On the night of Dec. 8, 1980, former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building on the Upper West Side of New York City. Chapman reportedly remained at the scene holding an album signed earlier in the night by Lennon and a copy of J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher In The Rye. 

At Chapman’s arraignment, artist Richard Tomlinson said, “he stood there like a bump on a log. Nothing going on in his face.”

Added artist Aggie Kenny: “I thought he looked like a sloppy overweight teenager hardly capable of such a heinous crime.” She also noted that he was still holding a copy of Salinger’s novel.