Laurie Kaye, the writer of ‘Confessions of a Rock N’ Roll Namedropper,’ recently recalled coming across John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, on the day of the former Beatle’s assassination while talking to Chris Jericho.
Kaye spent the early hours of December 8, 1980, with Yoko Ono and Lennon, interviewing him for what would be the rocker’s last interview. Then, after leaving John’s apartment with a record executive, she recalled crossing paths with an ‘irritating guy:’
“As we walked out [of the apartment], there was a very irritating person outside, a guy outside, who immediately just bugged me and Bert, the guy from Geffen [Records]. He gave him a copy of ‘Double Fantasy’ just to kind of keep quiet because he was starting to bug us, saying what we were doing in there. [Chapman asked] ‘What were you doing? Were we talking to John? What were you doing?'”
The author then revealed how Lennon, unknowingly, did a favor to his future killer:
“When John and Yoko came out a few seconds later, he [Bert, the record executive] asked John to autograph it [‘Double Fantasy’ CD] for the guy and John did. Then, he and Yoko got in the limo with the guys and I hugged them all goodbye and waved and they drove off to take John and Yoko to the Record Plant.”
Laurie also recalled how Chapman continued to ask questions and follow her even after Lennon and Ono departed the scene. Then, after managing to ditch her ‘stalker,’ Kaye shared how she heard John’s assassination over the radio while visiting a friend’s apartment:
“We heard the radio Bulletin saying, ‘John Lennon had been shot and taken to the Roosevelt Hospital following his return to the Dakota from the recording studio.’ I freaked out. I ran into the street, and got a cab, and took it to the Roosevelt Hospital. It had a big glass door that I could see through.”
She further added by sharing how devastated Ono was at the hospital:
“As I got out of the cab, I saw Yoko Ono holding onto someone I didn’t recognize, it was a close friend, and [she was] crying hysterically…”
Lennon was shot four times in the back, and Chapman first tried to plead insanity. However, in the following months of his initial decision, he gave up and pleaded guilty, stating it was God’s will that he’d murdered the former Beatle.
You can watch the entire interview below.
