13. Vicious Found His Girlfriend’s Body and May Have Killed Her
On October 12, 1978, Sid Vicious awoke to a trail of blood in his hotel room at the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. He followed the path into the bathroom only to find his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, dead of a single stab wound to the abdomen. After calling the front desk to report her death, Vicious was found wandering the halls of the hotel crying and saying “I killed her… I can’t live without her… She must have fallen on the knife.”
Vicious was arrested for the murder but plead not guilty. Many close to Vicious believed, despite the domestic abuse, that he would not have been capable of killing Spungen due to his love for her. This concept was likely complicated by many of Vicious’ friends blaming Spungen for being a bad influence on Vicious and increasing his drug use.
Vicious was never convicted of her murder, and the case was closed when he died of a heroin overdose only months later. Her death has never indeed been solved, with theories ranging from a suicide pact to being murdered by one of the many drug dealers who came and went out of their hotel. Over $1,000 was stolen out of their room the night Spungen was murdered, which does lend some credence to the idea it was a robbery gone wrong.