Where is John Sweeney now? Dominique Dunne murder case brought up in Monsters on Netflix

Monsters on Netflix primarily tells the story of the Menendez brothers, who killed their parents Kitty and José following years of abuse. But in the show, another murder trial is featured – that of Dominique Dunne, who was killed by John Sweeney.

In the show, we see a small part of the murder trial for John Sweeney recreated, before seeing him sentenced. The father of Dominique Dunne, Dominick, who was a Vanity Fair journalist, then had a part in the Menendez trial.

So, following the Netflix series, here’s what happened to Dominique Dunne explained, and an update on where John Sweeney is now.

What happened to Dominique Dunne and how did she know John Sweeney?

Dominique Dunn in Poltergeist (right)

22-year-old Dominique Dunne was a movie star, best known for her role in 1982 horror classic, Poltergeist. In the film, she played the eldest daughter of a family surrounded by ghosts, after finding out their new home was built on the top of a cemetery. She started her on-screen career in 1979, with the film Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker.

Just five months after Poltergeist was released, Dominique Dunne was killed by her former boyfriend, John Sweeney. Sweeney had been working at restaurant Ma Maison, and here in 1981 he met Dominique.

The pair quickly became a couple and moved in together after just a couple a months. But quite quickly, it looked as though things already weren’t working out. Dominique would visit her parents’ house in tears after fights with Sweeney, and he is said to have broken furniture in rages during arguments.

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In one argument, John Sweeney took his anger out on Dominique for the first time, and choked her – this was just one month before her death. According to Distractify, her injuries were so bad she didn’t need makeup for one of her film roles in which she played someone who had been beaten up. In one argument, Sweeney pulled some of Dominique’s hair out.

On October 30th 1982, Sweeney turned up to the home angry – at the time, Dominique was rehearsing with fellow actor, David Packer. Packer said Dominique went outside to see Sweeney, and not long later he heard a scream and a thud. Packer then phoned the police, and when they arrived, Sweeney said: “I killed my girlfriend and I tried to kill myself.”

It was later concluded John Sweeney had strangled Dominique Dunne for six minutes. She was placed into a coma, but her life support was switched off six days later.

During the trial of John Sweeney, the judge removed first-degree murder as an option. He was instead found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to six years in prison. In the trial, testimony from an ex girlfriend of Sweeney’s who claimed he had been violent against her was not heard. The jury foreman said if they’d been able to hear all of the evidence, they would have convicted Sweeney of murder.

Where is John Thomas Sweeney now?

via YouTube

In September 1986, John Sweeney was released from prison, after serving just over three years and seven months for the murder of Dominique Dunne. Following his release, he went back to working in the food industry, which he had been in before his crime. He went on to be head chef at The Chronicle, a fancy spot in Santa Monica.