The Playboy Murders - General Discussion

[chediavolo]

On the ID channel. Holly Madison narrates. Episode one is Jasmine Fiore . Never heard about this or don’t remember but after seeing Secrets Of Playboy I thought I’d watch. Nothing surprising here. Just the obvious degradation of “beautiful” women & one possible outcome. Wake up young ladies.  Good grief. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by chediavolo

[Cobb Salad]

I watched it but fell asleep partway through.  I also watched Secrets of Playboy on A&E last year and I thought I heard plenty there of the despicable behavior many of the women experienced while with Playboy.  I don’t get what they saw in going there, especially by the time this young woman was involved with them.  Next weeks episode looks somewhat interesting in a creepy way so I’ll probably tune in … if I don’t fall asleep first.  

[chediavolo]

I fell asleep during episode 2. This one wasn’t even a playboy murder, it was her husband. I guess they need content for this shoe, WTF?  To listen to these poor misguided, delusional women fawn over playboy, the mansion, their lives there is truly sickening & sad. 
Also, unless I missed it, no pics of the playmate herself except when young. I was waiting to hear she was killed Aldo but they said she died a few years ago and gave no explanation. Pretty budget show but it’s trashy enough to tune into to. These women need detox therapy. 

[pH-factor]

Did these women know about the shenanigans that went on at the mansion?  I think most  of that was kept quiet back in the day.  Though all of them seem pretty dim to think posing as a playmate would improve their "modeling" careers.  The third murder didn't relate to her playmate activities at all. 

[chediavolo]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:14 AM, pH-factor said:

Did these women know about the shenanigans that went on at the mansion?  I think most  of that was kept quiet back in the day.  Though all of them seem pretty dim to think posing as a playmate would improve their "modeling" careers.  The third murder didn't relate to her playmate activities at all. 

I think most  of them  knew. And they were dim. Period😆

This show is ridiculous. Playboy murders, my ass! 

[chediavolo]

Just watch the latest one about Star something or other. What a disgusting hellacious world these girls were involved in. I don’t think we heard before that Hefner was pimping out the girls did we or maybe I just forgot because there  was so much disgusting shit going on at the mansion and beyond. What a bunch of  pigs. well, that’s insulting to the pigs. Someone should have confronted and taken down Hefner before the piece of shit died. May he rot in  hell. Is the bimbo Pamela Anderson still defending him?

[Hedgehog2022]

Last night’s episode about a Playboy model who, along with her boyfriend, murdered her sugar daddy was chilling. Sugar daddy was a child psychiatrist and had been paying her rent, car payments and other living expenses. He traveled to Vegas where she had moved to tell her in person that he wasn’t going to be helping her anymore. She and her boyfriend brutally beat the doctor with a baseball bat. Truly horrific…but the spin by Holly Madison and the producers really downplayed the role this Playboy model had in this murder. Ultimately she was found guilty along with her psycho boyfriend and both are in prison now. Just two trashy sociopaths that seemed to have zero regrets or guilty conscience about what they did.

[chediavolo]

8 hours ago, Hedgehog2022 said:

Last night’s episode about a Playboy model who, along with her boyfriend, murdered her sugar daddy was chilling. Sugar daddy was a child psychiatrist and had been paying her rent, car payments and other living expenses. He traveled to Vegas where she had moved to tell her in person that he wasn’t going to be helping her anymore. She and her boyfriend brutally beat the doctor with a baseball bat. Truly horrific…but the spin by Holly Madison and the producers really downplayed the role this Playboy model had in this murder. Ultimately she was found guilty along with her psycho boyfriend and both are in prison now. Just two trashy sociopaths that seemed to have zero regrets or guilty conscience about what they did.

Trash being the operative word in defining anything “Playboy”.  
The old man seemed really strange but never the less, it’s just a side note. these people were savage. I’d love to see a legit documentary on this particular story and not this Holly Madison spin shit. And also a mental health perspective on the women that think everything Playboy is just GRAND! 🧐

Edited March 1, 2023 by chediavolo

[LemonSoda]

Is anyone else watching this? 

I did not like the first episode of S2. The problem for me was they seemed to gloss over and do a super condensed rush job on a case that had a lot of twists, turns. Dateline, 20/20 did much better jobs on the  story. This case had too much to shove in to a 40 minute episode. I feel like a few episodes could have been devoted to the case. Just the Bentley Twins shenanigans alone could be a series. 

I really hope this case is solved someday. The victims and their families deserve justice. 

For Girls Next Door fans, those who remember the old forms, gossip: 

Spoiler

It looks as though Jill Ann’s case will be featured. I’m curious how Holly will handle it given their sensitive history. Jill Ann was very sweet, hard working. I went to her old store a few times. The girls labeled her a try hard, wannabe and a liar which later everything she said was proven to be true. Like most girls who come from nothing, she wanted to feel special and matter. 

 

[MCMLXXVII]

I watched ep 1 and 2 of season 2. I knew one of the Bentleys had been involved with a financial scammer, but didn’t know the whole story, so this was really interesting to me. I’ll look for the Dateline. The Brande, Sandy, Mandy era was when I started paying attention to the world of Playboy.

I thought they made a bit of a stretch to Manson just because Victoria was friendly with Tate and Polanski, but ok whatever-he’s a true crime staple. You Must Remember This podcast did a great “Charlie Manson’s Hollywood” season on his celebrity adjacency.

 

Edited February 6 by MCMLXXVII

[Lone Wolf]

I tend to watch the first half or so of these shows, get bored, and then Google the case, so I can get resolution without investing any more time.

It is interesting seeing Holly's fingernails go from green to red and back again several times in the same ep, though. Continuity monkeys asleep at the switch.

[LemonSoda]

On 2/6/2024 at 9:52 AM, MCMLXXVII said:

I watched ep 1 and 2 of season 2. I knew one of the Bentleys had been involved with a financial scammer, but didn’t know the whole story, so this was really interesting to me. I’ll look for the Dateline. The Brande, Sandy, Mandy era was when I started paying attention to the world of Playboy.

I thought they made a bit of a stretch to Manson just because Victoria was friendly with Tate and Polanski, but ok whatever-he’s a true crime staple. You Must Remember This podcast did a great “Charlie Manson’s Hollywood” season on his celebrity adjacency.

 

The Yagalla case is interesting. Hopefully the 48 hours episode is still available? It’s called Playing With Fire. 

Here’s the original Philadelphia magazine article which was the first piece I remember reading about the case. http://www.thebillionairesvinegar.com/selected_work/yagalla.pdf

I read Mark Yagalla’s book. I feel like he was a mess waiting to happen whether he met Sandy or not. Her lack of conscience is insane. 

I’m still very mixed on the show. As others have noted some of the Playboy connections are stretched such as Victoria’s episode. Others there is too much to cram in to a 40 minute episode. Many are cases that other shows have done a much more thorough job dissecting. 

 

[Lone Wolf]

Just watched the Melonie Haller ep.  I remember her from Welcome Back, Kotter and the magazine pictorial but I wasn't aware of what happened to her subsequently; based on the show's premise and title, I assumed that she'd been murdered, which I'm sure was the intent.  Glad she lived to tell the tale.

The Playboy connection is the weakest one we've had this season -

Spoiler

the only murder was the guy who owned the house she was assaulted in, and the only connection he had was as a Hefner wannabe.

I also remember Jeana (Tomasino) Keough from first several seasons of The Real Housewives of Orange County back in the mid '80's.  She looks better now than she did then; ah, the magic of Hollywood.   

[Pine]

9 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Just watched the Melonie Haller ep.  I remember her from Welcome Back, Kotter and the magazine pictorial but I wasn't aware of what happened to her subsequently; based on the show's premise and title, I assumed that she'd been murdered, which I'm sure was the intent.  Glad she lived to tell the tale.

The Playboy connection is the weakest one we've had this season -

  Hide contents

the only murder was the guy who owned the house she was assaulted in, and the only connection he had was as a Hefner wannabe.

I also remember Jeana (Tomasino) Keough from first several seasons of The Real Housewives of Orange County back in the mid '80's.  She looks better now than she did then; ah, the magic of Hollywood.   

So surprised at how great Jeana Keough looked.

They didn't mention that Melonie's date was also murdered with his new girlfriend,  and no convictions.  

[LemonSoda]

I’m behind a few episodes but so far I still feel the same. They’re doing super condensed rush jobs of cases that have not only had better shows dedicated to them but a lot is left out. A few times I’ve felt Holly’s commentary was unnecessary. For example the Dr Amie episode. The time she spent talking about all of their shared interests, how she wishes they could have been friends that time would have been better dedicated to talking about Dr Amie as a person. From the Dateline/48 hours shows dedicated to the case along with social media you can tell she meant a lot to so many people from all walks of life. Of course it’s Holly’s show though. 

Every time I see a photo of Laurie Bembeneck, I expect to hear Bill Kurtis’ voice. I’m sad she never got to have the justice or healing she deserved. 
 

I said it on the housewives forums too many times over the years but Jeana is gorgeous. In her heyday she should have had more of a career. 

[MCMLXXVII]

The Jill Ann Spaulding episode is on this week and Bridget is one of the talking heads.

[LemonSoda]

2 hours ago, MCMLXXVII said:

The Jill Ann Spaulding episode is on this week and Bridget is one of the talking heads.

I can’t wait to see this one. I’m curious how they’ll handle her story given their treatment of her. 

[Lone Wolf]

On 3/12/2024 at 8:11 PM, LemonSoda said:

I can’t wait to see this one. I’m curious how they’ll handle her story given their treatment of her. 

I thought they were pretty sympathetic, although I didn't expect any less - TPTB seem to be at least as interested in trashing Hefner/Playboy (not saying that he doesn't deserve it) as they do in presenting these stories.

My nitpick remains that a lot (if not most) of these crimes aren't directly attributable to or caused by Playboy, so I think the title is a bit exploitative as are the episode descriptions ("A Playboy model writes a tell-all book about Hef and is later found dead."  Are we supposed to infer that Hef had her whacked?), but I guess with so many program viewing choices these days, eyeballs must be captured by any means necessary.

As for this ep, I don't know whether having sex with Hef would have gotten Jill Ann her coveted centerfold (although I think the odds were against it), but good on her for deciding that it wasn't worth it even though it had been her lifelong dream.  She was in a stronger place than a lot of wannabe's because she was more accomplished and mature, so she had a more realistic perspective than many.

I'm still amused by Holly's nails changing colors even though her outfit stays the same.  Pink and green were the revolving colors in last week's and this episode.

I'll be curious to see whether Holly and company will be able to scrape up enough "Playboy murder victims" for a third season - they may have to modify the definition to include Playboy magazine subscribers.

 

Edited March 16 by Lone Wolf

[MCMLXXVII]

16 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

I thought they were pretty sympathetic, although I didn't expect any less - TPTB seem to be at least as interested in trashing Hefner/Playboy (not saying that he doesn't deserve it) as they do in presenting these stories.

My nitpick remains that a lot (if not most) of these crimes aren't directly attributable to or caused by Playboy, so I think the title is a bit exploitative as are the episode descriptions ("A Playboy model writes a tell-all book about Hef and is later found dead."  Are we supposed to infer that Hef had her whacked?), but I guess with so many program viewing choices these days, eyeballs must be captured by any means necessary.

This! I didn’t know much about her, so I was surprised to learn Jill Ann died three months after Hef.🙄😑 So much for empty conspiracy theory. 

I was also a bit surprised they bothered to do a Dorothy Stratten episode since her case is so well-known.

I found the Paula Sladewski case the most interesting of the recent batch. 

Stephanie Adams might make for a good episode if well-researched, pretty dark story though.😕 

Edited March 16 by MCMLXXVII

[Lone Wolf]

16 hours ago, MCMLXXVII said:

Stephanie Adams might make for a good episode if well-researched, pretty dark story though.😕 

Yikes, I'll say...Wikipedia link below:

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Adams

 

[Jaded]

16 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Yikes, I'll say...Wikipedia link below:

Reading her wiki page led me to looking up John Casablancas. What a disgusting predator he was. I'm sure her relationship with him didn't do much for her mental health either.