Where Is Robert Blake and Bonny Lee Bakley’s Daughter, Rose Lenore, Today?

Actor Robert Blake—best known for his lead role in the 1970s TV series Barretta—and Bonny Lee Bakley married in November 2000 after paternity testing showed he'd fathered the baby Bakley had given birth to in June 2000. They named her Rose Lenore Sophia Blake.

On May 4, 2001, 44-year-old Bakley was shot and killed in Blake's car, which was parked on the street close to the Los Angeles restaurant where the two had dined. Blake said he'd left Bakley alone so he could get a gun he'd forgotten in the restaurant. That gun didn't kill Bakley, but the murder weapon was found in a nearby dumpster. Blake was arrested for the crime in April 2002. Prosecutors argued that he had hated Bakley and killed her to get full custody of Rose.

Blake's defense argued that no blood, DNA or eyewitness evidence tied him to the murder. On March 16, 2005, he was found not guilty. Later that year, Blake was found liable for Bakley's death in a civil suit filed by her three older children.

Bakley's murder remains officially unsolved.

Rose spoke publicly about this case and her experiences for the first time in 2019. Now, she talks to A&E Crime + Investigation about her life today.

Rose's biological half-sister, Delinah Blake-Hurwitz, took custody of her after Blake's arrest. She was adopted by Blake-Hurwitz in August 2004.

Rose tells A&E Crime + Investigation she now prefers to go by Rose Lenore but also uses Rose Lenore Blake when she needs a last name. She lives in California, where she grew up, with her pets: bearded dragon Morty and a cat named Louie.

She says she doesn't feel overshadowed by what happened to her biological parents. "I've always been Rose," she explains. "I think that everyone who knows me personally, they don't just associate me with where I come from or how I was raised or the people who gave me life."

She's active on Instagram and uses the platform to connect with others. "I like talking with people and hearing how my story has helped them in some way," she says.

Rose told People in 2019 that she was pursuing an acting career, and acting is still a primary focus for her. "I would do anything in order to act for the rest of my life," she says. "As long as I get to do it, I'm happy." Her IMDb page, which lists roles in film shorts, a miniseries and a thriller, identifies her as Rose Lenore Blake.

In 2019, Rose told People she grew up experiencing anxiety and depression. Today, she explains she's in therapy and has received a diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), which can result from prolonged trauma over time versus a single traumatic incident.

She says, "My family has always been a little complicated—a lot complicated. I do think that that had an effect on me when I was a baby, and then so on. I just didn't realize in the moment that it would be affecting me for the rest of my life."

Rose adds that acting continues to help her process what she's lived through, explaining that when she hears "Action" on set, "A lot of my own personal anxiety goes away. I really don't feel like myself anymore at that point.

The trauma in her past hasn't limited the types of parts she pursues; she even enjoys scarier roles. "Anything that's out of the norm that we see on a day-to-day basis, that's my favorite type of character to play," she says.

Rose said in her 2019 People interview that she'd reached out to Blake earlier that year. It was the first time they'd interacted since she was 5 years old.

Rose says they were in touch up until his death at the age of 89 in 2023, though their relationship was unique and hard to describe: "He existed in my life, and I existed in his."

Her biological father had a long and successful acting career, but that shared interest wasn't something they talked about. "I never wanted it to feel like I came into contact with him because I wanted acting help or acting guidance," she says.

In 2019, Rose told Good Morning America that she didn't want Blake to tell her about Bakley's murder. She now says they never spoke about her biological mother's death, explaining that as time passed, "It was no longer, ‘I didn't want to ask him.’ It was that I didn't really have to ask him anymore. I've grown up, and I've formed my own opinions, and it just wasn't something that even needed to be discussed."

However, on TikTok, where Rose has opened up about the trauma in her family, she posted a clip with a caption saying, in part, "My bio dad (actor) had my mother murdered."

Inside Edition reported in 2019 that Rose had lost touch with the maternal side of her biological family. She's since been in contact and says another biological half-sister, Holly Gawron, Bakley's daughter from an earlier marriage, once told her of their birth mother, "You're so similar to her that she's always with you."

Rose adds, "I've always had a sense that someone was guiding me through my life, and when things got really difficult and dark, something kept me pushing forward. And I think that that's Bonny. I've always felt spiritually connected to her."

Rose told People in 2019 that she first visited Bakley's grave when she was 18. She says she continues to bring flowers there and that Bakley hasn't been forgotten.

Rose explains that since the interviews she gave in 2019, she's taken in additional information and developed more opinions about the events that marked her childhood.

"I am learning how to accept the things that have happened," she says. "Eventually, I probably will have a lot more to say. But right now, I'm just working through it all and trying to focus on myself and move forward in my life and my career and surround myself with love and happiness."