That Time Bill And Ted's Co-Writer Was (Falsely) Suspected Of Being The Night Stalker

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted Face the Music

Ed Solomon is best known for writing a trilogy of comedy movies about a couple of slackers who travel through time, but it turns out that once, 25 years ago, the man known for writing comedy like the Bill and Ted movies was actually wrapped up in an incredibly serious series of events. He was briefly considered a suspect in the Night Stalker case. Solomon took to Twitter to explain the random series of events that transpired that made him a suspect, and it sounds like something out of a movie, though one that's significantly less funny.

Netflix recently dropped a new documentary series on the Night Stalker case which has resulted in a resurgence in popularity in the serial murder spree from the 1980s. It was likely this which resulted in screenwriter Ed Solomon recounting the story of how he found himself part of the case. His Twitter thread opens in about the most ominous way possible, with Solomon receiving a series of phone calls in the middle of the night asking him if he was the Night Stalker. He kept hanging up, but as they continued, he finally spoke to one of the callers, who turned out to be a reporter...

The reporter explained that my car was found at the crime scene, which made no sense because I looked out my window & saw it was still in the parking space of my Westwood apartment. I had to hang up because the police were walking up my driveway - but weirdly slowly.

Solomon says that the cops had a strange attitude when they questioned him, but they also wouldn't explain why it was that they were talking to him in the first place. As one can imagine, the entire experience was a little nuts, especially for somebody who had just woken up to find the police at his door. Even by the time the cops spoke with Solomon it seems they had realized he wasn't the person they wanted, but it didn't make the experience any less surreal.

Eventually Ed Solomon is able to piece together that it all comes back to a car, but not his own. Solomon's former roommate had bought a car three years earlier, but because Solomon had a job, he had written three episodes of the sitcom Laverne and Shirley, the loan for the car had been put in his name. The ex-roommate had very recently sold the vehicle to somebody else, but that's where random happenstance comes in. Solomon continued...

The guy who 'd bought it was eating dinner in a Chinese restaurant downtown, where the car (a crappy red Toyota station wagon) was stolen - by Ramirez - and driven to the murder site, where it was abandoned. The irony is my 2 roommates (new ones) were in jail for the night.

The roommates had apparently been busted for marijuana possession after somebody had noticed a plant in the house. Solomon says he likely would have been arrested as well if he'd been home when the cops had arrived. The roommates thought they had one hell of a story after spending the night in jail. Solomon had one of his own. I think he won.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.