A man arrested in 1985, Barry Crane, bridge legend, assassination of a television producer

LOS ANGELES – The FBI on Thursday arrested a North Carolina man in the murder of Barry Crane, a veteran television producer who was one of the world's greatest bridge players, police said.

Edwin Hiatt was arrested in Burke County, North Carolina, by the FBI's Fugitive Task Force, two months after Los Angeles homicide officers acted on new evidence, scouring the scene. country to interrogate Hiatt, police said. Hiatt confessed during the March 8 interview and is waiting for extradition to Los Angeles, they said.

The News Herald newspaper in Morganton, Burke County, said Mr. Hiatt is 52 years old and lives in the town of Connellys Springs, about 50 km northwest of Charlotte.

A cleaning lady discovered Crane's 57-year-old body wrapped in sheets in the garage of her home in North Hollywood. He had been clubbed and strangled and his car stolen, the police said.

Police announced Thursday that she had obtained a court trial match with Hiatt last year, prompting them to send detectives to North Carolina in March. That's when Hiatt confessed, police said.

Hiatt was a long-time television producer and director, with credits as director, producer, and assistant producer in shows such as "Mission: Impossible," "Mannix," "John Trapper," "CHiPs," "The Incredible Hulk "," Hawaii Five ". -O "and many other series.

But he was better known as a contract bridge player and was widely described in his obituaries as one of the best players in the world. He was seen alive for the last time the day before his body was found at a regional team tournament in Pasadena, California.

His team won the tournament the day after his body was discovered, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

According to the World Bridge Federation, Crane and his partner won the Mixed Couples World Championship in 1978 and he was inducted into the American League of Bridge Hall of Fame, or ACBL, as Grand Life Master in 1995.

Crane has won 16 North American championships in 30 years and, at the time of his death, he had accumulated the highest number of points in the tournament, according to the ACBL, which has renamed one of its most prestigious awards, the Barry Crane trophy. He had won the award six times himself.

"In many ways, Crane was an A-1 ambassador and publicist for the bridge across North America," according to Crane's biography of the ACBL. "No one has given as many media interviews in as many towns and villages."

The ACBL's biography quoted the British bridgeman S.J. Simon describing Crane as "a natural".

"We will not see him again," said Simon.