**By Philip Koch
When wealthy socialite Sunny von Bülow died this month after 28 years in a coma, she took the secret of that fateful night to her grave. Was it an accidental overdose, a suicide attempt or something far more sinister?**
She was the gorgeous US heiress nicknamed for her sunny disposition and famed for her millions, but behind the glamorous facade lay a web of jealousy and betrayal, which spawned one of the most sensational court cases of all time and ripped high society apart.
Even after her recent death, Martha “Sunny” Crawford von Bülow continues to fascinate a world captivated by the mystery of what really happened to one of the world’s richest women when she slipped into an irreversible coma on December 21, 1980.
Despite two court cases, a Hollywood blockbuster film starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons and hundreds of lurid headlines, no-one really knows what happened to Sunny von Bülow during Christmas celebrations at her palatial home.
What is indisputable is that Sunny was found lying on the bathroom floor of her Newport, Rhode Island, mansion almost exactly 28 years ago, unconscious and unresponsive. She was taken to hospital but she never again regained consciousness. She had been found in a similar state 12 months before but was revived. That time, doctors said the coma was the result of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and advised her to follow a strict diet, limit sugar and avoid alcohol. But her husband Claus was later accused of causing her collapse by injecting Sunny with insulin, an accusation repeated 12 months later when Sunny lapsed into a coma for the second time.
While Sunny remained unconscious, her case became an international cause célèbre after her two children from her first marriage to Prince Alfred von Auersperg of Austria — Alexander and Ala — became convinced their stepfather Claus was responsible for their mother’s coma.
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale December 22).
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