A Death in California

A Death in California is a 1985 American crime drama television miniseries directed by Delbert Mann and starring Cheryl Ladd, Sam Elliott, Alexis Smith, and Fritz Weaver. It follows a Beverly Hills socialite (Ladd) who experiences Stockholm syndrome over a psychotic killer (Elliott) after he murders her fiancé and then rapes and terrorizes her at a ranch in Tulare County, California. It is based on the 1981 book of the same name by Joan Barthel, which chronicled the real-life assault against Los Angeles socialite Hope Masters and the murder of her fiancé, Bill Ashlock, in 1973.