Nancy Spungen
February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978
Nancy Spungen was just 17 when she left her Southeast Pennsylvania home for New York City to follow her true passion, punk rock. She quickly became immersed in the city’s growing underground scene, gravitating toward bands like the New York Dolls, the Heartbreakers, and the Ramones. Two years later, she moved to London where she met the Sex Pistols. After reportedly being rejected by the band’s singer, Johhny Rotten, Spungen set her sites on bassist, Sid Vicious. Over the course of the next two years, there relationship and lives spriraled out of control due to increasing dependence on heroin and other drugs. Accounts differ as to which initially dragged the other along for the ride. The last couple of months of their lives together were apparently marred by incidents of domestic violence. On October 12, 1978, 20-year-old Nancy Spungen died from a single stab wound to her abdomen in the Chelsea Hotel room she shared with Vicious. Vicious was immediately arrested for the murder. While some of his own comments seemed to implicate him, there are other valid theories as to what happened, including her being killed in a botched robbery while Vicious was in a drug stupor. Adding to the mystery, Vicious died of what is believed to have been an intentional overdose just prior to when he was to stand trial for the murder. His suicide note indicated that they had made a death pact but did not implicate him in her killing.
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