TV-Movie topic Bambi Bembenek dead at 52

[Dennis Donovan]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obit_bembenek

Ex-Playboy bunny convicted of murder dies in Ore.

MILWAUKEE – The prison escape of former Playboy Club bunny and Milwaukee police officer Laurie "Bambi" Bembenek popularized the phrase "Run Bambi Run" and seemed tailor-made for the TV movie it inspired.

But despite the fame garnered by her flight, Bembenek died having spent more than two decades insisting on her innocence but never fully clearing her name. Her attorney said Sunday that effort will continue.

The 52-year-old died Saturday of liver failure at a hospice care center in Portland, Ore., said her longtime attorney, Mary Woehrer.

Bembenek worked briefly as a Playboy Club waitress in Lake Geneva before becoming a police officer in Milwaukee, where she married detective Fred Schultz. Bembenek was convicted in 1982 of fatally shooting his ex-wife, Christine Schultz, after allegedly complaining about the alimony he had to pay.

Bembenek was sentenced to life in prison but maintained her innocence. In 1990, she escaped Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac and fled to Canada with then-fiance Dominic Gugliatto, the brother of another inmate.
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[redirish28]

1. Poor woman. Wrongfully accused. may she rest in peace.

[pansypoo53219]

2. not what my grandfather's cousin who was an ex-cop

who worked for the DA. charlie was honest and smart. he said she was q1uilty. i think they couldn't use some evidence. i DO think her husband the ex had more guilt.

[liberalhistorian]

5. I think her husband was responsible and framed

her. He was a cop, he knew how to do it and he was desperate to get rid of his ex-wife. He'd also had some shady experiences of his own as a cop. I believe she was framed and railroaded and never should have been arrested in the first place, while her husband literally got away with murder.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I always thought she was innocent. n/t

[applegrove]

4. I've always thought she was guilty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. How sad.

I never believed she was guilty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Wow. I didn't know this:

In 2002, after completing her parole, Bembenek filed a motion seeking testing for genetic material in the case in the hope of clearing her name. Later that year, she seriously injured her foot while apparently trying to escape out a hotel window before an appearance on the television talk show "Dr. Phil," which had agreed to pay for some of the DNA testing. Her attorney said restrictions placed on Bembenek were excessive and triggered memories of her imprisonment. The injuries forced Bembenek to have her right foot amputated a few weeks later.