Eagles founder’s wife ‘shot herself in closet’
THE wife of the Eagles bassist Randy Meisner has been found shot dead after a drunken marital disturbance at their Los Angeles home.
Lana Rae Meisner died on Sunday evening just 90 minutes after calling police to say her husband was ‘acting erratically’ waving a ball bearing gun at her.
Officers interviewed the couple at their house but left after taking a domestic violence report.
Meisner, the 69-year- old co-founder of the band whose hits included Hotel California, called the police soon afterwards to say his wife had shot herself.
He claimed he had been in another room when he heard a single gunshot, an account that police currently believe.
The couple had a turbulent relationship but investigators quickly cleared Meisner of blame. Describing the shooting as an accident, police said Mrs Meisner died in a closet after lifting a rifle out of a case.
As she did so, another object in the case was dislodged and managed to pull the trigger, shooting her in the head and face. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Los Angeles police said Mrs Meisner had been ‘tragically shot with a firearm that accidentally discharged’.
It added: ‘Mrs Meisner was moving a rifle that was stored inside a case in a closet. As she lifted the rifle in the case, another item within the case shifted and hit the trigger of the rifle, causing it to fire and fatally injure Mrs Meisner.’
Police said her husband had been ‘cooperative throughout the investigation’ and had not been charged.
Mrs Meisner was the musician’s second wife. They married in 1996 after spending 20 years together.
Meisner had struggled for decades with alcohol and drug addiction. Last year, a court placed him under 24-hour supervision after he reportedly ‘threatened to gun everyone down with an AK-47’ as well as claiming he would kill himself with an overdose.
The court appointed a third party to handle Meisner’s affairs after friend James Newton claimed Lana Rae Meisner was ignoring her husband’s suicidal tendencies.
Mr Newton also said Mrs Meisner was keeping him in a ‘near state of constant inebriation’ with vodka so she could control him. Meanwhile, the musician hadn’t had a bath for months, said his friend.
Mrs Meisner had her own history of bizarre behaviour, once claiming her neighbours were wearing ‘clown suits’ and were going to report her for using cocaine.