Murder on Music Row - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

crystaldawn · 11-17-2003, 02:04 PM

FYI - I noticed on Court TV today they are re-airing the trial of the guy accused of murdering Kevin Hughes. I believe it was one of the first UM stories where Kevin Hughes (who worked for Cashbox magazine and was about to go public with some illegal activities going there) was shot and killed and his friend Sammy Sadler was wounded. I can't remember the name of the accused, only that he was a crooked record promoter. Of course since Lifetime is so bad about updating cases I wasn't even aware there had been an arrest in the case.

Awsi Dooger · 11-21-2003, 07:16 AM

http://www.kansas.com/mld/observer/l...ly/6894457.htm

Crystaldawn, I watched the Court TV coverage of the trial also. It was eery to me because D'Antonio is the first person on Unsolved Mysteries who I have seen in person. I used to work as a sportsbook supervisor in downtown Las Vegas, and D'Antonio was a downtown pit boss at the time of his arrest last year. We never had any interraction, but I definitely remember him from my treks to the other nearby casinos.

The trial revealed that Kevin Hughes was a gutsy and principled young man who was fighting the corruption of the charts. D'Antonio's primary defense seemed to be that the original identification of the killer was of a black man, and D'Antonio is white, but the prosecution claimed the killer was wearing a ski mask and dark clothes, confusing the people who watched the killer flee.

nohwheregirl · 09-22-2004, 11:19 PM

This case was on A&E's Cold Case files last night. They show lots of reruns, so keep an eye out for it. I hadn't realized it was solved...so glad it was!

I just wanted to mention how much I loved the separate Nashville PD investigation into fraud in the music promotion industry. If you didn't see it, they basically took an undercover cop with a really bad voice to music promoters, who - for a hefty fee - got her song on the "charts." Some very entertaining undercover footage here! They believe this is the type of scandal that Kevin Hughes wanted to expose.

CanadianUMFan · 06-24-2007, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

FYI - I noticed on Court TV today they are re-airing the trial of the guy accused of murdering Kevin Hughes. I believe it was one of the first UM stories where Kevin Hughes (who worked for Cashbox magazine and was about to go public with some illegal activities going there) was shot and killed and his friend Sammy Sadler was wounded. I can't remember the name of the accused, only that he was a crooked record promoter. Of course since Lifetime is so bad about updating cases I wasn't even aware there had been an arrest in the case.

They just aired this segment on the Mystery Channel here in Canada yesterday and included an update (with a female narrator) where they said that this D'Antonio guy had been arrested in 2002 and why he may have killed Hughes. I was very surprised that they found the killer in this case and that this murder was, in fact, linked to Hughes' work as I was having my doubts about that as the segment was winding down.

kadrmas15 · 06-24-2007, 08:57 AM

Yes, Richard D'Antonio was convicted and was sentenced to life in prison. I remember they interviewed him on the cold case files segment and he came up with all of these other theories and stuff but there were certain things he couldnt explain, so yeah he did it. D'Antonio either did it himself or had someone else do it but he was certainly involved.

MegtheEgg86 · 08-24-2008, 03:03 AM

Just giving it a bump for some good news.

Sammy Sadler, the up-and-coming country musician who accompanied Kevin Hughes the night of the murder, just released his second full-length album in almost 20 years:

http://www.sammysadler.com/music.html

The Kevin Hughes murder was the first UM episode I remember watching, and for that reason it's really stuck with me over the years. I always got so sad watching the end of the segment, with Sammy sitting in the recording studio and Robert Stack talking about how he was still unable to play guitar.

I correspond with Sammy Sadler from time to time and he truly has an outstanding attitude about the entire thing. He isn't hesitant to talk about what happened that night and I've learned a lot---he actually still has the bullet in his arm.

In any event, it makes me pretty happy to see things like this.

ernmerica · 09-29-2011, 07:13 PM

Pretty crazy, I live like 300 yards from where this murder occurred.

wiseguy182 · 10-15-2014, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Just giving it a bump for some good news.

Sammy Sadler, the up-and-coming country musician who accompanied Kevin Hughes the night of the murder, just released his second full-length album in almost 20 years:

http://www.sammysadler.com/music.html

The Kevin Hughes murder was the first UM episode I remember watching, and for that reason it's really stuck with me over the years. I always got so sad watching the end of the segment, with Sammy sitting in the recording studio and Robert Stack talking about how he was still unable to play guitar.

I correspond with Sammy Sadler from time to time and he truly has an outstanding attitude about the entire thing. He isn't hesitant to talk about what happened that night and I've learned a lot---he actually still has the bullet in his arm.

In any event, it makes me pretty happy to see things like this.

That's nice to hear.

Kevin Hughes had what I consider my dream job, to be a music charter (for any genre of music) in the 80's. I would have just loved to chart the hits for Ronnie Milsap, John Conlee, Don Williams, Dottie West, Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton and all of the great acts of the 80's. Kind of job I would look forward to going to every day.

UMFaninMD · 10-15-2014, 07:05 PM

The ID Channel covered this case as part of their "Fatal Encounters" series. It was interesting to hear a lot more details about the reasons behind his murder, including D'Antonio coming up to him personally and pestering him to fix the charts, even at a convention. The show repeats next Thursday at 7:00 am EST, titled Murder on Music Row.

isotope · 10-16-2014, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

The Kevin Hughes murder was the first UM episode I remember watching, and for that reason it's really stuck with me over the years.

I remember it as the last UM case I watched on the forbidden site, before they were all taken down

.

Great to hear it was resolved, and like the poster above, I was very surprised to find out it was related to the music industry corruption angle - when I watched the segment I was sure that was just sensationalist speculation from UM.

tarheelslim · 10-16-2014, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isotope

Great to hear it was resolved, and like the poster above, I was very surprised to find out it was related to the music industry corruption angle - when I watched the segment I was sure that was just sensationalist speculation from UM.

Same here. It really pissed me off that that guy would resort to murder over his little scheme (and didn't he actually appear in the segment? grrr....).

Strangematt · 11-01-2014, 02:37 PM

The machine think a scary music

Hambone2421 · 08-24-2016, 10:25 AM

Did they ever figure out why Richard D-Antonio killed Kevin and attacked Sammy? I remember that he was a former employee, but what was his motive? Was the military hat found at the scene, ever proven to be his?

MegtheEgg86 · 08-24-2016, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

Did they ever figure out why Richard D-Antonio killed Kevin and attacked Sammy? I remember that he was a former employee, but what was his motive? Was the military hat found at the scene, ever proven to be his?

Chuck Dixon, the promoter interviewed in the segment, had d'Antonio kill Hughes. Hughes was aware of a chart-fixing scheme going on at Cashbox in which both Dixon and d'Antonio were involved, and was allegedly ready to expose it. Dixon died before d'Antonio was indicted, so he was never charged.

Sadler was shot accidentally. It was almost like a Clay Taylor sort of situation in which the gunman's actual target was initially missed and the victim's companion was shot instead.

IIRC, that hat did belong to d'Antonio because it contained cat hairs that were consistent with those of a black cat owned by d'Antonio.

Hambone2421 · 08-24-2016, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Chuck Dixon, the promoter interviewed in the segment, had d'Antonio kill Hughes. Hughes was aware of a chart-fixing scheme going on at Cashbox in which both Dixon and d'Antonio were involved, and was allegedly ready to expose it. Dixon died before d'Antonio was indicted, so he was never charged.

Sadler was shot accidentally. It was almost like a Clay Taylor sort of situation in which the gunman's actual target was initially missed and the victim's companion was shot instead.

IIRC, that hat did belong to d'Antonio because it contained cat hairs that were consistent with those of a black cat owned by d'Antonio.

Wow, that's crazy! I had no idea about Chuck Dixon being behind it all.

11-17-2003, 02:04 PM	#1
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	Murder on Music Row FYI - I noticed on Court TV today they are re-airing the trial of the guy accused of murdering Kevin Hughes. I believe it was one of the first UM stories where Kevin Hughes (who worked for Cashbox magazine and was about to go public with some illegal activities going there) was shot and killed and his friend Sammy Sadler was wounded. I can't remember the name of the accused, only that he was a crooked record promoter. Of course since Lifetime is so bad about updating cases I wasn't even aware there had been an arrest in the case.

11-21-2003, 07:16 AM	#2
Awsi Dooger Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 18, 2003 Location: Miami Posts: 1,537	Richard D'Antonio is found guilty and sentenced to life http://www.kansas.com/mld/observer/l...ly/6894457.htm Crystaldawn, I watched the Court TV coverage of the trial also. It was eery to me because D'Antonio is the first person on Unsolved Mysteries who I have seen in person. I used to work as a sportsbook supervisor in downtown Las Vegas, and D'Antonio was a downtown pit boss at the time of his arrest last year. We never had any interraction, but I definitely remember him from my treks to the other nearby casinos. The trial revealed that Kevin Hughes was a gutsy and principled young man who was fighting the corruption of the charts. D'Antonio's primary defense seemed to be that the original identification of the killer was of a black man, and D'Antonio is white, but the prosecution claimed the killer was wearing a ski mask and dark clothes, confusing the people who watched the killer flee.

09-22-2004, 11:19 PM	#3
nohwheregirl THE Mystery Machine Senior Member Join Date: Apr 23, 2004 Posts: 1,057	This case was on A&E's Cold Case files last night. They show lots of reruns, so keep an eye out for it. I hadn't realized it was solved...so glad it was! I just wanted to mention how much I loved the separate Nashville PD investigation into fraud in the music promotion industry. If you didn't see it, they basically took an undercover cop with a really bad voice to music promoters, who - for a hefty fee - got her song on the "charts." Some very entertaining undercover footage here! They believe this is the type of scandal that Kevin Hughes wanted to expose.

06-24-2007, 08:57 AM	#5
kadrmas15 Retired from Board 03/03/11 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,910	Yes, Richard D'Antonio was convicted and was sentenced to life in prison. I remember they interviewed him on the cold case files segment and he came up with all of these other theories and stuff but there were certain things he couldnt explain, so yeah he did it. D'Antonio either did it himself or had someone else do it but he was certainly involved.

08-24-2008, 03:03 AM	#6
MegtheEgg86 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: The Volunteer State Posts: 5,156	Just giving it a bump for some good news. Sammy Sadler, the up-and-coming country musician who accompanied Kevin Hughes the night of the murder, just released his second full-length album in almost 20 years: http://www.sammysadler.com/music.html The Kevin Hughes murder was the first UM episode I remember watching, and for that reason it's really stuck with me over the years. I always got so sad watching the end of the segment, with Sammy sitting in the recording studio and Robert Stack talking about how he was still unable to play guitar. I correspond with Sammy Sadler from time to time and he truly has an outstanding attitude about the entire thing. He isn't hesitant to talk about what happened that night and I've learned a lot---he actually still has the bullet in his arm. In any event, it makes me pretty happy to see things like this.

09-29-2011, 07:13 PM	#7
ernmerica Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 07, 2011 Posts: 131	Pretty crazy, I live like 300 yards from where this murder occurred.

10-15-2014, 07:05 PM	#9
UMFaninMD I love a mystery Senior Member Join Date: Apr 19, 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 1,287	The ID Channel covered this case as part of their "Fatal Encounters" series. It was interesting to hear a lot more details about the reasons behind his murder, including D'Antonio coming up to him personally and pestering him to fix the charts, even at a convention. The show repeats next Thursday at 7:00 am EST, titled Murder on Music Row.

11-01-2014, 02:37 PM	#12
Strangematt Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 28, 2014 Posts: 8	The machine think a scary music

08-24-2016, 10:25 AM	#13
Hambone2421 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 08, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 2,066	Did they ever figure out why Richard D-Antonio killed Kevin and attacked Sammy? I remember that he was a former employee, but what was his motive? Was the military hat found at the scene, ever proven to be his?