Woman held in Reseda murder case is daughter of late actor Ray Sharkey
Ray Sharkey in 1992 at the Seventh Annual IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards nomination announcement party.
A woman arrested on suspicion of using a baseball bat to beat her boyfriend’s mother to death is the daughter of actor Ray Sharkey, who succumbed to complications from AIDS after a career marred by drug abuse.
Cecelia Sharkey, 26, was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder Saturday, hours after she allegedly struck her boyfriend’s mother in the head with a baseball bat, said Sgt. James Harper of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The attack, which occurred in the backyard of a Reseda home, was triggered by a dispute, Harper said. The victim, whose identity was not released, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to the L.A. County coroner’s office.
Harper said that after the incident, Sharkey fled to her Mid-Wilshire home, where she was arrested Saturday afternoon.
Ray Sharkey starred in the TV series “Wiseguy” and won a Golden Globe award for the 1980 film “The Idolmaker,” playing a character inspired by legendary talent manager and producer Bob Marcucci.
On the CBS drama “Wiseguy,” Ray Sharkey played Sonny Steelgrave, an Atlantic City mafioso -- one of many tough guy characters he portrayed in movies and television.
Off the soundstage, he battled addiction to cocaine, alcohol and heroin. A year before his death, Canadian authorities arrested him on suspicion of heroin possession.
In 1989, his then-wife Carole Graham gave birth to Cecelia Bonnie Sharkey. She was 4 when her father died in a Brooklyn hospital.
Ray Sharkey’s former manager, Herb Nanas, told The Times on Monday that he had not maintained contact with the actor’s ex-wife or their daughter.
Cecelia Sharkey is being held in lieu of $1-million bond, according to jail records. It’s unclear if she has retained an attorney.
For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
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