The acting work had long been drying up for Blake when he encountered Bakley. Even Braun freely concedes that Blake grew to despise her. They had met at an L.A. jazz club in 1999. Soon, Bakley -- a New Jersey native with a criminal record, assorted aliases and a history of aggressively targeting celebrities -- was pregnant. Initially she told Blake the baby belonged to Marlon Brando's son Christian, but a paternity test later established that Blake was Rose's father and Blake decided to wed Bakley for the child's sake. Their custody agreement stipulated that in return for marrying Bakley, he would be assured of participating in Rose's upbringing.

Still, he and Bakley never lived together. Instead he remained in his longtime home in Studio City while Bakley took up residence in a bungalow on the property. The actor was reportedly furious that Bakley, who had been involved in shady dealings for years, was still working a lonely hearts scam. "Look what she did to him," says Braun, whose insistence that police fully explore Bakley's background and her disgruntled clients for the killer added further time to the investigation. "To say there was no tension is absurd, but that doesn't mean he killed her."

In any case, even some of those who believe Blake guilty -- including the Bakley family -- concede that his resentment never extended to Rose. He turned the house in Hidden Hills, for which he paid $1.4 million in cash two years ago and where daughter Delinah lived for a time, into a virtual theme park for the youngster. To the consternation of neighbors in the horsey community, which is surrounded by riding trails, he put up two swing sets and a playhouse in the front yard. Recently he had installed a patio, complete with a porch swing, outside his front door so that he could relax and watch Rose at play. Says Scott Ross, a private investigator working on the case for Braun: "He liked to sit out there and watch the world go by." Still, some neighbors contend that as a doting father there was less to Blake than met the eye. "He can often be seen outside with her, but he always has the babysitter with him," says one Hidden Hills resident. "Primarily, Rosie's caretaker is the babysitter."

In the past, Bakley's sister Margerry has declared that she might seek custody of Rose. But in the aftermath of Blake's arrest she backed off, saying she was satisfied that Delinah, who is a college instructor, was doing a good job. "No baby should be raised by a murderer, especially the murderer of her mother," says Margerry, 41, a homemaker who lives outside Knoxville, Tenn. "(But) I have no desire to tear that baby from the woman she probably knows as Mom." Braun says Rose is doing fine and "misses her dad."

Meanwhile, at the Rock Store the Savkos miss Blake and his daughter's weekly visits. Proprietor Veronica would like to believe that her longtime customer is innocent. She says that three weeks after the murder she asked him point-blank whether his conscience was bothering him. He said no. "Then I said, 'Do you have trouble sleeping at night?' " she recalls. "He said no. Whether he's guilty or not, I don't know." At this point Blake no doubt hopes he'll face a jury just as open-minded.

-- BILL HEWITT
-- LORENZO BENET, LYNDON STAMBLER, ALEXIS CHIU and JOHNNY DODD in Los Angeles and KATE KLISE in Memphis

PEOPLE.com Photo Gallery: The Life and Times of Robert Blake

From PEOPLE magazine, March 1993: Robert Blake Interview