VAN NUYS, Calif. — A woman who claims she unwittingly helped Robert Blake kidnap his daughter eight months before Bonny Lee Bakley was murdered sobbed Monday when she told jurors she mistakenly thought the actor killed Bakley that day.

She said she never reported the incident because she was afraid of going to jail.

"I was scared. I thought, 'Oh my God, I've been involved in a kidnapping,'" Cody Blackwell said.

"That's okay. Take it easy," prosecutor Shellie Samuels said as Blackwell wept and gasped for breath.

Story continues

advertisement

Blackwell said she met Blake at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 1995, and worked for him on and off as an assistant from 1997 until the alleged kidnapping plot in September 2000, when she was introduced to Bakley as a nurse who would be the baby's new nanny.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, he's killed her,'" Blackwell said. "I kept watching television thinking I was going to hear something on the news."

Blackwell never heard anything on the news, because Blake married Bakley two months later in a bid to retain custody of their infant daughter, Rose Lenore Sophia Blake.

Blackwell testified that she never spoke about the alleged kidnapping with Blake, and never knew that he married Bakley. When she learned about Bakley's murder, she said, she sold her story to the Star, a tabloid magazine, a few weeks later for $8,000 because she needed rent money.

"He hated her," Blackwell testified. "He said she was involved with bikers and drug addicts and that she was a low-life. He really couldn't stand her."

Prosecutors say that when the Baretta star couldn't hire anyone else to kill Bakley, he did it himself on May 4, 2001. She was shot to death as she sat in Blake's car, which was parked about a block and a half from Vitello's, an Italian restaurant where they had just dined.

Blake maintains he is innocent and that someone else killed Bakley when he briefly left her alone and walked back to Vitello's to retrieve a gun he had accidentally left behind.

Ruse for Rosie

Previous witnesses have testified that Bakley was on federal probation in Arkansas for fraud charges, and that Blake was trying to get her arrested for coming to Los Angeles in violation of her probation.

In addition to Blackwell, jurors also heard from Blake's former private investigator, 79-year-old William Jordan, who was the self-described "instigator" of Blake's alleged plot.

Jordan is a decorated LAPD veteran who had several high-profile assignments during his tenure, including providing personal protection to Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. He retired in 1970 and opened his own investigation firm. He met Blake shortly after Bakley gave birth in June 2000.

Jordan testified that he told Blake to get Bakley to come to Los Angeles and leave Rosie in his care for a few days. Jordan said he planned to tip off her probation officer and, after she was forced to return, Blake could begin legal efforts to sue for custody.

"Yes, I was basically the bad guy, I guess you could say, counsel," Jordan told Samuels, adding that he never suggested that Blake kidnap the baby.

Jordan said he was not present when Bakley left Rosie behind, but he staked out her hotel and kept Blake and the probation officer apprised of her whereabouts.

Blackwell testified that the day before Bakley's arrival, she accompanied Blake to Toys R Us, where he purchased four cartloads of baby items for a nursery in his home.

Blake also told Blackwell to use a fake name when Bakley arrived.

"All of a sudden I went from Cody to Nurse Nancy," Blackwell testified. "It was to make Bonny feel more comfortable to leave the baby with me."

The actor convinced Bakley to leave Rosie in the care of "Nurse Nancy," and they went to lunch, she said. Blake called the house 10 minutes later and ordered her to take the baby to her own house, Blackwell said.

"Did you ever ask why?" Samuels asked.

"No," she said. "Robert, in my opinion, is a very controlling person. He didn't like it if you questioned him."

Blackwell said Blake called her shortly afterward and told her to bring Rosie to a nearby intersection. He then paid her $300, took Rosie, and told the baby, "Well, kid, this is it. It's just you and me from here on out."

According to court documents, Blake eventually drove the baby to the home of his grown daughter Delinah.

Blake was "ranting and raving" about Bakley's family during the alleged kidnapping, Blackwell said.

"He said, 'Just let 'em come to my house. I'll shoot 'em dead and the birds can pick the flesh off their bones.'"

Three days later, the witness said, Blake called her and asked her to pick up her things. She never worked for him again.

Wolf dog

During cross-examination, defense attorney Gerald Schwartzbach attempted to undermine Blackwell's credibility while also making references to Bakley's character and parenting skills.

Blackwell told jurors that during the short time she was with Rosie, she thought the baby needed to see a pediatrician.

"I knew there was stuff wrong with her," Blackwell said. "She couldn't have a bowel movement. I literally had to take it from her. She was not in good shape."

Blackwell also said that when she brought Rosie to her house, she let the baby play on the bed with her hybrid wolf dog, Déjà Vu. She explained that the dog was very good with children and senior citizens.

Schwartzbach projected a photo of Blackwell smiling and sitting with her dog, which appeared in the tabloid story. In the photo, Blackwell appears to be wearing a pentagram necklace.

Jordan testified that he approached Bakley by the pool at her hotel and said he wanted to talk to her about her probation status.

"She assumed I was a police officer," Jordan said, adding that he did not identify himself, but informed Bakley that her probation officer knew where she was.

"She told me, 'Well, I give [the probation officer] blowjobs and I screw him once in a while, so he does whatever I want him to do,'" Jordan testified. "I said, 'Well, I don't think that's going to help in this case.'"

Bakley eventually left the state without Rosie, but was granted permission to return the next week to try to get her back, according to previous witnesses.

The prosecutor has argued that Blake's alibi — that he was at the restaurant retrieving his forgotten gun when Bakley was murdered — is dubious, because no one at the restaurant saw him return. She also said that his decision to park far from the restaurant indicated that he was planning to kill Bakley later that evening.

But Jordan told jurors that he had been to Vitello's with Blake about seven times before the murder and that on one occasion, the actor accidentally left his gun in the booth.

"He patted himself around the waist and said, 'Oh my God, I forgot my piece,'" Jordan said. Samuels grilled him over the fact that this information was not in any of the interviews he gave to police.

Jordan also testified that the defendant never parked in Vitello's parking lot and had twice parked in the same area that later encompassed the crime scene.

During re-direct, he admitted that he worked for Blake's first defense attorney, Harlan Braun, for about three or four months, but that it had no effect on his testimony.

Outside the courtroom, reporters asked Jordan if he believed the actor killed Bakley. "What I do know of Robert," he said, "I can't see him doing it."

Robert Blake is charged with one count of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait and two counts of soliciting two former stuntmen to kill Bakley.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

Blake's daughter Delinah has permanent custody of Rosie.