4:00

were growing up in rural New Jersey,

4:03

they lived close to a nudist

4:05

colony there. And the

4:07

nudist colony would hold clothes

4:09

on, those are air quotes

4:11

you're hearing, they would

4:14

hold clothes on community swim

4:16

events regularly. So, but

4:18

one day Bonnie Lee and her sister Marjorie,

4:20

they go to one of these clothes on

4:23

at the nudist colony

4:25

swim events. However, it is

4:28

a no clothes. It's

4:30

off of them. So to be there, Bonnie's

4:32

only 11 and her sister. Oh shit. Yeah,

4:36

well, so, well, Bonnie, in order

4:38

to stay, she has to take

4:40

off, she has to be new.

4:42

Marjorie's heading for the hills. She's

4:44

going back home. Bonnie is like

4:47

turn on the spotlight. I

4:49

am here. There's a Leo

4:52

something. There is, yes, she

4:54

is hot Leo somewhere. Like

4:56

I said, she's only 11 at a

4:58

time. Now, unfortunately, this is where Bonnie

5:01

would later get her business ideas.

5:04

Whenever she would show up to

5:06

the nudist colony, fellow nudists would

5:08

take pictures of underage Bonnie and

5:11

they could make money from selling

5:13

those pictures. Ew.

5:16

Exactly. And Bonnie was

5:18

always told how beautiful she was. And

5:21

she knew that she could use her looks

5:23

to her advantage. Very early.

5:26

Nonetheless, she grew to be a beautiful young

5:28

woman and she knew her beauty could help

5:30

get her where she wanted to go. So

5:32

she wanted to try her hand at modeling.

5:34

As we do, do you remember

5:37

trying your hand at modeling? I do.

5:39

John Casablanca. Yes. Oh,

5:42

Johnny. Was it John Casablanca? It

5:45

was the John Casablanca. You

5:47

had to pay them. Yeah. To

5:51

become a model. Exactly. Exactly.

5:53

Nice business model there. So

5:56

she dropped out of high school and

5:58

soon enough, she signed. with a local

6:01

modeling agency Barbizon School of Mom. Oh,

6:03

I remember Barbizon. Yeah, that's a hot

6:05

little name. Now through

6:08

the agency, she met a

6:10

man named Evan Evangelos. It's

6:13

like Evan and then Jell-O. So

6:15

I'm going to pronounce it Evangelos.

6:17

Okay. Evangelos Palakis was an

6:20

immigrant and in order to stay

6:22

in America, he needed to marry

6:24

an American as soon as possible.

6:26

So at the age of 16,

6:28

Ani Lee agreed to marry him.

6:30

And she only agreed to marry him if he

6:32

paid her a huge sum of money. That

6:35

way- Way to girl. That's right.

6:38

She's born with the business brain.

6:41

That way, both of them could get

6:43

something out of the marriage. Yes, getting

6:46

immigration fraud together. We're

6:50

going to turn away from those ugly words.

6:52

Yeah. So

6:55

yes, so he could stay in the United

6:57

States since he was so desperate to do

6:59

so. And Bonnie Lee would make some quick

7:01

cash and love it. So the two became

7:03

husband and wife in 1971. And

7:06

Bonnie Lee put the money she

7:08

made from the marriage safely away

7:10

so that nobody could touch it.

7:13

And just as quickly as the

7:15

two rushed into marriage, Bonnie Lee

7:17

rushed to get a divorce. She

7:19

got her money and that was

7:21

all she cared about. Soon after

7:23

the two separated, Evangelos was picked

7:25

up by the authorities from immigration

7:27

services and Evangelos was

7:30

quickly deported. Yes. Wow.

7:32

Way to go. Bonnie, she

7:35

got her newly made some money. Yeah,

7:37

I know. She's like, I don't care.

7:39

I got sick. So with her newly

7:41

made money, Bonnie Lee decided to move

7:43

to New York City to begin her

7:45

path to fame and celebrity status. And

7:48

when she got to New York, she

7:50

began calling herself, Lee Bonnie. Lee

7:53

Bonnie. I love a change of a name. I

7:56

do. Once

7:58

settled, she actually got a couple of... She

10:00

had admirable skills in marketing and

10:02

profit, but she only used these

10:05

skills to steal the money from

10:07

the rich and powerful. So Paul

10:09

and Bonnie Lee's marriage was weird,

10:11

unstable and unpredictable. Bonnie Lee sometimes

10:14

took to scamming men and she

10:16

would sometimes use their marital bed

10:18

that she shared with Paul to

10:20

have sex with these. Oh, shit.

10:23

Bring in work home never

10:26

works out. Ever. It's

10:28

the tax to the house. You're not

10:30

supposed to shit where you eat. Thank

10:33

you. Wait, don't don't

10:36

shit where you get your bread. Yeah,

10:38

Bill. I remember Bill's one of his

10:40

good sayings. That's

10:42

so true. Exactly. She's

10:45

bringing home work to do in their

10:48

bedroom with these men that she they

10:50

pay her to have sex with them.

10:53

And she was more than willing to let

10:55

Paul stay home to raise the kids. Right.

10:58

So while Bonnie was only making money

11:00

to take care of herself, Paul enjoyed

11:02

not having to work so that he

11:04

could be a stay at home father.

11:07

I guess if it works, I guess,

11:11

I don't know what do I know? Nothing. So around

11:13

1982, that marriage ended and Bonnie Lee moved on, leaving

11:19

Paul and her kids. She had

11:21

a craving to get into celebrity

11:23

inner circles and she would do

11:25

whatever she needed in order to

11:27

get in with the in crowd.

11:29

This craving is what led her

11:32

to leave her cousin, husband and

11:34

kids to move to Memphis, Tennessee.

11:36

After uplifting her life as a

11:38

newly single woman, she found herself

11:40

on the path of stalking a

11:42

very famous singer who was none

11:44

other than the great balls of

11:46

fire crooner Jerry Lee Lewis. Really?

11:49

Mm hmm. So she went down

11:51

to Tennessee, shared eyesight on Jerry.

11:54

And so she wanted to date

11:56

him. And when she put her

11:58

mind to something, she did not

12:01

stop. So she found his home

12:03

and according to reports, she walked

12:05

into the home where his sister

12:07

was living at the time. She

12:10

showed up uninvited and Jerry's sister,

12:12

Frankie Jean Lewis, said that she

12:14

flounced into the living room holding

12:17

a tape recorder that was playing

12:19

striptease music. You know? That

12:24

is so, talk about making an entrance.

12:26

Exactly. Ah. Bonnie,

12:29

she's wild. I got a

12:31

fine good birth chart, girl. Right. Run

12:34

those numbers. I need some numbers, run. So

12:37

she comes with the striptease music.

12:39

So Frankie said that Bonnie Lee

12:42

took her top off and began

12:44

to remove her stockings. Bonnie Lee

12:46

then said to Frankie, I'd like

12:48

to meet your brother. Frankie

12:51

then calls Jerry on the telephone and

12:54

said, we got a surreal live one

12:56

here. To which Jerry

12:58

replied, send her up. When

13:01

Jerry replied with send her up,

13:03

according to Frankie, his sister, that's

13:05

what her brother would say when

13:07

various women would want to meet

13:09

her brother. Oh, OK. Send

13:12

her up. Send her up. Add her up. Knock

13:14

her out. Bonnie

13:16

Lee had a knack for always finding

13:18

her way into the inner

13:20

circles. At this point, Bonnie

13:22

Lee was scheming men left and

13:24

right using sex and with many

13:27

stolen credit cards, she was able

13:29

to travel as often as Jerry

13:31

Lee Lewis. Like she would follow

13:33

Jerry Lee Lewis, I'd be stolen

13:35

credit cards before. So

13:37

she would go to as

13:39

many of his concerts and

13:41

just follow him, concert to

13:43

concert. Anywhere he was performing,

13:45

Bonnie Lee was there. And

13:48

she would even crash exclusive

13:50

parties, posing as a low

13:52

level celebrity. So she wanted to

13:54

get as close to Jerry as she could, and she

13:56

would stop at nothing. So when the two finally met,

13:58

she would go to as many of her that

42:00

he wanted no part of this

42:02

plan and they parted their own

42:04

separate ways. Robert then called him

42:06

the next morning to tell him

42:08

that he had changed his mind.

42:10

And he too agreed that the

42:13

plan was terrible. This entire testimony

42:15

was basically squashed when cross-examination took

42:17

place. When Welch initially told police

42:19

this story, he specifically said that

42:21

he did not think Robert meant

42:23

he wanted to kill body Lee

42:25

when he used the word wack.

42:27

Oh, okay, then what

42:29

do you think wack means? Yeah, right. What

42:31

do you think it means? Hug. Yeah,

42:34

right. We're gonna wack that

42:36

bitch. Right. Does not mean

42:38

anything but what you think it means. Another

42:41

person took the stand, a former

42:43

boat dealer who had connections with

42:45

the FBI and the US custom

42:47

service, Luis Mendoza. He testified that

42:50

a shared friend had requested him

42:52

to help Robert fix a current

42:54

issue that he was having with

42:56

Bonnie Lee. Robert flew Luis out

42:58

to Los Angeles. After meeting, Robert

43:00

explained that Bonnie Lee was a

43:02

terrible person who had a rough

43:04

life. She had done very terrible

43:06

things in the past. And at

43:09

the time Robert did not want

43:11

her around their baby Rose. Robert

43:13

wanted Luis to go to the

43:15

FBI to talk to them about

43:18

the kinds of things that Bonnie

43:20

Lee had done. Robert basically wanted

43:22

Luis to help Bonnie Lee get

43:24

arrested and out of his life

43:26

for good. So

43:28

that's what Luis is testifying like he's, he

43:31

had an approach to get her out of his

43:33

life. So then Christian

43:35

Brando was brought in to testify since

43:37

Robert's defense team tried to pin the

43:39

murder on him. Yeah,

43:42

and said that he could have played

43:44

a big role in the murder of

43:46

Bonnie Lee. The fact that he had

43:48

already served time in prison for voluntary

43:50

manslaughter didn't help his case any either.

43:52

But there was not nearly enough evidence

43:54

to prove Christian's involvement. And Christian wasn't

43:56

even in LA when Bonnie Lee was

43:58

shot to death. Crazily, but

44:01

not surprisingly, Robert's defense attorney actually

44:03

released a recorded call between Christian

44:05

and Bonnie. And this call was

44:08

from about the year 2000. While

44:11

on the phone, Christian seemed pissed off at

44:14

Bonnie about how she led her life. And

44:16

he said on the phone, you're lucky someone

44:18

ain't out there to put a bullet in

44:20

your head. Yeah. Two

44:23

people telling you, right? Yeah.

44:26

So Robert made a claim that

44:28

even though Christian may not have pulled the

44:30

trigger, he could have hired a friend to

44:32

kill Bonnie Lee in order to get into

44:34

Robert's good graces. Yeah. Cause Robert's

44:36

got a lot going on at 67 and a little

44:39

rascal. Right.

44:42

Later, Robert's attorney told Annie that

44:44

he believed wholeheartedly that Brando had

44:46

a friend kill Bonnie Lee to

44:48

get on the end with Robert.

44:51

Christian Brando died January 26, 2008

44:53

after suffering from pneumonia. Yeah.

44:58

To wrap that. So the gunshot

45:00

residue that they found on Robert's

45:02

hand and an effort witness for

45:04

the defense took the stand to

45:06

testify that there were not enough

45:08

particles on his hand for him

45:10

to be the trigger man. What

45:13

the fuck does that mean? Yeah. Right.

45:16

The jury heard that if Robert was the

45:18

one who pulled the trigger, he would have

45:20

had roughly 100 particles

45:22

embedded on his skin from the

45:24

shots throughout the trial. Robert

45:27

did not take the stand. And

45:29

on March 16th, 2005, Robert Blake

45:31

was acquitted of the murder charge

45:34

and one solicitation charge. The members

45:36

of the jury voted 11 to

45:39

one for the murder charge,

45:41

but they were completely deadlocked

45:43

for the second solicitation charge.

45:45

The judge dismissed that charge

45:47

anyway. And when the verdict

45:49

was read aloud, Robert sobbed.

45:52

If he was found guilty, he would

45:54

have spent the rest of his life

45:56

in prison. The jury foreman said the

45:58

prosecution was unable. able to actually put

46:01

the gun in Robert's hand and

46:03

the state was unable to connect all the

46:05

links in the chain. So

46:08

that's why they couldn't convict. If it wasn't

46:10

him, then who did it? Right.

46:12

I got to run back and get my gun.

46:15

Yeah. OK. Even

46:19

though Robert was acquitted of the

46:21

murder, a civil jury found him

46:23

liable for his wife's murder, a

46:25

very OJ Simpson way. And

46:29

Robert was ordered to pay $30 million to

46:32

Bonnie Lee's family. This court

46:34

order sent Robert into bankruptcy.

46:37

And Rose, his daughter, the daughter

46:39

of Robert and Bonnie Lee, was

46:42

raised by other family members. I

46:44

know right after Bonnie Lee was

46:46

killed, I want to say Rose's

46:49

older sister got guardianship

46:51

of her. So it was one of the

46:53

older girls. Rose, the daughter of Robert and

46:55

Bonnie Lee, was raised by other family members.

46:57

And she went many years without ever seeing

47:00

her father. And when the two of them

47:02

finally spoke to each other in 2019, she

47:06

called him Robert, not dad. There

47:08

are theories that Robert wanted sole

47:11

custody of Rose. And he tried

47:13

to hire a hit man to

47:15

kill Rose's mother, Bonnie Lee. Obviously,

47:17

the jury did not think that

47:19

to be true. And this case

47:21

still remains unsolved. Wow.

47:24

Yeah, big wow. Wow.

47:27

Oh my gosh. We all know it's

47:29

Robert. Like,

47:32

I thought Rose was his whole

47:34

world. Why didn't he just raise

47:36

her after Bonnie was killed? Because

47:38

he had no money. He went

47:40

bankrupt. He has no plan. He

47:43

has no longing. And

47:46

it was really about him. It was

47:48

always about him. It was never about

47:50

her. Yeah. You know, saving

47:52

his own butt. It's

47:54

crazy. So exactly. I

47:57

didn't know some of this. I didn't know

47:59

that she was. such a con artist. I

48:02

didn't know the background of it, but I

48:04

remember when the trial was happening, I was

48:06

convinced that he did it. So, Oh, I

48:08

remember. I was very convinced. Yeah. It was

48:11

about that time. I don't really remember the

48:13

year that OJ had got

48:15

off, but it seemed in that nineties

48:17

period of time, if you had the

48:19

money and you did the crime, you

48:21

could get off. Yeah. It

48:23

not has this, you would pay

48:25

out your fucking ass and

48:27

the civil, but you

48:30

aren't going to serve any prison

48:32

time. Yeah. Like, Oh yeah. Robert

48:34

OJ was like the early nineties.

48:37

And yeah, this is late night. Well, this is like early

48:39

2000. Yeah. So like 10 years later, but yeah. They

48:45

definitely took notes from the OJ

48:48

case. Yeah. Right. So yeah. So

48:50

that was his hand. Like, I'm

48:52

thinking like, okay, they had a

48:54

really sloppy case because they could

48:56

have circumstantial evidence

49:00

that played. I mean, he was placed

49:02

there. Didn't they have like records of

49:04

like guns he owned and like, couldn't

49:06

figure out that he owned like this

49:08

rare ass gun and or the special

49:10

gun. Oh, that's a good. Yeah. No,

49:12

like, or maybe so rare a collector's

49:14

item. There's gotta be a list of

49:16

what's out there. Do you remember that

49:18

case? I did a, I did an

49:20

episode. It was the comic book killer

49:22

or something like that. Do you remember

49:24

that case? My husband found that dead?

49:26

Yes. Okay. Yes, I do. One of

49:28

the things that they convicted him on

49:30

the husband killed his wife. Spoiler alert.

49:32

It was episode 30 or

49:35

something. So if you haven't listened to it

49:37

was that he, they owned a comic book

49:39

store and he had filed an insurance claim

49:41

for some ultra rare. I don't remember the

49:43

exact comment, but it was like, you know,

49:46

the spider man number one or something like

49:48

that in the comic book circles. They already

49:50

know how many of these spider ones that

49:52

are, that exist in circulation. Yeah. So that's

49:54

how they tracked him down was through like

49:57

this fraud, this insurance fraud. So that's what

49:59

I'm thinking like with this. gun. If he,

50:01

if he had this either rare or special

50:03

gun, like, yes, there's no record of it.

50:05

I, where is it? Right. If my stupid

50:08

ass could think of this, I don't know,

50:10

you know, I'm sure the police did, but

50:12

you know, and then to like, he has

50:15

gunpowder residue on his hands.

50:18

Yeah. In a case where

50:20

the husband is always the first

50:22

suspect or the ex or the

50:25

spouse, husband, wife, in

50:27

a crime like this. Yeah. And

50:29

so I don't get how he has

50:32

any residue. Well, he only has 50

50:34

particles. If he was the trigger man,

50:36

he'd have a hundred says who, why

50:39

is there a one fucking particle where the

50:41

one come from? You know what you're never

50:43

going to find on my hand is gun

50:45

shut residue. Not

50:48

one part of the whole, right?

50:50

Thank you. One fucking particle, but

50:52

he's 50 just because that's

50:54

what I don't get. That's why

50:56

doesn't someone stop there? Why does he

50:59

have any? Yeah, I don't know. I

51:01

hear a lot of story. It

51:04

was a good story. Thank you, Shannon.

51:06

Oh, my pleasure. I'm so glad to

51:08

bring it to you. And yeah, again,

51:10

if you guys make sure you hit

51:12

subscribe so you never miss an episode,

51:15

we have several a week. Well, actually

51:17

two. But that may

51:20

qualify as several. So

51:23

be sure to hit subscribe and I can't wait

51:25

to see you next week, Tanya. I

51:28

know. Bring our stories to the

51:30

people. Exactly. And I will tell

51:32

everyone we have one regular episode

51:34

and we have one episode that

51:36

we released to our subscribers. And

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if you're interested in becoming a

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Patreon group. It's patreon.com/t and t

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you wanna hear more, you can look

52:04

into that. Sounds good. All right. So

52:07

that was a good story. Thank you

52:09

so much. And until our next episode,

52:11

Shannon. All right, you guys take

52:13

care. I'll see you next time, Tanya. Bye.

52:16

Bye.