The French girl that climbed high in America

At first sight, the French girl that did well in America was Claudine Longet, who came all the way from France when she was just 19, and is today selling her ski home in Aspen, Colorado for $59.5 Million. 

The 5.4 acre property includes a rustic, 3,500 square feet, main house with three bedrooms and baths. There’s also a 1,400 square foot guest house which has one bedroom and bath plus a detached two-car garage hidden away from the main house. 

Claudine Georgette Longet was born on January 29, 1942 in Paris and was clever enough to marry Andy Williams, the famous American singer and television entertainer. They stayed together from 1961 until they divorced in the 1970s. Longet then moved to Aspen and met Vladimir “Spider” Sabich, a well-known ski racer, at a celebrity ski event, and the pair quickly became a celebrity couple in Aspen in those days. 

They were both known for living the high-life, partying, doing drugs, and other related activities. In 1973, Spider Sabich invited Longet and her three kids to move in with him at his Aspen estate, a big change for the bachelor who partied a lot and was a ladies man, which would soon cause problems between him and Claudine. 

On March 12, 1976, things turned deadly when Spider returned home from skiing and went to take a shower. Longet walked into the bathroom, pistol in hand, and shot him once in the stomach. She said it was an accident as she was showing the gun to Spider when it accidentally went off. Spider died of his gunshot wound on his way to the hospital. 

At the time this was big news and the prosecutor was seeking felony-reckless manslaughter, but it was reduced to a misdemeanor of criminally negligent homicide. Longet was given a fine of $250 and thirty days in county jail to be served “at a time of her choosing.” It took years for her to serve the thirty day sentence and she mostly did it on weekends. 

No one could believe how the French girl had gotten away with murdering the great ski champion. To top it all, she subsequently vacationed with her defense attorney, Ron Austin, who was married at the time. Finally Claudine and Ron married in 1985 and have lived in Aspen even since. Today they spend most of their time in Hawaii which is the reason why they’re selling the Aspen home.