John Thomas Sweeny, the guy who took the life of Dominique Dunne, has now changed his name to John Patrick Maura.
He took his mother’s maiden name to start a fresh life after the prison.
First up, let’s discuss who John Thomas Sweeney is.
Key Takeaways
- John Thomas Sweeney works as a chef now and is believed to be working at Smith Ranch Homes.
- John was famous for killing his ex-girlfriend after the bad break-up.
- He had confessed to the crime and was sentenced to six and half years in prison.
Before committing the horrible crime, John Sweeney was known in Hollywood as a celebrity chef.
The guy used to work as the celebrity chef in an exclusive restaurant named Ma Maison.
However, while researching about his past, we came to know that he had a troubled time during his childhood.
His father was abusive to him, and to cope with everything that was going around, he decided to learn self-defense.
To escape the toxic household, he decided to move to Los Angeles, where he pursued a career of being a chef.
Then, in 1981, he got into a relationship with Dominique Donne.
Relationship Between Dominique Donne And John Thomas Sweeney
Dominique and John met with each other during a party in 1981 and began dating.
Shortly after that, they decided to move in together.
Initially, everything was going great, but after some time, Sweeny got more and more jealous.
His jealousy then took the form of physical abuse. It is rumored that Sweeney isolated Dominique from her friends and family.
He even went on to accuse Dominique of infidelity.
However, Dominique still hoped that he would change, and despite all the incidents, she attempted to reconcile with the hope that he would seek therapy.
But Sweeney, despite seeking therapy, showed no change whatsoever.
So, on October 25, 1982, she moved out of the house she shared with Sweeney.
To reconcile, Sweeney sent Dominique chocolates, but they were useless as Dominique was in no mood to return.
Enraged by his break-up, Sweeney then strangled Dominique on October 30th, 1982, which ultimately became the reason for her demise.
Then, he went on to confess the crime and was arrested by the police.
Where Is John Thomas Sweeney Now?
After the arrest, John was taken to the court for further proceedings.
Initially, he was supposed to be charged with second-degree murder, but the judge ruled out of it and charged him with voluntary manslaughter.
This enraged many people around the country. Furthermore, the judge didn’t even let John’s ex-girlfriend, Lillian Pierce, testify.
Lilian was planning to tell the court all about the time that she was hospitalized due to his violence.
John was only charged with six and a half years in prison. Later, his sentence was reduced to 3 years.
Enraged by this fact, Dominique’s father, Dominick Dunne, hired a private investigator named Anthony Pellicano.
Anthony informed him that John had changed his name to John Patrick Maura. He also told him that John continued his life as a chef at The Chronicle, a restaurant in Santa Monica.
After listening to this fact, Dominique’s mother and brother spread flyers that said,
The food you will eat tonight was made by the hands that killed Dominique Dunne.
However, Dominique’s father had plans to contract Sweeney out. While revealing the incident, he said,
I truly went through a period of wanting to hire somebody. I know, it seems absurd now. … But I worshipped my daughter. I just became obsessed with this guy getting out of prison. I wanted harm to come to him.
He didn’t go through it, and eventually, after his PI was arrested, he lost track of Sweeney.
For the past few years, John Patrick Maura, infamously known as John Thomas Sweeney, has been believed to be working at Smith Ranch Homes.
He currently resides at Deer Valley Rd, San Rafael, California.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Dominique Dunne rose to fame in Hollywood in the early 1980s.
- In 1982, she starred in the movie Poltergeist, her first major film role.
It slis so unfair that he gets to live a long healthy care free life and he snuffed out at 22 Dominque’s life at 22. He is reprehensible.
After Murdering THREE Women , keeping it simple as we all know he did Far More than ” just ” murder. The Abuse, torture, mental, emotional & physical Abuse.
A man like that Should NEVER HAVE A 2nd CHANCE. EVER 😢💔👎🏼🙏🏼🤬
Did anyone try to bring a case of mistrial because the jury was given no important context of his long history of abusing partners? (not that it excuses the jury – the jury system is ridiculous, these are not “experts”.)