LOS ANGELES — A man has been charged with the killing of television producer and director Barry Crane more than three decades ago.
Edwin Jerry Hiatt II was charged with one count of murder with the allegation that he used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a heavy decorative object, during the commission of the crime.
On or about July 5, 1985, Crane was murdered in his Studio City home. A housekeeper found the 57-year-old who was naked and bludgeoned by a large ceramic statue, the prosecutor said. The victim also had a telephone cord wrapped around his neck.
Crane worked on on TV’s “Hawaii 5-0,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Police Story,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “CHiPs.”
DNA evidence linked Hiatt to the crime, the prosecutor added.
The suspect told local media he didn’t remember killing the TV producer but ‘anything is possible’ because he was ‘big into drugs’ back then.
The News Herald reported: No property appeared to be taken from Crane’s home, except for his car, which was found July 5, 1985, on a mountain road near Frazier Park, California, court documents filed in March said. Fingerprints, cigarette butts and blood samples all were taken from the car, along with Crane’s gas credit card.
The case went cold, until May 9, 2018 , when a Los Angeles Police Department detective was contacted by a fingerprint specialist, who said she could run the prints from Crane’s vehicle.
On July 2, the detective was told one of the prints matched Hiatt’s.
Hiatt was arrested this week in North Carolina and he is awaiting extradition.
If convicted as charged, he faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
