The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (68 page)

For a short while Carpenter was left by himself as Crane disappeared from the bar, returning a short while later with the waitress they had lunched with earlier. The three were soon chatting and
appeared to be enjoying a few drinks before leaving together. It is thought that Crane dropped Carpenter off at a rental car pick-up point before taking his lady friend home. She later recalled
Crane’s annoyance at Carpenter’s pickiness earlier in the evening – he thought Carpenter could have shown a little more gratitude, as he had after all set up the date, something
he didn’t think Carpenter could have achieved by himself.

The following day the pair met up again and went out for a meal at a restaurant called Little Gregory’s, where they bumped into Ralph Tirrell and Frank Grabiec, the owners of a local
electrical store. Crane asked if they would let him try out a new video camera, a Sony one he had been recommended. Grabiec arranged to let him borrow it on the understanding that it was returned
in a few days’ time. Grabiec noticed the tension which seemed to exist between the two men and also how it eased when they left with the camera, clearly eager to set it up.

With some free time Crane’s mind turned to sex, so after a quick telephone call to one of his girlfriends he set out satisfy himself. The girl said later that Bob was not quite himself and
seemed distant, the only comment he had made that stuck in her mind was that he told her that John was not as popular as he was.

Crane was on stage again that night in
Beginner’s Luck
, and although the audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance cast members noted that Bob didn’t seem to be his usual
enthusiastic, energetic self; there was something just not quite right. He stayed behind after the show and signed autographs as usual, then at a little after 10.30 he went with Carpenter and three
of the cast members to the Monte Carlo Bar.

By 11 p.m., Crane and Carpenter had returned to Crane’s house. Carpenter remembered Crane calling his estranged wife Patti, during which the conversation became heated and an argument
erupted, resulting in Crane slamming the telephone down. The bitter row caused Crane’s neighbours to wonder what was going on at the actor’s house. He then made a second telephone call,
to another one of his girlfriends, during which he made it quite clear that under no circumstances would there be reconciliation between him and Patti; he was clearly angry.

After a brief discussion the men decided it was time to find some action and went to one of their favourite pick-up joints, a late-night bar called Bogies. But the bar was dead, it was late and
it started to look like there would be little action that evening. Crane though had other ideas, made a quick telephone call to one of his lady friends and arranged to meet her at the Safari Bar,
another favourite haunt and one not too far away.

At around 1 a.m., the two men arrived at the Safari Bar where Crane’s short-order girlfriend was waiting. After a few greetings Crane spotted an old colleague, Andrew Gellart, with whom he
had worked on
Hogan’s Heroes.
The two reminisced for a while and enjoyed a couple of drinks before Crane turned his attention back to his date. Leaving Carpenter to his own devices he
then left the Safari with her and returned home. For once Carpenter managed to bag his own date, a woman who was alone in the bar who he managed to cajole back to his motel room, but sadly for
Carpenter that is as far has he got. Having arrived in his room she appeared to have had a change of heart and declined his advances, asking instead to be driven home. Somewhat aggrieved, Carpenter
drove the woman home, arriving there at 2.30 a.m. Carpenter then claims to have driven home.

Crane too had been unsuccessful with his date that night and she too decided not to accompany him back to his home. The details of Crane’s movements, and those of Carpenter, are unclear
from this time onwards; what is clear is that Crane was viciously attacked and murdered in his own home. He died in the early hours of 29 June 1978.

The actor was apparently asleep in his bed when he was attacked by someone who battered him around the head with a blunt instrument. The killer then strangled Crane with a VCR flex which had
been cut, apparently to shorten it, which he left tied around his victim’s neck. When the autopsy was carried out it was shown that Crane was already dead from his head wounds long before the
flex was tightened around his throat.

It was not until shortly after lunchtime the following day that Crane’s body was discovered when his co-star Victoria Berry called at his house after he had failed to turn up for a
meeting, during which the pair were to be interviewed to promote their show. It was quite out of character for him to miss such an appointment; his acting career meant everything to him, and not
just in professional terms – it was also the vehicle by which he attracted his many women friends.

On arriving at his home she knocked at the door a few times and waited in vain for a response. After hanging around for a while she decided to try the door and was surprised to find it unlocked
– Crane was fastidious about keeping his house secure, for he was after all a target for star spotters, thieves and ex-loves.

On entering the property Berry was met by the usual disarray one might expect after a night of partying; the place was littered with magazines, address books and various newspapers. She also
noticed the video camera which had been set up close to Crane’s fireplace. As she stood there surveying the mess, she called out to Bob, half expecting him to come tumbling out of the bedroom
with some floozy on his arm. When he didn’t respond she assumed that he was down in the pool and as she walked across to the window to take a look, again surprised that he wasn’t there,
a small knot of fear began to tighten in her stomach.

As she walked around the apartment she continued to call his name, hoping that he might eventually hear her and call out. Eventually she entered his bedroom, more just to check than because she
thought he was there – she had already been shouting his name. When she entered the room she immediately saw his body curled up on the bed. There was nothing initially to suggest he was
anything other than sound asleep, but as she moved cautiously towards him she became aware of the dark patches which stood out on the light-coloured walls behind his bed. When Victoria looked more
closely she realized that the marks were actually blood, and that Bob was not asleep, he was dead and she was the first one at the murder scene. Stumbling back out of the bedroom, her heart
pounding and her brain racing, she phoned the police and quickly reported his death. Panicking, she asked them to hurry up, now afraid that the murderer might still be somewhere on the
property.

When the police arrived they sealed off the house and allowed scene of crime investigators to get to work. The entire place was swept for fingerprints, then inch by inch every surface was
examined for evidence which would help identify the murderer. Soon the slow process of investigation would begin, piecing together Crane’s last movements, interviewing all who knew him and
trying to establish the all-important motive.

Who would have killed this popular television personality was the question that the police needed answer to. When the press became aware of Crane’s murder they pounced on the story; he was
popular and successful, yet lived the epitome of the Hollywood lifestyle – fast talking, fast cars and even faster women. Crane’s womanizing ways were at the heart of the media
coverage; by their reckoning any number of men might have had reason to kill Crane, who would never allow a wedding ring to come between him and a conquest.

Investigating officers were of the opinion that Crane must have known his murderer as there was no sign of a forced entry and it was therefore assumed that he had let the individual into the
house. After the scene had been thoroughly investigated, medical examiner Dr Heinz Karnitschnig was inclined to believe that the murderer was a man. The force of the impact on Crane’s head
had been huge, causing immediate and severe damage. By studying the blood spots which were spattered all across the ceiling, Heinz was able to show that a second blow had been delivered almost
immediatly, again with deadly force. The rapid bludgeoning action was therefore attributed to a man, one who was intent on killing Crane, someone particularly spiteful. The blood traces were the
key in establishing the sex of the attacker – the small amount of blood on the ceiling was indicative of a fast second blow travelling in a short arc. The blunt object which inflicted the
damage would have been covered in blood from the first blow; it was from the raising of the killer’s arm for the second strike which sprayed Crane’s blood across the ceiling. If the
killer had raised his arm fully for the second attack, more blood would have been spread across the ceiling. But as the killer had sufficient strength to deliver another solid blow with what would
have been a very heavy object, from such a short strike, the conclusion was that the killer was almost certainly male.

The bedroom revealed three clues which were deemed to be of some importance to the investigation. The first was a black bag which was found on the bed close to Crane’s body. The bag had
two zippers on it, one on the side and one on top; both were open. All that was inside the bag were some papers and a few tickets; police officers therefore wondered if some other contents had been
what the murderer was after.

The second was a bottle of Scotch, half drunk and with the top off, although it was common knowledge among Crane’s friends that he never touched Scotch. Had he had a guest with him that
evening or had the killer helped himself?

The third clue was the VCR flex which had been tied around Crane’s neck and pulled tight, as if strangulation was the purpose. Yet the police were sure that the killer would have been
aware that his victim was already dead from the first assault, unless the flex was symbolic. Why use a VCR cable? There were numerous electrical cords in the house, but the use of that particular
one seemed to be of significance. The possibilities seemed endless – perhaps one of Crane’s women had found out she had been secretly filmed, an unwilling participant in one of his
“adult” movies. Or perhaps the boyfriend of one such woman, someone with an axe to grind. All possibilities would need to be considered during the course of the investigation.

Some who were closer to Crane thought that the VCR flex would lead directly to John Carpenter and even surmised that the severed flex symbolized the end of their friendship – a fanciful
idea perhaps, but one which many believed; they had not enjoyed the easiest of relations in the days prior to Crane’s murder.

Crane had many contacts and work colleagues who had to be interviewed by the police. His promiscuous lifestyle was well known and those who had been involved with him would have to be ruled in
or out as a suspect. Every aspect of Crane’s life had to be examined to see if it would yield a clue, even as far back as his days in
Hogan’s Heroes.
The police would have been
well advised to read the papers which had a wealth of information on Crane and a number of hypotheses, most of which they were happy to share with their readership on a day-by-day basis. But for
the police, the answers were slow in coming.

Even Crane’s estranged wife Patti was considered to be a suspect, the ex-wife who had suffered the embarrassment of Crane’s extramarital indiscretions. The suspicions were short
lived as she had a cast-iron alibi for the night of the murder – she was in Washington, miles from the murder scene. Examination of her bank accounts did not reveal any suspicious money
movements which might have suggested a hired hand. The phone records showed she had spoken to Crane that night and others confirmed that the conversation had turned into a row.

Then rumours emerged that Carpenter was bisexual and that he had wanted more than friendship from Crane. This wild speculation was given more credence when video footage of the two men was
found, although they were sharing the romp with a woman who appeared to be the centre of their attention. This, and the strained relationship they had endured just before the attack, left Carpenter
well and truly in the frame for murder.

With a dead celebrity and a pack of media hacks chasing down every story, the police would need to be sure that they had checked out each and every motive. The obvious starting place was to
retrace Crane’s movements on the evening of his death – where he had been and who he had been with. Carpenter had played a significant part in Crane’s life in the days prior to
his death and for this reason his movements would need to be checked thoroughly too. The first person they spoke to was the manager of the Sunburst Motel where Carpenter was staying on 29 June.
Cathy Nugent, the manager in charge on the day of Crane’s discovery, recalled a conversation she had had with Carpenter, describing his voice as urgent and a little shaky as he asked her to
alter the time his limousine was due to collect him for his airport run. Seemingly Carpenter had become confused about his departure time and no longer wanted to be collected at 11 a.m. as
previously arranged, but needed to bring the time forward an hour to 10 a.m. As she was unable to reschedule his car she offered to call him a taxi which arrived early, getting him to the airport
at just before 9.20 a.m. When police checked the flight times they discovered that Carpenter’s flight had left on time and as planned at 11 a.m. His flight brought him into LA airport at
11.35 a.m., from where he went home. A simple case of confusion or a subterfuge? His tickets or booking confirmation would have shown the flight details and if he did not have these then the hotel
reception would have been pleased to make a call to the airport for him. The police were looking at everything as being suspicious and this change of plan on the morning of Crane’s body being
discovered was certainly no exception – it looked as if he wanted to get out of town in a hurry.

Carpenter’s behaviour became more suspicious later the same day. After spending a short time at home, he dropped his car off for repairs before going to work. At around 2.30 p.m. he
telephoned the Windmill Theatre and was told that there had been an incident at Crane’s home and that the police were there. Carpenter’s telephone records show that he waited for a
period before telephoning the theatre again, this time asking for Bob, but again was told he was not there. He asked if he could leave a message for him to say that he had arrived home safely.
Carpenter then called Crane’s son, Bob Jr, chatting for a few minutes before terminating the call. His telephone activity proved of great interest to the police. Why had he called the theatre
twice after being told on the first call that Crane wasn’t there? Why did he feel the need to leave an innocent message confirming his safe arrival in LA? Was he planting evidence to put the
police off his trail? If he was it had backfired, the police enquiries uncovered the call and focused their attention on him even more. When he spoke to Crane’s son why did he not enquire
about the police activity at his father’s house?