34°04′34″N 118°24′55″W / 34.076090°N 118.415260°W
 | |
| Date | April 4, 1958 |
|---|---|
| Time | c. 8:30 p.m. (UTC−08:00) |
| Location | 730 North Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Cause | Stabbing |
| Motive | Self-defense |
| Deaths | Johnny Stompanato |
| Inquest | April 11, 1958 |
| Coroner | Charles Langhauser |
| Arrests | Cheryl Crane |
| Verdict | Justifiable homicide |
| Convictions | None |
On the evening of April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane fatally stabbed 32-year-old Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of her mother, actress Lana Turner, at Turner's rented home in Beverly Hills, California, United States. Stompanato, a former Marine and an associate of the Cohen crime family, had been in a year-long relationship with Turner that had been rocky and marked with physical abuse.
Crane and Turner alleged that the former had stabbed Stompanato in the stomach when Turner was ushering him out of her bedroom during a violent argument. Crane had heard the fighting and armed herself with a kitchen knife, planning to defend her mother. After Crane turned herself in to police in the early morning hours of April 5, she was held in a juvenile hall. A coroner's inquest was held on April 11, during which the homicide was deemed justifiable and Crane was exonerated of any wrongdoing. She was released in late April and placed under the guardianship of her grandmother.
Public response to the case was divisive. Numerous press outlets published articles criticizing Turner, likening her testimony during the inquest to that of a performance. Though Crane was cleared of wrongdoing, Stompanato's ex-wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit in June 1958 against Turner, Crane and Crane's father Joseph Stephen Crane, on behalf of herself and her son with Stompanato, seeking $750,000 in damages. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court in 1962 for a sum of $20,000.
In the intervening years, Stompanato's homicide has been subject of conspiracy theories that Turner had in fact stabbed him, and that Crane had taken the blame to protect her mother, though Crane has denied this. Stompanato's killing has also been depicted in various media and was the inspiration for the novel Where Love Has Gone (1962), as well as its subsequent film adaptation. In 2007, Time magazine deemed the Stompanato case one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century.