Victim's Relatives Say Blake Killed Wife

May 11, 2001 -- While Los Angeles police sort through several trunks and suitcases full of evidence handed over by Robert Blake's attorney, the mystery over who killed the actor's wife has become a matter of fierce speculation for his friends and her family.

In the minds of close friends and relatives of Bonny Lee Bakley who spoke to ABCNEWS, Blake is a killer. But a good friend of Blake says the former Baretta star could not have done it because Blake once turned down a previous offer to have his wife killed.

"I have no doubt, no doubt at all with every fiber of my body that he killed her, killed my friend," Bakley's friend Judy Howell told ABCNEWS. "He killed his child's mother."

Bakley, 45, was shot to death last Friday as she sat in a car outside a restaurant. Blake, 67, said he had gone back inside to get a gun he had forgotten in the eatery, and found her wounded when he returned. Bakley was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Blake has said he was carrying a gun to protect his wife.

Two Sides to Story

The lead detective on the case said Blake has not been ruled out as a suspect and that it is "very likely" he will be questioned again about his wife's slaying.

"We have certainly not ruled out Mr. Blake," said Capt. Jim Tatreau, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-homicide division. "We have not been able to develop enough evidence that, as far as eliminating Mr. Blake, that takes us in another direction."

Police plan to interview Blake's bodyguard and assistant, Earl Caulfield, who has said he saw someone lurking around the Blake Studio City, Calif., home shortly before Bakley was killed.

Bakley's friends and relatives say there are good reasons not to rule Blake out. Both Howell and Bakley's mother allege Blake abused her. They claim the couple's baby daughter Rose was a source of friction. Blake, they said, wanted to keep Bakley away from the baby and would have killed for the child.

"I just said if I were you I would let him have that baby and let him raise it and get away from him," said Marjorie Lois Carlyon, Bakley's mother.

Blake's close friend, John Solari, agrees that Blake is extremely protective of Rose and recalled his friend carrying the baby around the house and singing to her. Blake, Solari told ABCNEWS, was miserable in his marriage to Bakley. Blake was embarrassed and ashamed when he discovered she was sending old nude photos of herself to men, Solari said.

But as disturbed as he was about his troubled marriage, Blake, the friend said, would not have killed or had his wife killed. After all, Solari said he offered to kill her himself and Blake turned him down.

"I said, 'Robert, I'll take her off the count, please.' He says, 'John, I can't do that,'" Solari recalled. "'I gotta make this work.'"

Solari said if Blake wanted Bakley killed, he would have ordered a hit through him. But Blake wouldn't do it because of their daughter.

"He begged me. He says, 'John … John don't. Never. I gotta make this work because this is my daughter, and I don't want her to grow up and know this happened,'" Solari said.

Search for Financial Records, Diary

Authorities initially said the star of the 1970s cop show Baretta was not considered a suspect in the death of his wife.

But the tone shifted on Wednesday when police said they had not ruled anyone out as a suspect. Police also searched Blake's home again Wednesday night.

Blake's attorney on Thursday delivered to police numerous items he said he believes should be examined by police. The items included boxes, suitcases and steamer trunks filled with the property and belonging to Bakely including tapes, letters and articles related to her life as well as some business documents and photos.

The attorney, Harland Braun, has said his client welcomes the scrutiny, and he hopes investigators will uncover clues to find out who killed his wife.

"We want the LAPD to investigate Robert Blake, because the more they investigate, they'll find out he didn't do it," Braun said.

Sources told ABCNEWS police were looking through financial records during the Wednesday night search. They say several recent cash withdrawals are unaccounted for.

They were also looking for a second diary kept by Bakley — a diary friends and family members of the victim say detailed threats made by Blake. However, sources said police did not find that diary.

Born Michael Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career at age 5, appearing in MGM's Our Gang series. He appeared in a number of films, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and In Cold Blood, but is best known for Baretta.

In the 1970s series, he played a tough cop with a soft side who had a pet cockatoo named Fred and got tips from a pimp named Rooster. The popular Baretta theme song warned, "Don't go to bed with no price on your head … Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

ABCNEWS' Steffan Tubbs and Dave Alpert contributed to this report.