`BARETTA'S' WIFE SLAIN ACTOR BLAKE RETURNS TO CAR TO FIND HER SHOT.Byline: Erik N. Nelson and Helen Gao Staff Writers STUDIO CITY - ``Baretta'' star Robert Blake's wife was shot and killed as she sat in their parked car outside a popular Studio City restaurant while he went back to retrieve what his attorney said Saturday was a handgun. The actor's wife had urged him to carry a gun that night, which he kept on the booth under a sweat shirt while they dined at Vitello's Restaurant, said attorney Harland Braun. Police said Blake found his wife, Leebonny Bakley, 44, bleeding profusely pro·fuse adj. 1. Plentiful; copious. 2. Giving or given freely and abundantly; extravagant: were profuse in their compliments. from a head wound when he returned to the car near the restaurant about 9:40 p.m. Friday. ``It looks like a professional hit almost,'' Braun said. ``She has a fairly checkered background.'' Frantic, Blake ran to the nearby home of film director Sean Stanek to call police. ``He said, `You gotta help me,''' Stanek said. Stanek called 911 for help and rushed across the street with Blake, 67, best known for his lead role in the 1970s television detective drama ``Baretta'' and the film ``In Cold Blood.'' ``She was gurgling Gurgling is a characteristic sound made by unstable two-phase fluid flow, for example, as liquid is poured from a bottle, or during gargling. , trying to gasp for air,'' Stanek said. ``By the time I got situated, the paramedics were already there, so there was not much I could have done,'' he added. Paramedics rushed Bakley to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is a hospital in Burbank, California, USA. The hospital has 455 beds, and is part of Providence Health & Services. It's adress is: 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91505. in Burbank, where she was pronounced dead. ``Mr. Blake was in agony; crying, vomiting'' while waiting for paramedics to arrive, said Stanek, who instantly recognized Blake from ``Baretta.'' Blake told detectives that after dinner at Vitello's on Tujunga Avenue, the couple walked west on Woodbridge Street for about a block to get their car, a late-model Dodge Stealth. ``Upon returning to the vehicle, Mr. Blake realized he had left some item in the restaurant,'' said Lt. Don Hartwell. Police said they had no suspects or witnesses to the slaying. A search warrant was executed on Blake's Studio City home on Saturday, authorities said, and police put up yellow tape in front of the residence. Blake returned to the house at one point with a lawyer and left shortly after. His attorney Braun said Blake has a permit to carry a concealed weapon concealed weapon n. a weapon, particularly a handgun, which is kept hidden on one's person, or under one's control (in a glove compartment or under a car seat). from Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. , and that the weapon had been turned over to the police. Braun said Blake was taken to an undisclosed hospital about 9:30 p.m. Saturday for high blood pressure, and that he would probably stay overnight. Last fall, when they were about to be married, the couple made gossip columns over the paternity The state or condition of a father; the relationship of a father. English and U.S. Common Law have recognized the importance of establishing the paternity of children. of Bakley's 11-month-old daughter Rose. The child, born June 2, was originally named Christian Shannon Brando after Marlon Brando's son, Christian, whom Bakley believed was the father. But DNA tests showed Blake was the father and they were married last November. ``He (Blake) has been questioned and at this time is not being considered a suspect and is no longer being interviewed,'' said police spokesman Officer Don Cox. Braun said that Blake had only known his wife a short time, and that she had a checkered past. ``She's spent a good portion of her life defrauding other men out their money,'' said Braun. One area resident, graphic artist Andrew Percival, said that he and his wife, actress Rebecca Markham, had eaten at the restaurant Friday night and Percival said he saw someone inside he thought looked like Blake - whom a pasta dish on the menu is named after. Later, as Percival and his wife were walking home along Woodbridge Street, he said they saw the same person walking back to the restaurant. After police announced the killing Saturday morning, reporters staked out Blake's modest one-story, wood-sided house, emblazoned with the moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias. (2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. , ``Mata Hari Mata Hari (mä`tə hä`rē), 1876–1917, Dutch dancer and spy in German service during World War I. Her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. Ranch.'' About six police officers could be seen on the Blake property late Saturday afternoon. Two Federal Express packages addressed to Bakley lay on the front lawn, not far from a discarded Academy Foundation mailer addressed to Blake. Blake, who grew up in New Jersey, had a roller coaster career and overcame drug problems and other personal issues. He has appeared in 127 films, beginning in 1939 as a child actor playing Mickey Gubitosi - his real name - in the ``Our Gang'' film series. In the 1940s he took the name Bobby Blake  The of all or part of this article is disputed.Please see the discussion on the talk page. But his signature role was from 1975 to 1978 as TV's ``Baretta,'' the barrel-chested, moody detective with a white cockatoo cockatoo: see parrot. cockatoo Any of 21 species of crested parrots (family Cacatuidae), found in Australia and from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. Most species are white with touches of red or yellow; some are black. named Fred. He has appeared in many films since the TV series, including the 1997 David Lynch film, ``Lost Highway.'' Neighbors said Blake had lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and was a well-dressed, friendly and shy man whom they saw occasionally taking walks in the neighborhood and by the river. They also said they had no idea he was married, but had seen women visit the house. Apparently, appearing on television with a bird was not an act, because neighbors reported that Blake had an aviary aviary Structure for keeping captive birds, usually spacious enough for the aviculturist to enter. Aviaries range from small enclosures to large flight cages 100 ft (30 m) or more long and up to 50 ft (15 m) high. Enclosures for birds that fly only little or weakly (e.g. . Next-door neighbor Patricia Resnick said that when her family found an injured quail quail, common name for a variety of small game birds related to the partridge, pheasant, and more distantly to the grouse. There are three subfamilies in the quail family: the New World quails; the Old World quails and partridges; and the true pheasants and seafowls. , they brought the bird to Blake, who helped care for it. ``He has always been nice to the kids and animals,'' she said. Staff writer Jason Kandel contributed to this story. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Actor Robert Blake Robert Blake may be:
CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. |
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