Bakley's Family Skips Burial
May 25 -- LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Three weeks after she was shot dead and with her murderer still at large, Bonny Lee Bakley will finally be laid to rest today during a small graveside service attended by her husband, actor Robert Blake — but not by members of her family.
Blake's lawyer, Harland Braun, said the 67-year-old Baretta star made arrangements for Bakley's burial at a cemetery in the Hollywood Hills and invited her family members, who live in New Jersey. The family declined Blake's invitation.
"I can't fathom it," Braun said. "They were invited and [Blake] even offered to pay their way out if money was an issue, but they've decided not to come." Braun said Blake had also offered to arrange a funeral in New Jersey but was turned down by Bakley's family.
Family members have wondered in TV interviews whether Blake was involved in Bakley's death. The actor has proclaimed his innocence through Braun and today's service will mark one of his few public appearances since her May 4 murder.
Cary Goldstein, a lawyer for Bakley's sister, did not return phone calls seeking comment. He told the New York Post on Thursday that the family members, who canceled a planned service last week when too many reporters showed up, would not be attending on today.
"There's a discomfort being around Mr. Blake and it'll essentially be a public relations event for him," Goldstein told the Post. "They don't want to support that."
Blake has been at odds with Bakley's family at times since her death, and Goldstein has called the actor's version of events on the night of the murder "absurd."
Bakley, 44, was shot to death as she sat in Blake's sports car on a dark street near Vitello's, an Italian restaurant in the Los Angeles suburb of Studio City where the couple had just dined.
Blake told police that he left Bakley there and returned to Vitello's to retrieve a handgun he had accidentally left behind, and came back to find her dying. Police have made no arrests in the case and have not ruled out Blake as a suspect.
