Suspect in Bob Crane Killing Denies Molestation Charges
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LONG BEACH — The man accused of the 1978 murder of “Hogan’s Heroes” television star Bob Crane has pleaded innocent in Long Beach to unrelated child molestation charges.
John Henry Carpenter, 64, who is accused of molesting a girlfriend’s daughter and a playmate of the child, was ordered earlier this month to return to Superior Court on Aug. 11 for a pretrial hearing. Carpenter is charged with three counts of child molestation stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred in late 1988 at his girlfriend’s home in Long Beach.
A former friend of Crane, Carpenter is accused of crushing the actor’s skull with a camera tripod in a Scottsdale, Ariz., apartment on Jan. 29, 1978. Crane, who played wisecracking Col. Robert Hogan in the 1960s TV series, was appearing in a play in the Phoenix suburb. Carpenter and the actor were known to have argued at a nightclub two days earlier. Carpenter, who had been under suspicion for years, has repeatedly denied killing Crane.
Proceedings in the murder case are on hold until the molestation charges are resolved. Carpenter is being held without bail on the murder charge.
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