Witness Says She Helped Blake Abduct Baby

LOS ANGELES – Despite those fears, Cody Blackwell said she never went to police. Instead, she sold her story to a tabloid publication for $8,000 after learning of Bonny Lee Bakley's (search) slaying.

"Why didn't I go to the police?" asked Blackwell, who wept uncontrollably on the witness stand Monday. "I was scared. I thought, 'Oh my God, I've been involved in a kidnapping of which I wasn't aware.'"

The baby's abduction occurred before Blake and Bakley got married, and was reported by Bakley to police. Officers were scheduled to testify about her report Tuesday.

Bakley, 44, was shot to death in May 2001 as she waited in a car for Blake to return from a restaurant where they had just dined.

The 71-year-old star of the old "Baretta" (search) TV series is charged with killing Bakley, whom he married after discovering he had fathered her child. The prosecution alleges he wanted to keep the baby, Rosie, from Bakley, who had a criminal record and was on probation.

Blake has claimed he found Bakley bleeding after leaving her alone in his car. He said he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he carried for protection but accidentally left behind.

Blake didn't discuss Blackwell's testimony outside court Monday.

On the witness stand, Blackwell told how Blake asked her to pose as a nurse in 2000 and take the baby, Rosie, to her house while he took Bakley to lunch.

Under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels, Blackwell said Blake confided to her that he had gotten a woman pregnant and "hated her."

Blackwell also said Blake was "ranting and raving about Bonny and her friends."

"He said, 'Just let them come to my place. I'll be ready. I'll shoot them dead and the birds can pick their bones,'" she said.

On cross-examination, Blackwell acknowledged that Blake often talked in colorful language and liked to be thought of as a "tough guy."

Blackwell became tearful when she told of returning home from the episode.

"I knew I had just been involved in a kidnapping," she said. "Then I thought, 'Oh my God, he's killed her.'"

She said she never worked for Blake again, and after hearing Bakley had been killed sold her story because she was broke and could not afford to pay her rent.

"I'm really ashamed of this," she testified. "I should have called the police and I didn't because I thought I'd be arrested. ... I thought about myself."