Police Likely to Question Blake in Death

May 11, 2001 -- The mystery over who killed actor Robert Blake's wife is more than a puzzle for Los Angeles police detectives — it's 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's 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 taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

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."

Bakley's friends and relatives say there are good reasons not to rule him out. Both Howell and Bakley's mother said 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 shamed when he discovered she was sending old nude photos of herself to men.

But as disturbed as he was about his troubled marriage, Blake, Solari 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 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 lawyer, Harland Braun, maintained a brave face about the latest search of the actor's Studio City, Calif., home, saying it is what his client wants — and that he hopes they 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.

Search for New Clues

At the Blake residence Wednesday night, helicopters hovered overhead and searchlights illuminated the front yard as about 30 officers, some in plain clothes, searched both Blake's house and the guest house on the grounds where his wife lived. After about two hours, detectives emerged carrying two bags — a large department store shopping bag and a white garbage bag.

A blue Mercedes was also towed off the property. It had been parked in Blake's back yard.

LAPD investigators said they were making "good progress" in the case, and awaited test results — including those to determine traces of gun powder residue on Blake's clothing, which are being conducted at an East Coast lab.

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.