On December 11, 1964, Sam Cooke, the King of Soul was shot three times in a seedy motel in Los Angeles, California. According to the facts of the case, Cooke had been robbed by a 22-year old woman who was said to be a call girl.
The woman who shot and killed him, however, was the hotel manager, 55-year old Bertha Franklin. In retelling the incident, Miss Franklin claimed that she shot and beat the singer to death after he ‘kicked in the door of her apartment’ in a search for the woman caller who robbed him.When asked further, Miss Franklin claimed she killed him in self-defense after having heard reports from another motel resident that there was a prowler in the area. She states that ‘despite his celebrity, she didn’t know who he was.’
