Hollywood star Robert Blake's 2001 wife murder case revisited

Robert Blake, best known for his Emmy-winning role as Baretta, married younger Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001 and took her to Vitello’s Italian Restaurant the evening she was fatally shot. After the incident, a neighbor recounted Blake’s desperate pleas for assistance while he stood aside as Bakley bled out in his car. Police found Blake’s vehicle hidden behind a trash container and noted that he claimed to have left his personal handgun at the restaurant, a detail that raised suspicion.

Investigators pursued leads suggesting Blake might have tried to enlist others to kill his wife, but those individuals declined and did not testify. The case attracted massive media attention, with defense counsel portraying Bakley as a predatory scam artist, a strategy that influenced public perception. After a year-long probe involving travel to 20 states and more than 150 interviews, LAPD detectives formally charged Blake with murder, setting the stage for a high-stakes trial.