HOGAN'S HERO, OR NOT?

October is gruesome celebrity murders. First up is Robert Edward "Bob" Crane, an American actor, drummer, radio host and disc jockey. The once popular Crane  played Colonel Robert Hogan in Hogan's Heroes, a show of the 60's. 

At a young age, Crane began showing musical talent and even became a drummer for the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Two years later, he was fired for “clowning" around during a Bach fugue. Disgusted, Crane abandoned his musical ambitions and pursued a career in radio.

 

After marrying his high school sweetheart Anne Terzian, Crane began working at a radio station in Hornell, NY. He proved to have the same aptitude for radio as he did for music, and quickly rose to prominence and ended his career on at a large Boston radio station to take a job at a radio station in Los Angeles, where he quickly became known as “The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves on the number one radio show in America.”

However, it wasn’t long before Crane became disenchanted with radio, and began filling in for Johnny Carson on the show Who Do You Trust. Shortly after, Crane began acting on television and in movies. His credits were The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. His performance was so good, he was offered a role as Dick Van Dyke’s neighbor, Dr. Dave Kelsey.

In 1965, he began acting as Colonel Robert Hogan in Hogan’s Heroes, which would become his most widely remembered role. On the set of Hogan’s Heroes, he met Patricia Olsen, who played Hilda, Colonel Clink’s secretary. The two fell in love and he divorced his wife to marry Olson that same year.

 

     

After Hogan’s Heroes was cancelled in 1971, Crane’s career rapidly declined. Although he had several movie roles and numerous TV appearances, he ultimately was unable to resurrect the success of Hogan’s Heroes. Patricia and Crane began having marital troubles and eventually separated.

 

Living in a Scottsdale, Arizona apartment by himself, he couldn't get rid of the acting bug and stared in a stage play still attracting fans where he often spent time afterwards, signing autographs.  
 

Crane’s up and down career ended abruptly in 1978 when Beginner's Luck costar Victoria Ann Berry found him bludgeoned to death in his apartment.

What police would find in his apartment would forever shock the world, and forever change the public perception of the amiable Crane. During the initial search, police found several pictures of Crane involved in sex acts with numerous women. Homemade sex tapes were also found, and negatives of a recent sexual escapade were found in Crane’s bathroom. Although his sexual partners varied, most of the pictures and movies had one thing in common: they were taken by Crane’s good friend John Henry Carpenter, a regional sales manager for Sony Electronics.

 

 

The two met on the set of Hogan’s Heroes. As police began interviewing those close to Crane,  the nature of their relationship quickly became clear. Introduced to women as his agent, Carpenter used Crane’s celebrity to pick up women at various clubs and bars. Sometimes they would leave with separate women, but would mostly go back to Crane’s apartment where Carpenter would take pictures or video tape Crane having sex.

Carpenter, who lived in New York, was visiting Crane at the time of his murder. Before Carpenter’s visit, Crane told several friends that he was planning to end his friendship with Carpenter. Of course, this depended upon whom you asked. it's unknown whether this was due to Carpenter's clingy personality or because Crane was trying to give up his late night carousing.

Witnesses say that on the morning of June 28th, the two men were seen eating breakfast together at a local restaurant and although the conversation seemed amiable, several waitresses said that Carpenter appeared “strained” and was “acting odd”. Speculation was that Crane had ended their friendship during that breakfast.

Another speculation that circulated around was that later on that date, Carpenter gave Crane a ride to a nearby gas station to repair the flat tire on Crane's car. The mechanic who examined the tire claimed that it had been tampered with, leading many to believe that Carpenter had flattened the tire with the intent of luring Crane into an isolated situation in which he could bludgeon him with a tire iron.

 

A third story states that after the debacle with the car tire, the two men went to a bar and began running their “celebrity and manager” routine. again despite's Crane's desire to give it up, only this time, it appears they struck out. Carpenter's alibi was that he did give one of the women at the bar a ride home after dropping Crane off at his apartment. Carpenter states that nothing happened and that he dropped her off around 10 or 11. This gave him more than enough time to return to Crane’s apartment and murder him, which took place somewhere between 11pm and 4am the next morning.

What is certain is that Victoria Ann Berry found Crane bludgeoned in his bed and she called the police. Around 3:15pm, Carpenter called the apartment and spoke with Scottsdale police Lt. Rob Dean. During the conversation, Carpenter claimed that he had been drinking with Crane until 1am. When the detective called Carpenter back 15 minutes later, Carpenter claimed that the two had been out until 2:45am. Realizing his faux pas, he quickly changed the time to 11pm. The extremely odd thing about both phone calls, however, is that Carpenter never asked about the nature of why he was being questioned and the detective never mentioned anything about Crane being murdered.

 

When combined with the photos and tapes, this odd behavior began to raise suspicions, and police soon named Carpenter a person of interest in the case. Sometime during the investigation, Detective Darwin Barrie noted a spot of dried blood on the interior of Carpenter’s rental car. This gave police enough evidence to impound the car, which was photographed and searched. Subsequent tests revealed that the blood was Type B (the same blood type as Crane-and about 10% of the population); this ruled out the possibility of the blood being Carpenter’s (he had Type A blood). Despite the fact that Carpenter couldn't explain the blood, there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with Crane’s murder, and DNA testing wasn't available at that time. Ultimately, the country prosecutor’s office didn't have enough evidence to arrest him and Carpenter was set free.

 

In 1990, the case was reopened when the detectives noted a small piece of brain matter in one of the pictures of Carpenter’s car. In addition, it was revealed that tissue samples found in the car matched those found at the scene. Even though police did not have enough data to perform a DNA test, Carpenter was arrested for his murder. The trial lasted two months with a not guilty verdict rendered by the jury, and Carpenter was once again set free.

Speculation abounds as to who killed our once beloved Bob Crane. Something we may never know.