Bonny Lee Bakley (June 7, 1956 – May 4, 2001) was the second wife of actor Robert Blake, who was her tenth husband. Bakley was fatally shot while sitting in Blake’s parked car outside a Los Angeles -area restaurant in May 2001.
Bonny Lee Bakely Murder: Where is Robert Blake Now? Bonny Lee Bakley was last seen alive when she had dinner with her husband, Robert Blake, in a Studio City, California, restaurant on May 4, 2001.
His second marriage was the prelude of the issues to come. His second wife was Bonnie Lee Bakley. Bakley’s love life was always a scandal as she was married nine times, the tenth one being Blake. The two had disputes when there was a confusion regarding the father of her child.
Robert Blake married twice. His first marriage was with the actress Sondra Kerr, out of which he has two children. His second marriage was the prelude of the issues to come. His second wife was Bonnie Lee Bakley.
Where did Blake and Bakley go to dinner?
Bakley’s Murder. After only six months of marriage, in May 2001, Blake and Bakley went to dinner at Vitello’s Italian Restaurant, where Blake was a regular customer. After dinner, the two walked to their car. According to Blake, he realized he left his revolver at the restaurant and left to retrieve it.
After a year of investigations, Blake was arrested and charged with the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley. On March 15, 2005, a jury of seven women and five men deliberated for more than 36 hours before returning a verdict of not guilty in the murder of his wife and not guilty on one count of soliciting someone to murder her.
A civil jury decided 10 to 2 that the tough-guy actor was behind the slaying and ordered him to pay Bonny Lee Bakley’s four children $30 million.
Bakley’s Childhood Years. Bonny Lee Bakley was born June 7, 1956 in Morristown, New Jersey. As a young girl, her dreams were similar to others her age, to one day become rich and famous. Perhaps her impoverished home helped to drive these fantasies.
Bonny Lee Bakley was not a good girl. She was a con artist who used sex and deception to bilk men—many of the rich and famous—out of their money, and their children out of their inheritance. She was shot to death in May 2001 and her husband at the time, actor Robert Blake, was charged with the crime. Still, there was a long list of other people …
Finally, the two met around 1982, and a friendship developed. Jerry Lee Lewis and Bakley remained friends until Bakley became pregnant and told everyone that the child’s father was Jerry Lee Lewis and that he was leaving his wife to marry her.
This motivated her decision to leave her kids in Gawron’s care and head to Memphis, Tennessee, to the door of musical artist, Jerry Lee Lewis.
ADVERTISEMENT
Who did Bakley marry?
There she met an immigrant named Evangelos Paulakis, who needed to get married in order to stay in the United States. Bakley agreed to marry him for a price, but then almost immediately ended the marriage; Paulakis was deported. At age 21, Bakley married her first cousin Paul Gawron.
Bakley and Rose lived in a small guest house beside Blake’s residence in Studio City , California. The relationship was reportedly rocky; Blake was distrustful of Bakley and hired a private investigator to find more information about her.
Bakley’s attorney advised her not to sign the document because he thought it was “lopsided”. Eager to marry Blake, she ignored her attorney’s advice and signed the agreement on October 4, 2000. Bakley and Blake were married in November 2000. Although they were married, the couple never lived together.
In 2006, Blake filed for bankruptcy, with debts of $3 million for unpaid legal fees as well as state and federal taxes. On April 9, 2010, the state of California filed a tax lien against Blake for $1,110,878 in unpaid back taxes.
In 1999, Bakley discovered she was pregnant and initially thought that Brando was the child’s father. In June 2000, she gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter she named Christian Shannon Brando.
Early life. Bonny Lee Bakley was born in Morristown, New Jersey to arborist Edward J. Bakley and his wife, Marjorie Lois Bakley. Bakley had three siblings: Margerry Lisa Bakley, Joe Bakley, and her half-brother Peter Carlyon from her mother’s second marriage. She was raised by and lived with her grandmother in Glen Gardner, New Jersey, …
Blake’s defense, led by M. Gerald Schwartzbach, attacked the credibility of associates who alleged Blake had wanted to hire them to kill Bakley, and also raised the possibility the victim was murdered by one of the men she had conned out of money in the past.