Death of an Actress, in Three Parts

by Bryan Joiner

When news leaked Monday evening that the death of Adrienne Shelly, star of Trust and The Unbelievable Truth, was reclassified as murder, the details surrounding the story were so bizarre they almost seemed fictional. The crime also made Shelly the third Manhattan actress murdered in the last four years under headline-grabbing circumstances.

Act I: Her Face Lives On
Lyric Benson was a 22-year-old Yale graduate, aspiring actress, and the face of the American Express advertisements for the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. Her visage graced billboards and buses. She had recently auditioned for a part on Sex and the City and appeared in the Law & Order franchise. She had also recently broken up with her boyfriend of three years, 33-year-old Robert Ambrosino, and moved from their Greenpoint apartment to her own place on Canal Street.

After a night out together on April 24th, 2003, Benson and her mother headed home. At 1:15 a.m., at Benson’s doorstep, Ambrosino emerged from the shadows and shot Benson once in the head before turning the gun on himself. Benson died hours later. After meetings between American Express and Benson’s family, the Film Festival advertisements remained on full display as a tribute to Lyric.

Act II: Morbid "Misfire"
Nicole duFresne, a 28-year-old actress and playwright, was returning to her Lower East Side home in the cold early-morning hours of January 27, 2005 after drinking at a bar with friends. Her four-person group was approached by two people on Clinton Street. One of the attackers, then-19-year-old Rudy Fleming, demanded money. DuFresne's fiancé, Jeffrey Sparks, shoved the man aside, only to be pistol whipped. Fleming turned the gun on the group. According to reports, duFresne asked, "What are you going to do, shoot us?" and Fleming aimed the gun at one of duFresne's friends and fired; it didn't go off. He then aimed the gun at duFresne, fired, and ran away. DuFresne died in Sparks' arms. Fleming later claimed that the gun went off by accident. Not so fast. He was convicted of murder last month.

Act III: From His Footprints
Adrienne Shelly's death is possibly the most shocking of the three. It wasn't a lovers’ quarrel or a simple random act of violence—Shelly was murdered because a construction worker was in a bad mood. Shelly, married with a 3-year-old daughter, was at her Greenwich Village office on November 1st when she complained about the ruckus downstairs. The noisemaker was a 19-year-old construction worker named Diego Pillco. They argued, and Pillco told police she slapped him. He fought back, punching and beating her until he believed she was dead. He then dragged her back up to her apartment and hanged her from the shower rod using a bed sheet. Police found Pillco after matching a footprint at the crime scene with one from the construction site. He told police he was in "a bad mood" that day and now faces 25 years to life in prison.

On Tuesday, the Post ran the front-page headline "Suicide actress: It was murder." Way to go, guys.