Tabla de Contenidos
Bonnie Lee Bakley was an aspiring actress who was murdered in 2001. Her death sparked a media scandal because she was the wife of 65-year-old famous actor Robert Blake, who was accused of the murder.
early years
Bonnie Lee Bakley was born on June 7, 1956 in Morristown, New Jersey. Her family was working class and supported by her father Edward’s tree growing and trading business and her mother Marjorie’s antique selling business. According to some of her testimonies, she was sexually abused by her father, a fact that marked her for life.
adult life
At 21 Bonnie married a second time; Two children were born from this marriage: Glenn and Holly. To make ends meet, she created a mail-order pornography business in which she offered sexual services through magazine ads. She would contact lonely or older men and send them explicit material including photos and videos. Then, depending on the circumstances, she defrauded them through fraud, loans that she did not pay and other types of theft.
At 33, Bonnie had already been divorced four times and had a record of drug possession. Based in Memphis, she was in a relationship with rock star Jerry Lee Lewis and had a daughter. After it was proven that the girl was not Lewis’s, Bonnie moved to California, where she met Christian Brando, son of actor Marlon Brando, with whom she began a relationship in 1996.
In 1998 Bonnie was on parole in Arkansas, after being caught with several fake driver’s licenses and credit cards. However, she traveled to Los Angeles, where she met actor Robert Blake. Although she was still dating Brando at the time, she was drawn to it when she learned that Blake was a rich and famous actor. According to Bonnie’s sister, she told Blake about his scams, frauds, and other illegal dealings of his, so he was aware of who she was associating with. From then on, Bonnie maintained a simultaneous relationship with Brando and Blake.
At the end of 1999 Bonnie discovered that she was pregnant. Since she was not sure who was the father of the baby, she told both Brando and Blake that they were the parents of her child. This, while she was deciding who to stay with: she liked Brando, but Blake was richer and more stable.
In June 2000, Bonnie’s baby was born, who was confirmed as the biological daughter of Robert Blake after a paternity test. Consequently, he asked Bonnie to travel to Los Angeles to recognize the girl and get married. However, it was a setup: Blake hired two actors to pose as cops, arrested Bonnie for violating her probation, and forced her to return to Arkansas. Blake’s intention was to keep custody of the baby, which is why Bonnie wanted to sue him for kidnapping. This lawsuit was unsuccessful because they reached an agreement to share custody and possession of the girl.
Thus, Bonnie and Blake got married in November 2000. By this time she was known as a “serial wife” because she had already been married at least nine times. After her probation ended, almost six months after the wedding, Bonnie moved into a rooming house away from Blake, who was not interested in living with his new wife.
Murder
On May 4, 2001, just a few days after moving in, Blake asked Bonnie to have dinner together. He was carrying a gun because, according to his later statements, he was concerned for the safety of his wife. He was unsettled that some unscrupulous associate or vindictive client of Bonnie’s might hurt them.
According to Blake’s testimony, he and Bonnie left the restaurant at 09:23 pm. However, he forgot his weapon and had to go back. When he returned to the car he saw that she was injured. He immediately sought help at a neighboring house, believing Bonnie had suffered a beating during an assault. The neighbor called 911 at 9:40 p.m., while Blake went back to the restaurant for more help. When the police arrived they found Bonnie with two gunshot wounds, one to her cheek and one to her chest, for which she was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m. .
Investigation and trial
On the day of the shooting, detectives were struck by the fact that Blake never asked how his wife had died or who did; also that he refused to submit to the lie detector, claiming that he was very distressed.
Days after the attack, the murder weapon was found. It had been covered in oil, rendering fingerprint evidence inconclusive. Nor were the results of Blake’s examination of gunpowder remnants conclusive, so the evidence did not indicate his guilt beyond any reasonable doubt.
However, Robert Blake was arrested on April 18, 2002 after 11 months of investigation. The defense strategy consisted of attacking Bonnie in front of the media, pointing her out as a stalker, thief and con artist. The legal team also argued that, due to the multiple frauds and crimes she committed, it was reasonable to think that she had enemies all over the country. On March 13, 2003, after 11 months in prison, Blake was released on bail.
On December 20, 2004, the trial began. The prosecution claimed that Blake wanted to end his marriage and produced at least four witnesses who said he had hired them to kill his wife. For its part, the defense pointed out failures in the collection of evidence, emphasized that the evidence was circumstantial, and dismissed the credibility of the witnesses, who were drug addicts or mentally ill. On March 17, 2005, the actor was found not guilty.
For Bonnie’s family, Blake’s acquittal was due to his fame, money, and celebrity status. Although some jurors said they believed he had something to do with Bonnie’s death, they argued that the prosecution failed to conclusively prove his involvement, and that they couldn’t just charge him based on suspicion. Later, Bonnie’s family sued the actor in civil court, who found him guilty and ordered him to pay $30 million, which was later reduced to $15 million. The costs of the trial and subsequent compensation bankrupted Robert Blake.
Sources
Breakthrough Entertainment (June 18, 2021). Hollywood Homicide | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Robert Blake. [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SSSaj6cA_s
Eatie Lowe (March 30, 2017). [48 Hours Mystery] NEW Dateline 2016 NBC: The Murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley . [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8WdLUL1nhM
