On May 4, 2001, Bonny Lee Bakley was found fatally shot in a car on a dark North Hollywood street. The prime suspect was her husband, famed actor Robert Blake. But Bonny, a longtime con artist, had plenty of enemies. She left behind a trail of men she?d scammed, and she had a volatile relationship with Christian Brando, the troubled son of movie star Marlon Brando. 

Not since the O.J. Simpson case had the eyes of the nation been so fixated on a homicide. The search for Bonny?s killer took detectives on an eleven-month odyssey across the country and through Hollywood's underbelly of hustlers, drug addicts, and would-be hitmen. It would be the most expensive murder investigation in LAPD history to date. 

This is the story of Robert and Bonny?s toxic relationship, her shocking murder, and his chaotic trial. Did actor Robert Blake kill his wife? Or was the murder someone else's vendetta?

From Wondery, and the team behind the hit series Hollywood & Crime (The Dating Game Killer, The Wonderland Murders, Death of Starlet) comes a six-part series about love, obsession and fame gone wrong. Co-hosted by Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas.

Listen to The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley: wondery.fm/Accused_TEOBLB

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Seven years have passed since DNA evidence led to William Virgil?s release from prison. A lot can change in seven years ? and yet, so much can stay maddeningly stagnant at the same time. We examine what one of life?s inevitable developments will mean for the civil lawsuit Virgil had filed alleging he?d been wrongfully convicted in the murder of Retha Welch.

Credits from the script: Accused is written by me, Amber Hunt, produced by Amanda Rossmann, edited by Amy Wilson and engineered by Phil Didion. Music is by Andrew Higley. You can support this show directly by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/accused. To see photographs and supplemental documents, www.accusedpodcast.com. The best way to spread word about the cases we cover is to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

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As adamant as police and prosecutors are that they properly handled the case against murder suspect Elwood Jones, a judge is expected to weigh whether Jones can get a new trial in the 1994 slaying of Rhoda Nathan. Elwood?s lawyers accuse prosecutors of withholding key information that could have changed jurors? minds 25 years ago. 

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Hamilton County, Ohio, is known nationwide as having one of the highest capital punishment rates per capita ? and a recent 25-year study shows that race plays a huge role in determining who?s sent to die. Elwood Jones is Black. His victim was white. If the pandemic had not intervened and last-minute attempts for a new trial put on hold, Jones would already have been dead. If he is innocent, that?s a tragedy. If he is not, did the punishment fit the crime? He is again scheduled to be executed in 2023. 

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More than a decade after Elwood Jones was convicted of killing Rhoda Nathan, he learned that a woman had stepped forward saying she knew who the real killer was. Tracking down this mysterious figure became something of an obsession for Elwood?s current defense team. And for us.

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While investigators testified at trial that Elwood Jones was always their best and only real suspect in the 1994 slaying of Rhoda Nathan, the police files say otherwise. Three people ? two with violent criminal pasts on their records ? seem equally as suspicious, so much so they were given lie-detector tests in the days after the murder. Do their alibis hold? And if Elwood as such a good suspect with such good evidence to indicate his guilt, what took the police and prosecutors a year to indict him?

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Investigating any crime scene requires finesse, but in the case of Rhoda Nathan?s 1994 beating death, at least some of the detectives arriving at the Embassy Suites hotel, many who had never investigated a murder before, thought they were dealing with a heart-attack victim. As such, they say they didn?t immediately secure the scene, allowing outsiders to tromp through a room that was already teeming with all kinds of hotel-user DNA.

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The prosecutor handling the case against Elwood Jones had some choice words to describe the suspect on national television. In this episode, we explore: Who is Elwood Jones? Was he really an a-hole? Is being one now, steadfast as he is in refusing to cop to the 27-year-old crime? And does being an a-hole also mean he was a killer? 

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When Elaine Shub opened the door to the hotel room she was sharing with her best friend of 48 years, she saw such a gruesome sight that she collapsed in the suburban hotel hallway. Rhoda Nathan, a kind-hearted New Jersey grandmother who had just stepped out of the shower, lay on the floor, unrecognizable from the vicious beating she?d endured. Who could have done this? What could have been the motive? Who had access? Who had motive? And why did Rhoda have to die?

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When Rhoda Nathan's lifeless body was discovered in her hotel room, it was assumed she'd had a heart attack. The autopsy proved otherwise: Nathan, 67, had been viciously beaten to death, punched so hard by her assailant that two of her teeth had been knocked out. Days later, a hotel employee went to the hospital to be treated for an infection in his hand, which was teeming with a bacteria most often found in human mouths. That, plus a pendant an officer said was discovered in the trunk of his car, sealed the fate of Elwood Jones, who awaits execution on Ohio's death row. For nearly 30 years, Jones has maintained his innocence -- and accused police of straight-up framing him. The journalists of Accused are reexamining the case to learn if Jones truly belongs on death row, or if a botched investigation let someone else get away with murder.

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Work on Accused was sidelined by the pandemic but is getting back on track. Also, Amber introduces "Crimes of the Centuries."

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How did Jack Roland Murphy go from world-champion surfer to notorious jewel thief? How did it all go wrong and end in at least two murders in the murky waterways of southern Florida? Find out this season on The Sneak: Murders at Whiskey Creek.

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Though officials with the Fernald uranium plant lied and covered up the danger their workers faced, Fernald is actually held up as a role model for other American communities polluted by the arms race.

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Long after David Bocks? children and grandchildren are dead, the legacy of his employer will remain, encased in concrete and buried deep beneath the earth.

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Two coworkers tell police that David Bocks seemed depressed on his last day of work. Or is it just one?

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David Bocks? final shift is pieced together through police statements and time cards.

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In the 1990s, an indie reporter tried to expose Fernald and link managers to David Bocks? death. His theories sounded outrageous, but some of them proved true.

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A look at how the atomic bombs that ended World War II left an imprint on pop culture that lasts to this day. 

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While managers and government officials outwardly assured Fernald workers that everything was safe at the plant, internal documents show many knew that wasn?t the case.

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As the world was embroiled in a race to stockpile nuclear weapons, little towns throughout the U.S. became hubs for cancer-linked plants.

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Police dismissed the 1984 disappearance of David Bocks as a suicide, but the physics of the death make that theory seem unlikely. (Link updated Jan. 21, 2020, with water-content percentage of apples and humans corrected.)

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A 39-year-old father of three goes to work and disappears. That?s strange enough. Adding in where he works makes this case more than strange. It?s the stuff conspiracies are made of. 

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Accused Season 3 returns on December 3rd.

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Accused Host Amber Hunt details where you can find Season 3 of Accused soon. Another great podcast from the USA TODAY Network, The City, is available to listen to now. As Reno, a city known for vice, tries to woo big tech to town, a fight erupts over its future. It's the central battle of The City podcast, Season 2. To learn more about the story and to listen or subscribe, head to www.thecitypodcast.com

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Best friends Carmen Alegria and Angelica Soto did everything together ? and that includes saving each other from a gunman on a rampage.

To hear more stories subscribe to Aftermath wherever you listen to podcasts: APPLE,STITCHER, orWONDERY.COM

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From the Accused podcast team, Aftermath is an episodic look at survivors of gun violence. Episodd 1 focuses on neglectful parents and neighbors who looked the other way and set the stage for Clai Lasher-Sommers? stepfather to shoot her in the back when she was 13 years old.

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Since his release from prison, William Virgil?s life has been on hold. So has Retha Welch?s murder investigation.

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William Virgil finds dedicated allies in the Kentucky Innocence Project, fierce opposition in the Commonwealth?s Attorney, and hope in new DNA testing.

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Newport police overlooked several interesting people worthy of scrutiny in this murder case, including one man they?d encountered themselves.

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After years of insisting a key witness perjured himself, William Virgil finds proof ? but does the truth matter?

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It appears more than one of the witnesses in Retha Welch?s murder case didn?t come clean on the stand. Someone knew more than his testimony implied.

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With physical evidence and eyewitnesses on their side, police begin compiling a case against William Virgil ? but does it hold up under scrutiny?

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Retha Welch?s boyfriend says he was mad enough to kill her the last time they were together ? but he points police to a hooded figure in her hallway as the likely culprit.

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When 54-year-old Retha Welch is found murdered in Newport, Kentucky, police zero in on an acquaintance with a criminal past.

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Subscribe today so you are the first to hear Accused season 2 when it premieres on October 12th: https://smarturl.it/accusedpodcast

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People with information about Beth Andes and the events surrounding her slaying continue to come forward months after the initial season ended. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A lot has changed since Beth was killed in 1978. Her boyfriend Bob Young has a daughter of his own. Beth?s friends can?t talk about her death without breaking immediately into tears. Her family?s view on Young?s guilt has evolved. But a few key things haven?t budged. And they could make all the difference in this case. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If Bob Young killed his girlfriend, he couldn?t be tried again, so holding onto the physical evidence in the case would be moot. In America, you can?t be charged twice for the same crime. But what if he?s innocent? In this episode of Accused, The Enquirer outlines its year-long quest to answer that question. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the days surrounding Beth?s death, area newspapers boasted front-page stories about body after body being exhumed from John Wayne Gacy?s property. Ted Bundy had been terrorizing the nation for four years. BTK was on the loose in Wichita, Kansas. The late ?70s were a dark period in American history when it comes to crime, and that has some of Beth?s friends asking a question: Could Beth have been targeted by one of the many serial killers working the nation? The Enquirer explores that question in this episode of Accused ? and learns there?s no shortage of avenues to pursue. Do you like Accused? Check out Secrets, Crimes & Audiotape: smarturl.it/sca See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth Andes' friends and family don't point fingers when asked who they think might have killed the bubbly 23-year-old Dec. 28, 1978. But they worry that police zeroed in on Andes' boyfriend so quickly that authorities might have missed other worthwhile leads. Boyd Glascock was a quirky and artistic man who inserted himself into the murder investigation by showing up uninvited to boyfriend Bob Young?s house after Young had been arrested. Glascock professed his love for Young and then presented the football player with what appeared to be a blood-covered pin cushion as a gift ? an odd choice for a man whose girlfriend had been stabbed with sewing shears. Cincinnati lawyer Deb Lydon wonders if police should have more thoroughly questioned Glascock in the late ?70s ? but he?s not the only person The Enquirer has investigated. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Original detectives continue to insist that Bob Young was the only person worth examining in Beth Andes' murder. Do you like Accused? Check out Secrets, Crimes & Audiotape: smarturl.it/sca See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Bob Young?s attorney noted, of all the evidence introduced in Beth?s murder trial, just one piece implicated his client. But it was a big one: a confession. In this episode of ?Accused,? The Enquirer details the original investigation outlined in police records and trial transcripts, as well as the single exhibit that has some people in Oxford, Ohio, still convinced decades later that Young got away with murder. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Oxford police began investigating the city?s first murder in a quarter-century, detectives bolstered their case against the victim?s boyfriend. But did cops? theory on motive line up with what Beth?s friends knew about the couple? Bob Young had no prior criminal record, and no one at trial testified he had even a slight temper, much less a murderous one. Despite this, police records indicate that investigators didn?t give much weight to the men in Beth?s life that her friends say warranted some scrutiny in the wake of her murder. In this episode, The Enquirer delves into Beth?s personality, her relationship with Young and her plans after college in hopes of determining whether the prosecution?s case against Young made any sense. Do you like Accused? Check out Secrets, Crimes & Audiotape: smarturl.it/sca See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Three days after Christmas in 1978, Elizabeth Andes was one of the few students on Miami University?s Oxford campus. Most students were home for winter break, but Beth ? a recent graduate ? was in town packing up her apartment so she could move to Cincinnati for her first big job. That day, she treated herself by buying a fancy pair of leather boots to celebrate her successes. But she never got to wear them. Instead, her boyfriend, Bob Young, reported finding her lifeless body in the apartment they had shared during their last semester of college together. Police and prosecutors considered the death an open-and-shut case, zeroing in immediately on Young. But Beth?s friends never thought things were quite so simple. Through this podcast, The Enquirer will lay out its investigation into the cold case in hopes of finally figuring out who got it wrong nearly 40 years ago ? police or the jury? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming Sept. 8: When Elizabeth Andes was found murdered in her Ohio apartment in 1978, police and prosecutors decided within hours it was an open-and-shut case. Two juries disagreed. The Cincinnati Enquirer investigates: Was the right guy charged, or did a killer walk free?

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