Mariticide: Till Murder Do Us Part

Mariticide is the murder of one spouse by the other. The tendency to commit spousal murder is described by the qualities of the planets and stars in the birth horoscope of the murderer, as well as in the event horoscope of the crime itself.

In forensic astrology, spousal murder is difficult to determine because the seventh house, which represents the offender in a crime chart, also represents the victim's spouse. But not all spouses kill their partners — even though that delightfully wicked idea may cross our minds from time to time!

So how do we differentiate between the two when analyzing a crime chart? The cases discussed in this chapter provide some answers.

In murder cases, the Ascendant and Descendant rulers represent the victim and murderer, respectively. But in spousal murder cases, we must also consider the traditional rulers of husband and wife — the sun and the moon.

I've found that the sun as male figure, husband, and father, and the moon, with her domicile over the mother, home, and family, figure prominently in the horoscopes of mariticides. As a natural ruler of women, Venus also contributes to the narrative.

The nativities of the parties involved in spousal killings indicate afflictions to the seventh house, its ruler, and the sun and moon. And the fixed stars and Arabic Parts tell their own stories of tragic destiny at the hands of one's spouse.

The essential dignities of the planets — rulership, triplicity, exaltation, detriment, fall, and term — also play a significant role in telling the story behind the events portrayed in the event chart.

Please refer to the Dignity section of the appendix in the rear of this book for more precise definitions on the essential and accidental dignities.

House placement is also significant in the crime chart. The victim's significator or the moon in the seventh house can suggest a spousal relationship if other strong connections between the parties are present.

With all of these astrological tools at our disposal, we can narrow down the field of likely suspects to the spouse or significant other of the victim.

In the following cases of spousal murder, the planets representing victim/husband/wife and offender/husband/wife share multiple connections by virtue of their essential dignities. When the planets are connected, so are the people that they represent.

Some well-wishers have challenged the point of my research: "We already know that Phil Hartman was shot by his wife! So what?" It's a valid point, but they are missing a more important point — that the astrology of the crime supports the facts of the case.

So, if we hadn't known that the wife did it, we could have drawn inferences from the crime chart that would have pointed us in her direction.

Many of her fans still wonder about the untimely death of actress Natalie Wood. Does the forensic horoscope of her drowning emphasize a purely random accident or the tragic result of domestic violence?

The reader is also invited to review the chapters on JonBenet Ramsey, Dr. Sam Sheppard, and Bob Crane, murders that, sadly, went cold long ago. The crime horoscopes in these cases offer viable clues to the real perpetrators of the crimes, who got off scot-free because of misguided or incomplete investigations.

Forensic astrology can't indict or convict anyone of a crime, but it offers us a way to obtain clues to the identity of the killer, and in so doing, it provides law enforcement with leads. Just ask any frustrated detective working a cold case of the value of a fresh lead!

The renowned seventeenth-century French astrologer Jean-Baptiste Morin de Villefranche, also known as Morinus, tells us that nothing happens in the life of an individual that is not revealed by the nativity. So it is useful to have the birth data of the victim and killer on hand whenever possible.

In the following cases of Bonnie Lee Bakley, Natalie Wood, Phil Hartman, and Laci Peterson, the sun, the moon, Ascendant, and Descendant rulers are connected by rulership, triplicity, exaltation, term, or house placement, indicating that victim and offender were known to each other and shared some connection. The forensic charts point to involvement by the spouse in these tragic deaths. The natal horoscopes also depict difficult marital relations with the potential for violent endings.

In the case of Sam Sheppard, whose wife was murdered, there were no astral correspondences to suggest spousal murder. The court of public opinion judged him guilty, but forensic astrology showed otherwise. So did the actual killer's confession, which came too late to make a difference.

Let's explore these cases to see how all this works.

Bonnie Lee Bakley: Death by Baretta?

Venus and Mars are at odds. They make men unsteady and weak of mind; they cause rivalry and murder ... and plotters of murder by poison ... [they cause men] to be wronged by women and because of them to suffer crises, upsets and debts.

— Vettius Valens, Anthologies, Book I

On May 4, 2001, Bonnie Lee Bakley, the ex-wife of actor Robert Blake, was gunned down as she sat waiting for him in her car in the parking lot of a restaurant where they had just dined. Blake was tried for the crime and acquitted, but many believed that he got away with murder — especially the witnesses who testified at trial that he had asked them to kill her.

Blake's behavior leading up to the shooting was suspicious. The two had dined at a favorite Italian restaurant in Studio City. Just after leaving the restaurant, he realized that he had left his pistol in the booth and returned to the restaurant to retrieve it.

While waiting in the car, Bonnie (whose name has variously appeared in print as Bonny) was shot at point-blank range in the head and chest. Blake returned to find Bonnie fatally wounded, and ran to neighboring houses to call for help. Witnesses reported that his panicky behavior seemed staged and insincere.

Blake maintained that a random murderer had appeared on the scene, approached the car, and shot Bonnie at the precise moment he had left her alone. It was not a robbery or a carjacking, so a darker, more personal motive may have been in play.

Bonnie Lee Bakley's history with men was the stuff of pulp novels. Always on the lookout for wealthy, well-connected older men, she conned her way through ten different marriages in search of fame and financial security.

After meeting Robert Blake in 2000, she quickly became pregnant, but since she had also been involved with Christian Brando, a DNA test was conducted to determine the father's identity. When the test confirmed that Blake was the father, he married her.

But it was a marriage in name only, and an unhappy one at that. The two never lived together;...