Hollywood & Crime - Introducing: The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley

Episode Date: October 6, 2024

On May 4, 2001, Bonny Lee Bakley was found fatally shot in a car on a dark North Hollywood street. The prime suspect was her husband, famed actor Robert Blake. But Bonny, a longtime con artist, had plenty of enemies. She left behind a trail of men she’d scammed, and she had a volatile relationship with Christian Brando, the troubled son of movie star Marlon Brando. Not since the O.J. Simpson case had the eyes of the nation been so fixated on a homicide. The search for Bonny’s killer took detectives on an eleven-month odyssey across the country and through Hollywood's underbelly of hustlers, drug addicts, and would-be hitmen. It would be the most expensive murder investigation in LAPD history to date. This is the story of Robert and Bonny’s toxic relationship, her shocking murder, and his chaotic trial. Did actor Robert Blake kill his wife? Or was the murder someone else's vendetta?From Wondery, and the team behind the hit series Hollywood & Crime (The Dating Game Killer, The Wonderland Murders, Death of Starlet) comes a six-part series about love, obsession and fame gone wrong. Co-hosted by Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas.You can binge all episodes of Hollywood and Crime: The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bonnie Lee Bakley came to Hollywood with a dream. She wanted to be someone famous. I was the kid that everybody hated in school. So then you grow up saying, oh, I'll fake them. When she married actor Robert Blake, she thought her dream had come true. Until it all went wrong. We need address of emergency.

Okay, we need a woman with speed. Address. On May 4th, 2001, at 9.30 p.m., Bonnie was found in a car bleeding severely. Get an ambulance. She's conscious. Is she conscious, Robert? No. She had been shot in the head.

Ma'am? Oh, my God. Okay, is she breathing? I don't know. All right. Within the hour, she was gone. Overnight, Bonnie went from victim to villain. The press called her a grifter, a liar, a scammer.

She was in the pornography business. She was in the prostitution business. She had criminal convictions all around the country in various states. But who was Bonnie really? And who wanted her dead? From Wondery and the team behind the hit series Hollywood and Crime comes the story of Robert Blake and Bonnie Lee Bakley's twisted relationship and the hunt to find Bonnie's killer. From the men she scammed to the troubled son of a famous actor.

You created this s***. I did not start this s***. You f***ed it up. But the prime suspect was her husband. You lied to me. You double-crossed me. You double-dealt me. Did Robert Blake kill Bonnie Lee Bakley?

You swore to me. You promised me. You promised me. You promised. And that was all a lie. Or was her murder someone else's vendetta? You're lucky somebody ain't out there to pull a bullet in your head. Hollywood and Crime, the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley, premieres on June 20th on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music,

or wherever you're listening right now. You can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. She has made a terrible mess because I don't think there's any going back now.