Sal Mineo's apartment

Crime scene

This Google Street View image of the parking alley was taken in August 2022. It is accessible via Alta Loma Road. We have circled the crime scene in red.

On the night of February 12th, 1976, Lionel Ray Williams (pictured left) was hanging around the complex with a knife.

It is likely that he chose this location because it was somewhat secluded and he knew that someone would eventually use one of the carports.

When he saw Mineo's car pulling in, he decided to seize the opportunity to rob him. However, he seemingly panicked when the actor began crying out for help.

After being promised immunity, one of Williams' friends confessed that he had witnessed the stabbing.

That night, the pair had been drinking and cruising around Los Angeles looking for women. However, at one point, Williams decided to drive into Hollywood and park near the apartment complex on Holloway Drive.

The friend, who remained in the car, claimed that he saw Williams talking to a man and then stabbing him.

Murder

This aerial image highlights the various points of interest.

Mineo's body was found at the back of the complex.

The murder investigation was hindered because the detectives on the case stubbornly clung to the wrong theory.

Four years earlier, the actor had publicly confirmed that he was bisexual. This led investigators to theorize that the stabbing was a sex crime.

At the time, the robbery motive didn't make sense to them, as no money or valuables were missing.

However, the case was turned on its head when Williams' wife, Teresa Collins, came forward and told the police that it was a botched robbery.

Collins was reportedly terrified of her husband. When he was extradited to Michigan for writing bad checks, she saw it as an opportunity to get rid of him for good.

In her statement, she said that Williams came home on the night of February 12th, 1976, and confessed to killing "a dude." She also admitted that she had given him the money to purchase the knife.

Afterwards, Collins was able to pick out the exact type of knife that had been used in the attack.

Another witness named La Sonya Armstrong also told the police that Williams had claimed responsibility for the crime. Shortly after Mineo's murder, he reportedly told her that he had killed a "famous person." When she expressed doubts, he showed her bloodstained clothes and a knife.

Screams

This newspaper article appeared in the Miami Herald on February 14th, 1976.

The crime took place at around 9.15 p.m.

A fellow tenant called Ray Evans heard the actor shouting, "Oh, no! Oh, my God! No! Help me, please!"

Evans found Mineo lying on his side. At the time, he appeared to be semi-conscious. When he rolled him over, he could see that his chest was covered in blood.

The 37-year-old died shortly afterwards due to a stab wound that had penetrated his heart and caused massive hemorrhaging.

Murder

Shortly after the murder, newspapers reported that a witness had seen a man with long blond hair running away from the crime scene.

However, witness reports are notoriously unreliable.

For example, a security guard said that he saw a yellow Toyota fleeing the area soon after Mineo was killed.

On the day of the attack, Lionel Williams rented out a yellow Dodge Colt from a dealership on Crenshaw Boulevard. During the investigation, it was determined that the Dodge Colt looked very similar to a Toyota.