LAPD: Bakley Case Not Dead
Aug. 2 -- Before a Washington intern's disappearance became a daily media feeding frenzy, the nation was asking this question: Who killed Bonny Bakley?
Three months have passed since the wife of actor Robert Blake was gunned down near a Studio City Italian restaurant, and Los Angeles police still have not been able to make an arrest. The mystery surrounding Bakley's slaying has faded from the media spotlight.
Reporters who were once staking out Blake's home near Studio City, are now stationed approximately 300 miles away in Modesto, Calif., outside the home of Robert and Susan Levy, the parents of missing federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy. Bakley was killed May 4. Levy was last seen April 30 and her parents received a final e-mail from her May 1 — but her case did not attract national attention until two weeks later.
The Levy case has not been the only story to steal the national spotlight away from the Bakley slaying: Timothy McVeigh's execution and a Texas mother's alleged slaying of her five children were among the stories that pushed the case off the front pages.
No Potential Suspects Ruled Out
Los Angeles police investigators who feared the media spotlight would hinder their investigation are as stumped now as they were three months ago. No witnesses have come forward and a lack of evidence have stymied the case, but police insist the investigation is not dead.
"I can certainly say that we have not ruled out — legitimately ruled out — anyone as a suspect," said Lt. Horace Frank, spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. "Certainly we would like it to go a lot quicker, but again, our main focus here is to make sure that we do a thorough investigation, and when we do come up with the evidence to take someone into custody, that that's done in an appropriate manner."
Bakley was killed as she sat in Blake's car after they ate dinner at Vitello's. Blake told police they walked to the car together but he had to return to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he had left behind. When he returned, Bakley was dead.
