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Son Of ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ Star Bob Crane Positive He Knows Who Killed His Father Despite New DNA Results That Say Otherwise

By Inquisitr Staff
Published on: 04:14 PST, Nov 17, 2016

The oldest son of Bob Crane from Hogan’s Heroes says he’s nearly 100 percent positive he knows who killed his father back in 1978. Bob Crane’s murder has been a Hollywood mystery for almost 40 years, but his son, Robert Crane, still insists he knows who the killer is and tells all in his new memoir titled Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder. However, new DNA test results came back this month, and they prove that Bob Crane’s son is probably still wrong, according to a report by People Magazine on Tuesday.

Only one person, John Carpenter, was ever really considered as a serious suspect in the 1978 bludgeoning death of 48-year-old Bob Crane, but Carpenter was acquitted in a 1994 murder trial due to new evidence that was ultimately disputed in court and deemed “sloppy work” by police. Charges had not been filed against Carpenter at the time of Crane’s death almost two decades prior because no conclusive material evidence could be found that tied him to the murder scene in Crane’s apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona.

DNA testing was not available in 1978, but blood smears had been found in John Carpenter’s rental car during the Bob Crane murder investigation. The blood, which did happen to match Crane’s blood type, was not enough significant evidence for the Scottsdale Police Department to make an arrest. DNA testing was, however, an option when Scottsdale Detective Jim Raines decided to reopen Bob Crane’s cold case in 1990, but the results of the blood tested in Carpenter’s car was inconclusive, along with photo evidence of brain tissue that was also allegedly found in Carpenter’s car.

John Carpenter, who was a video salesman and “best of friends” with Bob Crane, had always maintained his innocence until his death in 1998. However, Robert Crane, the oldest son of Bob Crane and Anne Terzian, has always believed that Carpenter did, in fact, kill his father, and he still says he’s 80 percent sure that Carpenter is the murderer. Radar Online recently published an exclusive interview with Bob Crane, Jr., where he talks about his new book of memoirs, along with why he still considers Carpenter as the main suspect in his father’s murder despite new DNA test results that said otherwise.

“I used to think for a long time, my stepmother who my dad was divorcing at the time was somehow involved because she was the only one who gained anything that was financial. But police said, ‘no, we checked her out.’ So I still go with Carpenter.”

The stepmother Robert Crane refers to was Patricia Olson, who passed away in 2007 and went by the stage name, Sigrid Valdis. Bob Crane and Patricia Olson had only been married for eight years before Crane’s Beginner’s Luck co-star, Victoria Ann Berry, found him dead in his apartment in 1978. Robert Crane speculates that if Olson had anything to do with his father’s murder, the motive would have been either money or jealousy, especially since Bob Crane continued to party with John Carpenter and videotape himself with other women throughout his marriage to Olson.

But, according to Robert Crane, the Hogan’s Heroes star had ended his relationship with Carpenter the night before his murder, saying that Bob Crane didn’t need John Carpenter anymore, and he’d become a “hanger-on” and a “nuisance to the point of being obnoxious.” Robert Crane explained that John Carpenter’s motive for murdering his father was “rejection.” Robert went on to state in the Radar Online interview that Bob Crane had been trying to make some “lifestyle changes,” and he didn’t need Carpenter “hanging around him anymore.”

Fox News reporter John Hook, out of Phoenix, Arizona, decided to reopen the Bob Crane case on his own in a five-part series titled Who Killed Bob Crane? that aired on Fox 10 Phoenix. According to Fox News, Hook attempted to crack the Bob Crane murder case for an “exhaustive year and a half” on his own, and he even requested new modern DNA tests of the blood smears found in John Carpenter’s car. The results were actually presented to Robert Crane in Part 5, and he was shocked to find out that the DNA is not from Bob Crane, but from two unidentified men.

John Carpenter’s attorney, Steve Avilla, said of the reveal that the results of the new DNA tests are “wonderful” news for the family of Carpenter, but Robert Crane still fully maintains his belief that John Carpenter did murder Bob Crane, “percentage wise probably about 80 percent” sure. Maricopa County District Attorney Rick Romley tends to agree with Robert Carpenter, saying that Patricia Olson was never a suspect, and he’s “convinced John Carpenter murdered Bob Crane.”

Bob Crane’s murder is being called a “historic mystery” that remains unsolved and has baffled friends, fans, and police for years, mainly because a weapon was never identified, few clues were found at the crime scene, and there were no signs of forced entry, which could mean that Bob Crane knew his killer. Inside Edition says that Bob Crane’s life of “bad decisions” could lead to many suspects. HistoricMysteries.com says the list of suspects could be very long, including “his wife, Sigrid, jilted lovers, jealous husbands/boyfriends, and angry women,” who didn’t know they were being videotaped by Bob Crane, and even the main suspect, John Henry Carpenter.

Who do you think murdered Bob Crane, who played the beloved Colonel Robert E. Hogan for nearly six years in the 1960s World War II sitcom, Hogan’s Heroes? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments.

[Featured Image by @CBSHE/Twitter]

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