Stompanato, a former Marine and an associate of the Cohen crime family, had been in a year-long relationship with Turner that had been rocky and marked with physical abuse.

[6] Over the following months, Turner and Stompanato carried on a tempestuous relationship filled with violent arguments, physical abuse inflicted upon her by him and repeated reconciliations.

[16] At approximately 8:00 p.m. on April 4, eight days after the Academy Awards ceremony, Stompanato arrived at Turner's rented home at 730 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, California, which she had just begun leasing a week prior.

Fearing that Turner's life was in danger, Crane, who had been watching television in an adjacent room, grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to her mother's defense.

[28] Unable to obtain a pulse, the doctor called for emergency services, thereby notifying the police,[26] and Stompanato was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.

[28] An autopsy conducted by Charles Langhauser shortly after revealed Stompanato's death was caused by a single knife wound that penetrated his liver, portal vein and aorta, resulting in massive internal hemorrhaging.

[31] In the early morning hours of April 5, Crane was surrendered at the Beverly Hills Police Department, where she was booked on a holding charge.

[32] There, she gave a formal statement to Anderson, detailing her hearing Stompanato's threats against her mother, and her subsequent stabbing of him in the bedroom doorway.

[33] After Crane had provided her statement, Turner, Stephen and Giesler left the station house at the insistence of police, as the press had already "gathered like vultures outside.

[34][35] On April 7, 1958, a juvenile pre-detention hearing was held under Judge Donald O'Dell which was attended by Turner, her mother Mildred and ex-husband Stephen.

[38] Turner's application was denied, however, as the judge felt that Crane would "be better protected by remaining in custody pending the hearing [for Stompanato's murder].

[34] Due to Turner's high profile and the fact that the killing involved her teenage daughter, the case quickly became a cause célèbre.

[47] Stephen testified that he had received a frantic phone call from Crane the night of the stabbing, and quickly drove to Turner's home.

[48] Several law enforcement officials, as well as Turner, Stephen and Giesler, were present, and Borders attested that the version of events as told by Crane was consistent upon repeated questioning.

[49] In her absence, a written statement by Crane was read aloud, which recounted her overhearing of the argument, her acquiring the knife from the kitchen and the eventual stabbing of Stompanato in her mother's bedroom.

"[50] When she took the stand, a "hush fell over the crowd as the famous actress sat down, removed one white glove, and filled her lungs with a deep, steady intake of air.

[51] After four hours of testimony and approximately twenty-five minutes of deliberation, the coroner's jury deemed Stompanato's killing a justifiable homicide,[52][53] and Crane would not be prosecuted.

[53] Immediately following Crane's exoneration, her father told reporters of the Los Angeles Times that he planned to fight Turner for full custody of his daughter.

[57] Columnist Florabel Muir wrote in the New York Daily News that Turner "played the most dramatic and effective role of her long screen career here today at the coroner's inquest.

[59] Stompanato's brother Carmine, who attended the inquest, alleged afterward that he felt Turner "failed to tell the whole truth" and that law enforcement had "made up their mind right from the start that Johnny deserved to die.

[56] The suit alleged that Stephen arrived at Turner's residence prior to Stompanato's death and failed to summon proper medical assistance.

[55] William Jerome Pollack, the attorney overseeing the case, presented evidence suggesting that Stompanato had been stabbed while lying down, which conflicted with the accepted version of events.

[61] Pollack subsequently reported: "Cheryl told [me] yesterday that she cannot recall actually stabbing Stompanato in the pink-carpeted bedroom of Lana's rented Beverly Hills mansion.

[64] Film historian Sam Staggs noted that it "belongs in the same pantheon of foul deeds as the Fatty Arbuckle rape trial in 1921, the ambiguous death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, and the O. J. Simpson case of 1994–95.

"[54] In the intervening years, Stompanato's homicide has been subject to an oft-repeated conspiracy theory that Turner in fact killed him, and that Crane had taken culpability for her mother, claiming self-defense.

In 2012, 48 Hours presented a special profiling the case, which featured conversation between several historians, Cheryl Crane, and John Ibrahim, Stompanato's son.

[19]A 1962 novel by Harold Robbins entitled Where Love Has Gone was inspired by Stompanato's death, followed by a 1964 film adaptation starring Susan Hayward and Bette Davis.

In November 2009, Sara Davies premiered a radio drama for BBC 4 titled A Night with Johnny Stompanato by playwright Jonathan Holloway, which is based on the case.