Star Stowe

Birthday March 19, 1956

Birth Sign Pisces

Birthplace Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

DEATH DATE March 16, 1997, Coral Springs, Florida, U.S. (40 years old)

Nationality United States

Height 5ft 6in

#42377 Most Popular

1941

It was three days before her 41st birthday.

1956

Star Stowe (born Ellen Louise Stowe; March 19, 1956, Little Rock, Arkansas – March 16, 1997, Coral Springs, Florida) was an American model.

Stowe was born Ellen Louise Stowe on March 19, 1956, in Little Rock, Arkansas and grew up in Arkansas, Louisiana and Nevada.

Her father was an engineer.

When she was a teenager she moved to Las Vegas and then to Los Angeles, where she worked as a stripper in an adult club.

Stowe chose to call herself "Star" because of her love of the skies and had a blue star tattooed below her bikini line.

She dated Gene Simmons and he sent her photos to Playboy.

Her shoot was photographed by Pompeo Posar, and included some pictures with a Rickenbacker bass guitar.

1977

She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its February 1977 issue.

Stowe was murdered by an unknown assailant.

The shoot was used as the centerfold in the February 1977 issue, and she was Playmate of the Month.

She was the first playmate with a visible tattoo.

Stowe at one time dated KISS founder and bassist Gene Simmons.

As well as taking part in a number of publicity shots for the band, Stowe also appeared on one of the band's picture discs.

Stowe later married and divorced Peter Maligo, with whom she had a son, Michael.

1986

Stowe moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1986 to find work as an exotic dancer.

When Michael was six she sent him to live with her mother but still stayed in touch with him through phone calls and visits.

The dancing didn't work out.

Stowe eventually fell into prostitution, alcoholism and drug abuse.

1991

In 1991, Stowe moved in with a boyfriend and gave up drugs and prostitution.

1996

This lasted until August 1996, when after a drunken argument they split.

Stowe went back to her former life on the streets.

1997

Stowe was last seen working the streets in her old neighborhood between 3pm and 5pm on March 16, 1997.

Her body was later found strangled and partially clothed.

When Tammy Strunk was found murdered in November 1997 police believed the deaths might be the work of a serial killer.

This theory was strengthened when several other prostitutes in the area were subsequently strangled and dumped in a similar manner.

Her murder remains unsolved.

2016

Police believe that she was picked up, killed and then dumped sometime after 5pm on the 16th.

Police linked the murder to that of Sandra Kay Walters, a prostitute who had been strangled in Fort Lauderdale a few weeks earlier on February 25.