Sam Cooke's companion the night that Bertha Franklin shot and killed him was Elisa Boyer. Even though there were a lot of confusing rumors and explanations about how he died, the jury found Bertha not guilty of justified homicide. - Cooke was shot and died at the Hacienda Motel on December 11, 1964, at three in the morning. He was 33 years old.
- Cooke died from a gunshot wound to the heart, according to an autopsy. Bertha Franklin, the manager of the motel, shot him.
Justified homicide was the official police finding (self-defence).
Bertha Franklin said that Cooke had booked into the motel earlier in the evening with a woman by the name of Elisa Boyer in official police statement.
She then heard a ruckus as Cooke yelled, "Where's the girl?" as he pounded on the manager's office door. Cooke was the only person in the office, according to Franklin, but he refused to leave.
He had on one shoe and a sports coat when he pushed his way into the office. He then seized Franklin and demanded to know Boyer's location. Following a struggle between Franklin and Cooke, Franklin shot Cooke as he lay motionless on the ground.
After moving forward once more slowly and reportedly saying, "Lady, you shot me," Franklin whacked Cooke in the head with a broom, causing him to fall to the ground and die.
According to Elisa Boyer Cooke's companion on the night he died, Elisa Boyer, asserts that the two had met earlier that evening in a nightclub. After they parted ways, she begged Cooke to drive her home.
He took her to the motel against her will, nonetheless. Cooke started to harass her after they had checked into a room, and she felt that she might be raped.
She hurriedly grabbed her belongings as Cooke went to the restroom, unintentionally grabbing most of his as well (hence his undressed position in the manager's office), and she fled the motel. She called the police to report the event after that.
Many conspiracy theorists think that Allen Klein, his manager, may have been responsible for any plot that may have taken place. After Cooke passed away, Klein, the proprietor of Tracey, Ltd., became the legal owner of all of Cooke's recordings.
The sad passing of Cooke was quite advantageous for the musicmogul because his star was rising. However, other than a reputation for brutality and rumors of a disagreement between Cooke and Klein, there has never been any proof linking him to the case. Elisa Boyer was with sam Cooke when he was shot dead by a motel manager.
She is dead.
Elisa Boyer was 66 when she died.
No, she died in Illinois in 2002.
Did Elisa Boyer plan to rob Cooke, with his death being an unanticipated complication, along with Bertha Franklin? Bertha Franklin was unknown to Boyer. That's not to suggest that motels in Los Angeles didn't engage in such behavior, or that prostitutes (like Boyer) weren't aware of it. In this instance, that is simply absurd.