Parks Accuses Media of Smearing Bakley

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said Wednesday that the media have dehumanized Robert Blake’s wife after she was shot to death near a Studio City restaurant May 4.

Parks, speaking to reporters after a luncheon in Century City, blamed media outlets for presenting a negative portrayal of Bonny Lee Bakley as the investigation of her slaying continued.

Police have not identified a suspect, he said.

“There’s a victim who seems to be victimized a second time,” Parks said. “All she is is a victim of the most serious crime we have. That is homicide.”

Bakley’s relatives have described her as a woman who sought relationships with wealthy, well-known men.

Blake’s lawyer, Harland W. Braun, has said that letters and other records that belonged to Bakley reveal a scheme to solicit money from lonely men by placing ads in adult magazines and corresponding with them.

Some men were persuaded to send Bakley cash and bus and airline tickets through the mail, the lawyer said.

Blake found Bakley, 44, shot to death in the couple’s parked car about a block from Vitello’s, a Studio City restaurant where the couple had dined that night.

The actor told police that he found his wife mortally wounded about 10 p.m., shortly after he had left her in their car to retrieve his handgun from the restaurant.

Blake, who is licensed by Culver City police to carry a concealed weapon, told police that he was carrying the gun because his wife feared for her safety.

Perhaps best known for his role as a detective in the 1970s’ television series “Baretta,” Blake married Bakley last fall after DNA tests confirmed that he was the father of her infant daughter. They lived in separate homes on Blake’s property.

Also Wednesday, Bakley’s body was released to Armstrong Mortuary of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Coroner’s officials said the body was to be shipped to the Tuttle Funeral Home in New Jersey.

Blake signed the paperwork releasing the body, Braun said.

On Wednesday night, Blake canceled a small religious service for his slain wife after a crowd of media showed up at the funeral home, Braun said.

“We had a private religious service planned,” he said. “A priest was coming and Robert was going to be there with his three children. But now we’re afraid if he showed up there would be a riot.”

Braun said he received a call from his investigator who was at the scene and said the funeral director could not get close enough to the building to bring the body of Bonny Lee Bakley inside.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.