The Bob Crane Murder

[wiseguy182]

This has been on a few true crime shows, including Cold Case Files. I recently obtained the CCF ep in a trade, it's one of a handful of episodes that haven't been shown on LMN (and previously Bio), at least not in the last several years. I would imagine the reason being that it's the pilot episode and suffers from "Early Installment Weirdness" as the ep has a whopping 4 stories, all of which are very brief and don't go into much detail.

Anyways, a brief recap of the case: Bob Crane was an actor, most famous for his appearance in Hogan's Heroes. He had a friendship with John Carpenter, an employee of Sony who helped people with their video equipment and such (Crane was known to be a ladies man and had regularly videotaped his sexual escapades with women, with some of the women alleging they were not aware/had not given consent to being filmed). Crane's career had declined somewhat in the years preceding his death. Carpenter was known as a "hanger-on" and frequently got Crane's "leftover" ladies. Crane had reportedly begin to attend church and start being faithful to his wife, although this too is disputed. Eventually, the Crane and Carpenter friendship declined and Crane severed his friendship with Carpenter the day before his murder.

Crane was found murdered in his Scottsdale, AZ apartment. (CCF showed crime scene photographs and the one with his body and blood-covered face was gruesome). It was believed one of the murder weapons was a camera tripod that was used as a blunt force instrument, although a cord was also around Crane's neck to indicate strangulation. Crane was found in his bed and one of the investigators believed he was sleeping at the time, which would make sense given the way his body was found. Authorities suspected Carpenter, but lacked evidence. In 1990, the case was re-opened, with additional evidence against Carpenter being located and the case went to trial, but there still wasn't enough evidence and Carpenter was acquitted. He died in 1998.

Now, 2 things puzzle me about this case:

-While it does seem there is a great likelihood that Crane was murdered in his bed in his apartment while he was sleeping, authorities searched Carpenter's rental car and had noticed some blood and what they believed to be a piece of Crane's brain tissue in there. So is there a possibility Carpenter killed Crane in the car? I don't know that Carpenter would be able to move Crane into the bed though.

-Is there a chance Carpenter did not do this? He had suggested that a scorned lover or her boyfriend might have sought revenge, and that certainly seems to be a possibility.

[justins5256]

If you are at all interested in this case, I highly recommend the film Auto Focus. Greg Kinnear plays Bob Crane and Willem Dafoe is John Carpenter. It covers the period of time from Crane's early days in radio to Hogan's Heroes and beyond. The focus is primarily Crane's friendship with Carpenter. The films ends with Crane's murder. One thing I should probably say though is that there is a ton of nudity and sex in this, so steer clear if offended. I saw it in a theater when it first came out. I think it is rated R but it really pushes the envelope for an R film.

As for the murder itself, it is not something I have studied extensively, but it would seem as though Carpenter was the most likely culprit. I seem to recall reading that the brain tissue in Carpenter's rental car was believed to have come from a weapon or possibly clothing Carpenter took off to discard. I have never heard a scenario with Crane being murdered in the car. It was pretty clear he was murdered in bed, most likely while he slept.

As for other suspects, there were many. Crane slept with a lot of women. Many of whom had jealous boyfriends, husbands, etc. Although I don't know if any specific names were ever revealed.

[wiseguy182]

Here's an interesting factoid: The man who introduced Crane and Carpenter to each other was none other than Richard Dawson, Crane's Hogan's Heroes co-star and of course the original host of Family Feud and frequent Match Game panelist.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Here's an interesting factoid: The man who introduced Crane and Carpenter to each other was none other than Richard Dawson, Crane's Hogan's Heroes co-star and of course the original host of Family Feud and frequent Match Game panelist.

Funny you mention that because I remember it from the film. Carpenter was a salesman of home video and audio systems at a time when the technology was extremely new and pretty much only available to the affluent. For instance, one of Carpenter's claims to fame was that he sold a VTR to Elvis. He also sold equipment to Dawson. Dawson knew Crane from Hogan's Heros and eventually Dawson introduced Crane and Carpenter. Apparently, Crane and Dawson had some sort of falling out, and Carpenter shifted his allegiance to Crane. Although, Crane was basically getting Carpenter laid on a regular basis, so who could blame him?

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Funny you mention that because I remember it from the film. Carpenter was a salesman of home video and audio systems at a time when the technology was extremely new and pretty much only available to the affluent. For instance, one of Carpenter's claims to fame was that he sold a VTR to Elvis. He also sold equipment to Dawson. Dawson knew Crane from Hogan's Heros and eventually Dawson introduced Crane and Carpenter. Apparently, Crane and Dawson had some sort of falling out, and Carpenter shifted his allegiance to Crane. Although, Crane was basically getting Carpenter laid on a regular basis, so who could blame him?

Yes, Dawson was very fascinated with video technology. I have an episode of a game show from the 70's where Rod Serling is playing this new thing called video games (Pong to be specific). Richard was so fascinated with it he quizzed Rod over it as the credits rolled.