Robert Blake, Actor Acquitted in Wife's Killing, Dead at 89 from Heart Disease

Robert Blake, the TV and film actor who was acquitted of the murder of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, has died. He was 89.

Blake's niece Noreen Austin confirmed the news of his death on Thursday, stating that the actor died from heart disease. She said in a statement sent to PEOPLE that he was surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

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The New Jersey native began his career as a child actor in the Our Gang comedy short films series at the age of 5. After a slew of television roles, first appearing on The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, he starred in the 1967 Oscar-nominated film In Cold Blood.

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The movie led to his breakthrough role on television in the 1970s TV series Baretta, on which he starred as New York City detective Tony Baretta. The series lasted for four seasons, from 1975 to 1978, and led to his first Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1975.

After winning the Emmy that year, he was nominated for the same role again in 1977 and would score two other nominations in 1983 and 1993.

The nominations included an outstanding lead actor in a limited series or special nomination for his role in the television crime drama Blood Feud and an outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or special nomination for his part in Judgment Day: The John List Story.

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His last appearance on a television series came with 1985's Hell Town, which lasted one season.

He would later be arrested and subsequently acquitted in the 2001 shooting death of his wife, Bakley.

Bakley, a 44-year-old mother of four, was fatally shot on May 4, 2001, in Blake's car, which was parked around the corner from an Italian restaurant where the couple had just dined near their home in Studio City, California. At the time, Blake told authorities he'd left his wife alone while he returned to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he claimed had fallen out of his clothing, which authorities determined was not used in the killing.

Nearly a year later, police arrested him. At his trial, prosecutors cited the statements of two retired stuntmen who alleged to authorities that Blake had attempted to hire them as hit men — an allegation the defense attacked as unreliable.

Blake and his lawyer, Harlan Braun, suggested in interviews immediately after the shooting that Bakley — who both the defense and prosecution later conceded was a career grifter of men — may have been murdered by a former boyfriend or one of the many men she had bilked in con schemes. Blake and Bakley had been married for about five months at the time of the slaying, after DNA tests proved that he'd fathered her then 11-month-old daughter, Rose.

No eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime.

Jurors deliberated eight days before finding Blake not guilty.

Bakley's family later brought a civil suit against Blake, who was ordered to pay $15 million by a civil jury, which found him responsible for Bakley's death. An appeals court cut that amount by half, and the case eventually was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Years after the killing, Blake continued to maintain his innocence.

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In 2019, Blake's daughter, Rose Lenore, spoke to PEOPLE about her "traumatic childhood" following the death of her mother.

"I kind of didn't know where she was buried for the longest time," she said at the time. "I could have just looked it up, but I didn't. I just don't think I was ready. And then when I was 18, I was like, 'I'm ready. I want to go visit her.' "

"I've dealt with my fair share of sadness in life," she added. "But I know I'm going to be okay."