Newsmakers

Ex-bunny convicted of murder dies

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-fianc Dominic Gugliatto, the brother of another inmate.

Bembenek and Gugliatto were captured in Thunder Bay, Ontario, about three months later after the case was publicized on “America’s Most Wanted.”

Bembenek fought extradition for a time but willingly returned to Wisconsin in 1992. A judge said that “significant mistakes” had been made in the probe of Christine Schultz’s death, and Bembenek soon struck a deal with prosecutors. She pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and received 10 years of probation.

Her story was made into a book and a 1993 TV movie starring Tatum O’Neal, “Woman on Trial: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story.”

Food Network cancels ‘Ace of Cakes’

BALTIMORE

Celebrity baker Duff Goldman hasn’t decorated his last elaborate cake, but he no longer has Food Network cameras following his every move.

The network confirmed Sunday that it has canceled “Ace of Cakes,” the reality show that followed Goldman and the colorful staff of his Baltimore bakery, Charm City Cakes.

The network says in a statement that the show’s upcoming 10th season, which begins airing in January, will be its last. “Ace of Cakes” debuted in 2006.

Food Network general manager and senior vice president Bob Tuschman says the network is developing new show concepts for Goldman.

Associated Press