John Henry Carpenter - Relationship With Crane

Relationship With Crane

Carpenter, a salesman specializing in video technology, met Crane through mutual friend Richard Dawson, Crane's co-star on Hogan's Heroes. The two men (Crane and Carpenter) frequented bars together, picking up women and often recording their exploits in snapshots and on videotape.

Despite prosecutors' assertions to the contrary, the waitress at Bobby Mcgee's restaurant and bar testified in court that Carpenter and Crane hadn't had an intense argument at the night before Crane was bludgeoned to death in June 1978. She argued that they were engrossed in an intense but normal conversation. Evidence also suggests that Crane must have known the person who murdered him. The district attorney at the time of Crane's death declined to prosecute Carpenter.

Years later, in 1994, the case was re-opened and Carpenter was tried and eventually acquitted. As a result of the accusation, he was fired from work as National Service Manager at Kenwood USA, a California electronics firm. He always maintained his innocence, and later said he felt a huge relief after his name has 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".