Why former 'It Girl' Amy Locane is serving 8 years behind bars

The actress, famous for, among other roles, playing the good girl in John Waters’ ‘Cry Baby,’ is now on the other side of the bars. In 2020, she was resentenced to eight years behind bars. Read on to read her tragic story from promising actress to convicted felon…

She had been modeling and starring in commercials since she was 10, but Locane reached ‘It Girl’ status after having to miss her high school prom to play Allison in the cult classic ‘Cry Baby,’ costarring with Johnny Depp. The New York Times said she was "perfectly cast as a nice girl named Allison who's just dying to turn naughty," while EW called her a "baby Ann-Margret."

Image: 'Cry Baby' Official Trailer, Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers / Youtube

But she first gained major mainstream fame as Sandy Harling, a Southern belle and struggling actress and waitress, on the smash teen drama ‘Melrose Place’ in 1992. But they dropped her after 13 episodes for being “immature,” she told Entertainment Weekly. "Things got a lot tougher after that whole debacle. I never did a TV show after that."

Or you may remember her from the sitcom 'Spencer' when she was just 12 years old. There, she played Chad Lowe's sister. Yep, another child star with a tragic story.

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Around this time, she played the girlfriend of super popular actor Brendan Fraser in two movies - ‘School Ties’ (1992) and ‘Airheads’ (1994). In 1994, she was also nominated for her role as Jessica Lange’s daughter in the film ‘Blue Sky.’

Before the year 2000, she played in some big-budget films, acting alongside Dannis Hopper, Ben Affleck, and Jared Leto in the films ‘Carried Away’ (1996), ‘Prefontaine’ (1997), and ‘Going All the Way’ (1997)... but gradually she started appearing in fewer films and TV shows.

In 2006, Locane became engaged to businessman Mark Bovenizer and subsequently retired from acting in films. She acted occasionally in local community theater, but she dedicated her time to her family, including her two daughters born in 2007 and 2009, according to People.

Then, one night, after wrapping up a local play, she went to a barbecue with her husband and daughters. She describes it as "pretty normal" though she said she was drinking as a way to "cope with her problems."

Then, with a blood alcohol level three times more than the legal limit, Locane hopped into her SUV and started to drive back to her New Jersey home. She said she thought her husband would drive her home, but he left early with the kids.

Photo: Taras Makarenko / Pexels

During the 15-minute drive, she was speeding (53mph in a 35 mph zone) and crashed into a minivan that was pulling into its driveway. In it were Helene, 60, who died on the spot, and her husband, Fred Seeman, who was severely injured. Locane fled the scene and police testified that they found her giggling in a ditch. She said her memory was blurry but she likely had a concussion at the time.

In a trial, the jury found her guilty of second-degree vehicular homicide and assault by an auto. The judge sentenced her to three years in prison, making her eligible for parole after two and a half years. She wasn’t given the maximum as one of her daughters has a health condition and the judge was convinced she would not drive drunk again.

Image: 'Cry Baby' Official Trailer, Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers /  YouTube

After living in different prisons, she was released in 2015, the same year her husband finalized the divorce. "The worst night of my life was when I had to tell the kids that their mother wasn't coming home," Bovenizer, her now-ex, said, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Seeman and his son were furious about the ruling, saying in a 2012 video: "This is not justice... Having a sick child doesn't give you a pass to kill my wife... What a travesty. What a joke." Vowing not to let it drop, he appealed the case and also pressed charges against the couple who hosted the barbecue.

Photo: Life Matters / Pexels

Upon her release, she gave speeches to students about how dangerous drinking and driving can be, emphasizing that the barbecue was a normal day that changed her life. "I would tell them rather than avoiding painful situations or things that are making you sad, deal with them because if you don’t you will have to find other ways to numb your feelings, and it will catch up with you - and that could lead to tragedies," she told The Guardian.

In Feb. 2019, she was re-sentenced to five years amid an appeal, but she remained free. Then came the huge whammy — at her fourth and final sentencing, after Fred Seeman asked the judge to “send a message,” Locane was given more than eight years for vehicular homicide and 18 months for fourth-degree assault by auto. Having already served three years, she had at least three more years before being eligible for parole.

Image: 'Cry Baby' Official Trailer, Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers / YouTube

“I’m not really sure what’s going on,” she told the Guardian from the Edna Mahan correctional facility for women shortly after the sentencing. “I walk around in a daze. It’s really messing with my mind. I never violated any rules. I never reoffended, and then to get thrown back in here … it’s cruel. I feel like I’m being made an example of… “If they’d added more time when I was already in here, it would have saved the brutality of being taken away from the girls again.”

Image: 'Cry-Baby,' Johnny Depp Sings 'Please, Mr. Jailer,' Universal Pictures / YouTube

Legal commentator John Furlong told the Guardian that the case is unprecedented. “I have practiced criminal law for nearly 45 years, and I have never seen an outcome or circumstance quite like Amy Locane’s,” he said. "When I was a young lawyer, we punished the guilty. We did not torture them. Times have changed. Amy Locane’s resentencing undermines public confidence in our entire criminal justice system."

Image: 'Cry-Baby,' Johnny Depp Sings 'Please, Mr. Jailer,' Universal Pictures / YouTube

In 2022, she lost a federal appeal to reduce her sentence, as the court did not consider her serving the sentence twice as double jeopardy and said she had “always known her sentence was subject to correction.” While those close to her have also launched petitions to get her free, as of late March 2024, 12 years after the fatal accident, she was still behind bars. She is eligible for parole Dec. 20, 2024.