Going West: True Crime · Dark West Productions

Dominique Dunne // 550

·51 min·4 clips

John Sweeney strangled Dominique Dunne for three minutes in her driveway while her co-star watched helplessly.

Going West hosts Heath and Daphne present episode 550 as a Halloween special, celebrating the show's milestone episode with a case that connects the world of horror films to a real-world act of violence. In October 1982, actress Dominique Dunn from a prominent Hollywood family was outside her West Hollywood home when her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney strangled her. Dominique had recently appeared in Poltergeist, the supernatural horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and produced and written by Steven Spielberg, playing the teenage daughter Dana Freeling in a film that became one of the year's biggest box office hits. The hosts provide context on Poltergeist: the film follows a suburban California family whose home becomes haunted by malevolent spirits who ultimately abduct their youngest daughter through a portal to another dimension. Dominique's character, while not central to the supernatural plot, was a memorable presence. The hosts note that Dominique's murder was only the first event in a string of tragedies connected to the film, events that would later be called the Poltergeist curse, including the deaths of two other child actors from the film under separate circumstances. The episode covers Dominique's biography in detail, describing her upbringing in a Hollywood family, her emerging acting career, and the abusive relationship with John Sweeney that preceded the murder. The trial of Sweeney, who received a sentence widely criticized as inadequate, is discussed at length, with the Dunne family's public response to the verdict playing a significant role in the story. The tone is respectful of Dominique's memory while also engaging fully with the horror film context that gives the case its particular Halloween resonance. The audience is true crime fans, film history enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the case's remarkable intersection of Hollywood history and real violence.

As heard by us

A clear, fast-moving Halloween-season true-crime retelling with real weight.

Going West frames Dominique Dunne's murder as a sharp, Halloween-season true-crime case: a rising young actress, a West Hollywood home, an ex-boyfriend, and a public attack that lands with immediate force. The wider horror-film fallout gives the story an extra, uneasy shadow.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a devastating Halloween true-crime case tied to one of the most famous horror movies.

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