Shellshocked words of murdered Top Gun: Maverick actor's girlfriend after her son allegedly stabbed him to death

By RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 19:00, 5 June 2026 | Updated: 19:17, 5 June 2026 Murdered Top Gun: Maverick actor James Handy's girlfriend said, 'I still can't believe it,' after her son allegedly killed her partner. Wendy Gledhill, 76, spoke 48 hours after her 44-year-old son Michael is said to have stabbed 81-year-old Handy to death outside his home in Tarzana, California.   'I loved James and my son,' she told the California Post. 'I still can’t believe it….I can’t believe my son did it. I’m just trying to...' Gledhill added: 'I’m just trying to make it through one day at a time, a minute at a time.' Handy was fatally knifed at his home on Wednesday morning and was found bleeding to death in the front yard. The veteran actor, who also appeared in Jumanji and The X Files, was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Michael Gledhill is said to have waved Los Angeles Police Department officers down after the killing and said: 'I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.'  James Handy was murdered at his California home on Wednesday, allegedly by his girlfriend Wendy Gledhill's son Michael. She has now spoken out  Surveillance footage from the scene captured suspect Michael Gledhill casually walking past the suburban home before he was seen returning with police   He has since been taken into custody and is due to appear before a court later on Friday. Police have yet to share a possible motive for the killing. Authorities claim Michael, who lived at the home with his mother and Hand, called 911 at around 9.30am to alert police to the horror.  Security footage from a house next door obtained by Fox 11 Los Angeles showed Gledhill ambling down the sidewalk, as bloody clothes lay nearby. The suspect then returned to the house a short time later, at which point police say he had flagged down the responding officers - and told them he was the one they were looking for. A motive for the attack remains unclear, but neighbors claimed Gledhill and Handy had been arguing overnight. One resident also told Fox 11 he believed Gledhill had been suffering from delusions prior to the attack on Wednesday. Handy was born in New York City and made his first on-screen appearance in ABC's Ryan's Hope in 1977, the same year he appeared in the film Taps. Handy as the exterminator in the film, Jumanji, where he starred alongside Kirsten Dunst Doorbell camera footage that is said to show Michael Gledhill in the wake of James Handy's killing  He had nearly 150 film and television credits to his name and most recently appeared in Top Gun: Maverick as the bartender, Jimmy. Handy's other film credits include an appearance in Logan as the doctor who treated Hugh Jackman's titular character. In the 1995 hit Jumanji, Handy played the exterminator. The actor also had recurring roles on shows like NYPD Blue, where he played Captain Haverhill; Alias, where he portrayed Arthur Devlin and Profile, as Lou Handleman. Handy made appearances on numerous other television shows, including The West Wing, Castle and The X-Files. 'With great sadness, I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy,' his talent agent, Pam Ellis-Evenas, said in a statement.  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.