Adrienne Shelly, an actress who starred in Hal Hartley's films The Unbelievable Trust and Truth, was found dead in her NYC office by her husband. She was 40.
Shelly, an agnostic, was a writer and director of independent films as well as an actress.
UPDATE (November 7, 2006): A 19-year-old worker, Diego Pillco, who was helping renovate the Manhattan apartment that was Shelly's office, has confessed to killing her and hanging her from the shower rod in the apartment bathroom.
Very sad.
UPDATE (February 18, 2007): Adrienne Shelly's murder has now been fictionalized into an episode of Law & Order that aired last week, titled "Melting Pot." The episode is really a mix of Adrienne Shelly's murder and Theo van Gogh's murder after making the film "Submission" with Ayaan Hirsi Ali--the character Erin Garrett is a combination of Shelly and Hirsi Ali. She is found hanged in her film office, and to have recently made a documentary film called "Fire Under the Veil." (Shelly and Hirsi Ali are both known for being atheists, but atheism doesn't factor in the Law & Order episode.)
This may be the first time when the murder of someone who appeared on Law & Order was fictionalized in an episode of the show. She appeared in the episode "High & Low" in 2000.
Don't forget to add that Diego Pillco is an illegal. She'd be alive if . . . well, who cares . . .
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, what's the argument you want to make?
ReplyDeleteThere is no question that some illegal immigrants (and some legal immigrants, and some native-born U.S. citizens) commit crimes. It's also the case that greater border enforcement could reduce, but never eliminate, illegal immigration (it's as impossible to stop as any other illegal activity such as drug trafficking), and that there will ultimately be diminishing returns in trying to more strictly control it.
And it's also the case that devoting resources to prevent illegal immigration has costs (including opportunity costs) as well as benefits, and that those who immigrate illegally provide benefits as well as costs.
I don't believe this murder, in and of itself, makes a case either way, because you have to weigh all of the costs and benefits of whatever proposal you want to make.