Aug. 23, 2025

"WALL OF SOUND, CHAMBER OF DEATH: Phil Spector's Castle Murder & The Five Women Who Warned Us"

Show Notes
Transcript

Music legend Phil Spector produced The Beatles and created the "Wall of Sound" - then shot actress Lana Clarkson in the mouth when she tried to leave his castle. Reid Carter exposes how five women testified about Spector's decades-long pattern of pulling guns, the chauffeur who heard him confess "I think I killed somebody," and the bizarre wigs he wore to court. From producing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" to dying of COVID in prison, this is the shocking story of how Hollywood protected a gun-wielding maniac for thirty years until he finally murdered a woman who just wanted to go home.

Join the Celebrity Trials community on social media! We're building a passionate group of true crime enthusiasts who love diving deep into the most shocking cases in America.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching "Celebrity Trials Podcast" on either platform. You'll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, breaking news updates on cases we're covering, and early alerts when new episodes drop. Our social media is where Reid Carter's hottest takes live, including reactions that don't make it into the show.

But more importantly, it's where YOU come in. Share your theories, debate the verdicts, and connect with fellow listeners who are just as obsessed with justice as you are. Did the jury get it right? What questions do you still have? Your comments and insights often shape future episodes.

We cover the trials that matter, but our community makes the conversation unforgettable. Come for Reid's signature cynical commentary, stay for the incredible discussions with thousands of true crime fans who get it.

Join the Celebrity Trials community on social media! We're building a passionate group of true crime enthusiasts who love diving deep into the most shocking cases in America.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching "Celebrity Trials Podcast" on either platform. You'll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, breaking news updates on cases we're covering, and early alerts when new episodes drop. Our social media is where Reid Carter's hottest takes live, including reactions that don't make it into the show.

But more importantly, it's where YOU come in. Share your theories, debate the verdicts, and connect with fellow listeners who are just as obsessed with justice as you are. Did the jury get it right? What questions do you still have? Your comments and insights often shape future episodes.

We cover the trials that matter, but our community makes the conversation unforgettable. Come for Reid's signature cynical commentary, stay for the incredible discussions with thousands of true crime fans who get it.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:12.039
Caaleroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Saturday, August

2
00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:15.759
twenty third, twenty twenty five. It's the weekend, which means

3
00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.079
we take a break from this week's parade of TikTok

4
00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:21.359
killers and Netflix inspired murderers to look back at the

5
00:00:21.399 --> 00:00:26.120
celebrity trials that defined an era. Today, we're marking a

6
00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:32.240
grim anniversary. Fourteen years ago this week, August seventeenth, twenty eleven,

7
00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:36.159
the California Supreme Court slammed the door on Phil Spector's

8
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.280
last hope for freedom. The man who created the Wall

9
00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.479
of Sound would die behind those prison walls a decade later,

10
00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:46.039
taking the truth about Lana Clarkson's death to his grave.

11
00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.759
But I'll tell you the truth he wouldn't. This is

12
00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:52.799
the story of how the most influential music producer in

13
00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.280
history became just another prison number, How a man who

14
00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:58.880
worked with the Beatles, the Ronettes, and Ike and Tina

15
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.880
Turner ended up convey did of murder, and how it

16
00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.519
took two trials, five women's testimonies, and one brave chauffeur

17
00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:08.439
to finally stop a monster who'd been pulling guns on

18
00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:16.680
women for thirty years. Settle in, folks, this is celebrity trials.

19
00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.959
Let's start with who phil Spector was before he became

20
00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.280
a killer, because to understand the tragedy of February third,

21
00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:27.400
two thousand and three, you need to understand the god

22
00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:31.840
complex of the man holding the gun. Harvey Philip Specter

23
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.840
revolutionized popular music in the nineteen sixties with his wall

24
00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:39.920
of sound production technique. We're talking about the architect behind

25
00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.599
Be My Baby by the Rawnettes, You've Lost That Love

26
00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:48.079
and feeling, by the Righteous Brothers, Riverdeep, Mountain High by

27
00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:52.159
Ike and Tina Turner. This man produced the beatles Let

28
00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:55.879
It Be. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll

29
00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.000
Hall of Fame in nineteen eighty nine. By any measure,

30
00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:03.719
phil Spector was a musical genius. Phil Spector was also

31
00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:08.520
a gun toting psychopath who terrorized women for decades. The

32
00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:12.039
warning signs were there from the beginning. The Rownets' lead singer,

33
00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:16.080
Ronnie Specter, who became his wife, later described years of

34
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.360
imprisonment in his mansion. He wouldn't let her leave. He

35
00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.400
displayed a gold coffin in the basement and told her

36
00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.000
he'd kill her and display her body if she ever

37
00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:30.280
left him. This was the nineteen sixties folks, nobody called

38
00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:34.800
it domestic violence. Back then, they called it eccentric. Fast

39
00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:38.840
forward through decades of incidents, women at recording sessions having

40
00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.800
guns pulled on them, dates ending with firearms brandished the

41
00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.039
music industry's dirty little secret that everyone knew but nobody

42
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.039
talked about, because hey, he's Phil Spector, he's a genius,

43
00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.120
he's just difficult. Then came February third, two thousand and three.

44
00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.919
Lonna Clarkson was a forty year old actress. You might

45
00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:59.840
have seen her in Barbarian Queen or Fast Times at

46
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.159
Bridgemont High. By two thousand and three, she was working

47
00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.879
as a hostess at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip.

48
00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:09.560
That's where she met Phil Spector, who came in after midnight,

49
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.479
already drunk from a night of bar hopping with another

50
00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:16.840
woman he ditched earlier. Here's what we know. Spector convinced

51
00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:19.879
Clarkson to come back to his Alhambra mansion. He called

52
00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.919
it the Pyrenees Castle. His driver, Adriano Desuza, drove them there.

53
00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:29.280
Clarkson went inside. Less than three hours later, she was

54
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.840
dead at five am. Desuza heard a gunshot. Minutes later.

55
00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:36.639
Specter emerged from the house holding a gun and said,

56
00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:41.080
and I quote, I think I killed somebody. Let that

57
00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:46.159
sink in. Not someone's been shot, not there's been an accident,

58
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.479
but I think I killed somebody. When police arrived, they

59
00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.479
found Clarkson slumped in a chair in the foyer, shot

60
00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:57.879
through the mouth, her teeth scattered on the floor. Spector

61
00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.319
had changed his story by then. Now he claimed Clarkson

62
00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:04.639
had killed herself. This woman he'd known for less than

63
00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.039
three hours had suddenly decided to commit suicide in a

64
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:12.919
stranger's foyer. The investigation revealed the truth peace by piece.

65
00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.480
The gun, a thirty eight caliber Colt Cobra, wasn't registered

66
00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:20.480
to Specter. It was later found in a dumpster near

67
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.480
the house. Clarkson's purse was slung over her shoulder like

68
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.720
she was trying to leave. Her coat was on. This

69
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.720
wasn't a woman settling in for a nightcap. This was

70
00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.879
a woman trying to get out. But here's what really

71
00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:37.000
buried Phil Spector the pattern. When prosecutors brought their case,

72
00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:40.439
they didn't just argue about February third. They brought in

73
00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:44.079
witness after witness, woman after woman who told the same story.

74
00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.800
Spector would drink, Spector would pull a gun. Spector would

75
00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:51.959
threaten to kill them if they tried to leave. Dorothy Melvin,

76
00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.639
former girlfriend, testified Specter held a gun to her head

77
00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:59.680
when she tried to leave his house. Diane Ogden, former girlfriend,

78
00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.879
same story. Stephanie Jennings, a photographer, testified Spector pointed a

79
00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.199
gun at her at a party. Devreux Robtie, a friend,

80
00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.879
testified Spector held a gun on her at the same

81
00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:16.120
Pyrenees castle where Clarkson died. Five women, five guns, five times.

82
00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:24.920
Phil Spector showed exactly who he was. The first trial

83
00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.600
began March nineteenth, two thousand and seven, and folks, it

84
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.399
was a circus. Spector showed up every day in a

85
00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:35.800
different bizarre wig, blonde, afros, weird pompadours, something that looked

86
00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:39.720
like roadkill perched on his skull. His lawyer was Bruce Cutler,

87
00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:44.680
who'd previously defended John Gottie. The strategy attack Lona Clarkson's

88
00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.319
character paint her as a desperate, suicidal, washed up actress

89
00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:52.040
who killed herself Inspector's foyer. They actually argued with a

90
00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:55.199
straight face that this woman Specter had just met was

91
00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:58.240
so depressed about her career that she grabbed a stranger's

92
00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:01.639
gun and shot herself while wearing her coat with her

93
00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:04.639
purse on her shoulder, after telling friends she was excited

94
00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.839
about upcoming work. The jury didn't fully buy it, but

95
00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:11.639
they didn't fully reject it either. On September twenty sixth,

96
00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.480
two thousand and seven, they deadlocked ten to two for

97
00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:19.120
conviction mistrial, but Los Angeles County wasn't done with Phil Spector.

98
00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:23.560
The retrial began October twentieth, two thousand and eight. This time,

99
00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:28.959
prosecutors streamlined their case less about Spector's music legacy, more

100
00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.000
about his pattern of violence. They hammered home to SUS's testimony,

101
00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:36.199
I think I killed somebody. They brought back the women.

102
00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.360
They showed the jury photos of Clarkson's shattered teeth. On

103
00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.720
April thirteenth, two thousand and nine, the verdict came down

104
00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:48.000
guilty of second degree murder. The jury also found true

105
00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:52.199
the special allegation that Specter used a firearm. On May

106
00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.560
twenty ninth, two thousand and nine, Judge Larry Paul Fiddler

107
00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:59.959
sentenced him to nineteen years to life. Back in a moment.

108
00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.959
Specter immediately began appeals. He went to the California Court

109
00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:17.079
of Appeal denied. He petitioned the California Supreme Court, and

110
00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.639
on August seventeenth, twenty eleven, fourteen years ago this week,

111
00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.800
they declined to review his case. He tried the U. S.

112
00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:28.560
Supreme Court denied, the Federal District Court denied. The Ninth

113
00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:32.399
Circuit Court of Appeals denied. Phil Spector would never see

114
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.759
freedom again. He spent his last years at the California

115
00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.759
Health Care Facility in Stockton. The man who lived in

116
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.399
a castle, who produced the Beatles, who created the soundtrack

117
00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:46.120
of the nineteen sixties, was now inmate W six' nine

118
00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:51.480
one one. Nine On january, sixteenth twenty twenty, One Phil

119
00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:55.600
spector died OF covid nineteen. Complications he was eighty one years.

120
00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.680
Old he never admitted, Guilt he never. Apologized he went

121
00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.040
to his grave insisting That Lana, clarkson a woman he'd

122
00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.560
known for three, hours had mysteriously decided to kill herself

123
00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.480
in his. Foyer but here's WHAT i think happened that,

124
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.920
night based on the evidence in the. Pattern Lana clarkson

125
00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.319
went To spector's house because she was being polite to

126
00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.600
a music industry. Legend maybe she thought it would help her.

127
00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:21.560
Career maybe she was just being nice to a drunk

128
00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:25.399
old man when she tried to, leave Like Dorothy melvin

129
00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.040
tried to, leave Like Diane ogden tried to, leave like

130
00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:30.920
all the others tried to, Leave specter pulled a, gun

131
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.919
but this time was. Different Maybe clarkson laughed at. Him

132
00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.720
maybe she told him he was. Pathetic maybe she just

133
00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.159
tried to push past. Him And Phil, spector The Great Phil,

134
00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.240
spector The Genius Phil, spector couldn't handle being dismissed by

135
00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:48.159
A b movie actress working as a, hostess so he

136
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.639
shot her in the mouth to shut her up. Forever

137
00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:53.799
then he walked outside and told his driver exactly what he'd.

138
00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:58.279
DONE i THINK i killed. Somebody it took two trials

139
00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.039
and six, years but justice finally came For Phil. Spector

140
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.840
the wall of sound became the sound of, silence the

141
00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:08.320
silence of a prison cell where a murderer spent his

142
00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:12.080
last decade claiming, innocence while the ghost Of Lana clarkson demanded.

143
00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.919
Truth you want to know the real. Tragedy If Phil

144
00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:19.240
spector had been a, nobody if he'd been some regular

145
00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:22.360
guy pulling guns on women for thirty. Years he would

146
00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:25.519
have been in prison decades. Earlier but he Was Phil.

147
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:29.360
Spector he produced The. Beatles he was a, genius and

148
00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:32.600
In america we let geniuses get away with murder until we.

149
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:38.919
Don't august, seventeenth twenty, Eleven remember that. Date that's the

150
00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:42.360
day The California Supreme court, said no more, appeals no more,

151
00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:46.559
delays no more. Excuses that's the Day Phil spector officially

152
00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:49.600
became what he always, was a convicted killer who would

153
00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:53.399
die in a. Cage Lana clarkson was forty years old

154
00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.679
when she. Died she had a, Mother, donna who had

155
00:09:56.679 --> 00:10:00.200
to identify her daughter's body with its shattered. Teeth she

156
00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.159
had a friend who testified That lana was excited about

157
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.519
a new, project looking forward to the. Future she had

158
00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:09.559
a life That Phil spector stole because he couldn't handle

159
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.799
a woman walking away from. Him the Music Phil spector

160
00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:15.879
created will live, forever but so will the truth about

161
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.960
what he, was a murderer who thought fame made him.

162
00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:23.639
Untouchable fourteen years ago this, week The California Supreme court

163
00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:28.240
proved him. Wrong that celebrity trials For, Saturday august twenty, third,

164
00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.919
tomorrow we continue our weekend look back at classic celebrity

165
00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:35.919
trials with another. Anniversary Martha stewart's eighty fourth birthday was

166
00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.279
a few weeks, ago which gives us the perfect excuse

167
00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:42.120
to revisit How america's domestic goddess became federal inmate five

168
00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:45.639
five one seven zero dash zero five to. Four from

169
00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.320
insider trading to insider information on prison. Life it's a

170
00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:52.960
fall from grace that still defines how we prosecute white collar.

171
00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:59.120
Crime i'm, Reed. Carter Remember Phil spector died believing he

172
00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.360
was the. Victim the real. Victim Lana clarkson never got

173
00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.840
to grow, old never got to die believing, anything Because

174
00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:08.240
Phil spector shot her in the mouth for trying to.

175
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:12.720
Leave justice isn't always, fast but when it, comes it's.

176
00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:14.360
Permanent see you, tomorrow