Robert Bloom Sr. was shot and killed on April 22, 1982, in Los Angeles, California. Bloom Jr. then entered the house and killed his stepmother, Josephine Bloom, and his 8-year-old stepsister, Sandra Hughes; the stepsister was reportedly stabbed 23 times with a pair of scissors before being shot.

The case produced prolonged and complicated litigation. Bloom Jr. was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to death in 1984; that conviction was later overturned in 1997 because his attorney failed to present evidence of mental impairment. In a subsequent trial he was reconvicted of first-degree murder for his father’s killing, while juries and prosecutors produced different outcomes on the other killings, resulting in second-degree murder convictions for the stepmother and stepsister at one point.

Witnesses described a tumultuous relationship between Bloom Jr. and his father, including allegations of physical abuse and frequent arguments; the day before the killings Bloom Jr. reportedly called his father from a pay phone and said his father would no longer control his life. Does anyone have information about the family or the events around April 22, 1982, that could shed more light on what led to these killings?