July 18, 1966: Bobby Fuller, who was still riding high on the success of "I Fought The Law", was found dead in his car in Hollywood. The incident is ruled a suicide but evidence suggests foul play, as his clothes and lungs contained gasoline. Fuller was just 22 years old…

 

Sometimes even police make most arresting blunders…

 

Just as “I Fought the Law” became a Top 10 hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in his car parked near his Los Angeles home. 
The date: July 18, 1966…



 

The police said was a suicide,

but too many questions remain unanswered:

Why did Fuller have

multiple wounds over his body

—Police discovered blood and

abrasions on the body, and skeptics

point to that discovery as proof

that the death was neither an accident

nor a suicide—And his body that was also saturated with gasoline!?!

 That being the case, why did a police officer throw a can of gasoline 

found at the scene 

into the trash?
Could it be that the killer(s) fled before 

they could set the car 

and star on fire?

 

And why did police later

change the cause of death to

“accidental asphyxiation . . .”

citing no evidence of foul play?

Friends and family dispute

the police report, and the

theories on the death are

as varied as the individuals

expressing them - including

the theory that Fuller was

murdered by an organized

crime figure who became

jealous because his girlfriend

was attracted to the rock 'n' roller…

At the time of his death,

Fuller had been keeping

company with a young woman

named "Melody," whose ex-boyfriend

was a jealous club owner

reported to be tied to the local crime syndicate... 

After Fuller's death,

she disappeared and has only

recently surfaced to deny

complicity in Bobby's death…

 

Other mysterious circumstances

took place in the days just after the discovery of Fuller's body,

Dalton Powell

(Bobby Fuller Four drummer)

 had been confronted by

"three real mean-looking dudes"

who had come to the apartment

he shared with Reese

(Bobby Fuller Four guitarist),

 telling Powell they would return…

Randy Fuller (Bobby’s younger brother) and the band's road manager were nearly run off the road one evening by a car that had been following them…

 

"I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets and became popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, which went on to become a top-ten hit for the band in 1966 and was also recorded by the Clash in 1979. The Bobby Fuller Four version of this song was ranked No. 175 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, and the same year was named one of the 500 "Songs that Shaped Rock" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Randy Fuller later speculated, "I just think he got in a bad situation that night, met the wrong dude and couldn't get out of it. I'm 99.9 percent sure that it wasn't an accident or a suicide…Bobby would never have taken his own life," Randy said, "He would never have done that to my mother"

 

Bobby was my brother-in-law for 3 years and I know in my heart he did not commit suicide. He was so talented and had so much to give to the music world. I remember times when we would be watching TV, he would go into the den and sit at the piano and write a song in 30 minutes. It came to him so naturally. He didn't drink much and hated drugs. The world lost a gifted man on July 18, 1966-- Mary Ann Childress Gillispie

A private investigator, hired by Fuller's parents and Bob Keane (of De-Phi Records), quit the case after a few days when he was shot at by a would-be assassin. The questions have remained unanswered… 

 

Check out this YouTube story

on Bobby Fuller…

 

 

Another Bobby Fuller story… 

Perhaps the subtitle of his greatest song says it all:

 “I Fought the Law 
(But the Law Won)”

R.I.P. Bobby Fuller, Ya Almost Made it...