VAN NUYS, Calif. — After suggesting Robert Blake's motive for killing his wife, detailing his unsuccessful shopping spree for a hit man, and exposing a litany of schemes the actor allegedly considered for the killing, prosecutors handling Blake's preliminary hearing began Monday to piece together his wife's final moments: a meal at the Italian restaurant near which she met her end.

Statements from the two brothers who own Vitello's restaurant, the waitress who served the couple, and a waitress in charge of nearby diners all painted Blake as nervous during the May 4, 2001, dinner, and called into question his alibi — that he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he had left behind when Bonny Lee Bakley was shot in his Dodge Stealth outside.

In preliminary hearings, police can testify about statements collected from witnesses, and LAPD Detective Robert Bub was called by the prosecution to stitch together the impressions of Vitello's staff that night. 

The dinner began some time after 8:00 p.m. on May 4, 2001, when Blake brought Bakley to the Studio City restaurant.  They left at about 9:30.  Moments later, Bakley was dead.

According to prosecutors, Blake ambushed Bakley as she sat in his car behind Vitello's. They say the actor, star of the 1970s hit crime drama, "Baretta," wanted sole custody of the couple's daughter, Rose.

Blake has pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and solicitation and says that any number of men from Bakley's sordid past could have wanted her dead.

Before dinner that night, according to the statement waitress Robin Robichaux made to Bub, Blake called to make a reservation, something Robichaux said the actor had never done in her 14 years at Vitello's. When the couple arrived, co-owner Steve Restivo showed Blake to his usual booth, and fixed a bowl of soup that Robichaux brought to the table.  Blake ordered his signature pasta, angel hair with spinach sauce.

Although the pasta had been named for the actor, it appeared not to agree with him.  Waitress Yvonne Issacs, who handled the table next to Blake, told Bub she saw vomit in a garbage can in the bathroom that had flakes of spinach like his signature sauce. 

Credit card records showed that Blake paid at 9:23, and co-owner Joe Restivo told Bub he saw Blake leave with Bakley at about 9:30. Ten minutes later, the waitress, Robichaux, was restocking wine shelves when she saw Blake re-enter the restaurant, pale and upset.  He asked for a glass of water and left again.

Joe Restivo was manning the front desk when Blake returned again, this time screaming for an ambulance. 

"She's been mugged, she's been beaten, she's been shot," he yelled, according to Joe Restivo's account to the detective.

Blake has said that his wife was shot while he returned to the restaurant to find his gun, a .38-caliber revolver he said he purchased to protect Bakley (and not the murder weapon, a vintage Walther P-38, which was found the next day in a Dumpster near where Blake parked). 

Both Joe and Steve Restivo told Detective Bub that they had a strict policy on lost items, however, suggesting that Blake's gun was never left behind: Busboys were to clean the table, seat cushions and floor, and were under orders to turn over any lost item to the brothers immediately.

While Monday's testimony could damage Blake's alibi — which has him going between his car and the restaurant at least twice — prosecutors have yet to place the murder weapon in his hands.  Tying the gun to Blake through forensic evidence could be a crucial part of proving they have enough evidence to hold him over on murder charges.

Prosecutors also presented evidence Monday to bolster their contention that Blake shopped for a hit man in the months before his wife's murder. According to a bank manager at City National Bank, Blake withdrew $126,000 in cash between September 2000 and March 2001, often in chunks of $5,000.

The large withdrawls, testified Helga Shattuck, were flagged by the bank as suspicious. "Normally he would cash out smaller checks and fewer checks," she testified.

Shattuck's testimony could lend credence to the testimony of Ronald Hambleton, a stuntman who testified that Blake had told him he was steadily socking away money to pay a hit man for his services. Hambleton and two other men have testified that Blake solicited them for the killing.

Outside court Monday Blake's attorney, Thomas Mesereau, attacked the financial theory.  "It's not unusual for someone like Mr. Blake to withdraw that kind of money," said Mesereau.  "It's all frankly ridiculous.  They're throwing all this stuff at the wall hoping something will stick, and nothing will stick." 

Soldier of misfortune?

Other testimony Monday focused on Blake's bodyguard and alleged co-conspirator, Earle Caldwell.  Police found a military catalog in which Caldwell had allegedly dog-eared a page for "Killing Zone," a book detailing ambush techniques, a detective testified. LAPD detective Thomas Mathew found the 100-page Paladin Press catalog during an April 19, 2002, search of Caldwell's garage.

Earle Caldwell

"Killing Zone," by Gary Stubblefield, promises to reveal "principles and techniques of ambush," according to the catalog, which was postmarked Feb. 1, 2001, and addressed to Caldwell.  A Paladin Press Web site says the book "explain[s] in detail how to plan or prevent an ambush, apply ambush techniques to 60+ special situations and analyze 40+ real ambushes to see why they succeeded or failed."

The presence of the catalog in Caldwell's Burbank, Calif., garage could help prosecutors strengthen their circumstantial case against Blake and Caldwell. 

In addition to "Killing Zone," the Paladin Press catalog featured books detailing the construction of silencers.  Police suspect that the blasts that killed Bakley were muffled, as no witnesses near the crime scene reported hearing gunshots.

Mathew admitted on cross-examination that he did not know whether Caldwell ever purchased any books from the catalog.

Thomas Mathew

Caldwell's defense attorney, Arna Zlotnik, noted that the catalog also contained books on famous military battles, home security, fishing, and bodyguarding.

But on redirect, Deputy District Attorney Gregory Dohi reviewed the table of contents page with Mathew, illustrating that Zlotnik's few selections were in the minority.  The table of contents included such categories as:

• Firearms
• Combat shooting
• Knives and knife fighting
• New IDs, personal freedom
• Financial freedom
• Espionage
• Martial arts
• Self-defense
• Survival
• Sniping
• Elite units
• Military science
• Locksmithing
• Exotic weapons
• Silencers
• Guerilla gunsmithing

Caldwell was known to have a gun collection, which included vintage, unregistered handguns such as a Mauser "broomhandle" pistol used in World War II by the Germans. 

On Monday, the demise of Caldwell's relationship with a woman, Lisa Johnson, came to the fore through two e-mails Caldwell sent Johnson saying he was "busy saving someone's life" in the months after Bakley was murdered. Police waited almost a year before arresting Blake on April 18, 2002.

"I'm sorry that the fact that I'm saving someone's life interfered with your schedule," said Caldwell in an Oct. 1, 2001, e-mail.  Asked to explain the inference, LAPD Detective Brian Tyndall suggested that Caldwell dumped Johnson because he was busy helping Blake.

"She was upset that she wasn't able to spend as much time with the man she loved," said Tyndall.

It is not clear what prosecutors believe Caldwell was doing with Blake after the murder, but before the murder, Tyndall told the court, one witness he interviewed said Caldwell was asking around for an unregistered gun.

According to Caldwell's friend Noel Manchan, Caldwell was looking for a gun to go "plinking in the desert" and to "take care of business," Tyndall testified.

But when questioned by Zlotnik, Tyndall begged off the latter phrase, saying that Manchan had instead told him that Caldwell wanted the gun "just in case something happens."

Blake, 69, could face life in prison; Caldwell is charged with conspiracy and could face 25 years to life in prison.  Caldwell is out on $1 million bail paid by Blake, who is being held in the Los Angeles County Corrections.

Court TV is broadcasting the hearing.