Robert Blake could use some of his Baretta smarts now.
Police investigators obtained a second search warrant Wednesday night for another search of the actor’s Los Angeles home for evidence in the murder of Blake‘s wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, who was shot in the head Friday outside a Los Angeles eatery. Blake, best known for his 1970s cop series Baretta, was not at home during the search.
Blake‘s attorney, Harland Braun, is welcoming the second search.
“We want LAPD to investigate Robert Blake because the more they investigate, they’ll find out he didn’t do it,” Braun said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Police Department had reportedly at the start of investigation ruled Blake out as a suspect, saying he was only a witness.
But things are changing dramatically.
“We have not ruled anyone out as a suspect in this case and information that indicated that he had is just quite frankly wrong,” Capt. Jim Tatreau, head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, told ABCNEWS on Wednesday.
“We have certainly not ruled out Mr. Blake,” Tatreau continued.
Police sources close to the investigation told ABCNEWS Thursday that Blake was now considered the prime suspect. Police told Hollywood.com on Thursday that, at this time, the investigation is still moving forward and no one has been singled out as a prime suspect. Evidence is still being gathered.
Detectives carried out bags full of items from Blake‘s house and towed a Mercedes-Benz, presumed to be Bakley’s, from Blake‘s backyard on Wednesday. The search was conducted “as a result of additional information received [Tuesday] by the concerned detectives” and that specific items were sought, The Associated Press reported.
Those specific items, sources told ABCNEWS, were primarily financial records belonging to Bakley. It seems several recent cash withdrawals have not been unaccounted for. The police also were looking for a second diary kept by Bakley, one which may outline detailed threats made by Blake, but the diary was reportedly not found. The police are still awaiting gunpowder residue test results from Blake‘s weapon, which was seized Saturday. Blake told police he had gone to retrieve a gun from the restaurant when he returned to his car to find Bakley shot.
Sources also told ABCNEWS that Braun may have the diary and other evidence, but the warrant has demanded that anything taken from Blake‘s home by the actor’s attorneys be handed over to police. Braun told AP all relevant evidence would be delivered to police headquarters Thursday.
Braun could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Braun has been critical of the police department’s investigation, saying it was ignoring the possibility of other people from Bakley’s past being suspects and merely concentrating on Blake as the prime suspect.
Homicide detectives plan to interview Blake‘s bodyguard on Thursday. The bodyguard may provide information about the couple’s relationship and about a mysterious man reportedly seen outside Blake‘s home several times in recent months. Private detective Scott Ross, hired by Braun to find the killer, said that a man with a crewcut in his early 20s had been watching the house, sitting in a black four-door pick-up parked across the street.
And what about the profile of Bakley that has emerged since her death?
Braun criticized Bakley for being deceptive and promiscuous behavior, partially blaming her lewd activities on her death.
According to AP, Braun reported Tuesday that Bakley formed a sort of “lonely hearts” scam, offering men nude pictures of herself in exchange for money and plane tickets to destinations throughout the country. In an effort to further his client’s innocence, Braun suggested that one of these men might have targeted Bakley on Friday night.
“Someone out of her past may have come and killed her,” Braun said. “We’re looking for anything that might indicate motive.”
LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank, however, told AP: “It’s kind of unfair. Here’s a person who’s been murdered and now they start painting her as a bad person.”
Bakley’s attorney, Cary Goldstein, expressed dismay about the smearing of Bakley’s reputation.
“What I want to emphasize is that this is a victim of a homicide. This is a woman with children, with family members, who was sitting in a car and had a gun put to her head and her brains blown out,” Goldstein told CNN.com.
“It wasn’t an easy relationship [between Blake and Bakley], they didn’t even live in the same house … but they were getting along better,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein represented Bakley in a paternity suit with Blake, where, through DNA tests, Blake was determined the father of Bakley’s infant daughter. Blake married Bakley last year out of obligation, Braun has said. The couple had marital problems, with Bakley living in a houseguest on Blake‘s property.
The criticism surrounding Bakley’s reputation extends beyond Blake‘s legal team. Several family and friends have described Bakley as celebrity-obsessed and her brother has said she married Blake for his celebrity status. Bakley’s family also has said that Bakley did not create any enemies.
Blake has been in seclusion since the shooting.
