Was Rebecca Zahau Murdered At Spreckles Mansion?

32-year-old Rebecca Mawii Zahau lived at the Spreckles Mansion. 

The mansion had a beautiful view of the beach and fresh sea air. It is located on the sleepy Coronodo Island in the San Diego County of California. 

Rebecca shared the mansion with her boyfriend, pharmaceutical multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai.

On July 13th, 2011, Rebecca was found hanging from a balcony overlooking the courtyard. She was nude, her wrists and ankles were bound, her mouth gagged with a shirt.

In the bedroom, a cryptic message was scrawled in black paint: "She saved him, can you save her?"

Rebecca's name means spring time beauty. 

She was kind and had warm personality that would just light up a room. She could make you laugh even on your worst day. And she would take the clothes off her back if she thought you needed it. Rebecca would be there if you needed her. She was funny, upbeat and very intelligent. She spoke English, Nepali, and Hindi. She loved to work and had an amazing worth ethic. 

Rebecca was committed to her family, and helped provide for her parents financially on a regular basis. It was important to her that her parents were able to live comfortable. She didn't want them to be worried about their meal for the next day. 

She also hated the cold and was quite disciplined when it came to eating healthy. Rebecca didn't drink alcohol, didn't smoke, never did drugs and never ate fast food. 

Rebecca was athletic and could run like a gazelle. She ran the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon without even training for it. 

Her religion was also important to her, but she stopped going to church because Jonah didn’t go. Her family was raised Christian and that’s how Rebecca identified as an adult. Before her death she was thinking about finding a new place to worship.

Rebecca wanted to be an ophthalmology technician because she enjoyed correcting visions and the end result.

Rebecca was born March 15th, 1979 in Falam, Chin State, a town in the Chin Hills in northwestern Burma, to her father Khua Hnin Thang and mother Zung Tin Par. Her grandfather was chief of the Zahau tribe. Both her grandfather and her father, now known as Robert Zahau, were freedom fighters, opposed to the military regime's systematic ethnic cleansing through forced labor, forced migration, rape, and religious persecution. Her father was a political prisoner and absent for six years.

Rebecca's parents wanted to give their kids a better future, so when she was three years old the family moved to Katmandu, Nepal.  Their father was granted political asylum in Germany, and the family moved to a town about two hours from Frankfurt. Rebecca graduated from high school in Germany and attended Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe, in Millstatt, Austria. There, she met Neil Nalepa, an American from New York. Their engagement enabled her to immigrate to the U.S., and they were married in Nalepa's uncle's garden on Long Island.

Rebecca trained for and became a licensed eye technician, able to assist in cataract and Lasik surgery. The couple moved briefly to Colorado Springs. Around 2007, after a stop in Temecula, Calif., near San Diego, where Nalepa was working as a carpenter, they settled in Phoenix, where he went to nursing school. But the marriage started to fall apart and they separated.

In early 2009, Rebecca left a local Macy's with $1,000 worth of jewelry in several different shopping bags. She claimed that she had been distracted by a shocking phone call. She got off with a slap on the wrist, paying nearly $500 in court costs and attending a shoplifting-diversion course. 

Rebecca then began dating Jonah Shacknai. They met at the eye clinic where she worked when he went in for an eye checkup.

Jonah was born in 1957. He earned his BS from Colgate University and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center. From 1977 until the end of 1982 John worked as the Chief Aide to the committee on health policy in the US House of Representatives. He also served on the Commission on the Federal Drug Approval Process and the National Council on Drugs.

Jonah served on two federal cabinet-appointed positions; he was a member of the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Advisory Council and on the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission.

He was a senior partner at the law firm Royer, Jonah and Mehle from 1982 until 1988. The firm represented multinational pharmaceutical companies, medical device makers and four major industry trade associations.

Jonah founded Medicis Pharmaceuticals in 1988 which is known for its acne products and cosmetic injectables. His position at Medicis made him the ninth-highest-paid CEO in Arizona, earning $6.4 million in 2010. 

He had two previous marriages. His first marriage to Kimberly James resulted in a divorce and a three-year custody fight over the couple's two children. 

He had a son, Maxfield Aaron "Max" Shacknai.

Max born on June 7th, 2005 to psychologist, Dina Romano in Paradise Valley, Maricopa County, Arizona. He was born with a smile on his face. His Hebrew name is "Mattan", the gift. Max was loving kind and had a vibrant spirit. He was a very unique little boy.

In 2007 Dina, Jonah and Max moved into the 10 bedroom Spreckles mansion that they had purchased for close to $13,000.

Jonah and Dina's relationship had been a turbulent one. There was at least three visits to the Shacknai home for domestic disputes: Dina claimed Jonah's German shepherd had attacked her repeatedly and that Jonah had elbowed her in the breast; Jonah claimed he'd been assaulted several times by Dina and that she had once tried to choke him.

Jonah told his friends that he was dating an Asian princess and that his relationship with Rebecca was the most tranquil he had ever known.

Rebecca quit her job an ophthalmic technician in December 2010. She put her life on hold to move to Coronado to be with Jonah and be a part of his life.

Jonah’s two teenage kids resented Rebecca, and it got to the point that Rebecca was considering ending their relationship or putting it on hold.

Even though two of Jonah's kids didn't seem to like Rebecca, Max loved her. The two were very close. Rebecca was often responsible for Max's care. She also often took him to and from soccer practice. He wanted her to read books, he wanted her to be the one that fixed his breakfast or his lunch. She actually took the time to play with him.

By early 2011, Rebecca had lost weight, seemed stressed, was not sleeping well and was not exercising. She expressed her concerns about her relationship with Jonah to a friend.

This brings us to July 11th, 2011. Max along with his father, sister Gabby and another sibling, stayed at the Speckles mansion for the summer. Rebecca, Max, and Rebecca's teenage sister were all home together. 

At some point during that day, Max fell face-first over a second-floor banister, suffering injuries to his spinal cord and facial bones, the former of which affected his heart rate and breathing. Rebecca said she was in the bathroom at the time; she found Max moments later, and Xena called 9-1-1. You can hear Rebecca frantically sobbing and talking in the background.

911: "911 Emergency. What are you reporting."
Xena: "Hello? My sister is trying to... resuscitate him." 
911: "Resuscitate who?"
Xena: "He fell down the stairs."
911: "He fell down the stairs?"

When police arrived, they found Max laying on the floor with  pieces of the chandelier around him and his scooter resting on his right shin. The chandelier was to his right shoulder and a soccer ball was to the far right corner. Rebecca was on her hands and knees hysterically crying Max's name over and over. Max was not breathing and unresponsive. Jonah arrived home and asked to go with Max as they loaded him into the ambulance. Max was taken to Rady Children's Hospital and put in a medically induced coma.

On July 12th, 2011, Rebecca dropped off Xena at the airport for her flight back to Missouri, and then picked up Jonah's brother, Adam, who had just arrived on a flight from Memphis, Tennessee.  Rebecca, Jonah, and Adam ate dinner with a friend named Howard that evening; Rebecca and Adam returned to the Spreckels Mansion, while Jonah reportedly kept a vigil at Max's bedside with his mother Dina Romano; he would leave the hospital to recuperate at a nearby Ronald McDonald House. There were reports of loud music coming from the Spreckels Mansion later that night.

Rebecca's sister Mary, who was in Missouri, talked to Rebecca on the phone at 9:50 p.m. Rebecca was upset and anxious because they were waiting for results of Max's CT scan the next day. Mary claimed that Rebecca didn't seem out of control and was going about her normal routine. She had two detailed plans for the next day: to take things for Jonah to the hospital, where he was tending to Max, to fix something for him to eat. She told her sister to tell their mom that she would call her on her way to the hospital in the morning. Rebecca also told her sister that she  was going to text her throughout the day. She even talked about where the family would do Thanksgiving that year.

Three hours later, on July 13th, at 12:50 a.m., Rebecca retrieved a voicemail message. Jonah said that he is the one that left the voicemail, informing her that Max's condition was worsening and that he wasn't likely to recover. Dina claimed that they had no bad news about Max's condition then.

Sometime around 6:45 a.m., Adam made a call to 9-1-1 that went something like this...

911: "911 emergency what are you reporting?"
Adam: "Ya...uh...i got a girl..hung herself...in the guest house...of uh...it's on Ocean Boulevard across from the hotel. Same place you cam and got the kid yesterday."
911: " Ok sir, is she still alive? Sir are you there?"
Adam: "Gasps, shudders. Are you alive? Doing CPR right now."
911: "Ok, let me get some fire department.. Sir hang on. Let me get the fire department on the phone to help you. Hang on just a minute."
Fire: "Ok, what's wrong?"
Adam: "She hung herself man! I just woke up."
Fire "What's the address?"
Adam: "1043 Ocean Boulevard."
Fire :"When as the last time you saw her?"
Adam: "Last night."
Fire:"Ok. Is she beyond help?"
Adam: " i'm doing... i'm compressing her chest right now."
Fire:"OK, hold on. What's your name?"
Adam: "Adam Shackani."
Fire: "Ok sir, is she still alive?"
Adam: "I don't know".
Fire: "Listen to me. Help is coming right now. Did you cut her down?"
Adam: "Yes i did."

Adam stated that he found Rebecca's nude body hanging from the balcony, with her wrists and ankles bound and her hands behind her back. He ran to her from the guest house and cut her body down before the police arrived. He also had sent Jonah, who was at the hospital, a text message to inform him what had happened. 

Jonah looked at the text from his brother and then stared at his son for a few minutes. He then got up to leave. Dina asked him what was so important. Jonah told her that Rebecca committed suicide. When Dina asked him why, Jonah said, "Asian honor." Jonah then ran out the door at about 7 a.m.

When police arrived at the mansion at 9:20 a.m. they found Rebecca lying on the ground in the courtyard with the shirt that covered her mouth still wrapped around her neck. She had no other significant visible injuries.

Police then entered the mansion and looked for evidence to help them find out what exactly happened. The rope that was thrown over the balcony, was tied to the leg of the bed. They found the cryptic message painted on the inside of the bedroom door. On the floor of the bedroom, there were two paint brushes, a tube of black paint and two knives. A third knife was on the ground outside.

Police also checked Rebecca's phone. The voicemail that Jonah had allegedly sent her had already been deleted and so no one but Rebecca ever heard it.

When Mary found out that Rebecca had died, she called Jonah and asked him what happened. Jonah said that it was his brother Adam who was the one home with Rebecca when she committed suicide. Mary then asked to speak to Adam. 

Mary told Adam "I need you to tell me exactly what happened."  

Adam replied, "It's not a good idea. i don't want to push somebody else over the edge."

On July 16th at 11:30 a.m., little more than a month after his 6th birthday, Max was declared dead. His sister, Gabby, had already posted the news on Facebook: "RIP Maxie. We'll miss your sweet smile and kind heart more than you'll ever know. I'll love you forever."

Three days after Max's funeral, Rebecca was laid to rest. Jonah was invited to sit with her family. 

On September 26th, 2011, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation on the deaths of Max and Rebecca. Max's death was ruled as an accident and Rebecca's was ruled as a suicide. 

Investigators believed that Max was riding his scooter on the second floor landing and maybe of tripped over the soccer ball or his dog. They theorized that he grabbed the chandelier on the way down.

Max's mom, Dina, hired private investigator Tara Schneider to investigate Max's death.

Officials said that Rebecca went to the only bedroom in the house with a balcony. They said that she tied a rope around her hands and feet and hung herself from the balcony. They said that they found her footprints on her balcony and her DNA on the rope and knife.

They also said that she was the one that wrote that message in black paint indicated by the black paint found on her hands and rope and the paint and paint brush in her room. 

The circumstances of Rebecca’s death led her family to adamantly claim foul play was involved. Rebecca's ex-husband Nalepa expressed similar doubts and claimed that that killing herself was something out of character for her to do. Friends and family went so far as to say they had never even heard her mention suicide in her entire life. Even Dina didn't think that Rebecca killed herself.

It is very rare, but there have been a few suicide deaths in which someone's hands were bound, but never with such complex and elaborate rope tying or hanging where a gag was involved in anyway. And people that attempt suicide or complete suicide don't bind their feet. Woman usually don't pick hanging to commit a suicide. In the United States, individuals from Asian decent have some of the lowest rates. Also, suicide is typically a very private and personal act. Rebecca did not die inside her home, she was also nude. The people that usually commit suicide while they are naked are those with severe mental disorders or are under the influence of very powerful drugs. Rebecca wasn't suffering from a mental disorder and she wasn't under the influence of anything. Toxicology reports showed that she had nothing in her system at the time of her death.

Suicide notes are not usually written in the third person like the one found at the scene of Rebecca's death. On the black tube of paint there was no DNA. There was a thumb print found on the lid of the tube, which belonged to Rebecca. The paint brush had no DNA and no fingerprints either. The both sides of the door that the note was written on had no DNA on that either.

Rebecca's prints that were found on one of the knives was on the blade, not the handle. It was as if someone had taken her hand and planted her fingerprints on it.

Rebecca's autopsy results revealed four instances of head trauma.  Experts theorized that she may have hit her head on the way down. However, forensic consultant Dr. Maurice Godwin expressed doubt, stating, "The chances of bumping into the railing, going over the balcony and hitting your head four times is highly unlikely."

The dirt on the balcony was not consistent with the garden dirt found on Rebecca's feet. Also, the footprints on the balcony were heel impressions by the doorway and right toe impressions by the railing. There was a sizable gab in between. There was also no DNA or fingerprints on the rail of the balcony. There was some male DNA found on one of the balcony doors, but it was such a low level that a profile could not be made.

Mark Rudoy was an attorney hired by Rebecca's family in the initial investigation into her death. He claimed that there is no way that Rebecca could have propelled herself over the balcony. He thinks that someone stronger than Rebecca over powered her and trapped her in that room. Rudoy believes that Rebecca then was manually strangled and then possibly already had her on the ground and then hoisted her up with a noose they tied around her neck.

A news station reenacted Rebecca's fall and found that the bed that Rebecca was tied to should have moved way more than it did. The bed at the crime scene moved mere inches and the bed at the reenactment moved 3 feet. During their reenactment they even used a heavier bed than the one that Rebecca had been tied to. 

Rebecca's family was frustrated and hired private investigator Paul Ciolino to take a look into Rebecca's death and into Jonah's brother Adam.

There was no DNA found on the knife that Adam said he used to cut Rebecca down with. Adams DNA was not found on the rope either. So if Adam did cut Rebecca down, how come there was none of his DNA found on either? There was a pair of black gardening gloves found at the mansion. The gloves were tested, but there was no identifiable DNA found. Also, the lawn furniture Adam had to stand on in order to reach Rebecca to cut her down only had three legs and hard to balance on. The ski ropes have metal fibers inside, so they are not really easy to severe. The ropes were tied in seafaring knots and Adam was a long time tugboat captain.

Adam allegedly never visited Max at the hospital. He also told authorities that he was watching porn when Rebecca killed herself. There was searches of Anime porn found on a computer in the mansion.

Police did perform a polygraph on Adam, but they said that the results were inconclusive.

Ciolino said that he went and talked to neighbors and some of them heard a woman scream and cry for help on the morning that Rebecca died. Some of the neighbors said that the police never interviewed them and some of them said that there interviews were discounted. One of those neighbors even called 9-1-1, but it wasn't investigated.

Rebecca's family decided to file a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against Jonah Shacknai's brother Adam. Rebecca's family attorney brought in handwriting expert, Mike Wakshull, to find out if the writing on the door matched Rebecca or someone else. Wakshull determined that the writing on the door matched Adam's handwriting. 

There is a police video showing how someone could have tied their own knots, but expert, Lindsay Philpot, was brought in by the family lawyer deemed that not to be the same knots that had been used on Rebecca. The expert said that the particular knot used to bind Rebecca's wrists was a Clove Hitch. That is a very complicated knot that someone can't just accidentally make. Also, even if Rebecca knew how to make that knot, it would have been pretty much impossible for her to make behind her back.

A second autopsy for Rebecca was ordered and she was exhumed. Dr. Cyril Wecht was hired by Rebecca's family to look at the original autopsy and then to reexamine her body. His finding were death to to asphyxiation. There were fractures of her hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage and the cricoid cartilage. Most of the time in suicidal hangings no fractures occur, the person usually loses consciousness too fast and doesn't have much motion to incur damage like that. The person usually dies from the pressure on the neck cutting off the blood supply. Fractures of the cricoid cartilage are usually found in manual strangulation.

In the original autopsy, there was adhesive material found on both of Rebecca's calves, indicative that tape had been applied. No tape was ever found.

Rebecca had four separate bruises on her scalp. Wecht said that there is no way she could have got those from propelling herself over the balcony. Wecht also said that this, along with the fractures, Rebecca being naked that she was murdered.

After the month long civil trial, the jury found Adam responsible for Rebecca's death and granted her family a $5 million judgment for loss of love and companionship as well as an additional $167,000 for the loss of financial support Rebecca would have provided her mother and siblings. 

In February 2019 Adam appealed the judgment with the defense arguing procedural errors and juror misconduct. Prior to final arguments being presented to the judge, Adam's insurance company and Rebecca's family reached a settlement of $600,000 resulting in the civil case being dismissed with prejudice, and vacating the original $5 million judgment.

Back in 2018, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department announced that they would "undertake a fresh review" of Rebecca's case.

#RebeccaZahauMurder

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?

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