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American Morning

Police Video Glimpses Blake's House

Aired August 07, 2002 - 07:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a full year before police arrested actor Robert Blake on suspicion of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, but videotapes made by the police within 24 hours of her death show that he led their short list of suspects almost right from the beginning.
Charles Feldman has gotten a hold of those tapes. He joins us early this morning from Los Angeles to take us inside Robert Blake's home.

Some incredible stuff you were able to see -- good morning.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you.

Yes, you know, as you said, right after Bonny Lee Bakley was murdered, for a long time police were saying that they didn't really have any key suspects. But this tape that we have obtained shows that that wasn't exactly the truth, because within 24 hours, they had a search warrant, and they showed up at the home of Robert Blake and his then wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

And we can show now, this is the exterior of the home. He since, of course, has moved, but this was the home he occupied at the time, which he called Mata Hari Ranch. He and daughter, Rosie, lived inside the main building. His wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, actually lived in a guest house, which was on the property but adjacent to it.

What we're looking now at is the lead detective in this case, Ron Ito, going inside Robert Blake's home, and they were looking for anything that would indicate one way or the other whether or not Robert Blake had anything to do with the shooting death of Bonny Lee Bakley.

They went through the house rather thoroughly, as you can see, tape recording it. And for the most part, we are told, didn't find anything of great consequence.

They did find one very curious item, and that is that in several locations around the home, Robert Blake had some envelopes. And what was inside the envelopes? Well, apparently crisp $100 bills. In fact, when the police added up those crisp $100 bills, it amounted to some $12,000 in cash. That's 12,000 with a capital T.

Why is this potentially significant? Prosecutors, as part of their case, claim that Robert Blake, before he allegedly killed his wife, tried to hire some hit men. And they will no doubt try to argue at the trial that the cash may have had something to do with that money.

For Robert Blake's attorney's part, he says, no, you know, what it was, is that Robert Blake was a child of the Depression, and he liked to have cash around the house, sort of pocket change. And since he has a couple of million in the bank, for Robert Blake, says his attorney, $12,000 just happens to be pocket change.

So there you have it -- Daryn.

KAGAN: There you go. A couple of images strike us from looking at that tape, and that's the big gun rack on the wall there. That might actually help the defense, because they were trying to say that, oh, yes, sure he had gun powder residue on him. Look at all of the guns he had in his house.

FELDMAN: Yes, precisely so. You know, you saw the detective going through and looking at those guns. And he probably didn't realize at the time, because remember, this was just within hours of the murder, that it would or could play a significant role, because you're quite right. I mean, there was gun powder residue found on Robert Blake and on some articles of his clothing. But the defense claims that, look, the guy was a gun collector. He handled guns and gun powder all of the time. Of course, you're going to find gun powder. And that's going to be a matter for a jury to eventually decide, you know.

KAGAN: Well, we will be tracking it -- actually, you'll be tracking it for us from Los Angeles. Charles Feldman, thank you so much.

FELDMAN: See you later.

KAGAN: All right.

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