"Hogan’s Heroes" Star Bob Crane Killed 44 Years Ago in a Tangle of Sex and Questions
In 1965, the surprise comedy hit Hogan’s Heroes, a show showcasing the lives of Allied prisoners in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, introduced the world to the seemingly wholesome and likable Bob Crane, playing the main headliner Colonel Hogan. A star beginning a bright and exciting future in Hollywood, his career would take a near nosedive before his life prematurely ended, leaving his life, and its end, in infamy and inquiry.
On this day 44 years ago, Crane’s body was found in his apartment in Southern Arizona. His body, which was found shirtless and beaten bloody according to Radar Online, with an electrical cord around his neck, and a medical examiner found that his cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head with complications from being strangled by the cord.
Crane’s murder is believed by most to have been influenced, in varying degrees, by his rampant and salacious sex life. As Crane’s place in the public eye grew, more of the public and Hollywood producers learned of his addiction to sex, going out with numerous partners, and devotedly recording and picturing the partners he was with. His own son described his dressing room as “porn central” according to Entertainment Weekly, but Crane’s images and videos were always taken with consent reports say.
It’s believed that one of the tripods he would use to record his sexual encounters was used to beat him, and the connection between his secret recording life to his murder continues. One of the primary suspects was John Henry Carpenter, Crane’s home video equipment salesman, and long-time friend. According to Entertainment Weekly, before his death, Crane was looking to turn his life around, and one way he was looking to do so was by distancing himself from Carpenter. Reports indicate the two had a blow-up fight earlier in the day, and then that night Crane was found in his apartment with no sign of forced entry. Blood was also found in Carpenter’s car, which at the time the most the forensic teams could do was see that the sample matched the same blood type as Crane.
Other possible leads, like an enraged soon-to-be second ex-wife Patti Olson, or numerous jealous husbands and boyfriends of past Crane’s sexual partners, are all additional possibilities for who could have taken Crane’s life. Despite the star power of this case, however, the truth behind what happened to Bob Crane will most likely never be solved, succumbing to time like many staples from that era of TV.
