Adrienne Shelly

I have to say that I'm relieved to hear that it doesn't seem Adrienne Shelly killed herself, but it's as great a tragedy to know that some punk construction worker killed her instead. May she rest in peace.

Construction worker charged in actress' death
10:10 p.m. EST, November 6, 2006
NEW YORK (AP) -- A construction worker was arrested and charged with murder in the death of an actress who was found hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom of her apartment.

Police charged Diego Pillco with second-degree murder in the slaying of Adrienne Shelly, Detective Kevin Czartoryski said.

Pillco, 19, was picked up early Monday and was questioned for several hours until "he made statements," said Czartoryski, who would not say what the statements were.
Pillco, of Brooklyn, was expected to be arraigned on the second-degree murder charge in Manhattan, Czartoryski said. There was no home telephone listing for Pillco.

Shelly, who appeared in the movie "Factotum" last year, and was best known for starring in Hal Hartley's independent films, "Trust" and "The Unbelievable Truth," was renovating the inside of the Greenwich Village apartment she used as her residence and office. Pillco, one of the workers, was one of the last people seen going into her apartment, police said.

Shelly, whose birth name was Adrienne Levine, was found Wednesday at about 6 p.m. hanging from a shower rod over the bathtub in her apartment. 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 spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, Ellen Borakove, said late Monday that her agency had not determined the cause of Shelly's death, whether by strangulation or other means, or whether it was a homicide.

Shelly, who was born in Queens and grew up on suburban Long Island, was raising a 3-year-old daughter, Sophie, with her husband, Andy Ostroy.

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 also appeared as Jerry in "Factotum" with Matt Dillon.

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.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.