New Details Emerge in ‘Jumanji’ Actor James Handy’s Fatal Stabbing

New details have been released in the killing of James Handy, the 81-year-old actor who was found dead in the front yard of his girlfriend’s Los Angeles home.

Handy died from a “stab wound of torso” and “neck compression” with the cause of death officially being categorized as a homicide, according to the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office.

Handy, who appeared in movies like Jumanji, Top Gun: Maverick and Arachnophobia, died on June 3 after he was found “unconscious and suffering from a stab wound to his chest,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police responded to the area after receiving a 911 call from someone claiming, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”

Michael Gledhill, the 44-year-old son of Handy’s girlfriend Wendy Gledhill, has been identified by the LAPD as the suspect in the actor’s murder. Gledhill was taken into custody on June 3 after police said he “flagged down nearby responding officers, telling them he was the one they were looking for.”

He was booked into Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of one count of murder. His bail was set at $2 million.

Wendy Gledhill, 76, spoke to TMZ on June 5, saying her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia in July 2025 and had been taking his prescribed medication, but stopped about a week before Hardy was killed.

“I’m just trying to make it through one day at a time, a minute at a time,” she told The California Post. “I loved James and my son. I still can’t believe it… I can’t believe my son did it.”

Handy first started acting with two episodes of the soap opera Ryan’s Hope in 1977. Over the course of his career, he appeared on many popular TV shows, including Cagney and Lacy, Matlock, Alias, The West Wing, Melrose Place, NYPD Blue and Walker, Texas Ranger.