BURBANK, Calif. – Only hours after his wife was slain, Robert Blake told cops she was a sleazy con artist, according to chilling police recordings played yesterday at the actor’s wrongful-death civil trial.
Blake wasn’t shy about telling detectives he believed the manipulative past of murdered wife Bonny Lee Bakley had finally come back to haunt her.
The recorded interview, conducted about three hours after Bakley was slain s on May 4, 2001, wasn’t played at the criminal trial that ended in Blake’s acquittal.
But civil lawyer Eric Dubin, representing Bakley’s kids in the lawsuit, played snippets of the actor’s emotional interview yesterday.
The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecific amount of money over Bakley’s slaying.
Blake generally appeared to be in hysterical grief during the recorded cop chat – but at other points, he calmly explained how Bakley made a career of swindling lonely men with nude photos and promises of love.
“She puts advertisements in all kinds of sex papers . . . and guys write to her,” Blake is heard telling cops.
“It’s a whole mail-fraud scheme behind something that seems legitimate.”
Blake said he feared Bakley’s killer might be out for him next. The “Baretta” star told cops he immediately wanted to change his will to include his and Bakley’s infant daughter, Rosie.
“If those motherf—ers are looking for me, I want Rosie protected,” Blake told Los Angeles Detective Martin Pinner, who took the witness stand yesterday to authenticate his taped interview with the actor.