DNA Testing Reveals New Answers!

The 1978 murder of actor and American icon Bob Crane remains one of the most high-profile unsolved celebrity murders of all time. Thirty-eight years after his brutal murder in Scottsdale, Arizona, millions around the world still want answers. Find out what new DNA testing tells us.

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Can Modern DNA Science Crack Crane’s Cold Case?

Caution: Video contains graphic content

The 1978 murder of actor and American icon Bob Crane remains one of the most high-profile unsolved celebrity murders of all time. Thirty-eight years after his brutal murder in Scottsdale, Arizona, millions around the world still want answers. Was John Carpenter the killer? Or did police arrest an innocent man?

For nearly 40 years, police remained convinced of Carpenter’s guilt. Early DNA testing, decades ago, was unable to positively link Carpenter to the crime. The two friends lived on the edge, sharing a dark obsession—videotaping women during their sexual encounters. See exclusive evidence from the crime scene.

About the Book

In an unprecedented investigation, reporter John Hook retests the original blood evidence using modern DNA science in a final search for answers. Scientists believe this is the last chance to test DNA from the crime scene— the final close-up—in identifying Bob Crane’s killer.

Hook has exhausted all remaining avenues to unearth answers in this intriguing and haunting cold case to answer once and for all who murdered Bob Crane.

Who Killed Bob Crane? is Hook’s first-hand account of a two-year investigation and search for the truth. It’s seen though the eyes of the people who were there—witnesses, detectives, prosecutors, jurors, and family members. John Hook takes readers on an incredible reporter’s journey for an inside look at the sensational physical evidence in a final attempt to learn the truth in Who Killed Bob Crane? Get an excerpt from the book.

Author John Hook holds Bob Crane’s blood taken from his autopsy on June 30, 1978.

John Hook’s Investigation Covered by

About Author John Hook

A veteran news reporter and television anchor for over 30 years in Arizona, John Hook has won more than a dozen Emmys for his reporting. Named Associated Press Anchor of the Year five times, he has covered every major story from the O.J. Simpson murder case to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco — as well as every Presidential election since1996. He anchors FOX 10 News at 5 and 9 and hosts the Emmy Award-winning Fox 10 Newsmaker Sunday. A graduate of Arizona State University, he was a 2002 inductee into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Hall of Fame. Who Killed Bob Crane? The Final Close-Up is John Hook’s first book.

Why I Wrote “Who Killed Bob Crane?”

In March of 2015, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob Crane Jr. on the release of his new book about his father “Crane: Sex, Celebrity and My Father’s Unsolved Murder.”

At the conclusion of the interview, I could not shake the feeling that the case remaining “unsolved” for nearly 40 years still deeply troubled family, investigators and everyone connected to the case.

For days after that interview, the story consumed me. I’ve witnessed executions, covered murders, and seen some amazing things in my career, yet I found myself thinking about the “Crane Case” non-stop.

Then I had, what I would call, an “ah ha moment”. I wondered if modern DNA testing might solve the mystery of “Who Killed Bob Crane?” So I set out to track down the original blood evidence and have it retested at one of the top DNA labs in the world. This required unprecedented cooperation from prosecutors. Bode Cellmark Forensics says to their knowledge, a reporter has never been granted this kind of access to evidence.

At the time of Crane’s murder in 1978, DNA testing didn’t exist. And when lead suspect John Carpenter was finally put on trial in 1994, early DNA testing was inconclusive. Absent that evidence – Carpenter was found not-guilty.

See Exclusive Evidence From the Crime Scene

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
See behind the scenes of the evidence in the Bob Crane murder investigation. We’ll send you a police diagram of the scene, photos of the crime scene, and an excerpt from the book, Who Killed Bob Crane? Read the account of Victoria Berry who discovered Bob Crane’s body, the nature of their relationship and her description of the state the apartment was in when she found Crane.

Get an Eyewitness Account & Crime Scene Diagrams

June 29, 1978: The Murder

The door to Bob Crane’s apartment was unlocked. As actress Victoria Berry slowly turned the handle, she was surprised. Bob always locked his door. For a man so reckless in his personal life, he could, at times, be cautious…

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