Who Shot Bonny Lee Bakley?

On May 4th, 2001, actor Robert Blake was out to dinner with his wife, Bonny Lee Bakely at Vitello's Restaurant on Tujunga Avenue in Studio City, Los Angeles. Bonnie sat in her car, which was parked on a side street around the corner from the restaurant, while Robert went back into the restaurant to collect a gun which he had left there. While inside Bonny was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.

Robert: "It's my wife. Get an ambulance here."

9-1-1 Operator: "Is she conscious? Is she conscious Robert?"

Robert: "No!"

Her kids loved her. She was a hell of a mom. A lot of other people in her life liked being around her. She wanted to be part of their lives, and they wanted her to be part of their lives. She was a good person. She was just very business oriented.

Bonny Lee Bakley was born on June 7th, 1956 in Morristown, New Jersey to arborist Edward J. Bakley and his wife, Marjorie Lois Bakley. Bonny had three siblings: Margerry Lisa Bakley, Joe Bakley, and her half-brother Peter Carlyon from her mother's second marriage. Their father was an alcoholic and Bonny had a hard time in school. And the kids were mean to her. She ended up being raised by her grandmother in Glen Gardner, while her mother operated an antique business at 6 Kossuth Street in Wharton.

Bonny grew up near a nudist colony and the colony regularly hosted community "clothes-on" swim events. However, when Bonny and her sister decided to attend one of these events, they mistakenly showed up for a "clothes-off" swim. Bonny was 11,  and although her sister never went back, Bonny did. That’s where she got her start in the taking of nude photos. Even though she was underage people were taking photos of her and selling them.

Bonny dropped out of high school at age 16 and decided to go to New York City to pursue a career in modeling and acting at the Barbizon School of Modeling. She met an immigrant named Evangelos Paulakis who needed to get married in order to stay in the United States. Bonny agreed to marry him for a price, but then she almost immediately ended the marriage and he was deported.

At 21, Bonny married her first cousin Paul Gawron. During their 5 year marriage they had a daughter, Holly, and a son, Glen. The couple divorced in 1982.

In an effort to support herself, Bonny began a mail-order business sending nude pictures of women, including herself, to men. She also ran "lonely hearts" ads in magazines advertising for a "male companion." After communicating with the men who answered her ads, she would ask for money for rent or travel expenses. Bonny eventually made enough money to buy several houses in Memphis and a house outside Los Angeles. She was unsuccessful, however, in her Hollywood career as a singer and actor under the stage name Lee Bonny.

"Bonny couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. But, yet, she did it. And she would laugh at herself,” said Bonny's friend Robert Stefanow.

In 1989, Bonny was arrested in Memphis for drug possession and fined $300. 

Bonny had moved to Memphis because she wanted to date rock ‘n’ roll star Jerry Lee Lewis. Bonny eventually did meet Lewis and even became close friends with Lewis' sister, Linda Gail Lewis. In 1993, Bonny claimed that the daughter she gave birth to, Jeri Lee, was Lewis' child. A DNA test later proved he wasn’t the father. 

While in Memphis, Bonny was arrested for attempting to pass two bad checks from an account of a Memphis record company. Bonny was fined $1,000 and sentenced to work on a penal farm on weekends after she plea bargained down to lesser charges. She was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas for possessing five driver's licenses and seven Social Security cards with different names. She used the IDs to open various post-office boxes in order to run her "lonely hearts" scam.

Bonny decided to relocate to California. She left Jeri Lee with her ex-husband Paul to raise, but continued to financially support the child. While in California Bonny began "stalking" star Dean Martin, who was 78-years-old at the time. After he passed away she decided to pursue Christian Brando, the troubled son of Marlon Brando. 

In 1990, Christian Brando fatally shot Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne Brando. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and spent five years in prison. While he was in jail, Bonny sent nude photos to him.

While Bonny was seeing Christian Brando, she had also started seeing Robert Blake. 

Robert Blake was born Michael James Gubitosi in Nutley, New Jersey on September 18th, 1933 to Elizabeth Cafone and a die setter for a can manufacturer named Giacomo (James) Gubitosi. 

Robert's parents were vaudeville performers, and he spent his childhood performing with his family's vaudeville act. They were billed as "The Three Little Hillbillies." During his childhood, Blake moved with his family to Hollywood, California, where he worked as an extra for the MGM studios.

At first Robert was known as "Mickey Gubitosi". His first role was as Toto in the MGM movie Bridal Suite. Robert then began appearing in MGM's The Little Rascals under his real name. He appeared in 40 of the shorts between 1939 and 1944. Robert was was criticized for being unconvincing when he tried to cry on screen. He was also criticized for being obnoxious and whiny. 

In 1942, he acquired the stage name "Bobby Blake".

In 1942, Robert appeared as "Tooky" Stedman in Andy Hardy's Double Life.

In 1944, Robert began playing a Native American boy, "Little Beaver," in the Red Ryder western series at what is now CBS Radford Studios, appearing in twenty-three of the movies until 1947. He also a had role in Laurel and Hardy's film The Big Noise, and the Warner Bros. movies Humoresque, playing John Garfield's character as a child, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, playing the Mexican boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a winning lottery ticket. 

Robert's father was an abusive alcoholic and and allegedly physically and sexually abused Robert. Robert said that his mother also abused him. While growing up his parents frequently locked him in a closet and forced to eat off the floor as punishment. When Robert entered public school at age 10, he was bullied and had fights with other students, which led to his expulsion. At age 14, he ran away from home, leading to several more difficult years. 

In 1950, Robert was drafted into the United States Army. Upon leaving he found himself without any job prospects and fell into a deep depression. He became addicted to heroin and cocaine. He also sold drugs. Robert entered Jeff Corey's acting class and eventually became a seasoned Hollywood actor, playing notable dramatic roles in movies and on television. In 1956, he was billed as Robert Blake for the first time.

Robert's father committed suicide in 1956.

In 1959, Robert turned down the role of Little Joe Cartwright, a character ultimately portrayed by Michael Landon, in NBC's western television series Bonanza. He did appear that year as Tobe Hackett in the episode "Trade Me Deadly" of the series 26 Men. Robert also appeared twice as "Alfredo" in the syndicated western The Cisco Kid. He appeared in guest lead roles in the CBS series Have Gun Will Travel, as well as one-time guest roles in other western series on NBC and ABC.

Robert performed in the starring role in The Purple Gang and featured roles in Pork Chop Hill and other films.

Robert was a member of the ensemble cast of the 1963 The Richard Boone Show. 

In 1964, Robert married actress Sondra Kerry and together they had to children.

At 33, Robert played Billy the Kid in the 1966 episode "The Kid from Hell's Kitchen" of the series Death Valley Days.

In 1967, Robert played real-life murderer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood.

More prominent roles followed in several films before Robert returned to TV.

In 1975, Robert was cast in what he is best known for, his Emmy Award-winning role of Tony Baretta in the popular television series Baretta. He played a street-wise, plain clothes police detective. The show's trademarks included Baretta's pet cockatoo "Fred," his signature phrases "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time", "That's the name of that tune" and "You can take that to the bank."

By this time, Robert had also become known for his often volatile behavior. Robert then appeared in Mice and Men, Blood Feud, and Hoffa.

Robert and his wife divorced in 1983.

After taking a break for a few years, he made a comeback. In 1993, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance as a New Jersey accountant-turned-mass murderer in the TV drama Judgement Day: The John List Story. Robert then landed supporting roles in Money Train and Lost Highway among other parts.

In 1995, Robert was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award.

Fast forward to 2000. In June, Bonny gave birth to a baby girl she named Christian Shannon Brando, claiming Christian Brando was the father. She also told Robert that he was the father. Robert insisted on a paternity test which later determined that he, not Brando, was the father. The child's name was legally changed to Rose Lenore Sophia Blake.

When Robert initially found out that Bonny was pregnant, he told her to have an abortion. Bonny recorded all of her phone conversations. In phone recordings Robert threatened her several times on several different occasions. 

Robert wasn't the only to threaten Bonny. Christian Brando threatened her as well. In one recorded phone conversation in particular, Christian said to Bonny "You're lucky somebody ain't out there to pull a bul-bullet in your head." 

After Bonny had Rose, he agreed to marry Bonny under the condition that she sign a temporary custody agreement. Bonny agreed to monitored visits with Rose and to get written permission for her friends and family to visit Robert's property. The agreement also stipulated that if either spouse decided to end the marriage, the other spouse would retain custody of Rose. Bonny and Robert were married in November 2000.

Although they were married, the couple never lived together. Bonny and Rose lived in a small guest house beside Robert's in Studio City of the San Fernando Valley.

Robert was distrustful of Bonny and hired a private investigator to find more information about her. He later found out that Bonny had continued to operate her "lonely hearts" ad scam during the marriage.

Robert's oldest son, Noah, said that Robert was very controlling and hardly spoke about Bonny. Noah also claimed that it didn't matter if you were, family, friends or strangers, if you did something that Robert didn't like, "you were just out."

This brings us back to May 4th, 2001. Sean Stanek heard a pounding on his door. When he swung it open, Robert Blake stood on the other side. Robert had a black T-shirt on and jeans. His eyes were dilated. He was hysterically screaming, "You gotta help me! You gotta help us! My wife's been beaten up!"  

Sean made the call to 9-1-1 with Robert yelling in the background. Sean also tried to save Bonny's life. He rushed to the car while Robert ran the other way to allegedly go get help. Sean opened the car door and leaned down to pull Bonny up. As he did so Bonny gurgled. He then put a towel to the back of her head. A few minutes later, Robert came back and stood in the street flailing his arms and screaming, "What's wrong with her?! What's going on?!"

When Robert had went to get help, he had went back to the restaurant and yelled for a doctor. There had been a nurse dining there that had followed him back to the scene. She ran right up to the car. She reached over Sean and turned on the dome light. That is when a large bullet hole in Bonny's head was visible.

Paramedics showed up and tried to save Bonny. They discovered that she was shot once in the face and once in the shoulder. While all this is happening, Robert had taken a seat on the curb. Sean sat down next to him. Robert was rocking back and forth rambling, "I knew, i knew this was going to happen. i knew this was going to happen."

Sean put his arm around Robert who was sobbing deeply, with no tears. 

Samer Issa was a patrol officer at the time. He was trying to comfort Robert while getting information out of him. Robert told Issa that he carried a concealed weapon because his wife was in the porn business. He said that "they" tried to kill her a couple of times before. Issa also said that it appeared that Robert was trying to cry, but couldn't produce any tears. Issa didn't want to tell Robert that Bonny was already dead, so when Robert asked him how she was, Issa told him to keep his hopes up and that they were working on her. At this point it seemed as though Robert became more nervous and that he was concerned about the fact that she may still be alive. More officers then arrived and took Robert to the North Hollywood Community Police Station so he would be more comfortable and out of the prying eyes of the media that quickly descended on the seen.

Bonny was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank where she was pronounced dead. 

Meanwhile, Robert was questioned. Two and a half hours later he was tested for gun shot residue. There were two consistent particles of the gunshot residue on the sample taken from his right hand. On his left there was three. This is not enough residue to be consistent with firing a gun, but Robert did use the bathroom several times within those two and a half hours. He also had his hands in the wet grass at the scene and he had ran his fingers through his hair.

Robert is then asked to take a polygraph, which he refused to do.

And a dumpster at the crime scene was searched, which led to the discovery of the murder weapon. It was an old World War II German officer's handgun, the 9-millimeter Walther P38. It's serial number had been scraped off and had one bullet left in the chamber and was cocked and ready to fire. 

There was also some kind of oil, such as motor oil, found on the gun. It was surmised that the oil had been poured on the weapon to destroy the fingerprints and DNA. Even though there was oil on the gun, there was none found in the dumpster.

Criminals don't usually leave a weapon, especially a gun at a murder scene.

Robert's clothes were tested for Bonny's blood, and that test came up negative. However, inside of the vehicle there was not blood on the door where the shooter had fired the gun from.

The car door window was half way down, so Robert had to have gotten in the car, put the key in the ignition and rolled the window half way down. He then would have had to turned the car off, taken the keys and went back up to the restaurant. It was 57 degrees that night by the way.

The restaurant staff and patrons were questioned and no one remembered seeing Robert come back in or anything being left at his table.

Detectives searched Robert and Bonny's homes. There was $12,000 in cash hidden in a bedroom dresser, 9-millimeter pistols from Robert's gun collection and in a cabinet a 100 count box of 9-millimeter rounds, which was the same caliber as the Walther P38. The box of rounds was missing three bullets. It turned out that the bullets from the gun were factory loaded and did not match those found at Robert's home.

Almost a year after the shooting, a former Hollywood stuntman, Roy "Snuffy" Harrison, told investigators that in November of 2000, Robert asked him for the two phone numbers of stuntmen he had worked with, Gary McLarty and Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton. When those two stuntmen were questioned, they told police that less than two months before her death, Robert tried get them to kill Bonny. They also said that he had a secret phone card that he used to communicate with them. McLarty said that he even met Robert at a restaurant to talk about the potential hit. There were receipts and phone records that proved the use of the card to talk to the two men and only the two men, plus the meeting at the restaurant.

On November 18th, 2002, Robert was taken into custody and charged with one count of murder with special circumstances of lying in wait, two counts of solicitation of murder, and one count of conspiracy, to which he plead not guilty.

Robert's bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder after investigators found a  "shopping list" in the glove compartment of his jeep along with a German World War II handgun in his apartment.

Later it was found out that Earle had a rock solid alibi for the time of Bonny's shooting. Robert had sent Earle out of town with his ex wife. So the charges were dropped.

Robert's murder trial began on December 20th, 2004. 
On March 16th, 2005, the jury found Robert not guilty.

Bonny's case is currently unsolved.

Who do you think pulled the trigger?

Occam's razor, the most obvious solution to a problem is usually true. It is possible that Robert is totally innocent in his wife's murder, however, he makes the most sense to me as the killer. He was so afraid for Bonny's safety that he left her in a car in the ally. The car had the window rolled down and he took the keys with him. No one saw him go back to get his gun. Then there is the whole thing with the hitmen and the calling card. It didn't seem that Robert approved of Bonny's lifestyle and he didn't even like her enough to live in the same house. He had a massive gun collection and his bodyguard had a German pistol. The gun was thrown in the dumpster in my opinion because whoever threw it in there couldn't be seen with it. They were probably on foot. Since the window was rolled down, it had to have been someone she knew. 

#WhoShotBonnyLeeBakley?