Laurie 'Bambi' Bembenek, ex Playboy Club bunny and escaped felon, dead

Michael Sheridan New York Daily News 11/21/2010 06:59

Lawrencia Bembenek, flanked by her attorneys Frank Morocco (l.) and Sheldon T. Zenner, in 1992. The one-time Playboy Club bunny had died at the age of 52.

A one-time Playboy bunny who later became an escaped felon died on Saturday. Laurie "Bambi" Bembenek, who was convicted of killing her husband's ex-wife in 1982, passed away from liver failure in a hospice in Portland, Ore, her attorney Mary Woehrer said.

The 52-year-old had been working for years to clear her name, and her story inspired a made-for-TV movie and coined the phrase, "Run Bambi Run."

Bembenek worked as a Playboy Club waitress, donning the famed bunny attire with bow-tie, rabbit ears, low-cut top and fluffy tail, before she turned to law enforcement. She became a police officer in Milwaukee, and later married a detective.

"Bambi" grew unhappy about alimony payments her husband was forced to give his ex-wife, according to prosecutors at the time. This led the former Playboy Club beauty to shoot and kill her, they claimed.

Bembenek insisted she was innocent, but was ultimately sentenced to life in prison. In 1990, the then 32-year-old escaped from jail and ran off to Canada. Hundreds of supporters came out to champion her cause, many garbed in "Run Bambi Run" t-shirts.

Her case was profiled on "America's Most Wanted," and she was captured and arrested in Ontario several months after her escape. Bembenek fought extradition but eventually elected to return to the United States.

A judge found that "significant mistakes" had been made in the murder case, so her life sentence was changed to 10 years probation, and Bembenek pled guilty to second-degree murder.

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