The sudden shouts shattered the eerily quiet night on February 12, 1976. "Oh, no! Oh my God! No! Help me, please!" reverberated through the small apartment complex just off West Hollywood's Sunset Strip around 9:15, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A neighbor ran out to see what the commotion was and found an Academy-Award nominated actor lying on his side in a quickly expanding pool of blood. "Sal, my God?" Ray Evans said as he turned Sal Mineo over and saw the gaping stab wound in his chest, per the Los Angeles Times. He tried mouth-to-mouth, but it was too late.