How could the popular child star have died so suddenly? A prominent Hollywood entertainment lawyer claims that Poltergeist child star Heather O’Rourke was raped and murdered by Hollywood executives. Heather played the character Carol-Anna Freeling in all three of Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist films. Sadly, Heather’s life was cut short at 12, when she passed away due to complications from intestinal stenosis. Heather’s mother, Kathleen O’Rourke Peele, 38, is furious over what she believes is the answer. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The death of 12-year-old ″Poltergeist″ actress Heather O’Rourke was ″distinctly unusual″ because she lacked prior symptoms of the bowel defect that reportedly killed her, gastrointestinal doctors say.

The news was startling. Heather O’Rourke was a young child star discovered by director Steven Spielberg and better known for starring in the ’80s horror film “Poltergeist” and its subsequent sequels. Her mother worked as a seamstress and her father was a carpenter.

Heather Michele O'Rourke was born on December 27, 1975 in San Diego, to Kathleen and Michael O'Rourke. Her parents divorced in 1981, and O'Rourke's mother married part-time truck driver Jim Peele in 1984, while they were living in a trailer park in Anaheim, California. Heather O’Rourke was the beautiful, platinum-blonde child actress who uttered the famous line, “They’re here!,” in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 horror film, Poltergeist.. O’Rourke reprised her role as Carol Anne Freeling in Poltergeist II and III, and had a recurring role in the TV sitcom Happy Days (1982-83), as well as TV guest appearances..

She had an older sister, Tammy O'Rourke, also an actress. In an interview with Hollywood…

She died in 1988 at the age of 12 from intestinal stenosis – a severe bowel obstruction.