New details have been released in the killing of James Handy, the 81-year-old actor who was found dead in the front yard of his girlfriend’s home in Los Angeles.
Handy died of a “stab wound to the upper body” and “neck compression,” with the cause of death officially categorized as a homicide, according to the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office.
Handy, who appeared in films such as Jumanji, Top Gun: Maverick and Arachnophobiadied June 3 after he was found “unconscious and suffering from a stab wound to the chest,” according to Los Angeles police. Police responded to the area after receiving a 911 call from a person who claimed, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”
JAMES HANDY
Michael Gledhill, the 44-year-old son of Handy’s girlfriend Wendy Gledhill, has been identified by the LAPD as a suspect in the actor’s murder. Gledhill was taken into custody on June 3 after police said he “located nearby responding officers and told them he was the one they were looking for.”
He was booked into the Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of one count of murder. His bail was set at $2 million.
Wendy Gledhill, 76, spoke TMZ June and said her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia in July 2025 and had been taking his prescribed medication but stopped about a week before Hardy was killed.
“I’m just trying to take it one day at a time, one minute at a time,” she shared California Post. “I loved James and my son. I still can’t believe it… I can’t believe my son did that.”
Handy first began appearing with two episodes of the soap opera Ryan’s hope in 1977. During his career he appeared in many popular television shows, including Cagney and Lacy, Matlock, Alias, The West Wing, Melrose Place, NYPD blue and Walker, Texas Ranger.
