Top gun actor James Handy's partner details final moments before alleged murder
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
James Handy’s partner, Wendy Gledhill, has spoken about the actor’s tragic final moments before he was killed on their property.
Handy, who you might know from his roles in classic flicks like Top Gun or cameos in CSI, died of a single stab wound to his chest in Los Angeles on Wednesday June 3.
The prime suspect is Wendy’s son Michael Gledhill, who was arrested on the count of his murder after he ‘flagged down nearby responding officers, telling them he was the one they were looking for.’
After James’s death was announced, Wendy told reporters that Michael suffers from schizophrenia and may have suffered from a mental health crisis after having stopped taking his medications the week prior to the incident.
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However, she has since explained that she wasn’t a witness to the alleged stabbing, and had instead been in bed while James enacted their usual morning routine.
But there was something different about that day.
“James had gotten up to get the newspaper at about 9 o’clock, but he didn’t make the coffee like he usually does,” Wendy told the Daily Mail. “I just heard the door open because he was getting the paper.”
She revealed that she didn’t think anything of it, but assumes that her ‘son was already out there and they started to argue, from my understanding, on the front yard’.
But unbeknownst to her, James was dying.
She explained that half an hour after James went to fetch the paper, the Los Angeles Police Department knocked on her door, leaving her confused.
“The first time I heard something was happening was when the police showed up,” she told the outlet. “They said someone had called 911 and they told me someone was wrapped in a blanket outside the house.”
Without any further information, she was then told to stay safe within the home as police ‘thought there was still someone dangerous outside.’
Michael, 44, had been living with her and James at the time of his death, and is ‘beyond devastated’ at what has happened.
“I was with James for 31 years and of course I loved him dearly,” she said. “This is so difficult.”
Right now, her son is facing up to 26 years in prison for the murder of James, who was 81 when he passed away.
"I'm just trying to make it through one day at a time, a minute at a time," Wendy, 76, told the California Post. “I loved James and my son. I still can't believe it… I can't believe my son did it."
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Section, Detective Simonyan or Detective Lopez, at (818) 374-9550. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous should call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or visit lacrimestoppers.org.