On this day, Oct. 5, in 1989, Wendy Tarr, the best friend of Heidi Fleiss, succumbed to a murderous attack. Fleiss’ appeal to the television show “Americas Most Wanted” led to Tarr’s killer. This all happened before Fleiss became infamously known as the “Hollywood Madam.”
Tarr had moved to Los Angeles from Illinois to become a model or actress and got a job working as a leasing agent.
On Oct. 2, a gunman tried to rape Tarr at the rental office and shot her in the face. At the hospital, Fleiss stayed by Tarr’s side for three days before the teenager died.
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Fleiss vowed to find the killer. She quit her work as a call girl for six months, writing to police and persuading “America’s Most Wanted” to air Tarr’s story. The morning after the show, James Noel, 43, surrendered to authorities. Noel confessed and was sentenced to life.
Within five years, Fleiss’s contribution to Tarr’s case would be overshadowed by her arrest for running a prostitution ring for the rich and famous.
