Book Rekindles Mystery of Star Singer's Death in 1966

You've probably heard the song—"I Fought the Law"—but maybe not the story of the singer who made it famous in 1966. Bobby Fuller had just struck it big with his cover of the song when his body was found in a parked car. The 23-year-old had died of asphyxiation, his body doused in gasoline and seemingly beaten, recounts the Los Angeles Times; he reportedly died due to inhaled gasoline. It was officially ruled a suicide, and now a new biography of Fuller co-written by his brother revisits the case, which the LAT calls "one of rock's strangest deaths."

Randy Fuller, who played in Bobby's band, never believed the suicide story, and few others who knew him well did, either. The LAT says various theories, including one involving the mob, have surfaced over the ensuing decades without verification. ("Who would pour gas on himself in a hot car?" Randy Fuller said in 1998. “I just think he got in a bad situation that night, met the wrong dude and couldn't get out of it.") The book, I Fought The Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller apparently doesn't try to solve the mystery as much as resurrect it. Fuller died just a few months after recording his big hit, notes LA Magazine. (Click for more unsolved Hollywood mysteries.)