At one point Mickey Rooney was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He had a long career that saw him go from child star to leading man. However, by the time he passed away in 2014, he had very little left.
His assets totaled $18,000.
In a strange story, Rooney's eighth and last wife, Janice Rooney, suspect that her own son, Rooney's stepson Mark Aber, poisoned the actor.
Janice and other members of the family who agree with her point to two key pieces of evidence. First, Mark Aber had documents concerning how to poison someone and get away with it. Second, a will was drawn up three weeks before Rooney passed away naming Mark and his wife as Rooney's sole heirs. Janice Rooney believes that Mickey's signature on the will was forged.
In a lawsuit, Janice Rooney is requesting that her husband's body be exhumed so it can be tested for poisoning. This was reported by the Daily Mail in "Mickey Rooney's family at war as his last wife accuses his stepson of faking his will - then KILLING him (and in final indignity, star's body will be exhumed)."
It is difficult to determine where this story is going to go.
Certainly, this is a case of a family that had a lot of issues and is choosing to use an estate battle as a surrogate instead of fighting over those issues. On the other hand, while it might seem unlikely that Rooney's stepson would poison him for such a small estate, it is possible that it did happen.
One lesson from the story, if there is one at all, is that it is best to resolve family issues when they come up rather than waiting for them to be fought over after you pass away when your estate needs to be administered.
Reference: Daily Mail (Dec. 23, 2015) "Mickey Rooney's family at war as his last wife accuses his stepson of faking his will - then KILLING him (and in final indignity, star's body will be exhumed)."