Actress' Death Ruled Homicide, Not Suicide

(CBS/AP)  At first, it appeared to be a suicide: Her husband found actress-writer-director Adrienne Shelly hanging from the shower rod in the bathroom of her Manhattan apartment.

But something didn't add up. Police were hesitant to label the case a suicide, observing that no note was found and sneaker prints that did not match Shelly's shoes were recovered from the bathtub.

A construction worker was jailed without bail Tuesday after confessing to the slaying.

Diego Pillco, 19, made written and videotaped statements implicating himself, Assistant District Attorney Marit Delozier said Tuesday at Pillco's arraignment in state Supreme Court. Pillco was then ordered held without bail pending a Thursday hearing.

"He said he fought with the victim, tied a sheet around her neck and dragged her to the bathroom and hung her from the shower rod," Delozier said at the brief hearing. "This is an exceptionally egregious case."

Shelly, who appeared in the movie "Factotum" with Matt Dillon last year, was renovating the Greenwich Village apartment she used as her office. Pillco, one of the workers, was one of the last people seen going into the apartment, police said.

Pillco, a native of Ecuador, speaks little English.

Shelly, whose birth name was Adrienne Levine, was found last Wednesday at about 6 p.m. hanging from a shower rod over the bathtub. Her husband, Andy Ostroy, discovered the actress' body in the fourth-floor apartment, where he had dropped her off hours earlier.

The thrice-married Ostroy was grilled by detectives for five hours, but police say they found no evidence of an unhappy marriage.

They also had found no signs of struggle in the apartment, nor trauma to the body, except for a bruise over one eye, leading to the preliminary call of suicide.

Her family refused to believe it was a suicide.

"Never, never. My daughter had everything in the world to live for," Elaine Langbaum told the New York Daily News. "I never for one second believed it, never for one second."

At first police thought the sneaker print was that of a sloppy crime scene responder. Then they noticed a match in the construction dust of the apartment directly below, where Pillco had been working.

Shelly, 40, was best known for her roles in the Hal Hartley films "The Unbelievable Truth," in which she played Audry Hugo in 1989, and "Trust," in which she starred as Maria Coughlin in 1990.

She and Ostroy have a 3-year-old daughter, Sophie.

She worked steadily during her career in film, theater and television but later turned to writing and directing, making her directorial debut with "Sudden Manhattan" in 1996. She recently wrote and directed the film "Waitress," starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion.

[cacee13601]

ok im lost at how this got into a big debate about immagrants but umm ok... i feel bad for her kid cuz now shes gotta live with the fact that some *** hole took her mom away from her thats not right

[rcarreon1-2009]

Boy it took you 5 times to say all that, Who really caes how many immigrant workers kids are fighting in Iraq, does it really matter? No! The fact is their parents are still illegal. Thats the problem with the United States today, We want to be everybodys hero and inforce our views on them.

[matrixviper-2009]

I have news for you "geniuses" out there in GOP la la land....if it wasn't for illegal immigrants, who would do your gardening? who would work in substandard subpaying positions so that american companies could show large profits and increase your stock portfolio?? oh, and than there is a little thing called the "iraq war" - how many sons and daughters of "immigrants" have lost their lives fighting this ridiculous unwinnable war? I read that minorities (especially mexicans/latinos) comprise a MAJORITY of the forces fighting over there...pretty ironic, don't you think?

[matrixviper-2009]

I have news for you "geniuses" out there in GOP la la land....if it wasn't for illegal immigrants, who would do your gardening? who would work in substandard subpaying positions so that american companies could show large profits and increase your stock portfolio?? oh, and than there is a little thing called the "iraq war" - how many sons and daughters of "immigrants" have lost their lives fighting this ridiculous unwinnable war? I read that minorities (especially mexicans/latinos) comprise a MAJORITY of the forces fighting over there...pretty ironic, don't you think?

[matrixviper-2009]

I have news for you "geniuses" out there in GOP la la land....if it wasn't for illegal immigrants, who would do your gardening? who would work in substandard subpaying positions so that american companies could show large profits and increase your stock portfolio?? oh, and than there is a little thing called the "iraq war" - how many sons and daughters of "immigrants" have lost their lives fighting this ridiculous unwinnable war? I read that minorities (especially mexicans/latinos) comprise a MAJORITY of the forces fighting over there...pretty ironic, don't you think?

[matrixviper-2009]

I have news for you "geniuses" out there in GOP la la land....if it wasn't for illegal immigrants, who would do your gardening? who would work in substandard subpaying positions so that american companies could show large profits and increase your stock portfolio?? oh, and than there is a little thing called the "iraq war" - how many sons and daughters of "immigrants" have lost their lives fighting this ridiculous unwinnable war? I read that minorities (especially mexicans/latinos) comprise a MAJORITY of the forces fighting over there...pretty ironic, don't you think?

[OolooKitty]

It's great that this story has turned into an attack on immigrants, as we all know that no one born in the United States has ever done such a heinous thing as murder anyone. No, it's all due to letting immigrants in. If our borders were closed, no Americans would ever die of anything except old age.

[bubba100766]

Thank You Intn1 Sorry about a miss spelled word Coaster26, good to see that some people do have common sense, and as far as a act like this is concerned there was a enough time to know you have the upper hand, He tied her to a shower rack for god sake, and he did confess so much for accusations, he in cold blood took a mother from her daughter and there is no excuse for that at all, any one think cause he was a immigrant, or whatever has no right to do that, or have his/her life spared, that's kind of thinking is what is so wrong in this world today. Hopefully after this election we can make changes because people it isn't working with what we have in office now.

[buckydent8]

After reading various articles, it seems that
the actress confronted the suspect on the floor below about the noise that he was making.
Living in New York, many people, especially women, do not know how to gauge when a confrontation will escalate from a verbal confrontation to a physical confrontation. Men, in general, are somewhat better at knowing when not to push a verbal confrontation too far.
If one insists on pushing a confrontation too far, that person has to accept the possibility of a physical confrontation. Perhaps even a life or death situation.
Of course I do not condone what this suspect is accused of doing.

[pulgoso1]

...cant overcome now in the present.