Edward Copeland's Tangents

By PHILIP MESSING, MARK BULLIET and DAN MANGAN
November 3, 2006 — The body of a beautiful, talented actress was found hanging from a shower rod in the bathtub of a Greenwich Village apartment by her horrified husband, who cried out, "Why? Why?" cops and witnesses said.
Adrienne Shelly, 40, who was also a director and screenwriter, apparently killed herself, cops said, but added they're examining some mysterious aspects of the case.
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Shelly, who appeared earlier this year in the film Factotum, starring Matt Dillon, was on the verge of releasing her latest directorial effort, a film called Waitress, when she died Wednesday.
The petite blonde, who was born Adrienne Levine, was best known for her deadpan comic delivery and early lead roles in two Hal Hartley-directed films set on her native Long Island — The Unbelievable Truth and Trust, both cult classics.

NEW YORK (AP) — A construction worker has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of an actress who was found hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom of her apartment.
Police charged Diego Pillco with second-degree murder in the Manhattan slaying of Adrienne Shelly, Detective Kevin Czartoryski said. Pillco, 19, was picked up early Monday and was questioned for several hours until “he made statements,” said Czartoryski, who would not say what the statements were.
Pillco, from Ecuador but living in New York, was expected to be arraigned Tuesday on the second-degree murder charge, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Shelly, who appeared in the movie Factotum last year, and was best known for starring in Hal Hartley's independent films, Trust and The Unbelievable Truth, was renovating the inside of the Manhattan apartment she used as her residence and office. Pillco, one of the workers, was one of the last people seen going into her apartment, police said.