Robert Blake died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89. The Little Rascals actor died from heart disease, according to a statement released by his niece, Noreen Austin.
Blake was acquitted in the murder of his second wife Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001. He was also acquitted of trying to hire someone to kill her. However, the jury was deadlocked on a second solicitation charge.
The jury voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal and the judge dismissed the count.
Who was Bonny Lee Bakley?
Bonny Lee Bakley was born on June 7, 1956, in Morristown, New Jersey to father Edward J. Bakley, an arborist and mother Marjorie Lois Bakley. She had three siblings Margerry Lisa Bakley, Joe Bakley and Peter Carlyon, her half-brother from her mother’s second marriage.
Bakley was raised by her grandmother in Glen Gardner while her mother ran an antique business at 6 Kossuth Street in Wharton, New Jersey.
At 16, Bakley decided to go to New York City to pursue modeling and acting. She met an immigrant, Evangelos Paulakis needed to get married to stay in the US. Bakley agreed to marry him for a price, but the marriage ended almost immediately and Paulakis was deported.
At 21, she married her first cousin Paul Gawron in 1977 and divorced in 1982. This was the longest of her ten marriages. They had two children together, Glenn and Holly.
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Here is the list of Bakley marriages:
Evangelos Paulakis (1971-1971)
Paul Gawron (1977-1982)
Robert Moon (1984-1987)
DeMart C. Besly (1988-1988)
Joseph Brooksher (1992- 1992)
William Webber (1993-1993)
E. Robert Telufson (1994-1994)
Glynn H. Wolfe (1995-1995)
John Ray (1996-1998)
Robert Blake (2000 to May 4, 2001)
Bakley, who had already been married nine times had a history of exploiting older men, especially celebrities, for money. She married Robert Blake in November 2000. She was the second wife of Blake.
Also Read | Robert Blake wives: Who are Sondra Kerr, Bonny Lee Bakely and Pamela Hudak?
The couple went for dinner on May 4, 2001, in Los Angeles when she was killed by a gunshot wound to the head while she was in the passenger seat of Blake’s black 1991 Dodge Stealth. She was 44.
Blake stated that he was not present when she was shot as he went to collect a gun which he had left inside. The gun that Blake referred to was determined not to have fired the shots that killed Bakley.
Bakley was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
