“I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!” This is one of the most iconic lines from the hit TV sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. Little did the writers know how much this line would come back to haunt the life – and death – of the show’s leading man, Bob Crane.
Robert Edward Crane was born on July 13th, 1928 in Waterbury, Connecticut. As a young boy, he showed a great aptitude for drumming, and continued to do so for most of his life. He joined marching bands and the orchestras at his schools, and also drummed for the Connecticut and Norwalk Symphony Orchestras.
In 1946, he graduated from Stamford High School, and two years later he enlisted in the Connecticut Army National Guard. In 1949, Bob married his high school sweetheart Anne Terzian. The couple would go on to have three children.
In 1950, Bob was honourably discharged from the Guard, and began his career in radio. Bob thrived over the airwaves, and his career took off, quickly moving him and his family to Los Angeles, California, where he hosted the morning show at KNX, a subsidiary of CBS Radio.
His morning show was among the most popular broadcasts across the US, where he always had a sly word, some drumming, and star-studded guests, like Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra. Bob Crane was soon dubbed the “king of the Los Angeles airwaves”, where he drew the eye of casting directors.
Bob Crane was ambitious, and had aspirations of acting in front of a camera, as well as a microphone. He did guest spots on a number of TV series, but really began to hit his mark when he persuaded Carl Reiner, who was a guest on his radio show, to cast him as a guest on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
After seeing his performance, Donna Reed cast him as a guest on her own show, The Donna Reed Show. His guest spot was so successful, Bob became a series regular as Dr. David Kelsey.
During his time on the show, he also maintained his morning show at KNX, often running back and forth between the two to host and record. In December of 1964, Bob left the show, and continued his morning radio show full-time.
In 1965, Bob was offered the lead role on the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. The show was based around the shenanigans of Allied soldiers, led by Hogan, while in captivity at a POW camp in World War II. The plots often involved sabotage and espionage, all taking place under the oblivious noses of the German soldiers and commanders guarding them.
Hogan’s Heroes was soon a huge hit. The success of the show allowed for Bob to quit the radio station, and pursue acting fulltime. Bob even recorded the drum rhythm played in the shows theme song.
While Bob Crane’s professional life was looking up, his personal life was not so rosy. In 1968, he began having an affair with fellow cast member Patricia Olson (or, better known under her stage name as Sigrid Valdis).
In 1970, Bob divorced Anne, his wife of 21 years, in order to marry Patricia later that year. The couple had a son, and adopted a daughter. They separated in 1977, but reconciled sometime in 1978 for a short time.
Hogan’s Heroes ran for 6 seasons, from 1965 to 1971. While on the show, Bob appeared in a feature film, The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz, and a dinner theater production of Cactus Flower. Following the cancellation of Hogan’s Heroes, Bob appeared in two Disney films. Then, in 1973, he bought the rights to the stageplay Beginner’s Luck, and toured it around as both star and director with various dinner theatre companies.
Between theatre runs, Bob guest starred on a number of TV shows, but nothing quite stuck as much as Hogan’s Heroes had.
While is public persona was that of a church going family man, Bob’s private life would have been delicious fodder for the most scandalous of screenwriters looking to shock and awe.
While on Hogan’s Heroes, Bob was introduced to John Henry Carpenter through fellow show star Richard Dawson. Carpenter was the regional sales manager for Sony Electronics. Through his work, Carpenter had a very elite clientele. He would set them up with the latest and greatest video equipment. Bob, who’d always been fascinated with photography, was smitten with Carpenter, and the two became very, very fast friends.
As their friendship blossomed, they each took great advantage of each other. Bob attracted women wherever he went, and Carpenter often came along for the ride. The two would then bring women back to Carpenter’s home, and videotape their sexual exploits.
When Bob began travelling and touring, Carpenter would schedule business trips around Bob’s schedule, and meet up with him wherever he was.
In June of 1978, Bob was in Scottsdale, Arizona, performing Beginner’s Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre.
On June 25th, 1978, Carpenter travelled to Scottsdale to see Bob. Carpenter later stated that shortly after the two met up, Bob showed him a photo album of all the women he’d bedded in the three weeks since he’d been in Scottsdale. Bob also mentioned hitting it off with his cast member, who was also his neighbour, as the cast were all staying in the same apartment building near the theatre.
Carpenter then went to his hotel room, near Bob’s apartment, and indicated that they would meet up after the show, which Carpenter attended. The two did as they had usually done – they prowled bars, in the hopes of picking up women.
On the third night of Carpenter’s visit to Scottsdale, Bob drove fellow Beginner’s Luck cast member back to their apartments. Victoria Berry had a drink with Bob, where she overheard a heated argument between himself and Patricia over the phone.
A little later, after Victoria had left, Bob called up Carpenter, and the two met up at Bogarts Nightclub to pick up women. Around 2:00 AM, Bob and Carpenter were at the Safari restaurant with Carolyn Baare and Carole Newell.
Carpenter took Carole to his motel room, but she refused his advances, and wanted to return home. Around 3:00 AM, Carpenter drove her home, and then returned to his hotel room, where he called up Bob to see how he’d fared.
Bob had also struck out with Carolyn, and had indicated that he’d taken her home. The two decided to get some sleep, and Bob promised that he’d see Carpenter the next morning before his flight.
The following morning, Carpenter waited for Bob, but Bob never arrived, or called. At around 8:30 AM, Carpenter returned his rental car, and got on his flight back to Los Angeles.
That afternoon, on June 29th, 1978, Victoria knocked on Bob’s apartment door. He’d failed to show up for a lunch meeting, and she was worried. She tried the door, and found it unlocked, which was odd for Bob. She searched the apartment, and found the body of Bob Crane, curled up in his bed. He was covered in a bloody bedsheet. Victoria called the police.
Bob Crane had been bludgeoned with something – a weapon that was never found – and had an electrical cord wrapped and tied around his neck. There was no sign of a struggle. It appeared as though Bob had been murdered while he slept.
At the time, the Scottsdale Police Department didn’t have a homicide division. It was apparent early on that they were very, very overwhelmed by the high profile murder of a celebrity.
Leading the investigation were Lieutenant Ron Dean, and chief case officer Dennis Borkenhagen. They ruled out a robbery gone wrong as a motive, as the apartment showed no signs of a struggle, and it didn’t appear as though Bob fought anyone off, or was even aware that anyone was in his apartment. This was a good start, but the investigation also made a lot of mistakes.
While they were investigating the scene, they allowed for Victoria to stay in the apartment, and answer the phone several times. One such phone call came from Carpenter, asking after Bob. Victoria broke the news to him. She’d also been carrying a large handbag with her, which was never checked.
The medical examiner also climbed all over Bob’s body, and then shaved his head to inspect the wounds. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma. Bob had been struck in the head at least twice.
Upon being told about the murder, Bob’s son, Robert David Crane, was allowed inside the apartment, and allowed to remove things, before the investigators had checked for fingerprints.
Following the murder, investigators spoke to numerous people who were known associates of Bob Crane. A fellow, unnamed, actor was in the spotlight for a hot minute as investigators learned that the actor had had a violent argument with Bob, wherein he vowed to get his revenge. However, nothing ever came of it.
Other potential suspects came to light when investigators found Bob’s collection of photos and videos. They had a multitude of women from the videos, and their potential partners or family members. However, the list was vast, and almost impossible to fully investigate and clear.
Negating that this had anything to do with Bob’s womanizing was also the fact that there was no struggle, and Bob’s apartment door was found open, which was out of habit for Bob. This could have meant that someone had snuck in and waited, or that they had a key to the apartment. Had a scorned lover, or family member, loved one of a scorned lover been the murderer, one would imagine that they would have wanted a confrontation first. However, it is also possible that such an individual was cool, calm, and collected as they waited for the right opportunity.
Knowing that Carpenter had seen Bob the very night he’d been murdered, investigators made quick work to have his rental car impounded and searched. They found blood smears in the car, which they tested. The blood was shown to be the same type as Bob Crane. However, this was not enough for an arrest.
Later, a maid also came forward and stated that when she’d cleaned Carpenter’s room, she found a bloody pillowcase, and a washcloth. However, the maid had thrown the items out, and it was too late for investigators to collect them. They’d also failed to search or investigate the room at all.
Lead investigators Dean and Borkenhagen escorted Carpenter back to Scottsdale from Los Angeles, and interrogated him. Carpenter brought up the missing photo album. Investigators believed that if Carpenter was not in possession of it, which he stated he wasn’t, then whomever was may very well have been the killer.
However, investigators were certain that Carpenter was lying, and that he was the killer. As Dean and Borkenhagen continued to investigate, they continued to pressure the District Attorney’s office to charge John Henry Carpenter with the murder of Bob Crane. But there was just never enough to warrant a charge.
In 1990, the case was re-examined by Scottsdale Police Detective Barry Vassall and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Investigator Jim Raines. DNA technology had come a long way, and they attempted tests on the blood that had been found in Carpenter’s rental car. The testing was inconclusive, but Raines found something he thought was incredibly interesting.
Raines had found an evidence photograph of the interior of the rental car. The photograph depicted what appeared to be a piece of brain tissue. As a blow to his excitement, the actual tissue samples had been lost. However, a judge ruled that the discovery warranted new evidence, and it was admissible.
In 1992, John Henry Carpenter was arrested, and charged for the first-degree murder of Bob Crane.
Carpenter’s trial began on September 12th, 1994. The prosecution posited that a camera tripod had been the murder weapon. They’d recreated Bob’s head wounds, and found that wounds inflicted with a tripod best matched those found on Bob’s skull. Patricia Olsen also confirmed that a tripod had been missing from the apartment. Bob always had two, and only one was found.
The prosecution further proved that a tripod was the likely murder weapon by showing a video of Carpenter and Bob engaged in sexual activities with an unnamed woman. The video showed both tripods were present, but, again, only one was found. Patricia further confirmed that Bob always travelled with all of his videography equipment, which included two tripods.
The prosecution then laid out their theory. As per his son’s testimony, Bob Crane wanted to distance himself from his friendship with Carpenter. In doing so, Carpenter didn’t take the news well, and murdered Bob.
The defense came back and attacked every aspect of the prosecution’s case. They claimed that, at most, the case was unsubstantial, inconclusive, and circumstantial at most. For one, they had multiple witnesses who testified that both Carpenter and Crane were having a good time together the night of the murder. They also had a star witness who had an interesting story to tell.
Walter “Lee” Fetty had been moving furniture at Bob’s apartment complex the morning Bob had been discovered. He stated that a man, described to be around 5’9” in height, with black, grey-streaked hair had come out of Bob’s apartment, looked around, saw Fetty, and quickly re-entered the apartment. A little while later, the man left the apartment a second time. The man asked Fetty for a light for his cigarette, then went on his way. When Fetty was asked if Carpenter was the man Fetty saw, he told the jury: “That ain’t the man who came out of that apartment, and that ain’t the man I lit the cigarette for.”
Further casting doubt on the prosecution’s case was the fact that while a tripod was, indeed, missing, it could not definitively be proven as the murder weapon. They also disputed the evidence photograph of the inside of the rental car, and pointed to the numerous women, family members, and loved ones of those women had plenty more motive than Carpenter.
The jury acquitted John Henry Carpenter. He maintained his innocence until his death in 1998.
Bob’s Son, Robert, has speculated publicly that he believes his step-mother, Patricia Olsen, may have had a hand in orchestrating the murder. He’s alluded to the motive being money, as she was the only inheritor of Bob’s estate.
In 2016, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, working with Phoenix TV reporter John Hook, submitted the blood samples from the infamous rental car for testing. Two sequences were found. One was found to belong to an unknown male, while the other was too degraded for conclusive determination. No further tests of the samples are possible, as they’ve been used completely.
John Hook noted that while Robert David Crane believes in one theory, the popular theory remains that Carpenter was the murderer. It’s just that no one’s been able to prove it.
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Sources:
‘Hogan’s Heroes’ star Bob Crane was murdered 40 years ago. Why does it still fascinate us? – John D’Anna – azcentral.com
How the murder of Bob Crane haunts Hollywood to this day – Bethany Wade – Film Daily
The Murder of Bob Crane – Adam Bradley – Unsolved Casebook
Most Notorious podcast – The 1978 Murder of Hogan’s Heroes Star Bob Crane with John Hook
Bob Crane Wikipedia page