Family Decides Bakley Will Be Buried in L.A.

Actor Robert Blake’s slain wife will be buried in the Los Angeles area rather than in her home state of New Jersey as originally planned, family representatives said Thursday.

The announcement came a day after an informal memorial for Bonny Lee Bakley was canceled when a throng of media surrounded Armstrong Family Mortuary in Los Angeles, where her body was to be delivered late Wednesday after it was released by the Los Angeles County coroner.

Blake’s lawyers said he intended to pay to transport Bakley’s body to the East Coast for interment, and planned to attend the memorial along with members of Bakley’s family. A Catholic priest and the actor’s three children, including Blake and Bakley’s infant daughter, Rose, were expected at the service.

But a mortuary employee driving Bakley’s body from the coroner’s office found media representatives camped out around the mortuary, said Barry Felsen, one of Blake’s lawyers.

The driver went to another mortuary to wait for the crowd to disperse before eventually delivering Bakley to the funeral home, Felsen said.

The memorial was called off for security reasons, said lawyer Harland W. Braun, who represents Blake.

“It just would have been a mob, especially if Robert showed up,” he said. “We decided we had no control over what would have happened, so we backed off.”

After hearing that the mortuary in New Jersey was surrounded by media representatives, Blake and Bakley’s family decided not to transport her body to the East Coast. They decided to keep her body at the mortuary and find a place to bury her in California, probably in Los Angeles. A date has not been determined, the representatives said.

“This is sad,” said Felsen, who along with members of Bakley’s family and her attorney, Cary Goldstein, released a statement. “You can’t even bury this poor woman in peace.”

Braun added that in the end, Bakley, who he has said pursued movie and singing stars, would have been happy being buried in Los Angeles.

“It’s ironic,” he said. “She loved Hollywood. Isn’t it fitting that she end up near Hollywood? It’s something she would’ve loved.”

Blake’s lawyers say the 67-year-old actor told police he found Bakley, 44, fatally shot in the passenger seat of the couple’s car the evening of May 4, after the two had eaten dinner at Vitello’s, a Studio City restaurant.

Blake told police he found his wife wounded after briefly leaving her to retrieve a handgun he had carried into the restaurant. The actor, licensed by Culver City police to carry a concealed weapon, said he was carrying the .38-caliber handgun because his wife feared for her safety.

The couple married recently after DNA tests showed that Blake was the father of Bakley’s daughter. They lived in separate homes on Blake’s property in Studio City.

Police say no one has been identified as a suspect in her death. Blake has been described as a witness.

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks reiterated Thursday that detectives were methodically reviewing evidence in the case. Earlier this week, Parks said the media were treating Bakley harshly.

Parks also criticized Braun for aggressively disseminating personal information about Bakley to the press.

But Braun has said Bakley’s background may have had something to do with her death. Bakley had a history of legal run-ins and operated a business to bilk lonely men out of money in exchange for nude pictures and promises of sex, Braun has said.