Wondery Presents: The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley

Southern Fried True Crime

Erica Kelley

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 10.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 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. Listen by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App:

http://wondery.fm/SFTC_TEOBLB

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bonnie Lee Bakley grew up in a small town dreaming of marrying a movie star.
0:06.3	That dream turned into an adult obsession with celebrities, leading to nine divorces before
0:12.5	Bonnie did eventually marry famous actor Robert Blake.
0:17.2	But Bonnie soon learned being close to the spotlight comes with consequences.
0:22.8	Within a year of her marriage, her Hollywood dream came to a tragic end when she was found
0:27.8	fatally shot outside of a diner in North Hollywood.
0:32.1	Bonnie's troubling past complicated detectives almost a year-long investigation into her
0:37.3	murder, which had the LAPD raking through Hollywood's underbelly of gangsters, drug addicts,
0:43.2	and would be hitmen.
0:45.2	Her husband, Robert Blake, remained the prime suspect in her murder, but the media
0:50.4	pointed the finger back at Bonnie, blaming the victim, basically saying she had it coming.
0:57.8	From Wondery, the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley is a thrilling new chapter in the hit Hollywood
1:03.6	and Crime podcast series.
1:06.7	Robert Blake knew Bonnie spent most of her life as a con artist, who dreamed of being famous.
1:12.6	But when Blake reluctantly let Bonnie stay in his guest house, it began the role he would
1:18.0	become most famous for, an accused murderer.
1:22.2	You're about to hear a preview of the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley.
1:26.6	While you're listening, follow the execution of Bonnie Lee Bakley on Apple podcasts, Amazon
1:32.6	music Spotify, or you can listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.
1:40.9	It's a little after 9.30 pm on May 4th, 2001.
1:49.8	Fireworks flash across the sky in Studio City, just over the Hollywood Hills.
1:54.8	Nothing go to Mayo has come a day early this year.
	...

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