On December 8, 1980, music and the world stood still. John Lennon, the Beatles legend and one of the most influential songwriters in history, was shot and killed outside his New York City home by Mark David Chapman. Lennon was 40 years old.
That evening, Chapman waited outside The Dakota, Lennon’s Manhattan residence, carrying a copy of Double Fantasy. Hours earlier, he had approached Lennon for an autograph on that same album. When Lennon returned home, Chapman fired five shots, then calmly told the doorman, “I just shot John Lennon.”
A lifelong Beatles fan from Hawaii and a former security guard, Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1981 and was sentenced to 20 years to life. In later parole hearings, he revealed his motive in chillingly simple terms. “I assassinated him… simply because he was very, very, very famous,” he said. “I knew it was evil, but I wanted fame so badly that I was willing to take a human life.”
Now 70, Chapman remains imprisoned in New York after being denied parole 12 times, most recently in 2025. He works as a clerk and kitchen helper but has been excluded from several rehabilitation programs due to safety concerns. Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, has consistently opposed his release, saying, “He did it once; he could do it again—to somebody else.”
Despite decades behind bars, Chapman’s wife, Gloria Abe, has remained by his side since their 1979 marriage. Each year she visits him for 44 hours in a private trailer at the prison. “I decided it didn’t matter how long Mark was in prison,” she once wrote. “I would wait for him.”
Lennon’s death left the world mourning a visionary who preached peace and love through music that transcends generations. Forty-five years later, his songs still echo hope—and his loss remains one of the most haunting moments in music history.
