#RenoRetro: Sonny Bono dies skiing at Tahoe (Jan. 5, 1998)
This article originally appeared in the Jan. 6, 1998 edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal.
California lawmaker killed in apparent accident at Heavenly: Ex-singer's body found after he had been reported missing.
Sonny Bono, a California congressman and entertainer who had performed at Lake Tahoe, died in an apparent skiing accident Monday at Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe. He was 62.
Bono's press secretary, Frank Cullen Jr., early today confirmed that the former singer, whose records with wife Cher topped charts in the 1960s, was dead. Bono was first reported missing at 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Officials reported that the resort ski patrol found Bono's body between 6:30 and 7 p.m. after a search on the Nevada side of the mountain.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office positively identified Bono as the victim at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.
"From all indications this appears to have been a skiing accident,'' said Lt. Ross Chichester. "No cause of death has been determined at this time, pending the results of a medical examination.''
Bono was on a vacation with his wife, Mary Whitaker, and their two children, 6-year-old Chianna and 9-year-old Chesare, when the accident happened. They are all from Palm Springs, Calif.
Dave Horsman, a bartender at the Fox and Hound in Stateline, said he had heard rumors of Bono's death before it was confirmed. He said ski patrol officers came in late for food, and he saw rescue helicopters making night runs above the resort.
A Douglas County sheriff's patrol unit was parked at the entrance to the Boulder Lift, one of two lifts at Kingsbury Grade on the Nevada side of the resort.
Fitzhenry's Funeral Home in Carson City said the body was being turned over to the coroner for further investigation.
Today in History for January 5th
Bono, a Republican and an avid skier, was first elected to the House in 1994 and was re-elected in 1996. He was a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Salvatore Bono, born Feb. 16, 1935, in Detroit, rose to stardom as part of husband-and-wife pop-singing duo Sonny and Cher. Their No. 1 hit, "I Got You Babe,'' spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard chart in the summer of 1965.
Sonny and Cher had their own TV variety show in 1976-77, before they split up. They appeared at Harrah's Tahoe in the 1970s.
Bono got his start in politics when he won the Palm Springs mayoral race in 1988. He served until 1992.
His death comes just days after Michael Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died of head injuries Dec. 31 in a ski accident in Aspen, Colo. Kennedy hit a tree while playing football on skis.
Gazette-Journal staffer Jeff DeLong contributed to this s
