Michael Gledhill, the son of James Handy’s girlfriend, was formally charged with one count of murder after the “Top Gun: Maverick” actor was stabbed to death on Wednesday.
“A man’s life should never end like being stabbed in the chest and left in his front yard to die,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hockman said in a press release Friday.
“The victim, James Handy, deserved to spend his final years enjoying what he worked so hard for and enjoying it with the people he loved and cared about. Like all murder victims, his life mattered, and the person who inexplicably and violently took his life must be held accountable for his actions.”
Gledhill is scheduled to be arraigned today in Van Nuys court.
Police said Handy was found unconscious and bleeding at his girlfriend’s home in Tarzana, California, on Wednesday morning after being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.
Police said the man was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“I’m a son of man and I just killed a man who committed a crime,” Gledhill told the caller after the attack, according to audio from the 911 call.
When authorities arrived, police said Gledhill called them and confessed to stabbing Handy.
Before being taken into custody, Gledhill was seen walking in a neighborhood away from the home where the incident occurred.
In an interview with the California Post on Friday, Handy’s ex-girlfriend, Wendy Gledhill, called her son’s alleged stabbing of the “Jumanji” actor “unbelievable.”
“I’m just trying to get through it one day at a time, one minute at a time,” Wendy, 76, said outside her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Tarzana.
Wendy added: “I love James and my son” and said she “can’t believe” that Michael allegedly killed Handy.
In an interview with TMZ on Friday, Wendy revealed that Michael suffers from serious mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but has stopped taking his medication.
She claimed her son had become increasingly paranoid and was prescribed medication after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in July 2025, but learned that he had stopped taking his medication a week before Handy’s murder.
Wendy said Michael and Handy had a “generally friendly” relationship, although they “didn’t always see eye to eye”.
Michael is currently being held at the Van Nuys Jail, with bail set at $2 million. If convicted, Gledhill could be sentenced to up to 26 years to life in state prison.
