hear this attack on Dominique thankfully we got this friend
that is staying there that hears what's going on on and can bear witness to this so we
know about this attack because this is really crazy when you when you start to dissect what's going on here so after he
attacks Dominique and we have we have the friend that is told by Dominique like yeah he was he was strangling me he
he was trying to kill me but then we have Sweeney who's demanding that she go back to bed so this argument must have
started in the bedroom or the attack did at the very least and he's demanding that she come back to bed and so she
says yes I'm I will go back to bed I'm coming back to bed but instead she goes to the bathroom opens up the bathroom
window and crawls out the window so now she's trying to flee the property because remember she just told her
friend or the person that was staying there he he tried to kill me yeah she she believed that he was trying to kill
her and who knows what he said to her while he was strangling her so she crawls out this bathroom window and she
starts to flee she runs out to her car well note to self if anybody's strangling me it doesn't matter what
they're saying to me they could be telling me that they love me but the actions are they're trying to kill me
yeah the actions speak louder than words of course yeah she gots she hops in her
car and she's attempting to drive off John Sweeney somehow figures F out that she went out the bathroom window and is
trying to get away he runs outside and jumps on top of the vehicle he's a psychopath yeah so he's doing this in
attempt to so she can't drive off well she drives off anyway for the next several days she just stays at her mom's
house she she doesn't come back that night or the or the next day so she's staying at her mother's house she's
staying with some friends and things of that nature for a period of time during this time she officially ends the
relationship with John Sweeney tells him that he's going to have to move out he does move out and she has the locks
changed on that home so she doesn't move back into that home until after she's had the locks changed yeah which makes
sense but you also wish in the situation that they would have just let this apart
go because we have this individual that shows up he's tried to kill her he's beating her he's verbally
abusive to have some sense that he there's no evidence that he's going to stop trying to be a part of her life I
mean like you said he ripped hair out of her head has a confrontation with her mother and I think he thinks that hey if
I can just get my foot back in the door we'll be together so I wish they would have just said hey this apartment
doesn't matter we're moving you somewhere else or you need to live with somebody somewhere else where John
doesn't know where to find you well and unfortunately so this incident that we just discussed this is what took place
the day before filming the Hill Street Blues episode the one where we at a much later date learned
she didn't need any makeup for the bruises and marks on her neck in the episode that they would have applied
makeup for her to play that role she didn't require it because she already had bruises on her neck from being
strangled by her boyfriend the day before we do learn a little more and some of the behind the-scenes stuff that
that is not so heavily reported from Dominic's brother Griffin from his book that recently came out it's a family
Memoir titled the Friday afternoon Club where Griffin states that the whole dun family disliked John
Sweeney referring to John as Dominique's first real boyfriend yeah Griffin says that it was he and Dominique's other
brother Alex who actually spoke up saying outwardly you know we don't we don't like this guy we don't trust this
guy we think he he's a bad guy and in his book he calls John Sweeney a phony star [ __ ] ass kisser that's a
mouthful yeah well he also says that less than a month before Dominic's 23rd birthday remember she had officially
broke up with John Sweeney and that John Sweeney he was learning more about John
Sweeney from his sister who was telling him Griffin that John's extremely jealous he's possessive and she tells
him about John strangling her to the brink of her blacking out so that horrific attack that we we just
discussed I believe is what she was telling her brother back then and she the problems though here is look we know
how she's being treated and mistreated is what we should say and abused later John Douglas in his book Obsession his
1998 book Obsession would would cite this situation as very much this guy's a stalker he was conducting a lot of
behavior that's very typical with stalkers the brothers state that nobody in the family liked John Sweeney but
that they particularly did not like him and that they got annoyed because on a couple of these occasions not on this
one but on a couple of the occasions like we've already pointed out the ra the relationship would
resume yeah she would go back to him he said at one point John Sweeney even called him so called the brother Griffin
because he wanted to figure out how to get back with Dominique like can you give me any advice on how I can win her
back or how can I get back into the house Griffin says that during this phone call he told John Sweeney the Sue
Chef he refers to him as the chef quite often but he says that he told John Sweeney to stay the [ __ ] away from
Dominique and if you ever touch my sister again I will kill you and that's a [Music]
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sling.com Cho that's sling.com Cho sling.com choose [Music] all right we are back cheers mates we
waited till October 5 out of five drink them up drink them if you got them tall cans in the air and back with me as
always is Mr potty mouth this episode yeah I I apologize I'm quoting from books here I I can't I can't control
what the written word this is why nobody should ever read books cuz they're full
of bad naughty language that's right I before we jump back into the case here Captain I do want to give a shout out
here the porch light project we we're taking on some new cases for the remainder of this year and looking
forward to three or four cases for 2025 and I want to give a shout out to Matt and a shout out to lesie both who made
big and very generous contributions to the porch light project and so we're going to do some really
good work and help out some people with your guys' donations and anybody that has donated to the porch light project
the captain's one of those I want to thank everybody for all of your help all these years and if anybody wants to
learn more go to porchlight online.org where we left off here Captain we have the brother who threatened rightfully so
right I like I don't really I'm down with threats man I don't care you you you touch my sister you touch somebody
in my family yeah I I'm not just making threats right I don't subscribe to that kind of behavior but if but in this
situation I would have gladly delivered a threat myself right this is or or a punch to the throat it's warranted and
unfortunately it was not enough to scare this guy off so we're going to we we went through an attack in August then
another attack in September and now we're going to fast forward to another month later this takes place on October
3rd 30th 1982 yeah to be clear this is weeks after Dominique broke up with John Sweeney now she's back at that West
Hollywood home that they once shared remember locks changed at this point and she's there with another with a man his
name is David Packer and they are they're simply just friends or in fact their their colleagues they're
rehearsing for a miniseries or something that they were doing together at the time yeah there's going to be a a mini
movie series on TV about a a writer that uncovers alien activity or something like that well called The V for visitors
Sweeny John Sweeney shows up at the door and of course I mean look this is a jealous
enraged lunatic anyway but I'm sure if he shows up and figures out that there another man there that there's no way
that this is going to end well Dominique is smart enough she's not she's not letting him in and they're talking to
each other through the locked door at some point Dominique does agree to go outside she's not going to let Jon into
the house but she agrees that she will go outside and speak to him if he can speak to her calmly on the on the
porch David Packer stays inside from inside the home he says that he can hear the two arguing things started to get
loud and then he says he heard like smacking sounds a couple of Screams call well yeah he called the police yeah
but I also think he called a friend first just to say this is what I'm hearing what the heck do I do because
this would be a a very difficult situation I mean like you said they're friends but they're
colleagues and like you you're trying to give her her personal boundaries I guess
but so he calls a friend and says what the hell should I do and they're like you need to call the cops yeah and th
this is weird because he calls when he calls the police he's informed by the police that he called that they're not
that home is not in their jurisdiction so he's attempting to call for help but he's called the wrong people un
unknowingly and you're right then he calls a friend has that discussion that you just talked about but he this the
other thing he says to the friend like if if I'm found dead if I end up getting killed John Sweeney is the murderer just
like friend know that keep remember that name John Sweeney is the murderer could
you could you imagine being on the other end of that call and your friends calling you I called the cops they can't
help me I got to do something and and then he tells you if I'm dead it's John Sweeney you you'd
have to be terrified you be standing by your phone waiting for that call back to
make sure everything was okay well and somehow the right the proper Police Department is notified and so they're
they're on their way to the scene now meanwhile back at the West Hollywood home David Packer decides I got to get
out of Dodge he decides to leave out the back of the house and then when he's walking around to the side of the yard
and then to the front yard he's now getting close he can see the driveway and he says at this point he saw John
Sweeney in some bushes nearby kneeling over top of Dominic who's lying on the the
ground and John shouts to David to call the police now remember they're already in route when the police get there they
pull up they report that they saw John Sweeney standing next to Dominique's unconscious body M she's now lying
either lying on the driveway or next to it the police say that John Sweeney had his hands in the air you know like you
show up and that's usually what the guilty party does when they see the police yeah and he's he's puts his hands
up in the air and he says I killed my girlfriend I tried to kill myself so they arrest him at the scene and he is
immediately charged with attempted murder Dominic Dunn is transported to Cedar's sin Medical Center where she has
to be placed on life support yeah she's in a coma so sadly she never regains Consciousness she was kept alive for
several days during that time doctors performed brain scans which revealed that due to oxygen deprivation she had
no brain activity right at that point so it was on November 4th that her parents
had to make the very tough decision to have their only daughter removed from life support well now the charges of a
attempted murder are going to be murder yeah so Dominique Dunn passed away 19 days before her 23rd birthday we talked
a little bit about those brain scans we do know that an autopsy was conducted immediately after she was taken off of
life support the autop y we have to be clear here on a couple of things the autopsy was conducted rightfully so you
I mean you would you would have one done anyway but even more so it's done in this case along with additional brain
scans that may not have been necessary to determine her state right or or what the future would hold or not hold for
this poor young woman but those additional brain scans along with the autopsy that that's conducted they know
that they need to conduct these for the for the courts for when this thing lands
in court because you we've seen this on TV right I'm sure everybody can relate to this and they've seen something like
this on TV where somebody is locked up for attempted murder and the detectives are telling him you better hope that she
pulls through right because if she doesn't you're you're facing a whole different set of charges and so they
they did these additional brain scans so that they would have proof if that time
came that it was going to court for murder that John Sweeny was going to court for murder that it wasn't her
death wasn't due to poor Hospital work or poor medical care that it was it was he caused her death therefore he
murdered this woman even though it took a few days for her to officially pass away the Hill Street Blues episode that
was filmed the day after she was beat up by John Sweeney aired on November 18th 1982 this is two weeks after Dominique's
death and again the bruises that were seen on screen were natural in fact John admitted to strangling her later he
would later admit to strangling her the day before that episode was filmed well we have a ear witness and and somewhat
of a eyewitness plus we have his comments to the police as he was being arrested I killed my girlfriend I was
trying to kill myself so we have that so that probably nudged him in the right direction to fully confess to the crimes
this uh episode of Hill Street Blues was dedicated to her memory to Dominique's memory and it can you imagine this is
like 12 days after her funeral well she has so much going for in her life Poltergeist was a huge movie and yes it
was out for a few months before she she is murdered but it was a big movie so it
was still in some theaters so this was a very big story because she was becoming
a big star look whether she was regardless of her stardom taking off which it truly was I mean she was she
was on a trajectory for a lot of success but I think regardless this John Sweeney
he he couldn't handle her leaving him her ending the relationship regardless of her her career yeah and in
John Douglas's book Obsession he says that there are two types of stalkers now keep in mind at at this time in the
early 80s you stalking was not recognized as really a thing BEC like it there were only
stalking laws set up in a few State a few States at this time from my understanding and in his book Obsession
he says that there are there's most commonly two types of stalkers one is the simple Obsession stalker which he
which Douglas says is by far the most common because it's typically an ex-boyfriend or
husband that becomes a simple Obsession stalker when the relationship is ending or the woman attempts to get out of this
terrible relationship and Douglas says that domestic violence is common in these relationships and usually leads
to the end of the relationship the other type of stalker is a love Obsession stalker this is more of the guy sees a
woman on the news or or famous woman on TV and becomes obsessed with her from afar yeah and then then goes and
starts it's very like the movie Bodyguard with Whitney Houston like the captain said we have this trial and the
trial is it it's it really stinks for the family and for really everyone involved
except for John Sweeney and his defense team that this trial took place in the early 80s because as we said there's
more that's known about stalking there's more that's known about this type of behavior and these abusive relationships
today than what was understood back then by the general public so his trial starts in August of 83 Sweeney did take
the stand at in his own defense at trial he testified that he did not intend to hurt Dominique that night he simply
arrived there hoping to speak with her to talk with her and he had hoped that they would reconcile the relationship
well like I said he can't control irrational thoughts but he can't also he can't control his temper and one of the
craziest things about this trial is that at some point John Sweeney attacks the judge yeah well and here's the thing too
like he's Sweeney is going to have to try to spin some of this right like some of this is by this point by his trial is
somewhat known fact so he's got to put a good spin on it in fact what he's trying
to say on the stand is that in fact they they were getting back together and that
he arrived there that night to talk to and talk about the their plans of getting back together right doesn't hold
water that story doesn't hold any water because we have the individual that was there that night that could hear them
arguing that they could hear them talking through a locked door so they clearly had not reconciled they clearly
had not planned on moving back in together he tries to say on the stand that the two had daily discussions about
getting married and having kids together and then further the family calls [ __ ] on this because we do know from
the brother Griffin he's like no this dude called me days before and I had to threaten him he calls me
asking me for advice on how to get back with my sister so clearly they were not together that's what Douglas points out
the the stalking behavior that he he doesn't believe that this is the first time that John Sweeny just showed up at
the house trying and demanding to talk with Dominique this was just the night that he happened to attack her strangle
her to the point where she's killed and also we have an eyewitness ear witness there the night of October 30th as well
Sweeney tries to say on the stand captain that you know he's he's already putting out this lie that they were
getting back together and then he says at some point that she changes changes her mind during their conversation and
that's when he exploded and lunged toward her it's exactly what he says quote exploded and lunged toward her he
claims to have no memory of of choking of strangling her claims he blacked out he says that all
remembers is that he was on top of Dominique with his hands around her neck and he says at some point he realized
that she wasn't breathing he says that he attempted to revive her mhm by trying to get her to stand up and walk around
she keeps falling over and he attempts to give her CPR and he said that both of them at
some point he stopped because both of them vomited at some point then he decided to run into the house and he
consumed two bottles of pills that he found I believe he said he found them in her bedroom or bathroom he consumed two
bottles of pills quickly and then returned to outside near the driveway and he laid down next to Dominique I
guess he's waiting for the pills to take effect that he was going to lay down and
die next to her remember he it sounds like he's of the belief that she's she's actually dead at this point right John
Douglas calls [ __ ] on this he says this is this dude's attempt to gain a lame attempt at trying to gain some
sympathy from the jury at his trial Douglas doesn't believe that he performed CPR on on Dominic Dunn and and
even if even if he did you're right he's still a [ __ ] bag even if he did it's noted in the book Obsession that a
toxicology report was done and this this lie of consuming two bottles of pills does not seem to be
factual it's because the toxicology doesn't show that he consumed pills yeah I also believe he's lying about black
and H well and remember what we have the the eyewitness who was there that night
says that he saw Sweeney standing over top of Dominique and then the police show up and he's he's already standing
up and he puts his hands in the air right so this whole trying to drug himself to the point of an overdose and
laying down next to her doesn't seem to to be accurate at all and that's backed up by the toxicology report that John
Douglas spoke about we have this very weird situation here where Dominique's father Dominic he would go on to be a
true crime author a very a very skilled and successful true crime author but at this point he's already a writer at this
point of his daughter's murder in 1982 and even once we get to the trial at 1983 Dominic dun has not written any
True Crime at this point he's he's he has authored a book it didn't do well um and in fact he's he was basically
recruited to write True Crime by Vanity Fair magazine and he says to them I don't know I've I've never written True
Crime before I don't I can't do it I don't know about it and they said no you we have this situation here that's very
unique that you will be able to write about a trial a murder trial but you're also writing it from a
perspective that's never been written from before the the the father of the victim attending the trial and what he
said in his writings about I think the I think the it was a long running article
that I believe was titled justice but he said that the trial became less about John Sweeney and more about his daughter
that he that his daughter was the one that seemed to be on TR trial like the because the defense was constantly
attacking her character because what the the defense was going to be Captain was
that they this was simply a one-time thing they got into an argument and he freaked out and now
she's dead that he's just as destroyed and distraught about this as as the family is and this successful young man
would never hurt of you in one jury please take it easy on him this we all make mistakes we were all young one time
and that's really how they tried to spin this thing he said you know they put my
daughter on trial at the for her murder the defense is trying to paint the picture of Dominique as this wild child
that was out every night and and drinking all the time and just a party animal and she couldn't be trusted in a
relationship none of that appears to be true even if it is true it's it's not grounds to kill anybody no absolutely
not listen to how coldblooded his defense team is the so by this point Dominique's mother
Ellen she went by Lenny she had multiple sclerosis she's an advanced Multiple Sclerosis at this
point to the point where she's wheelchair bound the defense team wanted her removed from the
courtroom because they were worried that it was prejudicial enough they were worried
that it would that the jury's sympathy would sway to the victim and the victim's family because they're seeing
the mom of a murdered girl in a wheelchair so the the defense didn't even want mom at the at the trial which
which she obviously was allowed to stay and I believe she even testified at the trial and you're right the captain when
you said the John Sweeney and his behavior in the courtroom there there was there was a situation when the jury
was not in the room and he attempted to like he's I believe he was still handcuffed he gets
up and he tries to like flee like run out of the courtroom like and so he's tackled and he tells the judge he's like
I wasn't trying to escape I don't know what I was doing I wasn't trying to escape like okay well most of the time
people don't just get up and start running out out of the courtroom where I come from we call that an attempt at
escaping yeah you think yeah yeah I'm no expert but not an expert on escaping but
yeah yeah you don't have to be David Copperfield or Harry Houdini to uh know that that's an escape attempt right
there the problem here though is it it does seem like the jury had some sympathy for Sweeney believe it or not
because I I don't have I I want to be clear here I don't have a great understanding of this situation so I'm
going to explain it the best that I can or as I expl as I understand it to be mhm that the sentence that the jury was
recommending I think it was like 2 and a half years I think that they were close
to just giving him probation that they were all up in arms about that and the judge this his name
was Judge cats k a TZ I believe and he says no he throws out the jury's verdict and
their sentencing recommendation saying this he's like this is a Mur trial this is this is murder can't any and which
was weird like which was quite the turn of events for the trial because it seemed like the judge was giving the
defense everything that they wanted this is what they got removed from the trial
you know how they have the hearings in advance and they and they say all right this will be allowed this will not be
allowed once we get in front of a jury what what they got removed from that was not going to be part of the trial is the
previous times that John Sweeney had beat up and even attempted to kill Dominique Dunn that was they weren't
allowed to present that prosecution was not allowed to present that at court which is sad because it it shows that
this is he's a repeat offender he's going to continue to do this this is who he is at his core he is evil this was
not an accident this was an act of evil well and the other thing that didn't make its way to court either because it
got ruled out was he had been in a previous relationship for like 2 or 3 years where he did the same thing to a
whole different to a different woman yeah to the point where she had to file like she filed charges against him got a
restraining order did everything that that you can filed charges against him I think I think she notified police like
10 times of him physically abusing her so it's not just a it's not just a History
of Violence with this guy in this specific relationship it's a History of Violence with with probably every
relationship and that's the thing too that if the jury doesn't hear this and then they're recommending probation or
two and a half years whatever it was a very light sentence do you think that do you think that if they heard all this
information that they're going two and a half years on this guy no they would go
we have daughters we have nieces if we don't lock this guy up for a much longer time he's going to get
out and he's going to do this to another woman he's going he he in fact he did do
it yes it was it was um I'm trying to think of the person who said it one of the observations that was made and I
apologize I can't I can't find in my notes the the gentleman that said this but he said look this guy's going to be
out in time to cook someone a nice meal and murder another woman so the judge steps in and for my understanding
Captain the sentence was changed to 6 years in prison for manslaughter yeah and he only served what like three and a
half years well and then he gets out and he changes his last name so nobody you know because he wants to fade from the
headlines and right you know that that statement I believe is awfully true and I and I look you hear the the snarkiness
in that statement but you know he says he purposely used because Sweeney was a chef he said cook somebody a nice meal
and kill another woman one thing that that should have resonated with the jury at least it would have for me and I
didn't even I didn't even witness this in person I just heard the reports about it was the coroner said that for her to
be in the state that she was in when the police arrived on the scene that it was
the medical examiner expert opinion that she was strangled for four to six minutes long 4 to 6 minutes to for her
to be in the state that she was founded that evidence alone should let you know that this was not some kind of accident
this is not manslaughter this is murder that's why I don't understand the the light sentence here and really the
leniency of the the what he ends what he's convicted of because the prosecutor after explaining that to the
courtroom held up his watch and there was four minutes of silence while they waited for 4 minutes to pass so it would
resonate with the jury of how long that actually is yeah how long that this dude
had his hands wrapped around her neck and he at any point he could have stopped in that four minutes but he did
not so don't for a second feel any sympathy for him because he said he blacked out and doesn't didn't know that
he did this and it was just simply a impulse Ive move that he exploded and it only took seconds and then she wasn't
breathing that's yeah that's just simply not true it's not true at all and then he gets out changes his name and he gets
a new lease on life meanwhile she's dead she's dead at the at before her 23rd birthday a whole life
ripped out of out of existence and some there's so many victims in this too because like how we said how they met
and he worked at this restaurant well that restaurant didn't even survive because of the them being
connected to John Sweeny they couldn't shake that reputation they didn't back him they didn't support him they weren't
in favor of this light sentence they weren't anything but it was just simply we're connected to John Sweeny he used
to work here and people don't want to come here anymore yeah and as John Douglas was saying this is we know more
today about stalking and and stalking Behavior this guy gets out of prison he gets to move on Dominic Dunn said in his
writings about the trial that the healing process didn't even start until after the sentencing which keep in mind
she was killed in 82 and this thing didn't go to trial until next week be good be kind and
don't litter and in fact I think that it was over a year before he was even sentenced so a long time for
any healing at all to begin with this family we have the simple Obsession stalkers we have the love of Love
Obsession so stalkers and with the simple Obsession stalkers they say that typical Behavior
signs of this are overly attentive spouse controlling spouse possible physical abuse in fact it's it's likely
in most of those cases that go on to be of that nature usually when these things go real bad the result
is a murder suicide yeah which unfortunately is no shortage of on anyone's local news everywhere well like
you were saying John Sweeny was probably lying about the murder suicide but that
was probably what was in his mind at the time and that's probably how he came up
with that lie and then like you were talking about her father Dominic he becomes a big contributor to the True
Crime world with the covering of his daughter's case but then he goes on to cover the OJ trial and the Menendez
brothers trial and if you have watched the Menendez brothers docu pick he is played by Nathan Lane which did a
amazing job here's another interesting observation too that I found when researching this case a man named David
Batty said that stalking is the only only instance we know of where a future murderer identifies himself to police
ahead of time and he goes on to say that this is an opportunity and a responsibility that cannot be ignored
because what they were talking about was one of the best things to do if you find
yourself in this type of relationship or trying to get away from somebody and this stalking behavior starts to take
place is you want to notify law enforcement as early as possible this is supposed to tip them off that look this
guy is a real danger not just to me but potentially other people as well it can't be ignored but it's also you're
starting the paper trail there are a lot of resources out there for people that are in these type of abusive
relationships and and we certainly recommend that the best thing for you to do if you are in this type of
relationship is to get help and tell other people as quickly as possible and to to get yourself to to safety and and
to keep yourself safe John Douglas did note another observation that I found interesting that he said people were
naturally for some reason intrigued by and fascinated with a celebrity who is attacked Andor killed by an obsessed fan
he says but this happens only about every two to three years for some reason people are not so interested when an
ex-boyfriend or husband attacks and or kills a woman and he says unfortunately this happens about every 2 to 3
[Music] hours want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage thanks for
telling your mother thanks for telling your brother and until next week be good be kind and don't lit her
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Dominique Dunne ////// 797

Part 1 of 1

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

The night before Halloween attack on Poltergeist movie star Dominique Dunne shocked and surprised both Hollywood and the nation. Dominique was an up and coming star. At the young age of twenty two years old she had already found success on both television and the big screen. Her star was rising but that would be brought to an abrupt end at the hands of a violent monster who was spiraling out of control. Hands, that unfortunately she knew all too well.

There are many resources available to victims of both stalking and domestic violence. If you feel you are in imminent danger or are in fear - call 911 immediately!

Even when stalking is not related to domestic violence, domestic violence and/or sexual assault service providers are often the right people to contact. The Victim Connect Resource Center is a referral helpline. They are available 9AM to 5PM ET by calling 1- 855-4-VICTIM

And perhaps the best resource is The National Domestic Violence Hotline. They can be reached by texting START to 88788 or by calling 1-800-799-SAFE. But remember if you are in danger - call 911 and please talk to your local law enforcement agency.

Beer of the Week - Waiting for October from Track Seven Brewing

Garage Grade - 5 out of 5 bottle caps

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Brief Summary

The episode details the stalking and murder of actress Dominique Dunn by her boyfriend John Sweeney, highlighting domestic violence issues.

Key points

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Hosts Nick and Captain introduce the show and their featured beer.
The Seriousness of Stalking. Discussion on stalking behaviors and their potential to escalate into violence.
Dominique Dunn's Early Life. Exploring Dominique's upbringing and her family's background.
The Abusive Relationship. Dominique's relationship with John Sweeney becomes increasingly dangerous.
Griffin's Warning. Dominique's brother warns John Sweeney to stay away from her.
Greenlight: Financial Literacy for Kids. Greenlight helps parents teach kids about money management through a debit card and app.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Waiting for October is a Bourbon Barrel age pumpkin spice latte Imperial Stout.

Description of the featured beer.

1:15WatchOct 29, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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