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As the end of life approaches, some individuals feel compelled to unburden themselves by revealing secrets they've carried throughout their existence. This act of confession may be driven by a desire to depart with a clear conscience or to provide closure or insight to those they leave behind. Here, we explore 10 remarkable deathbed confessions and the compelling stories behind them, shedding light on the hidden truths people chose to unveil in their final moments.
10. Naomi Shemer 1930-2004
Admitted to: incorporating a Basque lullaby's melody into her iconic song Jerusalem of Gold
Naomi Shemer, one of Israel’s most cherished songwriters, gained fame for her iconic piece, Jerusalem of Gold. This song debuted in 1967 at an Israeli song festival, just before the Arab-Israeli war, and beautifully captures the Jewish people’s 2000-year yearning to return to Jerusalem. It remains a beloved unofficial anthem, frequently featured in national ceremonies. For years, Shemer vehemently denied allegations of borrowing a lullaby’s melody to create Jerusalem of Gold. However, in 2004, shortly before her death from cancer, she confessed to fellow composer Gil Aldema, describing the incident as a 'regrettable work accident' that might have contributed to her illness. She admitted to hearing a well-known Basque lullaby, which subconsciously influenced her work. Aldema revealed that Shemer had consented to disclose this secret posthumously.
Interesting Fact: In 2005, the lullaby Pello Joxepe gained global attention when it was revealed as the inspiration behind Jerusalem of Gold’s melody. Spanish singer Paco Ibáñez, who performed the lullaby in Israel in 1962, where Shemer first encountered it, expressed honor upon learning of its influence on her work. You can listen to Ofra Haza’s rendition of Jerusalem of Gold from a 1998 Israel concert here.
9. Naaman Diller 1935- 2004
Admitted to: orchestrating the infamous clock collection heist
In 1983, Israel witnessed its most expensive heist when 106 timepieces, valued at millions of dollars, were stolen from a Jerusalem museum. Among the stolen items was Marie Antoinette’s pocket watch, worth over £19 million ($30 million). The mystery remained unsolved for nearly 25 years until 2006, when a Tel Aviv watchmaker informed the police that he had purchased 40 items, including the iconic pocket watch, from an anonymous seller for $40,000. Forensic analysis of the clocks and interrogations of the lawyer involved in the sale led investigators to Nili Shamrat, an Israeli woman living in Los Angeles. She was identified as the widow of Naaman Diller, a notorious criminal from the 1960s and 1970s. Upon searching her home, authorities discovered more stolen timepieces. Shamrat revealed that her late husband, whom she had recently married, confessed to the heist on his deathbed and instructed her to sell the collection after his passing.
Interesting Fact: The Marie Antoinette watch was a self-winding masterpiece commissioned in 1783 by one of her admirers and crafted by the renowned Swiss watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet. The specifications demanded the use of gold wherever possible, ensuring it would be the most extraordinary watch ever created. Completed in 1827, the watch was finished 34 years after Marie Antoinette’s execution and four years after Breguet’s death.
8. Christian Spurling 1901-1994
Admitted to: fabricating the iconic Loch Ness Monster photograph
In 1934, Dr. Robert Kenneth Wilson provided a photograph to the Daily Mail, claiming he had captured an unusual movement in Loch Ness while stopping his car to take the picture. Wilson insisted on anonymity, leading the image to be famously dubbed 'The Surgeon’s Photo.' For years, this photo was hailed as the most compelling evidence of the Loch Ness Monster’s existence. However, in 1994, at the age of 93 and nearing the end of his life, Christian Spurling admitted that the photo was a fabrication orchestrated by his stepfather, Marmaduke Wetherell.
During the early 1930s, reports of the Loch Ness Monster surged, prompting the Daily Mail to hire Wetherell, a big game hunter, to investigate. Wetherell claimed to have discovered large tracks leading to the lake, which he presented to the press. However, the Natural History Museum soon exposed the footprints as a hoax, humiliating Wetherell. Seeking revenge, he enlisted his stepson, Chris Spurling, a skilled model-maker, to create a fake monster. Spurling crafted a 45 cm long and 30 cm high model using a toy submarine, adding a long neck and small head. Wetherell photographed the model in the lake and persuaded Dr. Wilson, a mutual acquaintance, to develop and sell the photo to the Daily Mail, lending credibility to the deception.
Interesting Fact: This deathbed confession is sometimes incorrectly linked to Roger Patterson, known for the Bigfoot film. Patterson, who died of cancer in 1972, maintained until his death that his footage was genuine and depicted an unknown bipedal creature.
7. Geraldine Kelly 1950-2004
Admitted to: killing her husband, John Kelly
In 1991, after enduring years of domestic abuse, Geraldine Kelly shot her husband and concealed his body in a freezer at their Ventura, California home. She told her children their father had died in a car accident. Seven years later, when relocating to Somerville, Massachusetts, she arranged for the freezer, still containing the body, to be transported across the country and stored in a local facility. In 2004, while battling terminal breast cancer, Kelly confessed to her daughter that she had killed her abusive husband and revealed the location of his remains. Authorities discovered the mummified body in an unplugged freezer, identified as John Kelly through distinctive tattoos, including a panther, a Kewpie doll, and a skull. The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot to the back of the head.
Interesting Fact: The Somerville District Attorney speculated that Kelly’s confession may have been motivated by a desire to clear her conscience or to ensure her children wouldn’t be implicated if the body was discovered.
6. Tor Hepso 1938-2005
Admitted to: the killings of Torunn Finstad and Sigrid Heggheim
In 1978, Fritz Moen (pictured center above), a 36-year-old deaf man with a severe speech impediment, was arrested for the rape and murder of 20-year-old Torunn Finstad in Trondheim, Norway. Despite the absence of physical evidence, forensic proof, or eyewitnesses linking him to the crime, Moen was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Years later, police alleged that Moen had confessed to the 1976 murder of 20-year-old Sigrid Heggheim during an interrogation conducted without an interpreter. He was convicted of this crime as well, receiving an additional 5-year sentence. After serving 18 years, Moen was released in 1996 and placed under preventative supervision.
Over the following years, Moen’s legal team tirelessly worked to clear his name. In 2004, he was acquitted of Heggheim’s murder, as reasonable doubt should have led to his initial acquittal. In December 2005, convicted felon Tor Hepso, on his deathbed, confessed to three nurses and later to the police that he had murdered two women, naming Heggheim and Finstad. After a thorough investigation of Hepso’s confession, Moen was fully exonerated. Tragically, Fritz Moen had passed away earlier that year in March and did not live to see his name cleared of both crimes.
Interesting Fact: This case is widely regarded as one of Norway’s most egregious judicial failures. There have been discussions about erecting a statue of Moen outside the Norwegian Ministry of Justice to serve as a reminder of the criminal justice system’s responsibilities.
5. Henry Alexander 1929-1992
Admitted to: the killing of Willie Edwards
This confession is widely regarded as too little, too late, and yet another example of justice gone awry. In 1957, the body of 25-year-old Willie Edwards, a Black man, was discovered on the banks of the Alabama River. Despite suspicions surrounding his death, officials claimed decomposition prevented them from determining the cause. In 1976, a determined attorney reopened the case, leading to the arrest of four Klansmen, including Henry Alexander. One of the men, granted immunity, provided a sworn affidavit detailing how Edwards was beaten and forced to jump off the Tyler-Goodwin Bridge after allegedly offending a white woman. Despite this testimony, Judge Frank Embry dismissed the charges, arguing that forcing someone to jump from a bridge did not inherently result in death. In 1992, Alexander, terminally ill with lung cancer, confessed to his wife, admitting he falsely identified Edwards and regretted his role in the tragedy. He claimed Edwards was given a choice to run or jump, and they never intended for him to die.
Interesting Fact: Following her husband’s confession, Mrs. Alexander wrote a heartfelt apology to Edwards’s widow, expressing her sorrow and hope for forgiveness. She wrote, “I hope maybe one day I can meet you to tell you face to face how sorry I am. May God bless you and your family, and I pray that this letter helps you somehow.”
4. James Brewer 1951-
Admitted to: Murdering his neighbor, Jimmy Carroll
In 1977, James Brewer was arrested in Tennessee for allegedly killing his neighbor in a jealous rage. After jumping bail, he fled to Oklahoma with his wife, where they assumed new identities as Michael and Dorothy Anderson. They became devout members of a local church, with his wife leading a Bible study group. They raised a daughter and became grandparents. In 2009, Brewer suffered a severe stroke and, believing he was near death, decided to confess to the crime that had haunted him for over 30 years. His wife contacted the police, and Brewer confessed at the hospital, with his wife translating due to his impaired speech. Ironically, Brewer survived the stroke and later surrendered to Tennessee authorities, appearing in court with the same lawyer he had over three decades prior. The photo above shows Mr. and Mrs. Brewer following their arrest.
Interesting Fact: The pastor of their church, where Mrs. Brewer led a Bible study, remarked, “I don’t know about their past, but I know they were devoted to the Lord. They’ve lived in their own prison for 30 years. I believe they’ve served their time.”
3. Julian Altman 1916-1985
Admitted to: stealing Bronisław Huberman’s Stradivarius violin
This story earns the top spot not for the crime’s severity but for its extraordinary narrative. In 1936, Polish virtuoso Bronisław Huberman performed at Carnegie Hall, switching from his Stradivarius to a Guarnerius violin during the intermission. His Stradivarius was stolen from his dressing room by Julian Altman, a 20-year-old New York nightclub musician. Altman later joined the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., performing for presidents and politicians with the stolen violin for decades. In 1985, while imprisoned for child molestation and terminally ill, Altman confessed to his wife about the theft and revealed the violin’s location at their home. She discovered the Stradivarius alongside newspaper clippings about the crime. Two years later, in 1987, she returned the violin to Lloyds of London, receiving a $263,000 finder’s fee.
Interesting Fact: Now known as the Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius, named after its previous owners George Alfred Gibson and Bronisław Huberman, the violin is owned by renowned violinist Joshua Bell. He purchased it for nearly $4 million and is pictured above playing the iconic instrument.
2. Diane Crawford 1949-2009
Admitted to: killing Constance Smootz Hevener and Carolyn Hevener Perry
In 1967, Carolyn Hevener Perry, 20, and Constance Smootz Hevener, 19, were fatally shot while working at an ice cream store in Staunton, Virginia. Both were shot in the head at close range during closing time, and approximately $138 was stolen. Despite extensive investigations, the case remained unsolved for decades. In November 2008, new information from a witness led police to Diane Crawford, who was in the final stages of heart failure and suffering from chronic kidney disease. Crawford confessed in detail to the murders, revealing that she had gone to the store, where she worked part-time, to inform the women she couldn’t work the next day. A confrontation ensued, and Crawford, then 19, shot both women with a .25 caliber pistol after they mocked her for being a lesbian. She took money from the store to stage the crime as a robbery. Crawford passed away in January 2009, two months after her confession. The photo above shows Crawford in her 1966 high school yearbook and her police mugshot.
Interesting Fact: After the murders, Diane Crawford left Staunton for 20 years, married, and had two daughters. She later returned without her husband and lived with a female partner until her death.
1. Margaret Gibson 1894-1964
Admitted to: the killing of William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor, a prominent actor and director during Hollywood’s silent film era, was fatally shot in 1922, sparking one of the industry’s most infamous scandals and unsolved mysteries. In 1964, 42 years after the murder, a reclusive elderly woman living in the Hollywood Hills suffered a heart attack and called for her neighbor. Having recently converted to Catholicism, she requested a priest for confession. When none was available, she confessed to her neighbor, revealing she was Margaret Gibson, a silent film actress, and admitted to shooting William Desmond Taylor. While her romantic involvement with Taylor was hinted at, no clear motive for the killing was provided. Taylor’s murder remains officially unsolved, but Gibson’s confession, made with nothing to gain, adds a compelling layer to the mystery. The neighbor also recalled that Gibson once became hysterical while watching a TV segment about Taylor’s murder, exclaiming she had killed him.
Interesting Fact: The 1950 film Sunset Boulevard pays homage to Taylor through the character name Norma Desmond, combining his middle name with that of his actress friend, Mabel Normand.
You can watch a silent movie titled “The Kiss,” featuring William Desmond Taylor and Margaret Gibson, here.
