Case closed: Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane's killer to be revealed LIVE on Monday after new DNA testing was done on murder weapon - 38 years after actor's death

  • The person responsible for the murder of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane will be revealed on live television Monday night at 9pm
  • Fox 10 Phoenix anchor John Hook began investigating the case in Arizona last year and has done new DNA testing to match blood samples 
  • Crane was found lying in a pool of blood inside his Scottsdale apartment on June 29, 1978 at the age of 49 
  • At the time police suspected that Crane's close friend John Carpenter was responsible, and found blood stains inside his car
  • He was acquitted however in 1994 and died in 1998

The identity of the person who brutally murdered actor Bob Crane 38 years ago will finally be revealed this Monday night - on live television.

Fox 10 Phoenix anchor John Hook began investigating the case in Arizona last year, and managed to convince the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to release enough blood samples from the murder weapon to conduct new DNA tests that were not available at the time.

With those tests complete Hook has now determined who the murderer is, and will be sharing it with the world on Monday at 9pm. 

Crane was found lying in a pool of blood inside his Scottsdale apartment on June 29, 1978 at the age of 49.

The popular star of Hogan's Heroes had been bludgeoned to death with part of a camera tripod, and had an electric cord wrapped around his neck. 

Case closed: The person responsible for the murder of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane (above) will be revealed on live television Monday night at 9pm

Tragic end: Crane was found lying in a pool of blood (above) inside his Scottsdale apartment on June 29, 1978 at the age of 49

It was soon after Crane's death that police investigating the case stumbled upon his enormous library of video tapes, many of which contained footage of him engaging in sexual acts with women.

Some of the tapes also featured Crane's friend John Carpenter, a roving video equipment salesman for Sony and Akai, who soon became a person of interest in the case.

Carpenter had flown down to visit Crane at the time and police impounded his rental car, wand discovered blood stains inside the vehicle.

DNA testing at the time was not advanced enough however to conclusively determine whose blood was in the car though, and no charges were filed against Carpenter. 

Authorities suspected Carpenter was gay and had been spurned by his one-time close friend. Video tapes revealed Carpenter making love simultaneously to the same woman as Crane. 

Twelve years later the case was reopened though after a detective argued that an evidence photograph of the vehicle clearly showed a piece of brain tissue, and in 1992 Carpenter was arrested and charged with murder.

The trial began two years later, and Crane's son testified under oath that his father had expressed his wishes to severe all ties with Carpenter shortly before his death.

Robert Crane also said that the night before he was found dead, his father had called Carpenter and ended their relationship for good. 

Evidence: At the time police suspected that Crane's close friend John Carpenter was responsible, and found blood stains inside his car (above)

Off the hook: Carpenter was acquitted however in 1994 (above) and died in 1998

The defense however was able to point to the sex tapes that Crane had filmed and argue that the number of possible suspects was endless, from angry women to their boyfriends, fathers and even friends who might have been outraged that Crane taped these intimate acts.

In the end Carpenter was acquitted, and in 1998 he passed away.

Crane's murder has remained unsolved since - but that is all set to change on Monday night.

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