Ron Ely's son killed after murdering mother

Ron and Valerie Ely

62-year-old Valerie Ely was stabbed to death by her son, 30-year-old Cameron Ely, who called 911 and tried to blame his 81-year-old father, actor Ron Ely, for the crime.

Ron Ely played Tarzan in the 1960's TV series. He starred in the movie Doc Savage in the 1970's and went on to host a TV game show. He hosted the Miss America pageant in the early 1980's.

6 foot 5 inch Cameron Ely was shot and killed by police. He had been a football player in his first year of college and had a degree in psychology from Harvard.

Ron and Valerie Ely also have two daughters, Kirsten and Kaitlin, 32, who are reportedly "social media influencers".

Cameron, in spite of graduating from Harvard, worked as a security guard. He graduated from a $50 thousand-a-year boarding school. His godfather was Fess Parker, TV's Daniel Boone.

No report on where Cameron's life went wrong, why a Harvard graduate was working as a security guard.

That's all I know about it.


Tarzan went off the air in 1968 when I was five. I remember watching it. I never followed it. I would watch for a few minutes then wander off. In the '70's, we had HBO for a time and I watched Doc Savage a few times. I didn't know until years later that Paul Wexler who played the villain had once owned the house right across the street from us and had sexually harassed my mother in the 1950's. Wexler died in 1979.

For a couple of years when I was eight or nine, I was a fan of Daniel Boone starring Cameron Ely's godfather, the late Fess Parker. I dreamed of owning a musket. I never gave any thought to wearing one of those grotesque 'coon skin caps.