In a disturbing and sad story, a woman found dead in a car outside Paula Abdul’s house last night was thought to have been a stalker that was known to Paula and her security. When the 30 year-old woman went missing, her parents told cops to look outside Abdul’s house in Sherman Oaks, California as they were pretty sure that’s where she was. They were right and their daughter’s body was found Tuesday at 6pm. There were no signs of foul play and the cause of death is thought to be suicide by drug overdose. Abdul was not at home at the time and was away taping an episode of American Idol:
A woman was found dead on Tuesday evening, near a home believed to be owned by Paula Abdul, Access Hollywood has learned.
A 30-year-old woman was found dead in a parked car in the Sherman Oaks, Calif. community the “American Idol” judge reportedly resides in. The woman was found sometime after 6PM on Tuesday after the Los Angeles Police Department received a tip from a neighboring agency, according to LAPD spokesperson Officer Karen Smith.
“Our Van Nuys division did receive a call from the Ventura County’s Sheriff. A woman’s parents reported her missing and they thought that she may be at Paula Abdul’s house,” Smith told Access.
The parents of the woman reportedly believed their daughter was nearby Abdul’s home as she was reportedly “a big fan” of the “Idol” judge, Officer Smith told Access.
When authorities arrived, the unidentified woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are awaiting a coroner’s report to verify the cause of death.
Footage of a car parked on the street where the incident occurred, and shown on Fox News 11 in Los Angeles, who first reported the story, showed Paula Abdul stickers dangling from the rear view mirror.
The station reported Abdul was reportedly taping an episode of “Idol” when the incident occurred.
[From NBCChicago.com]
TMZ says that the woman “is an alleged Abdul stalker and cops have been to the house ‘numerous times before’ to deal with her.”
How sad for this woman’s family and for Paula Abdul. This is a very troubled person who became fixated on a celebrity, with tragic results. At least Abdul wasn’t hurt and no bystanders were harmed, but it’s always a tragedy when someone takes their own life. Maybe in this woman’s disturbed way she thought she would be remembered for a connection to Abdul that she failed to grasp in life.
Paula Abdul is shown at the opening night of “Criss Angel Believe” by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas on 10/31/08. Credit: PRPhotos
Why is Paula dressed like Robin Hood on crack?
Paula Abdul has a stalker?!! I mean, Paula ABDUL?!
Jesus. Everything about this is just…sad.
lol MSat! It’s a tragic story though, poor woman. Why anyone would stalk Paula Abdul though is slightly confusing.
That hat! It’s like something out of Sound of Music… “The hills are alive…”
Sad story.
Are we sure that it’s suicide? I mean, she wasn’t trying to emulate her “Idol” by going tit-for-tat out of the “candy jar”, was she?
Are they sure it wasn’t her singing career?
No, that died a longass time ago.
She looks like Peter Pan from the hood.
VERY confused. Here’s her audition:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx66m_paula-goodspeed-proud-mary_fun
Wow a life-size version of a Bratz doll!
January is National Stalking Awareness Month. See http://www.stalkingawarenessmonth.org. From some of the comments I have read about the Paula/Idol controversy, it is very clear that we need to devote a great deal of attention to stalking awareness. 78% of stalking victims are women and 87% of stalkers are men. 8% of all women in this country are stalked. 54% of female murder victims reported their stalkers to the police before they were killed by their stalkers. Not only are the women stalked harmed physically, mentally, emotionally and often, financially — even having to leave their jobs or being fired — but their children and everyone else around them suffer. Men are affected because these women are their wives, girfriends, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, granddaughters, cousins, friends, etc.
It’s undisputed that Paula Goodspeed did stalk Paula Abdul. There is no allegation that Paula Abdul did anything to harm Paula Goodspeed, so why are so many people attacking the stalking victim? What if this stalker had done as she threatened to do and killed Paula Abdul to make her her “guardian angel?” The big question that people should ask is whether the producers of Idol knew it when they let her on the show. Paula Abdul alleges that they let a known stalker of one of their employees into her workplace. It is crucial that people understand the seriousness of workplace stalking. Most stalking situations begin as domestic violence issues and may spill over into the workplace (see, e.g. Gantt v. Security, USA at http://www.dvmartinlaw.com/GanttvSecurityUSA) and others involve stalkers who are delusional strangers. Any woman may be stalked by an obsessed workplace stranger, while doing nothing more than “working while female;” yet, there is no federal statute that specifically prohibits employers from retaliating against stalking victims or require an employer to keep a stalker out of the workplace. (Of course, men are stalked too, but to a much smaller degree and with much less chance of violence toward them.) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment. I am currently before the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to address workplace stalking under Title VII. See http://www.dvmartinlaw.com/Martin and See recent http://alexisamoore.blogspot.com/2008/11/111408-us-supreme-court-will-decide.html.
If the Court doesn’t apply Title VII, we need a new federal statute that specifically prevents employer retaliation against stalking victims (such as firing them) and obligates employers to take reasonable steps to keep known stalkers out of the workplace.