In the decades since this horrifying murder-suicide took place in the early hours of
May 28, 1998, people continue to speculate on all the bizarre things about the Phil Hartman case.
Let's take a look at these details, and see if we can't paint a clearer picture of the tragedy.
In the evening of May 27, Brynn Hartman had met up with producer friend Christine Zander
at Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo, and by all accounts, there were no signs that
she was troubled. In fact, she appeared to be quite the opposite. According to People,
she reportedly "nursed" two Cosmopolitans over two hours. Zander later told the publication:
"She was in a good frame of mind.
She seemed content [...] We made plans to see each other the following weekend."
This account is further backed up by Tony Penn,
the general manager and part-owner of the restaurant, who likewise commented upon the
overall mood of the two friends on the night in question. He told the Los Angeles Times:
"Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They were in an upbeat mood."
The restaurant was reportedly a favorite of the Hartmans,
with them celebrating Brynn's 40th birthday just a month prior to the incident. They were
well known by staff, with bartender Todd Red suggesting that the couple, quote,
"always seemed happy" when they visited the establishment. However, he did add:
"The only thing unusual was she was there without Phil."
According to People, when Brynn left, she reportedly told Red:
"'I'll be back real soon, and I'll be sure to bring Phil next time.'"
Following the murder-suicide, tabloids were brutally enthusiastic about digging up as
much dirt as possible on the alleged "marital discord" of the Hartmans.
However, those who knew the couple were quick to counter
such conjecture. A statement shared by the couple's respective families read:
"The unbridled speculation offered in the media [is] unfounded. Phil and
Brynn were a loving couple, devoted to each other and their children."
Friends of the couple suggested that they experienced everyday marital
stressors no different from anyone else in the entertainment industry.
One friend, Andrea Diamond, told the Los Angeles Times:
"He was away a lot and she and the kids were home. It was hard,
but that's what you sign up for if you marry someone in this business."
Brynn's brother Greg Omdahl likewise told ABC News that his sister needed
reassurance that such marital issues were "normal." He said:
"Maybe she felt Phil was spending too much time with his boat or
airplane [...] [and] not enough time with the kids."
However, Omdahl echoed sentiments shared by friends and family across various publications,
that the couple appeared to have moved beyond the rough patches in
their marriage and were committed to moving forward together. He claimed:
"They had seen a counselor and both of them said that really helped and [that]
they're trying to improve for their spouse. I mean, they cared that much about each other."
Though the perspective of many friends and family seemed to suggest that the
Hartmans had regular marital issues that they were continuing to work through,
others painted a less than idyllic picture centering around Brynn Hartman's alleged
anger issues. Steve Small, Phil's friend and attorney, suggested that the two had separated
on more than one occasion. Quite notably, Phil had also reportedly told him that Brynn, quote,
"had trouble controlling her anger." Small alleged to the Los Angeles Times:
"She got attention by losing her temper. Phil said that he had to [...] restrain her at times."
Phil's ex-wife Lisa Strain maintained a friendship with him following their divorce,
and likewise told People Magazine that he had confessed to her how Brynn would, quote,
"create scenes and throw fits." However, though Strain was aware of this element within the
couple's marriage, she didn’t think it represented a fatal flaw in the relationship. She said:
"I never thought it would go that far. I can't imagine someone going that far."
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse,
you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.
You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
Sadly, Lisa Strain also reportedly had first-hand experience of these anger issues after receiving
a violent, four-page letter from Brynn Hartman in 1988. According to Strain, the letter was prompted
by a card she'd sent to the couple congratulating them both on the birth of Sean, their first child.
As recounted in the book, "You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman,"
Strain told author Mike Thomas that Brynn had sent a terse warning that there'd be
consequences if she contacted Phil again. As well as writing a threat against her life,
Strain also alleged that the letter read that Brynn would, quote,
"rip [her] eyes out" if she ever did reach back out to her ex.
Strain has described the letter to People as being
"the most hideous vitriol you could imagine" and further explained to ABC News:
"Do not be in touch with Phil. Do not be in touch with me.
Never, ever, ever come near us or you will really be sorry."
As Strain tells it, Phil was aware of the letter when she brought it up to him as a
point of concern. Shockingly, Phil not only knew about it but also suggested he
knew of an earlier draft of it which was somehow even worse, telling her:
"'You should've seen the letter she wanted to send.'"
Reportedly, Phil Hartman used sleep as a method for appeasing
and averting conflict with his wife. Attorney Steve Small told the Los Angeles Times:
"[The couple] had a pattern of arguing at night,
and he would go to sleep and everything would be okay in the morning. I think he felt safe
going to sleep, and he just shouldn't have. I think she just lost control."
According to the police report, Phil had been shot by Brynn in his sleep. People also
revealed that the two had experienced a, quote, "heated argument" earlier that night. Small
suggested that this familiar pattern may have once again taken place on the night of Phil's murder,
with the comedian opting to fall sleep as a way to end this potential quarrel. Small said:
"He had made it very clear that if she started using drugs again,
that would end the relationship."
The lawyer suggested that the couple were emotional opposites, with Brynn using her
temper to elicit a reaction from her often quiet, withdrawn husband. Phil apparently once told him:
"'I go into my cave and she throws grenades to get me out.'"
After enjoying a couple of slow, placid drinks with her friend at Buca di Beppo,
Brynn Hartman went on to the home of her long-time pal Ron Douglas
at about 10:15. According to what Douglas told police, the two enjoyed a few beers together,
and Brynn brought up some marital complaints to him. At around 12:45, Brynn headed back home.
But that wasn't the last that Douglas heard from her. Sometime around 3:25 AM,
approximately an hour and a half after killing her husband, Brynn called Douglas to let him know that
Phil Hartman wasn't home. Strangely, she suggested that Phil had left her a note which read:
"I'm going out for the night. I'll be back."
She claimed that she didn't want to be alone. As well as raising concerns about the welfare
of her kids if she were to leave the house whilst Phil also wasn't home, Douglas also
reportedly told her to take some aspirin and go to sleep. She didn't take his advice.
Twenty minutes after hanging up on his friend, Ron Douglas was awoken by Brynn Hartman banging
on his front door and ringing his doorbell. As he told police, Brynn appeared "highly
intoxicated." Notably, during this time, she also confessed to the murder of her husband. According
to Time magazine, Douglas found the admission to be completely inconceivable, telling police:
"She said she had killed her husband, and I didn't believe her."
Not only did Brynn confess to Douglas, but he also witnessed her Smith & Wesson .38 revolver,
which fell out of her bag in his presence. According to Salon, though the weapon was
an obvious concern, he recalls the gun appearing to be fully loaded when he first checked it — as
though no bullets had been used. Sadly, his first appraisal of the piece seemed to be incorrect.
When following Brynn back to the home she shared with Phil, Douglas had an opportunity to check the
barrel of the gun once more and upon doing so, saw that two of the bullets were missing. He'd
later discovered that even this was incorrect: Brynn had used three bullets to kill her husband.
In one of the most bizarre details of the case, Brynn Hartman crawled into
bed next to her dead husband and decided it would be by his side where she would die.
Not long after Ron Douglas had entered her home and discovered Phil's dead body, Brynn's horrified
friend called the police to report the incident whilst Brynn locked herself in the bedroom.
After calling her sister and having a brief phone conversation with police,
Brynn took her spot next to Phil and shot herself in the head using a different gun than the one
Douglas had earlier confiscated. The Hartman case autopsy report describes the two bodies as
lying side by side, with Phil's body on the right and Brynn's on the left.
The bullet Brynn used was reportedly lodged into the wooden headboard of the bed
when responding officers entered the house and found the two bodies together.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.
As recalled by the responding officers at the scene of the crime,
the couple's two children were, thankfully, mostly oblivious to the violence. According to ABC News,
Sean Hartman –- who was 9-years-old at the time of the incident -– later shared that he heard
sounds like, quote, "the slamming of a door" when his father was killed. After calling the police,
Douglas was able to grab Sean from his bed and take him outside where LAPD officers were waiting.
As told by The New York Times, officers took the boy to their squad vehicles for safety
and went inside the house to get the couple's daughter, Birgen, who was only 6-years-old.
As police officers tried to get her out of the front door, Lieutenant
Alba of the LAPD said that the gunshot believed to have killed Brynn could be heard from the
rear of the house, where the bedroom was located. That means Birgen may have heard
the gunshot that killed her mother as she was being escorted out of the family home.
Hartman's children were later raised by Brynn's sister Katherine and her husband
Mike in Wisconsin. They've managed to maintain a quiet life for themselves,
despite the public tragedy of their parents.
By all accounts, Phil Hartman was renowned for his incredible talent for making people laugh
and smile. Following his tragic death, anecdotes from dear friends
and those he worked with professionally spoke of his well-deserved success
and of his being, quote, "one of the good guys", according to the New York Times.
From the sounds of it, this wasn't something that he took for granted either.
ABC News reported that, in a 1998 interview given before his death,
Phil unwittingly provided a prescient proclamation about how much he loved and appreciated his life,
and how he understood the delicate nature of it all too. Phil reflected:
"But there's also this sense of vulnerability if fortune took a turn for the worse."
Whilst tabloids had a field day with the endless onslaught of the wild speculation
surrounding the tragedy, her brother took direct action against the major
pharmaceutical company who manufactured the antidepressant Brynn was taking at the time.
In May 1999, shortly before the year anniversary of the tragedy,
Brynn's brother Greg Omdahl sued Pfizer, the manufacturer of antidepressant Zoloft.
He claimed that the drug contributed side effects that caused his sister to carry
through with her unimaginable actions. Per Associated Press, Omdahl's attorney alleged:
"Zoloft is an antidepressant that in some people causes violent and suicidal side effects."
According to Salon, he also alleged that she had suffered a, quote,
"rare but previously documented" side effect that left her feeling "out of touch with reality".
Responding to the lawsuit in 1999,
a representative for Pfizer responded to the claims, telling Salon:
"There's no scientific or medical evidence that Zoloft causes violent or suicidal behavior."
Regardless, the Omdahl vs. Pfizer lawsuit was settled for $100,000 that same year.
As the tabloid explosion surrounding the incident all too harrowingly proved,
when a tragedy such as a murder-suicide happens, there can be a temptation to jump to conclusions
and to point fingers in a bid to find simple answers to unfathomably complex questions.
Phil Hartman's brother John urged loved ones at the private memorial service to
be kind towards Brynn as they processed their grief, a gesture seen as bizarrely
dispassionate by many observers. According to the New York Post, he told his fellow mourners:
"They were victims of the same accident. There is no one to hate and no blame to be laid. I beg
you to forgive her. So put this incident in your past and close the door. Forget –- if you can."
In a 2013 interview with CBS Los Angeles, John further reflected on his brother's
death and his decision to forgive rather than hate Brynn for it, admitting that,
quote, "it took a lot of hard work" to heal emotionally from the incident. As John recalls,
the instant the coroner explained to him that Brynn, quote, "was on Zoloft and drinking alcohol"
and "did not know what she was doing, or why she was doing it," he didn't doubt it for a second.
"I took that as true. And I forgave her in that moment."