The hidden marriage became public only after Inger Stevens died in April 1970 from a barbiturate overdose that was ruled a suicide. Stevens left no will, and Jones filed to become administrator of her estate, forcing the private union into the open. The legal proceedings became contentious because Jones could not produce a valid marriage license. Nevertheless, Superior Court Commissioner A. Edward Nichols ruled in his favor in August 1970 and appointed him administrator. Stevens’s brother, Carl O. Stensland, backed Jones’s account in court, stating that Stevens had concealed the marriage because she feared it would damage her career. The revelation transformed Jones from a largely private figure in Stevens’s life into the central figure in the administration of her approximately $171,000 estate.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Estate Battle That Publicly Revealed Ike Jones as Inger Stevens’s Husband
Ike Jones and Inger Stevens / 1970s
The hidden marriage became public only after Inger Stevens died in April 1970 from a barbiturate overdose that was ruled a suicide. Stevens left no will, and Jones filed to become administrator of her estate, forcing the private union into the open. The legal proceedings became contentious because Jones could not produce a valid marriage license. Nevertheless, Superior Court Commissioner A. Edward Nichols ruled in his favor in August 1970 and appointed him administrator. Stevens’s brother, Carl O. Stensland, backed Jones’s account in court, stating that Stevens had concealed the marriage because she feared it would damage her career. The revelation transformed Jones from a largely private figure in Stevens’s life into the central figure in the administration of her approximately $171,000 estate.
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