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CELEBRITY WIVES - BONNIE LEE BAKLEY

Bonnie Lee Bakley

1956 - 2001

Celebrity
Wives

Bonnie
Lee
Bakley

Brynn
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Nicole
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Bonny Lee Bakley developed a reputation for sleeping with men in the entertainment business. But it wasn't the sex she was after as much as it was their bank accounts.

Bonny Lee Bakley was a con artist by choice and avocation. For years, she fleeced men for money through a "lonely-hearts" mail-order nude photo scheme.

"You have 25 years worth of fooling people,
preying on men's feelings of loneliness and
inducing them to believe
she was sexually interested in people
so they would send her some money.
Sort of sad, sad cases
and she was a pretty predatory person."
- Harland Braun, Blake's lawyer

But that was just her day job. Her real ambition was to set a trap for a gullible and deserving celebrity, calculatedly making the trap appear like a cozy nest.

"I told her years ago ...
somewhere down the road,
someone's gonna kill her ...
'cause she's playing everybody."
- Robert Moon, Bakley's second husband

Bonnie Lee Bakley was born June 6, 1956 in Morristown, New Jersey to mother Marjorie and father Edward J. Bakley, a tree surgeon. She had three other siblings: Margery, Joey, and her half-brother from her mother's second marriage, Peter Carlyon. Problems at home as a teenager led Bonnie to move out of the house and in with her grandmother. She decided to go to New York to pursue a career in modeling and acting.

Bonnie got married at least nine times. She got in trouble for drugs and fake identifications. She sold nude photos of herself and began her mail-order scam. Her friends and relatives all described her as "celebrity-obsessed."

"I wanted to be (famous) myself.
You think, 'I'll show them.
I'll become a movie star.'
But it's too hard.
If I'd kept romance out of my life
it would have been possible.
But I would have had to be
like Katharine Hepburn
and it was too hard.
I kept falling for somebody.
So I thought why not fall for a movie star
instead of being one.
It's more fun. I like being around celebrities.
It makes you feel better than other people."
- Bonnie Lee Bakley

Bakley started to hob knob with celebrities. She bragged publicly that she had had a child by musician Jerry Lee Lewis.

"I want to make it clear that I have never
fathered a child by Mrs. Robert Blake."
- Jerry Lee Lewis

Bakley slept around with famous men. When she became pregnant, Bakley's biggest dilemma became deciding which man to pin the rap on: Christian Brando, son of actor Marlon Brando, or actor Robert Blake, star of In Cold Blood and TV's Baretta?

The baby girl, Rose Lenore Sophia, was born June 2, 2000.

"I don't know if the baby is
going to work for or against me.
A kid squalling around…
they get on your nerves.
I was thinking (Blake) is a better deal.
He's older than Christian
and he may not be around as long."
- Bonnie Lee Bakley

After the paternity tests proved Blake was the father, he married Bakley on November 11, 2000 to make the child "legitimate." Bakley moved into the guesthouse. She continued her lonely-hearts mail-order career.

"You better get a handle on that
and really think what you're doing,
running around sending letters to guys,
embezzling money from all these idiots.
Think about it. It gets close.
You're lucky -- not on my behalf --
but you're lucky somebody ain't out there
to put a bullet in your head.
I can't believe you. Why do you do that?
Because it's something to do?"
- Christian Brando

 "You know why I do that. I do that to get money."
- Bonnie Lee Bakley

 "She liked to live on the edge, that's for sure.
I always worried about her."
- Majorie Bakley Carlyon, Bonnie's mother

On the evening of May 4, 2001, Blake took Bakley out to dinner at Vitello's, an Italian restaurant in Studio City, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.

Afterwards, they walked back to their car, which was parked on the street a block and a half away from the restaurant.

According to Blake, he left Bakley in the car while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a gun that had fallen out of his clothes. He claimed he was carrying the gun for protection because his wife had received death threats and a prowler had been seen hanging around their house. When Blake returned to the car, he discovered Bakley had been shot to death.

Witnesses in the restaurant say Blake didn't retrieve anything. He drank a glass of water and left.

Blake's housekeeper confirmed there had been a prowler, a "mysterious blond, crew-cutted man."

"I know he was afraid . . . he (Blake) said,
‘Keep the gate closed, don't leave it open.'"
- Lydia Benavidez, Blake-Bakley housekeeper

Blakey's family accused Blake of making death threats at Blakely. They believe Blake murdered Bonnie. According to the family, Blakely herself told them that Blake might kill her someday.

The rumor mill reported Blake had solicited the services of several other friends and acquaintances to kill his wife.

Investigators found out that Blake's bodyguard and assistant, Earle Caldwell, accompanied the couple on recent trips to Las Vegas and Sequoia National Park.

The police searched Caldwell's jeep and found a shopping list containing the items: Drano, duct tape, old rugs and shovels, which the prosecutors consider excellent evidence of intent.

After almost a year of investigation, Robert Blake was arrested April 18, 2002. Blake was denied bail.

 "When they find that Robert Blake is innocent,
they're going to have to solve a murder."
- Harland Braun, Blake's lawyer

Blake hired a private investigator to investigate his wife's murder.

Christina Scheier, a longtime friend of Bonny Lee Bakley's (who had become temporarily estranged from her after Bakley stole her identity) has sold the publishing and movie rights to a book she's writing about Bakley's life.

The Bakley family filed a wrongful death suit against Blake.

 "After thousands and thousands of hours
of investigation by the LAPD,
they have concluded that
Robert Blake and Earle Caldwell
are responsible for the death of Bonny Bakley."
- Cary Goldstein, Bakley family attorney

Blake put up $1 million to have Caldwell released on bail.

The prosecution announced that it would not seek the death penalty against Robert Blake.

Two stuntmen testified that Blake tried to hire them to kill his wife.

"These are typical kinds of witnesses
that come forward in high-publicity cases.
They don't have anything to corroborate
what they have to say,
and they have a story that puts them
right in the center of the case."
-Harland Braun, Blake's lawyer

On April 22, 2002, the State of California charged Robert Blake with murder. He could face the death penalty, because of the "special circumstances" relating to Bakley's murder (solicitation of murder, conspiracy and the special circumstance of lying in wait). His bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, was charged with conspiracy to murder.

"Robert Blake shot Bonny Bakley.
We believe his motive is that
Robert Blake had contempt for Bonny Bakley.
He felt that he was trapped in a marriage
that he wanted no part of."
- LAPD captain Jim Tatreau

"I believe the real killer is still out there."
- Harland Braun, Blake's attorney

Blake pleaded not guilty.

"My prediction is this will never be solved."
- Harland Braun, Blake's attorney

Blake didn't do the time. But did he do the crime?

Vitello's business increased by 20%.

"They're already cooking his goose."
- Earle Caldwell, Robert Blake's bodyguard

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western