EXCLUSIVE: Did Sid Really Kill Nancy? Radar Unravels All the Clues Behind Sex Pistol's Girlfriend's Knife Murder As Mick Jagger Faces Fresh Claim He Funded Punk Icon's Court Defense
Questions remain if Sid Vicious really killed girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
June 10 2025, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
In 1978, Sex Pistols guitarist Sid Vicious was arrested and charged with the murder of his then-girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. However, he died just four months later after a drug overdose, and never faced the charges.
Decades later, RadarOnline.com can report the debate rages on – did Sid kill Nancy?
The Death Scene
Sid Vicious died of an overdose four months after her death.
On the night of 11 October 1978, Vicious and Spungen hosted a party in their hotel room, but reportedly passed out early. The next morning, Spungen was found dead on the bathroom floor, with a knife wound to her abdomen.
The murder weapon was identified as a Jaguar K-11 hunting knife, which Spungen had purchased for Vicious a few days earlier.
The musician told police that he and Spungen had argued that night but gave conflicting versions of what happened next, saying, "I stabbed her, but I never meant to kill her," then claiming that he did not remember anything, and then that Spungen had fallen onto the knife.
He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, but was released on bail. Four months later, he died of a heroin overdose.
Vicious' bandmate Johnny Rotten, whose real name is John Lydon, recently revealed had the case had gone to trial, Vicious would have had the support of famed Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger.
Speaking with host Michael Anthony on his self-titled podcast, Rotten revealed: "I know that at the time, indirectly, Mick Jagger put up a lawyer to help Sid's case."
However, Rotten clarified the case was "too far gone."
Mystery Man Emerges
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in 1975.
With questions remaining, British director Alan G. Parker tracked down more than 180 witnesses and unearthed previously unseen police reports for his documentary Who Killed Nancy?
Parker contends medical tests carried out on Vicious at the time of his arrest showed the musician couldn't have been responsible for the attack – as he was passed out cold at the time after taking as many as 30 tabs of the sedative barbiturate Tuinal, enough to kill him, let alone keep him comatose for hours.
So, who was responsible? According to Parker, many at the party pointed to a man known only as "Michael", who one friend of the couple swears was alone in the room with them during those fateful final hours.
Michael disappeared after the murder, and police made no effort to find him.
Money Motive
Vicious was the band's bass player.
The filmmaker argues that Spungen, the daughter of a wealthy middle-class Philadelphia family, had recently come into a large batch of cash, and could have been specifically targeted.
"I have followed this story for over 20 years," Parker said. "The more I researched and dug around, the more I became convinced that Sid was innocent. The police thought they had their man, and when he died, the whole thing could be put away and forgotten about."
Friends of the rock legend agree.
Photographer Eileen Polk, who hung out with Spungen in the mid-'70s, reasoned: "I think when Sid awoke stoned out of his mind and realized she was dead, he might have assumed he did it."
Friends Speak Out
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Lead singer Johnny Rotten was a guest on 'The Michael Anthony Show,' and opened up about the case.
Another pal speculated it was possible Spungen stabbed herself for attention, thinking Vicious would come to her rescue, but he was too out of it to help her.
Even legendary actor Gary Oldman, who famously played Vicious in the 1986 film Sid & Nancy, had his doubts.
"The final scene (was originally written) as a suicide pact," he told the LA Times. "But after all the research I did, I was convinced it wasn't a suicide pact and that Sid didn't murder her."
Chloe Webb, who played Spungen, added: "Given their personalities and the way they lived, the random drug taking they indulged in, it was an accident waiting to happen."
