John Henry Carpenter

John Henry Carpenter (April 24, 1928 – September 4, 1998) was an American video equipment salesman, most widely known as the friend and accused murderer of actor Bob Crane^[4] in 1978.^[5]

Biography[]

Carpenter was of Native American and Spanish heritage.^[6] He was born on an Indian reservation where as a teenager he often earned money as a migrant worker harvesting apricots.

Carpenter served in the U.S. Army and was married twice. Following his retirement from the Army he took a job marketing video technology, achieving expertise in that field and becoming head of the video wing of a new Japanese electronics company debuting in the United States called Sonycom, later to be known simply as Sony. John had a child, John Michael Carpenter, from his first marriage who was adopted with the last name of Merrill. John Carpenter had three grandchildren from his first marriage and six great grandchildren.

Relationship with Bob Crane[]

During the run of Hogan's Heroes, Richard Dawson introduced Crane to Carpenter, a regional sales manager for Sony Electronics,^[2] who often helped famous clients with video and audio equipment.^[7] The two men struck up a friendship and began going to bars together. Crane attracted women due to his celebrity status and introduced Carpenter as his manager. Later, they would videotape their sexual encounters.^[8] While Crane's son Robert later insisted that all of the women were aware of the videotaping and consented to it, some, according to one source, had no idea they had been recorded until informed by Scottsdale police after Crane's murder.^[9] Carpenter later became national sales manager at Akai, and arranged his business trips to coincide with Crane's dinner-theater touring schedule so that the two could continue seducing and videotaping women after Hogan's Heroes had run its course.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Trial[]

In 1994, Crane's murder case was re-opened and Carpenter was tried and eventually acquitted.^[11] As a result of the accusation, he was fired from work as National Service Manager at the electronics firm Kenwood USA.^[20] He always maintained his innocence, and later said he felt a huge relief after his name had been cleared. One jury member later said in an interview that the jury believed there was insufficient proof to determine Carpenter's guilt and that "you cannot prove someone guilty on speculation." Carpenter's acquittal was spearheaded by defense attorney Dan Roth. The Law Offices of Roth and Roth were located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Carpenter's acquittal subsequently propelled Roth's reputation as one of Arizona's most sought-after defense attorneys.

Portrayal in Auto Focus[]

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In the 2002 biopic Auto Focus, Carpenter was played by Willem Dafoe.^[21]

The film strongly suggests that Carpenter was bisexual and was sexually attracted to Crane, which was presented by the prosecution's case as Carpenter's motive for the crime. No witnesses or evidence were presented to support the prosecution's claims. In the special features section of the DVD, a documentary extra has Carpenter's second wife adamantly asserting that Carpenter was completely heterosexual. The film also portrays Carpenter as suffering from colorblindness.

References[]

External links[]

• Richard Dawson interview – Richard Dawson talks about Carpenter, see Part 2, starting at 29:25.