Wondery Presents: The Execution Of Bonny Lee Bakley

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Dan Zupansky

True Crime, News Commentary, Documentary, News, Society & Culture

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2022

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On May 4, 2001, Bonny Lee Bakley was found fatally shot in a car on a dark North Hollywood street. The prime suspect was her husband, famed actor Robert Blake. But Bonny, a longtime con artist, had plenty of enemies. She left behind a trail of men she’d scammed, and she had a volatile relationship with Christian Brando, the troubled son of movie star Marlon Brando.
Not since the O.J. Simpson case had the eyes of the nation been so fixated on a homicide. The search for Bonny’s killer took detectives on an eleven-month odyssey across the country and through Hollywood's underbelly of hustlers, drug addicts, and would-be hitmen. It would be the most expensive murder investigation in LAPD history to date.
This is the story of Robert and Bonny’s toxic relationship, her shocking murder, and his chaotic trial. Did actor Robert Blake kill his wife? Or was the murder someone else's vendetta?
From Wondery, and the team behind the hit series Hollywood & Crime (The Dating Game Killer, The Wonderland Murders, Death of Starlet) comes a six-part series about love, obsession and fame gone wrong. Co-hosted by Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas. wondery.fm/TM_TEOBLB

Transcript

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0:00.0	Small-town girl, Bonnie Lee Bakley, always dreamed of marrying a movie star. Her obsession
0:08.0	with celebrities resulted in nine divorces, until Bonnie eventually married famous actor
0:13.7	Robert Blake. However, Bonnie learned being close to the spotlight comes with consequences.
0:21.2	Within a year of her marriage, her Hollywood dream came to a tragic end when she was found
0:26.3	fatally shot outside of a diner in North Hollywood. Bonnie's troubling past complicated
0:32.3	detectives almost year-long investigation into her murder, which had the LAPD raking
0:38.1	through Hollywood's underbelly of gangsters, drug addicts, and would-be hitmen. Her
0:43.7	husband, Robert Blake, remained the prime suspect in her murder, but the media pointed
0:49.2	the finger back at Bonnie, saying she had it coming.
0:53.9	Some wonder, the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley is a thrilling new chapter in the hit Hollywood
0:59.6	and crime podcast series. Robert Blake knew Bonnie spent most of her life as a con artist,
1:06.2	who dreamed of being famous. But when Robert Blake reluctantly let Bonnie stay in his guesthouse,
1:12.7	it began the role he become most famous for, an accused murderer.
1:18.7	You're about to hear a preview of the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley? While you're listening,
1:24.4	follow the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or
1:31.1	you can listen ad-free by joining One Dree Plus in the One Dree app.
1:36.0	It's a little after 9.30pm on May 4, 2001. Fireworks flash across the sky in Studio
1:50.3	City, just over the Hollywood Hills. Cinco de Mayo has come a day early this year.
1:58.1	Inside a small yellow house on a quiet street, Sean Stannick sits at a desk in his robe. He's
2:04.8	spending Friday night hunched over his keyboard, riding a screenplay, hoping to become the
2:10.1	next quentin Tarantino. But tonight, Stannick won't write another word.
2:19.8	Outside his door is a man. He looks familiar. About 60 something. Short. He's breathing
	...

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