Police to Obtain Tape of Bakley and Blake’s Talk

The National Enquirer agreed Tuesday to give Los Angeles police tape recordings of what editors said was actor Robert Blake accusing his future wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, of tricking him by getting pregnant.

Editor Steve Coz said the LAPD requested the tapes, which include about two hours of conversations between Blake and Bakley, who was shot to death May 4 in Studio City.

Coz would not disclose the source of the tapes, but detectives investigating the slaying said they learned about them from a Bakley family member.

“Our investigators were interviewing a member of the Bakley family, who told them he was interviewed by the National Enquirer and provided them with materials that he thought were of assistance to us,” LAPD Lt. Horace Frank said.

“Our investigators contacted the Enquirer and sought their cooperation in [obtaining] copies of the materials,” Frank said. “They agreed to cooperate and provide us copies.”

The Enquirer provided key information used in the O.J. Simpson civil trial in 1996, and the following year it helped lead police to the killer of Ennis Cosby.

Police Have No Suspects

Several of Bakley’s relatives and a former husband have granted interviews since Bakley was killed as she sat in Blake’s Dodge Stealth. The car was parked more than a block away from the Studio City restaurant where the couple had just eaten dinner. The LAPD has not identified any suspects in Bakley’s slaying.

The Enquirer says that Bakley, who was 44 when she died, made the recording early last year. She had a daughter in June, and DNA tests subsequently identified Blake, 67, as the baby’s father.

The couple married in November in a small ceremony at Blake’s Studio City home, dubbed the Mata Hari Ranch.

The Enquirer released a 90-second excerpt of the recording on Tuesday.

On the tape, Blake can be heard urging Bakley to get an abortion and accusing her of lying about using birth control.

He speaks pointedly, with dramatic pauses, often repeating himself. Her voice quavers, and she can be heard sniffling.

According to the excerpt released Tuesday, the following exchange occurred:

Bakley: “The thing is I just, I just can’t be that awful to kill it. But obviously you can, so that is just as bad.”

Blake: “You swore to me, you promised me, you promised. You said, ‘Don’t worry, Robert. No matter what, I will have an abortion. You never have to worry about me getting pregnant. I’ll take the pills, I’ll have an abortion. It’s OK. Relax, enjoy yourself. I care about you.’ And it was all a lie. And not a little lie, that’s a big lie. That’s the kind of lie that God looks down and says, ‘Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.’ That’s a big, awful, mean, vicious lie. They don’t get any worse than that. They don’t get any worse than that.”

Conversation Ends Abruptly

At the end of the conversation, they cut each other off. Blake says, “Then you want me to just fall in place and be your little bag carrier and call your parole officer.”

Bakley interrupts, crying, “No, forget it, then. If you don’t want me out here, I won’t. . . .”

Then Blake interrupts, saying, “OK,” as the excerpt ends.

Blake’s lawyer, Harland Braun, has portrayed Bakley as a celebrity-obsessed grifter who for years took out personal ads and conned men into sending her money through the mail.

Although he also turned over to police a 90-minute tape of Bakley’s telephone conversations, Braun said he hadn’t heard the one obtained by the Enquirer.

But, Braun added, he doesn’t doubt that the recording is authentic.

“He’s mad. Any person would be mad,” Braun said.

“This reflects their relationship at the early part of her pregnancy. How would you feel if someone told you they were using birth control, and that they would get an abortion and then tried to use a pregnancy to inject themselves into your life?”

Cary Goldstein, a civil attorney representing Bakley’s family, said he had not heard the tape either.

However, Goldstein, who refers to Bakley by her nickname, LeeBonny, said Blake made her fear for her safety.

He said he learned of similar exchanges between the couple through “the information given to me in correspondences and telephone conversations with LeeBonny.”