May 5, 1968. After not hearing from him for three days, the fiancee of 62-year old character actor Albert Dekker (star of such films as “Dr. Cyclops”, “Kiss Me Deadly” and “The Wild Bunch”) enters his Hollywood apartment. She is horrified to discover him hanging dead inside the bathroom. The bizarre manner in which Dekker is found suggests that he was involved in some sort of sadomasochistic sexual activity when he died. The initial ruling is suicide before it is changed to accidental death via autoerotic asphyxiation, but since a large amount of money and valuables seem to be missing from the apartment, suspicion mounts that Dekker was a victim of foul play. On this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine one of the strangest unexplained deaths in Hollywood history.

Additional Reading:

“Tales of Hollywood: The Bizarre” by John Austin

“The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals” by Michelle Morgan

http://www.lauriejacobson.com/hollywood_heartbreak_ex.php

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.