Bobby Fuller’s dreams were becoming a reality. The twenty-three-year-old was the lead singer and namesake of the Rock’n’Roll group The Bobby Fuller Four, and they were ready for prime time. Recently signed to a contract with Del-Fi records, the group’s song “I Fought the Law” had reached #9 on the Billboard charts. The El Paso, Texas, native was making his mark in the music world and stardom seemed certain. Some felt Bobby Fuller was similar to Elvis Presley, but the more frequent comparisons were to fellow Texan, and Bobby’s idol, Buddy Holly.

As “I Fought the Law” was ascending the charts, however, police contend Bobby Fuller was descending into a depression. In song, Bobby had “fought the law and the law won.” In real life, the law contended, Bobby fought himself and he lost.

Bobby Fuller

Bobby’s mother Eva was visiting her son in Los Angeles on July 18, 1966. That morning, Bobby drove her Oldsmobile to the record studio. He told her he was not sure what time he would be home. When Eva went to get the mail at 5:00 p.m., she saw her car parked in a vacant parking lot next to Bobby’s apartment complex. She expected her son to soon arrive at his apartment, but after he had not done so, she went to her car and made a horrifying discovery.

Eva found Bobby lying across the front seat of her car in a pool of blood. A partially full gas can with a rubber hose lay on the car’s floorboard.

Bobby Is Found Dead

The police investigation was short and swift: Bobby Fuller’s death was an open-and-shut case of suicide. Investigators believed the musician, who was doused in gasoline, had died from either drinking the fuel or inhaling its fumes.

Family and friends of the fallen musician say Bobby’s death is a clear case of investigative incompetence. They thought the scene suggested someone had tried to burn his remains before apparently becoming distracted.

The Cause Of Death Is Debated

Questions were raised after Los Angeles County Coroner Theodore Curphey’s autopsy found no gasoline in Bobby’s stomach. On one page his death is marked as an accident, but on another there is a question mark (?) written after both Accident and Suicide. Dr. Curphey ultimately concurred with police and ruled Bobby’s death a suicide, saying the singer had succumbed to “asphyxia due to inhalation of gasoline.”

Bobby’s body, however, was in full rigor mortis when found by his mom. He was determined to have been dead for at least three hours. If his car was not at the parking lot until roughly 5:00, someone would had to have driven it back to the vacant lot that was easily visible from Bobby’s apartment. Eva is certain she would have seen her car if it had been there earlier.

The Coroner Is Unsure

Word of Bobby’s death spread quickly and several friends came to his home while the police were there. All were shocked by the condition of his body, as he was riddled with bruises. To them, it appeared Bobby had recently been beaten, but Dr. Curphey attributed the appearance to the body’s early stage of decomposition or to earlier injuries and/or bruises.

None of Bobby’s friends said they were questioned by investigators.

Was Bobby Beaten Up?

Rock stars are almost inevitably linked to two things: women and drugs. Both are at the center of theories about what led to Bobby Fuller’s death.

Bobby was often seen with an attractive blond woman whom he introduced as Melody. He said she drove a red Cadillac convertible. Bobby’s friends were familiar with the musician’s melodies, but none knew anything about this Melody.

Some believe Bobby tried to keep the romance a secret because Melody, who may have formerly been a prostitute, was dating another man who owned several Los Angeles nightclubs and had ties to the mob. He was said to be nefarious and violent and had Bobby killed for taking his girl.

None of these rumors could be confirmed, nor could the man’s existence.

Rumors Abound

Bobby’s brother Randy, the bass player in the Bobby Fuller Four, said Bobby and Melody attended a beach party on the evening before his brother’s death, but it was never determined where, or even if, this party was held.

Randy Fuller

Bobby’s Brother

Randy also believes Melody turned his brother on to taking acid. Rumors circulated that Bobby had died of a drug overdose at the alleged celebrity-filled beach party, and that his death was made to look like a suicide.

Bobby’s autopsy, however, showed no drugs in his system.

No Drugs

The mysterious Melody vanished after Bobby’s death and was not located for thirty years. When she was finally found in 1996, she confirmed she and Bobby were having a romantic relationship and that they had taken acid together. She insisted, however, she was not with him on the night he died, had never dated anyone with mafia connections, and has no knowledge of the alleged beach party.

That same year, amidst pressure arising from the thirty-year anniversary of Bobby’s death, Los Angeles County Coroner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran changed the ruling from “suicide” to “accident.” The change did little to lessen the controversy of the death of the rising star.

Many are convinced someone has beaten the law by getting away with murder.

Ruling Changed

Eva Fuller believed it was an off-handed remark she had made when police were questioning her that led to her son’s death being ruled a suicide. She told police Bobby had been upset in recent days because of artistic differences between him and Del-Fi Records.

Del-Fi President Bob Keane acknowledged he and Bobby were having “artistic arguments” over how Bobby was singing; Keane felt he was trying to sound too much like Buddy Holly. In addition, Bobby was also upset over a scheduled tour that had recently been cancelled.

A little rain was falling in the golden boy’s life, but both Eva Fuller and Bob Keane said it was hardly a hailstorm. Both acknowledged Bobby was upset, but both were adamant he was far from despondent enough to take his life.

Eva Fuller died in 1989 at age seventy-nine.

Eva Fuller

Bobby’s Mother

Bob Keane was among those who had gone to Bobby’s home after learning of his death. He was also critical of the police investigation.

Shortly after arriving, Keane says he saw a plain clothes detective throw the gas can into the dumpster. When he asked him if the can was evidence, he said the detective tartly responded it was irrelevant because it was clear this was “another rock and roll punk” who committed suicide. He also said the police took no fingerprints and asked no one any questions.

Bob Keane died in 2009 at age eighty-seven.

Bob Keane

Owner and President Of Del-Fi Records

Named after the Bobby Fuller Four’s signature song, the book I Fought the Law: the Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller, published in 2015, was co-written by Randy Fuller.

In the book, Randy theorizes that Roulette Records cofounder and owner Morris Levy may have been involved in Bobby’s death because he wanted out of a contract Bob Keane had signed with Roulette Records, shortly before Bobby’s death, to distribute his music.

A Book About Bobby

Levy was known for his strong-arm tactics and Mafia ties. The online music database AllMusic describes him as “a notorious crook who swindled artists out of their own royalties” by falsely taking writing credit for their songs.

Levy was convicted of extortion in 1990 following an FBI investigation into organized crime’s infiltration of the record business. He died of cancer at age sixty-two two months before he was ordered to report to prison.

Morris Levy

Owner, Roulette Records

In explaining Bobby Fuller’s death, the law has not won.

Bobby Fuller’s Family And Friends

Are Still Fighting The Law

The Bobby Fuller Four

Left To Right: Randy Fuller, Bobby Fuller, DeWayne Quirico, Jim Reese

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3694/bobby-fuller

SOURCES:

• Discovermusic. com
• El Paso Times
• The Guaradian
• “I Fought The Law: The Strange Life and Death of Bobby Fuller”
• Los Angeles Times
• Ultimateclassicsrock. com