Gun Was Found Near Slaying

A truck driver asked by Los Angeles police to haul evidence away from where actor Robert Blake’s wife was found fatally shot said Monday that officers told him they found a discarded handgun in a trash bin a few yards from the crime scene.

John Philip Brice, who has driven trucks for a Monrovia waste hauling company for eight years, said the trash bin was filled mostly with construction debris the morning of May 5.

Blake’s wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, had been found shot the night before as she sat in her husband’s parked car near Vitello’s, a Studio City restaurant where the couple had dined.

Police asked Brice to move the bin to a Sun Valley dump site. Brice said he watched as detectives removed numerous items.

When investigators confirmed they had found a gun, Brice asked whether they would be able to collect fingerprints from the weapon.

“They said the gun had just been freshly oiled and there was a lot of dust stuck to it,” Brice said. “They didn’t know if they would be able to get the prints off.”

Brice also said he saw officers take a pair of gloves from the bin, though he thought the gloves may have been discarded by paramedics who struggled to revive the 44-year-old Bakley. Police officials refused to comment Monday about Brice’s statements. There have been no arrests in the case.

“We are not going to investigate this in the media,” said Sgt. John Pasquariello, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. “There will be no comment from us on evidence we have collected or have not collected.”

Garret Zimmon, the commander in charge of the Bakley investigation, said that “at this point, we have not identified a single person as the suspect.” There is, he said, “no pending arrest of a suspect in the case.”

Bakley’s relatives have described her as a woman who sought relationships with wealthy, well-known men. They also said she was known to spin tales of her relationships with stars.

Blake lawyer Harland W. Braun, who has said Blake “has a shadow over his head” despite being described by police as only a witness, has released letters that show Bakley as a woman portraying herself as young, attractive and desperate. She asks men for money to help with transportation and other expenses.

Braun, who has said Bakley may have had enemies and that the killing may have been committed by a hit man, said he expected a gun would be found near where the shooting occurred.

“The typical professional hit man will get a gun that is untraceable, use it, and dispose of it near the scene,” Braun said. “That’s all this is. . . . As I understand it, there’s no way they can connect the gun to Robert.”

After going through the trash bin the morning after the shooting, investigators returned days later and combed through a lot near where Bakley was found, in the 11400 block of Woodbridge Street. They were seen taking a bag from the lot and dusting garbage cans for fingerprints.

Police also searched Blake’s Studio City property twice.

In the first search, police found two 9-millimeter handguns and boxes of ammunition, among other belongings. Items taken from Blake’s property during a search Wednesday evening, according to police records, were an overnight suitcase, audiotapes, a long-sleeve sweatshirt, and various papers and documentation.

The actor, 67, told investigators he found his wife after returning to the restaurant to retrieve his .38-caliber handgun. Blake, who is registered to carry a concealed weapon, told police he had the gun because Bakley feared for her safety.

His lawyers have said the couple married after DNA tests proved Blake fathered the couple’s infant daughter. Bakley lived in a separate unit, behind Blake’s home.

Over the weekend, Braun released audio recordings Bakley made of her own phone conversations. On the tapes, Bakley speaks of her schemes to bilk lonely men in exchange for nude pictures.

She also recorded a message left by Blake, best known for his role as a detective in the 1970s TV series “Baretta,” on her telephone answering machine.

“Why don’t you plan on coming out here in a couple of weeks and we’ll see where things go from there,” Blake says on the recording.

Braun said Monday that Blake has agreed to pay for Bakley’s funeral, but it was not clear Monday whether he would attend the services, which will be held in her New Jersey hometown.

Another well-known criminal defense lawyer, Barry Levin, joined Blake’s legal team over the weekend. Levin, a former LAPD detective, has been involved in several high-profile cases. Levin and Braun worked together last fall, defending the first Rampart officers to face criminal charges.

Levin is considered an expert on police procedures.

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Times staff writers Kurt Streeter and Ann O’Neill contributed to this story.