When rocker Dave Navarro was only 15 years old, his mother Connie Navarro was murdered by her ex-boyfriend John Riccardi. Dave was staying with his father the night in March, 1983 when Riccardi killed his mom and her friend Sue Jory. Riccardi was on the run for years until Navarro participated in an America’s Most Wanted Episode in 1991 titled, “Son of Murder Victim Becomes TV and Rock Star.” After that show aired, tips called in allowed police to apprehend the murderer.
Now, Dave’s revisiting and trying to come to grips this great tragedy in his life with a new documentary called Mourning Son (available now to rent or buy on Amazon.) He’s previously written about his mom’s murder in his 2001 book Don’t Try This at Home. In his book Navarro recounted taking the witness stand in 1999 for Riccardi’s sentencing: “I had to face the killer in court. I had to take the stand as a witness, and to the left of me were pictures from the crime scene on a f**king board. I had to ask for them to be covered.” Riccardi was originally given the death sentence, but that was overturned in 2012 over a jury selection issue.
In 2013, Navarro faced Riccardi again, but this time of his own volition. As part of examining his mother’s murder, he decided to visit her killer in San Quentin prison. “I happen to have one of these conditions where if I’m afraid of something, I have to do it,” says in the film.
Navarro has said that making the film has helped him sort out his feelings about his mom’s death. “It’s almost been a rebirth of my relationship with her, in the light,” he said in the film. “My memories of her are no longer shrouded in sadness.” He also realized, through making the film, that his mother’s death was the result of domestic violence, an insight he didn’t have when it happened. “I think that’s partly because I was so close to the events as a child, especially being in the 1980s, those words weren’t really thrown around,” he said. “As we were putting the project together, it dawned on me that that’s what I’m talking about.”
Dave will appear at the end of the Dr. Phil show today to discuss his mother and his film.
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