Police return to actor's home for more evidence

Police gather outside Robert Blake's Los Angeles home

LOS ANGELES, California -- Detectives investigating the killing of actor Robert Blake's wife towed a blue Mercedes-Benz from the former television star's Los Angeles, California, home late Wednesday after returning with a new search warrant.

Los Angeles Police Department officers were accompanied by Blake's lawyer, Harland Braun, who said he and his client welcomed a second search of the home.

"It's appropriate for them to investigate him and everyone else," Braun said. "We want the LAPD to investigate Robert Blake. The more they investigate, the more they'll find out he didn't do it."

Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, was found shot to death in her husband's car last Friday. She had been in the car outside Vitello's, an Italian restaurant where she and Blake had just eaten.

LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said the search warrant was issued "to seek specific items of evidence." Braun said Blake was not at home at the time of the search.

MESSAGE BOARD Murder in Hollywood    VIDEO The attorney for Bakley's sister, who is taking care of her affairs, spoke with CNN (May 9) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) In an exclusive interview with CNN, Blake's lawyer talks about the case (May 9) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The car towed from the guesthouse behind Blake's home, presumed to be Bakley's, had the license plate 1RSKTKR. When detectives left the house, they were carrying a Macy's shopping bag and a white garbage bag full of items from the house.

In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Robbery and Homicide Division Capt. Jim Tatreau would not name any suspects in the murder investigation.

"We have not eliminated anyone, so it would only be common sense that people close need to be considered," Tatreau said when asked specifically if Robert Blake was considered a suspect.

Meanwhile, the attorney who represented Bakley in her paternity suit and pre-nuptial agreement with Blake expressed dismay about the "trashing" of his former client'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," attorney Cary Goldstein said Wednesday.

"What we're seeing is the trashing of her nationwide," Goldstein said. "She was a good woman and ... my information is that Mr. Blake shouldn't be the first one to cast stones."

Differing views of victim

Blake, who portrayed a tough-talking detective on the 1970s television series "Baretta," has hired a private investigator to help find his wife's killer, according to his lawyer.

Goldstein's comments followed remarks from Braun, who shortly after the killing said Bakley's past seemed to have "caught up with her."

Blake starred in the 1970s TV drama "Baretta"

Braun also described the couple's relationship as unusual and sometimes "acrimonious."

"It wasn't an easy relationship, they didn't even live in the same house, (and) she wasn't in Los Angeles a good part of the time, but they were getting along better."

Braun also questioned Bakley's past, saying she was involved in a "shady kind of lonely hearts business."

Goldstein countered those claims, saying his client was "extremely honorable, she was extremely honest."

"Her dealings with me were very forthright, candid," he said. "She honored her commitments to me. I found her to be a very personable individual ... she was sweet. I could tell this was not an evil person."

Goldstein said Bakley was devoted to her children, but that her relationship with Blake was "dysfunctional." He said things had gotten worse recently.

"When I last spoke with her it was several weeks ago, and she seemed to have some of the craziness going on in her life ... based on her relationship with Mr. Blake," he said. "She was upbeat, but she had issues she was dealing with, with Mr. Blake ... I really can't go into it beyond that."

Gun and glasses of water

Bakley

Saturday, Blake told police he left his wife in the car and returned to the restaurant when he realized he had left his gun inside. Braun said Bakley believed someone had been stalking her and had asked the actor to carry the weapon.

Vitello's co-owner Joe Restivo said Blake appeared to have retrieved nothing. He said Blake looked flustered, drank two glasses of water and left.

Braun says Blake discovered Bakley's body when he returned to the car.

"We never said he's not a suspect or that he is a suspect. All we said is, he was interviewed as a witness," said Lt. Frank.

Over the weekend, police searched both Blake's home and Bakley's residence on the same property.

On Monday, police searched the site of a house being remodeled near Vitello's, not far from where the couple's car was parked.