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MYSTERY It's a case that might even stump Baretta. On May 4, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, wife of ex-Baretta star Robert Blake, 67, was fatally shot as she sat in their car outside Vitello's, an Italian restaurant in Studio City, Calif. The couple had finished dinner when Blake went back into the eatery to retrieve a handgun. Upon returning, he found his wife slumped over with a gunshot wound to the head. She later died at a Burbank hospital; Blake admitted himself to an area hospital for high blood pressure, staying through May 6, when he hired a private investigator. After two interviews with Blake and a search of his home--which turned up two 9 mm guns--police ruled him out as a suspect. At press time, authorities had no suspects or motive. Autopsy results also remained under wraps; toxicology test findings are due in four to six weeks. Bakley had a checkered past, and was once arrested on charges of possessing more than a dozen false IDs and credit cards. She wed Blake last year after DNA tests proved he was the father of her 11-month-old daughter, Rose. Bakley originally thought the father was Christian Brando, son of Marlon. In response to media reports that Bakley ran lonely-hearts-club schemes and to her half-brother's claims that Blake verbally threatened her, the actor's lawyer says Blake "is not concerned" with the results of the investigation. "Robert didn't kill her."

DEATHS Clifton Keith Hillegass, 83, whose yellow-and-black CliffsNotes provide students condensed plots of literary classics, of a stroke, May 5, in Lincoln, Neb....Accordionist Boozoo Chavis, 70, "the Creole Cowboy," widely considered the king of zydeco music, of a heart attack and stroke, May 5, in Austin....Drummer Billy Higgins, 64, who pioneered the soft "free jazz" style, of liver failure, May 3, in L.A.

--Nicholas Fonseca

Originally posted May 18, 2001 Published in issue #596 May 18, 2001 Order article reprints

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