JOHN LENNON’s assassin MARK CHAPMAN has admitted to having a hitlist of other celebrities, one of whom is thought to have been JACKIE ONASSIS, widow of murdered US president JOHN F. KENNEDY.
Chapman gave details of the backup list – in case his attempt on the former BEATLE failed – during his 50-minute parole hearing last week.
According to the New York Post, Chapman said: “Probably, I thought he wouldn’t be an attainable type of thing, and I did think of harming some people.” Though three other names mentioned were blacked out on the copy of the hearing report, author Jack Jones, who has followed Chapman’s life for 16 years, has said Jackie Onassis, actor George C. Scott and former chat show king Johnny Carson were amongst those he considered killing.
Chapman also told the three-member panel that it was “obsession” and the voice of something “probably something very evil” that lead him to murder Lennon on December 8, 1980. He reiterated early requests not to be released from his Attica Prison cell.
He said: “I believe once you take a person’s life, there’s no way you can make up for that. Period.”
The killer added that he had not considered the effect Lennon‘s shooting would have had on the star’s family and friends. He said it was only recently, when he heard Yoko Ono describe how she had been left “violently shaking” after witnessing the murder, that the enormity of what he had done sunk in. It left such an impression that he considered passing on his parole hearing.
His parole was denied.