Hollywood & Crime - The Execution of Bonny Lee | I’m Not Going Down | 2

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

The Homicide Special squad finds the weapon that killed Bonny in a dumpster at the crime scene. They suspect her husband Robert Blake. But when they search Blake’s house they don’t find any evidence. Bonny’s sister Margerry reveals shocking details about Blake and Bonny’s relationship.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hollywood and crime contains depictions of violence and strong language. It may not be suitable for everyone. Please be advised. The first time Bonnie Lee Bakley saw Robert Blake's house, she was shocked. She pictured a movie star mansion in Beverly Hills. Instead, he lived in a ramshackle ranch house in the valley that looked more like it belonged in a Western. There was a sign in the front that read Mata Hari Ranch. If she hadn't run an asset check on him, she might think he'd spent all those Hollywood paychecks, but he's rich, worth more than $8 million.

And now she had a date with him. Well, maybe not a date, but he did tell her to look him up if she was in town, and she flew all the way here from Memphis to make it happen. It was the first step in her plan to marry a star. That you, Bonnie? Let me buzz you in. happen. It was the first step in her plan to marry a star. She smoothed out her dress, a blue silk number that showed off her legs. Blake was waiting on the front porch. He looked older than she remembered, and shorter. But at least he still had all his hair. Not many guys pushing 70 can say that. Blake's living room was filled with cowboy memorabilia.

Old toys from the 50s and piles of dirty clothes. But it was the pictures on the wall that made Bonnie perk up. Rows of movie posters and magazine covers, all featuring Robert Blake. Blake with famous actors like Humphrey Bogart and Joan Crawford. Blake with beautiful women. She knew he was famous, but she didn't know he was this famous. Not long after, Blake made his move. One minute he was telling a story about hanging out at the Playboy Mansion,

and the next they were tearing off each other's clothes. It was as hot as the first time. After it was over, Blake showed a softer side, sharing stories about his childhood. Said his father was a lousy drunk. That surprised Bonnie. She figured being a child star was all ice cream and limousines. My dad was an asshole too. He scared me so much I would pass out.

Mine made me eat food off the floor, and he locked me in the closet. She liked this side of him. It felt real, like they were making a connection. She pictured the two of them waking up in the morning, making breakfast together. Maybe he'd ask her to cancel her hotel reservation, stay here all week. Blake got up and pulled on a pair of sweats. Listen, I got a thing later. You want me to call you a cab?

Bonnie blinked, but then quickly recovered. Was he serious? I'll be here a few more days if you want to do this again. We'll see. Let's just keep this casual. I'm a no-commitment kind of guy. It wasn't what Bonnie wanted to hear. But if this was his game, she would play it. It might take longer than she hoped,

but she would find a way to change Robert Blake's mind. You're listening to the first episode of The Dating Game Killer. To continue the journey, you can binge episodes two through seven exclusively with Wondery Plus. Start your free trial today in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The Grinch is back again to ruin your Christmas season with Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast. Listen as his celebrity guests try to persuade the Grinch that there's more to love about the holiday season. Follow Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Grown-ups, enjoy bonus content of Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast

exclusively on Wondery Plus. From Wondery, I'm Tracy Patton, along with my co-host, Josh Lucas. And this is Hollywood and Crime, the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley. wooden crime, the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley. In our last episode, Bonnie Lee Bakley was found dead in a car in Studio City. When the press learned she was the wife of someone famous, all hell broke loose. Detective Ron Ito and his team had their work cut out for them. Bonnie Lee was a con artist who had fleeced hundreds of men out of money.

But it's her husband, Robert Blake, who is of primary interest. This is Episode 2. I'm not going down. Detective Ron Ito drives up Dilling Street toward Robert Blake's house. It's nearly four in the afternoon on May 5th, 2001. Bonnie Lee Bakley has been dead for less than 24 hours. Last night, Blake refused to let Homicide Special search his property. But today, Ito has a warrant.

He's pretty sure they have the murder weapon, a Walther P-38 found in a dumpster from the crime scene. The gun is an antique, and Blake is known to have a vintage gun collection. A dozen detectives sit on Blake's porch. They've been waiting for hours. The judge who signed the warrant took his time. One detective stands up and stretches.

You just missed Blake. Did he talk? His lawyer showed up. The entertainment attorney? No, Harlan Braun. Ido swears under his breath. His job just got a lot harder. Braun is a high-powered criminal defense guy, repped everyone from Roman Polanski to Roseanne Barr. He's someone you hire to get you out of deep shit. But Ido will worry about Braun later. He's got a job to do. Let's check everything. Go through the guest house again, too. The house is 5,000 square feet, and the team spends hours combing through every inch. They bag financial records, legal documents, and several 9mm pistols from Blake's gun collection. They'll send them to ballistics along with the Walther to see if any match the bullets that killed Bonnie.

One of the detectives approaches Ido. He waves an evidence bag. Take a look at this. He shows Ido a box of 9mm bullets. Three are missing. Ido does the math. Bonnie was shot twice, and there was one bullet still in the Walther when they found it. That makes three. If the bullets in this box match the casings from the scene, we've got evidence connecting Blake to the murder. A detective opens a sliding door.

Hey boss, you might want to see this. Ito follows him into the master bathroom. On the mirror, there's a message written in soap. He scrawled the same thing on the mirror in the studio. The message reads, I'm not going down. Robert Blake's life was a fight for survival from the day he was born. He once told a reporter the only reason he's alive is because his parents couldn't afford an abortion.

His birth name was Michael Gubitosi. They called him Mickey. He was the youngest of three. His father abused him every chance he got. If Blake blinked wrong, he'd lock him in a closet. His mother wasn't much better. She was a cold woman who rarely showed affection. People called her Old Stone Face.

Blake was only five when the old man moved the family to Hollywood. His father was a performer who hoped to make it in the movies. He didn't, but little Mickey pulled it off. He got one of the lead roles in a series called The Little Rascals. He was hired for his impish looks and ability to cry on cue. And he was good. By the time he was 15, he'd acted in more than 70 films. He also had a new name thanks to MGM, Robert Blake. It had a nice ring, but no matter how many roles he won or paychecks he

brought home, nothing he did was good enough for his father. He would later reveal to talk show host Tom Snyder that being on a movie set was the only time he felt worth anything. It was the first time anybody ever hugged me. First time anybody ever said, you know, attaboy, you belong here. I went home to an asylum every night with lunatic, crazy, sick parents and brother and sister and madness of all kinds.

But I knew all I had to do was walk down the street to MGM and somebody say, hey, he's here. But then work dried up. He wasn't a kid anymore, but he wasn't a leading man either. At 5'4", he was too short. His once mischievous eyes had become more menacing. By the time he was 20, he was washed up in Hollywood. That's when Uncle Sam came calling, but military life didn't agree with him, and Blake didn't agree with military life. He was stationed at a cold weather outpost in Alaska, where he picked up two habits,

playing guitar and shooting heroin. Heroin made him feel better for a little while, and shooting heroin. Heroin made him feel better for a little while, but then the feelings of failure came creeping back. Sometimes he exploded for no reason at all. He once pulled a bayonet on six other soldiers. After serving three years, he was discharged. He landed back in Los Angeles aimless and broke. He sold drugs and worked construction to make ends meet. Then his father died. Blake didn't bother going to the funeral. He had his own way of paying his respects. He went to the cemetery, unzipped his fly, and pissed all over his father's grave. Thanks, Dad, for nothing. He hated everything, but most of all, himself. He had no friends, no love, no parents, no career, no tomorrows. It all added up to one big nothing. He didn't know what to do.

Blake had hit rock bottom. The only thing he'd ever loved, the only thing he'd ever been good at, was acting. He wasn't ready to give it up. But if he was going to survive, he needed to fight. He was going to get back in the movies. Robert Blake was not going down. Bonnie Lee Bakley was frustrated.

Over the last three months, she'd seen Robert Blake a half dozen times, and every date ended the same way, with Bonnie back in her hotel room alone. Normally, by now, she'd have a guy snared, but Blake refused to be caught. He definitely had his quirks. He had a studio behind his house with a wall of mirrors. He'd take off his shirt and put on some tights and watch himself prancing away. That was definitely odd, but not as odd as his affection for guns. Sometimes he'd pull out a rifle and caress it like it was a girl. He even slept with one under his pillow.

He was moody, too. One minute he'd be perfectly fine. The next he was flying off the handle, cursing the world. Bonnie understood. She had her moods, too. She knew if she just waited patiently, the cloud would pass, and he'd be sweet again, telling her stories about his old Hollywood days and the oodles of stars he worked with. She loved hearing about the real lives of celebrities.

The bottom line was, she was falling for the guy. Their lives might look different on the outside, but Bonnie could see they had a lot in common. They both grew up in New Jersey with horrible fathers. They both fought for everything they had. She told her sister they were soulmates. The only thing that vexed her was his inability to commit. I've been married once, he told her. I got grown kids. That part of my life is done. He was so done, he insisted on checking her birth control pills, make sure the slot was empty. Talk about a mood killer. Of course, she always reassured him. After all, she wanted to please her man. But no matter how hard she wheedled or flirted, flattered and cajoled,

he would not budge. This was a no-commitment arrangement. But she had a contingency plan. Blake wasn't the only man in her life. For the last two years, she'd been seeing someone else. The son of one of the most famous actors in the world. Time to see him again.

On the third day after Bonnie Lee Bakley's murder, Ito gathers his team for the morning briefing. Crooked Venetian blinds cover the windows. Forty years of scuff marks cover the linoleum floor. The place could be a set straight out of a 50s cop show. Ido starts the meeting with bad news. The box of bullets they took from Blake's house are a dead end.

It can't be matched to the Walther or Blake's 9mm guns. They're still waiting for ballistics to confirm that the Walther is the murder weapon. The crime lab wasn't able to pull any prints, not even a partial.

Whoever ditched the gun wiped it with oil, which makes fingerprinting impossible. Next, Ito runs down the autopsy report. Bonnie took two bullets. The one in the shoulder lodged in her aorta caused heavy internal bleeding. The second entered the right side of her head near her cheek and then exited the left side through the base of her skull. Either one could have killed her. The shots were almost level with a little bit of an upward tilt. The shooter was most likely crouching, probably using the dumpster to hide him.

If she let him get that close, she probably knew him. Detective Agucci chimes in. Or she didn't see him. At the end of day three, they are no closer to finding Bonnie's murderer than they were on day one. To make matters worse, the case has blown up in the press. Blake's attorney is on a PR blitz to paint Bonnie as a con woman who cheated men out of money. He's saying one of them could have wanted her dead.

It's called dirtying the victim, and Harlan Braun is an expert at it. He's going to keep throwing up roadblocks as the LAPD races to build their case. Some men fall asleep after sex and some want to talk. Christian Brando was a talker. Bonnie stuffed a worn-out pillow behind her back so she could sit up and listen. Or at least pretend to. It was December of 1999, and Bonnie was in Kalama, Washington, population 2,000. Not exactly the place you'd expect to find a celebrity. Yet here he was. Christian was tall, dark, and handsome, with heavy-lidded eyes and a brooding smile. He looked a lot like his father, Marlon Brando, one of the most famous stars in the world. Bonnie first noticed Christian when he made headlines back in 1991.

He was on trial for shooting his sister's boyfriend in the face, said he was protecting her from abuse. The courts thought otherwise and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Bonnie couldn't get him out of her mind. She wrote to him in jail and sent nude pics. A few notes later, they were pen pal lovers. He got released after serving five years and then disappeared.

Turned out Marlon put him in rehab, then hid him away in the middle of nowhere. But Bonnie hired a private investigator and found Christian's address. That was two years ago. She didn't visit that often, but phone calls and sexy letters went a long way. Christian jumped out of bed. He did look good naked, better than Robert Blake. But he struggled with addictions.

Alcohol, meth, cocaine. She figured it helped him deal with his demons. When he returned to the bedroom, he was rattling on about a man in his living room, something about someone watching him. If Bonnie were to make a list of Christian's pros and cons, the con side would include his hallucinations, one of the side effects of his lifelong drug use. Another con, he could fly into a rage over anything. But then, so could Robert Blake. In the pro column, Christian was 25 years

younger than Blake. He also had a very rich, very famous father. If Bonnie hinted about taking the relationship to the next level, Brando didn't seem to take the hint. Maybe because he was barely holding his life together. Bonnie had two celebrities in her grasp, and neither wanted a commitment. She needed to up the ante. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down.

Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up, and I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy

exclusively with Wondery Plus. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either, until I came face-to-face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey.

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hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music,

or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. It's Tuesday, four days since Bonnie Lee Bakley's murder. And Ido and his team are back in the squad room for their daily briefing. Ido is smiling. He finally has some good news. I got a call from Ballistics. The Walther P-38 is a match, so we've got our murder weapon. There's just one problem. The Walther is German, circa World War II. It'll be almost impossible to find records of ownership. They'll keep trying to locate the provenance, but beyond having their murder weapon, they've got nothing. After the briefing, Ido keeps going back to Blake's alibi. On Bonnie's last night alive,

Blake took her to dinner. He parked on a dark street underneath a broken street lamp. After dinner, he walked back to the car and suddenly remembered he'd forgot his gun at the restaurant. A gun he was supposedly carrying to protect Bonnie. He left her in the car alone. In the time he was gone, she was murdered. Ido pours a cup of stale black coffee and sits on top of a metal desk. Emotions to detectives Brian McCartan and Robert Bubb. Bubb and McCartan interviewed all the employees who were working at Vitello's that night of Bonnie's murder.

Okay, where are we at with this alibi? Anyone see Blake go back to the restaurant before Bonnie was shot? Bubb flips through his notes. Everybody's on the same page. No one saw him until after Bonnie was shot. And no one saw a gun. Interesting.

But there's still a chance he slipped in and out and no one noticed him. What else do we have? Some things are off about his actions. One, he made a reservation that night. First time. Normally he just walked in. Then, get this, one of the waitresses said he threw up in the men's room. Ido remembers that Blake also vomited

at the crime scene. Well, could be an upset stomach or guilty conscience. McCartan jumps in. There's more. According to the waitress, Blake was acting squirrely. He was pulling on his hair and mumbling. She said it was weird. Ido nods. Suspicious, yeah, but if acting weird was a crime, half of Hollywood would be in jail. It's all circumstantial. A good lawyer will tear it apart in court. They all know Blake's side of the story, But what about Bonnie's? She can't talk because she's dead. They need to talk to someone who knew her. Bonnie's sister is flying in from New Jersey.

And she knew her better than anyone. Maybe she'll have something to say. Bonnie Lee Bakley's period was two weeks late. It was early October 1999. She ripped open a small box and took out a home pregnancy test, blew it a kiss, and then urinated on the little stick. If she hit the jackpot, she knew who the father was, Robert Blake. Please, she prayed. Bonnie had been telling Blake she was on the pill, but that was a lie.

She stopped taking birth control shortly after they met when she found out marriage wasn't in the cards. He needed an incentive. A baby might give her the leverage she needed to push into the altar. To up the odds, she started taking Clomid, a fertility drug. At 43, she couldn't rely on Mother Nature anymore. This wasn't the first time she tried to use a pregnancy to snare a celebrity. the first time she tried to use a pregnancy to snare a celebrity. When Bonnie was 28, she developed a crush on music legend Jerry Lee Lewis.

She went to every concert and then waited behind the rope backstage trying to get the crew's attention. It was Jerry Lee's road manager who finally noticed her. I've never met a celebrity. Do you think you can introduce me? And he did. She'd remember that day for the rest of her life. A year later, she moved to Memphis to be closer to him. Jerry was married, but Bonnie figured it was just a matter of time until they were together.

When that didn't happen, she pushed it along. When she got pregnant with her third baby, she told the tabloids the baby was his. But it was made up. A DNA test proved her ex, Paul, was the father. She hadn't thought out the details very well. She wasn't going to make that mistake again. Two pink lines. It worked. Imagine that. Pregnant at 43.

The ornery Italian still had it in him. But how to best tell him? Maybe a call. No, he might get mad if she just sprung it on him. Better to give him time. Let him take it all in. A letter. Keep it simple. Get straight to the point. Hi. I hate to tell you this, but the pill did not work for me.

I had a cough I was taking antibiotics for. That may have weakened their effects. She gnawed on her pen. She had to cover everything, make sure he didn't suggest the morning-after pill. I had seen some articles in magazines about a year ago stating the RU-486 pill was to be available in the U.S. in 1999. My doctor tells me it's still not. When she was done, she addressed the envelope. Bonnie had sent thousands of letters to men over the years, but this one could change her entire future. It was

like dropping a time bomb into the mailbox. Robert Blake walked out to the mailbox. It was one of his favorite parts of his day. Sometimes there was a residual check from a film or TV show, one he'd almost forgotten. Today, there were two. There was also a handful of fan mail. At the bottom was a small envelope with familiar handwriting.

Return address, Lee Bonney. He sat down on the porch step and began to read. Hi, I hate to tell you this, but the pill did not work for me. He stopped. Was this a joke? She was pregnant and claiming the kid was his? He thought back to the last time they had sex. Was it a month ago or six weeks? But then he got angry. Had he really fallen for the oldest trick in the book? He should have known better. The signs were there from the start. They weren't just signs. They were huge neon billboards. She told him from the get-go that she conned men for a living.

He thought it was funny. He wasn't laughing now. She was trying to trap him. Hell no. Bonnie Lee Bakley had no idea who she was dealing with. with. Robert Blake sat in a chair as grips repositioned the lights around him. It was 1967. He was in London on a press junket for one of the most talked about movies of the year. He was 33 years old and never looked better. He had on a white button-down shirt that made his thick black hair and dark features stand out. He'd come a long way since his rock-bottom drug dealer days.

It was a struggle, that was for sure. He kicked the heroin cold turkey, sweated it out for three days on his second-hand couch. Then he went into psychotherapy and enrolled in method acting classes. Both were good for the head. The method was all about stripping away the bullshit to deeply connect to a character. For Blake, it was a way to channel his emotional pain. It saved his life and his career.

His first roles were small. He was usually cast as the tough guy. Directors liked his who-gives-a-fuck attitude, but he longed for a role that he could sink his teeth into, show the world who he was. He finally got his shot with the movie In Cold Blood. It was the true story of two ex-cons who murdered a Kansas family in 1959, based on the book by Truman Capote. Blake desperately wanted to play Perry Smith, one of the killers who grew up with a father who hated him. Blake hounded the director for a year, finally got an audition. He channeled the pain and anger he felt his whole life into the character.

The studio wanted Steve McQueen. Robert Blake got the role. Now, here he was, part of the whole dog and pony show to sell the picture. An interview with Jonathan King, some British guy with a show called Good Evening. King wanted to know what it was like to walk a mile in a killer's shoes. How the hell do you sum that up? Didn't you find this was kind of wearing on you? I mean, acting a murderer for two years, didn't you find you had sort of killer tendencies?

I've had those all my life, don't you? No, I don't think I have. You never wanted to kill anybody? Never as far as I can remember. You must have some funny dreams. Blake leaned forward, trying to read King's face. He didn't like him. He could tell by the guy's tone he was one of those know-it-alls.

Now he wants to hear what it was like talking to the guys on death row. You know, a guy goes along in this world and all of a sudden he gets in a little bad luck and he finds himself behind bars and then they put a label on him and that's easy to do, but it don't mean nothing. So you stick to the theory that we're all killers inside? I didn say that what do you reckon the purpose of the film was well i can

only guess but i think the purpose of the film was to uh tell the truth to try to tell it like it is isn't it in fact just glorifying two killers who but for the film for the film putting me on you gotta be putting me on what are you trying to do get me riled king didn't get it, but the critics did. Roger Ebert wrote that Blake was so good, so raw, he forgot he was performing. The performance garnered Oscar buzz. Finally, respect from the Hollywood elite. But when they announced the nominations, Blake wasn't on the list. In Hollywood, Robert Blake

would always be an outsider. Hello, ladies and gerbs, boys and girls. The Grinch is back again to ruin your Christmas season with Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast. After last year, he's learned a thing or two about hosting and he's ready to rant your Christmas season with Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast. After last year, he's learned a thing or two about hosting,

and he's ready to rant against Christmas cheer and roast his celebrity guests like chestnuts on an open fire. You can listen with the whole family as guest stars like Jon Hamm, Brittany Broski, and Danny DeVito try to persuade the mean old Grinch that there's a lot to love about the insufferable holiday season. But that's not all. Somebody stole all the children of Whoville's letters to Santa, and everybody thinks the Grinch is responsible. It's a real Whoville whodunit.

Can Cindy Lou and Max help clear the Grinch's name? Grab your hot cocoa and cozy slippers to find out. Follow Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Unlock weekly Christmas mystery bonus content and listen to every episode ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Bonnie knew Robert Blake might be a tiny bit mad when he got the letter. Becoming a father at 67 years old could come as a shock to anyone. But he wasn't just mad.

He was furious. When she picked up the phone, he was yelling so loud she could hardly make sense of the words. He screamed that she couldn't have the baby. He told her she needed to take the abortion pill. She patiently explained that wasn't happening. It wasn't legal. That's when his voice got soft. I don't want to worry you, but I have cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. I've been on chemo, so I can't be a father or husband. I probably got two years tops. I'm a dead man walking.

Bonnie was suspicious. Was this just an act to get rid of her? Because that wasn't happening. She needed to see him face to face, smooth this all out in person. When she got to LA and called him from the hotel, he said he'd come over, but he never showed up. She sat on the edge of her hotel room bed, praying he'd call. She needed to reassure him, fix this somehow. She took out her recorder. Bonnie taped all of her calls, and she was definitely taping this one. This whole thing is just awful. I don't know what to say. Well, what about if, um, couldn't I just maybe, like,

give temporary custody to my mother or something like that? Have the baby and give it to your mother? Why? I don't know what that's... Because you don't want it around you at all, so... I'd rather you didn't have it. So what you're saying is, if I keep it, you don't want to be around me, even? I just wanted to be with you, you know? Why can't you let me be with you? I'll make my mother or somebody watch it.

I won't bring it around to you, I promise. Oh, that's going to be so awkward. No, it won't. Bonnie wept and pleaded, but it didn't help. The longer they talked, the angrier he got. I know what you do. No matter what you say, you do exactly what you want to do. the angrier he got. I figured that then, as long as... that you might change your mind someday and want to be with me. I don't know what I was thinking, I just wanted to be with you, and I didn't like the way things were going.

You wanted to get pregnant for whatever reason, that's what you did. You lied to me, you double-crossed me, you double-dealt me. You swore to me, you promised me. You promised. You said, don't worry Robert, you promised me, you promised. You said, don't worry Robert, no matter what, I will have an abortion. You'll never have to worry about me getting pregnant. I'll take the pills, I'll have an abortion. And that was all a lie.

Not a little lie, that's a big lie. That's a big, awful, mean, vicious lie. They don't get any worse than that. His words were like a punch in the gut. Why couldn't he just understand she wanted to be with him? Instead, she went home with nothing resolved. Maybe he just needed some time to cool off. He'd call. He always did.

Blake stood backstage waiting for his cue, holding an unlit cigarette between his fingers to calm his nerves. It was the spring of 1972. He'd been on Johnny Carson's late-night talk show dozens of times, but the guy still made him nervous. Not that anyone noticed. The audience loved Robert Blake. He said what he thought, and he didn't like Hollywood.

The truth was, Blake had a long list of people he didn't like, and studio executives were at the top. Even after his performance in In Cold Blood, they still expected him to audition for roles. He'd done 70 films, for Christ's sakes. Blake was done playing nice. He turned down roles, demanded more money. He got a bad rep, stopped working at all. But Carson still wanted him, and that was something. He's a fine actor. He was in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

He was in a fine movie called Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. We haven't seen him for a while. Would you welcome Robert Blake. Blake parted the yellow curtains. He was wearing a purple top and purple bell bottoms. He took a seat and Carson teed him up. You had a reputation for being rather outspoken and it got you in a few scrapes here and there. I don't do that anymore.

You don't do that anymore? Nope. School problems? I don't agree with nobody about nothing. I don't say nothing about it. Carson smiled. Blake never hid his troubles. He was still seeing his shrink, called him his head man.

And going on Carson was performance therapy. People normally don't like to hear somebody who tells the absolute truth, right? The head man made me do that a lot, too. What, get it out? Tell him. You gotta tell him. Tell him what you think. I got blacklisted. I didn't work for a long time. What's the worst scrape you ever got in? Oh, let's see. Probably the most costly one was I punched the director once. You punched the director? Yeah, that wasn't the worst, but I mean,

that was the most costly, and that was no good. And you didn't work for a while? Yeah, that wasn't the worst, but I mean, that was the most costly. And that was no good. And you didn't work for a while? No, I didn't work for quite a while. But it wasn't my fault. Carson loved him because he brought in ratings. Audiences watched him because he seemed real. And Hollywood suits were watching, too. ABC was creating a new show about an undercover cop

with a pet cockatoo named Beretta, a cop who played by his own rules. Blake played by his own rules too, and his tough guy persona was a perfect fit. The execs knew about his reputation, but they were willing to risk it. TV was a comedown from the big screen, but Blake was desperate. He took the job.

Beretta was a hit, and Blake was finally a star. He even won an Emmy. But deep down, Blake was crumbling. He'd set the bar so high he couldn't measure up, and he took it out on anyone who got in his way. He threw script pages at writers, demanded new scenes. At night, he drank so he could sleep. In the day, he gulped amphetamines to stay awake. In 1978, he walked off the show. Blake needed to pull his act together again. That's when he fired his therapist and joined AA, cleaned up completely. He got a few roles after that, even got nominated for another Emmy. But eventually his phone stopped ringing. But he kept telling it like it was. In 1998,

he went on The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder. Snyder loved him as much as Carson did. This time, Blake waxed philosophical about finally getting clean. I don't know if you're in a great mood tonight or if you're really in a sad mood. I've never quite seen you this way before. I have never been this way in my life. This is the first time in my life that my heart is my own, that I'm not hooked on that shrink. That's the way I want to live the rest of my life, on the natch. They say the journey from your head to your heart is a very short distance,

but it's the longest journey you'll ever take in your life. Blake had finally made an uneasy peace with his past. He had his routines and his future mapped out. He had enough savings to last the rest of his life and leave some behind for his kids. And then he met Bonnie. For Bonnie, there was nothing worse than waiting. But lately, it seemed like that was all she'd been doing. She was waiting to have her baby.

She was waiting for her new life to begin. And she was waiting for Robert Blake's call. It had been almost two months since she talked to him, and the last time it didn't go well. He wanted her to have an abortion, as if she'd even consider that. But then, finally, her phone rang. It was Blake.

He sounded soft, nice even. He said he'd scheduled a checkup with a top-notch obstetrician. So she flew back to L.A., but when she got there, Blake pulled a dirty trick. At the doctor's office, he tried to convince her to get an amniocentesis. He said it was to make sure the baby was healthy and didn't have Down syndrome. While we're at it, we can get a DNA test to make sure the baby's mine. Of course she refused. An amniocentesis was risky for the baby.

It could even cause a miscarriage. They didn't talk much on the way back to the hotel. When he dropped her off, he didn't even look at her. You not taking that DNA test is proof you were lying. That baby's not mine. She tried to explain, but he was done talking. Back in Memphis, she tried to call, but he had changed his number. No forwarding number or anything.

Right then, she had a moment of panic. Who wouldn't? Everything she'd been working towards her whole life was slipping away. But then she got busy. If Blake didn't want her, maybe Christian Brando would. Sure, she was 10 weeks along, but he didn't need to know that. She'd just tell him the baby was 10 weeks premature. He was so high most of the time, he probably wouldn't even notice. Besides, maybe by then, Blake would be back. One way or another, Bonnie was getting herself a celebrity husband.

It's May 8th, 2001, four days since Bonnie Lee Bagley was murdered. Robert Blake said Bonnie tricked him into marriage, but was that enough to make him want to kill her? There's one person who might be able to answer. Her sister, Marjorie. She's flown in from New Jersey to give a statement. Detective Ito has signed the interview to two seasoned detectives working on the case. Mike Whelan and his partner, Jim Golas. They're veterans of robbery homicide and have seen it all.

partner Jim Golas. They're veterans of robbery homicide and have seen it all. That is, until Marjorie arrives with a tabloid reporter. First time for everything. The star is paying her $20,000 for an exclusive story. Whelan shrugs. The reporter can wait in the hall. Everybody's got an angle. Marjorie is four years younger than Bonnie. She wears casual clothes, black pants, a t-shirt, and sandals. The sisters were close. And Marjorie has a lot to say. Bonnie was desperate to have Blake's baby. She took fertility drugs. She even tried this thing. She read it in some article. She put cellophane paper over a tampon, then popped it in and stood on her head so the sperm stayed up there. The detectives look at her in disbelief. She stood on her head? Yeah, and it worked. But she didn't think the kid was his. So she told Christian it was his baby.

Who's Christian? Christian Brando. The detectives know all about Brando. He was convicted of manslaughter for killing his sister's boyfriend. Bonnie would visit him in Washington. He was nice. For a killer. Then Marjorie brings up another name, Earl Caldwell. Caldwell's Blake's handyman and bodyguard. Edo tried to question him the day before, but he wouldn't talk without an attorney present. So what about Caldwell? Marjorie says that Bonnie was scared of him too. Two weeks before Bonnie's murder, Blake invited them all on a road trip, a sort of belated honeymoon. Earl, Marjorie, and Bonnie and Blake. Why would he want you to tag along?

Marjorie thought it was because he wanted to kill her too. She and Bonnie were on their way to meet them, but Marjorie got cold feet and returned home. Gola shakes his head. This case has more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Marjorie sits back. Bonnie was always telling me Blake was going to kill her. Once he even said he'd blow his brains out and take her with him. She was scared for her life.

She starts to cry. Golaz pushes a box of tissues across the table. Blake wanted her dead. He killed her for revenge. Golaz and Whel of tissues across the table. Blake wanted her dead. He killed her for revenge. Golaz and Whelan share a look. Cops wanted to hear another side of Bonnie's story, and they got it. If what Marjorie said is true,

Robert Blake's not an innocent victim. He's a cold-blooded killer. This is Episode 2 of The Execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley. A quick note about our scenes. Some scripted dialogue has been added for narrative cohesiveness. We used many sources when researching this story, but sources we found exceptionally helpful are Blood Cold, Fame, Sex, and Murder in Hollywood by Dennis McDougal and Mary Murphy, and Homicide Special,

a year with the LAPD's elite detective unit by Miles Corwin. Our show was produced by Rebecca Reynolds, Jim Carpenter, and myself for Hollywood and Crime. Our writers are Steve Chivers and Adam Prince, with additional writing by Elizabeth Cosen. Our senior producer and editor is Loredana Palavoda, with additional editing by Natalie Shisha. Our sound design is by Kyle Randall. Audio assistance from Sergio Enriquez.

Additional research by Alyssa J. Perry. For Wondery, our senior story editor is Rachel Doyle, and our senior producer is Janine Cornelow. Executive producers are Stephanie Jens and Marshall Louis. You've just finished episode one of The Wonderland Murders, and the chilling story of John Holmes and the brutal murders on Wonderland Avenue has only begun to unfold. In episode two, John's drug addiction spirals out of control, threatening his career and his relationships. Desperate for career and his relationships.

Desperate for money and his next fix, he crosses paths with the notorious drug kingpin, Eddie Nash. This dangerous alliance sets the stage for a deadly confrontation that will leave the streets of Los Angeles soaked in blood. As the detectives dig deeper into the investigation, they uncover a web of lies, betrayal, and murder that reaches the highest echelons of the city's criminal underworld. The stakes couldn't be higher as they race against time to bring the killers to justice before more lives are lost. Episodes 2 through 7 are available exclusively on Wondery Plus. Subscribe now to binge the rest of the season and dive into other gripping true crime and history podcasts that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Download the Wondery app and subscribe to Wondery Plus today so you don't miss a moment of this chilling story.