CRIME HUNTER: BDSM king Master Bob’s deadly double life

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The leafy suburbs of Detroit offer a life of luxury far removed from the city’s notoriously dirty, dangerous inner city.

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Murder seldom touches areas like Grosse Pointe Park. But that changed on Jan. 25, 2012.

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A tow-truck driver looking for stolen cars in the inner city noticed an abandoned luxury Mercedes Benz SUV — not the type of vehicle you find in rough East Detroit.

But when the driver looked closer, he was horrified to discover inside the vehicle the body of a middle-aged, well-dressed white woman. And she was very dead.

The medical examiner determined the woman had been strangled to death and that the killer had crushed her wind-pipe. It had been an agonizing death, taking her a long time to die.

The victim’s name was Jane Bashara, 56, a successful manager for a marketing company. Married with two children and a successful, popular husband, Bob, she was a long way from home.

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Colleagues had last seen her the previous afternoon following a planning meeting. That evening, after frantically calling around, Bob Bashara reported his wife of 26 years missing around 11 p.m.

He told detectives he had expected her home to their posh mansion around 8 p.m. and as the clock ticked away he became increasingly worried.

Now, detectives had a puzzle on their hands. The Bashara’s seemed to have it all — careers, money, solid marriage. Theirs was an old-money world of private clubs and private lives.

Bob Bashara was wealthy in his own right. He was a property mogul worth millions who friends called “Big Bob,” a gregarious church usher who raised millions for charity and always lent a hand for his kids’ sports.

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His father, George, was a judge, his pedigree impeccable.

Friends often wondered how two people so different could be together. Jane would laugh and tell them, “You know, sometimes opposites attract.”

But something wasn’t adding up for detectives. What was Jane doing in the poor side of town? Was it a robbery gone awry? Or was it personal?

Two days into the investigation, Detroit cops shocked the community when they named Bob Bashara as a “person of interest” in his wife’s brutal slaying.

“I did not kill my wife,” he protested to reporters. “I had nothing to do with this.”

But Bob Bashara had been hiding a filthy secret for years. In the underground world of Detroit sex clubs, he was known as Master Bob.

“You’re close to someone for so many years and you think you know him,” Jane’s mom, Lorraine Engelbrect told reporters. “He had me completely fooled.”

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Master Bob was the kinky king of BDSM who loved whipping and humiliating the sex slaves he’d pluck from websites or orgies. He even kept a sex dungeon in the basement of the Hard Luck Lounge, where he could whip and humiliate willing women at his leisure.

Cops now had a motive: Bob wanted Jane dead so he could indulge his lust-fuelled twisted sex fantasies full-time — and he wasn’t keen on giving her half his fortune.

His mistress Rachel Gillett told investigators a shocking tale.

She had met the perverted playboy on BDSM swap site, alt.com. At first, Master Bob said he was a widower but his tune later changed. And his sexual appetite was insatiable.

“He didn’t want to stop whipping me,” Gillette said, adding that Master Bob even wanted another slave to satisfy his sick desires.

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She described one threesome.

“He blindfolded us both, put us in his van and said we were going somewhere. When we got to the bottom of the staircase in a house, we took our blindfolds off and realized it was his family home. I freaked. I didn’t want to be there.”

The trio engaged in torrid three-way sex in his marital bed. Rachel was forced to sleep on the floor as Bob lured the other woman into a polygamous relationship.

After Jane was murdered, Master Bob came up with a sinister plan — he would say they had an open marriage and that his raunchy wife had sex with numerous men and women.

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But friends and family — and cops — knew that wasn’t true.

Besides Bashara’s penchant for perversion, there was more.

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Jane’s sister Julie Rowe told cops the dead woman was “unhappy and wanted a divorce” but wouldn’t do it because of the finances. And she worried Master Bob was spending thousands of dollars on cocaine.

A coke dealer who lived in one of his buildings told cops the distraught dungeon master confessed what he had done.

“He started crying,” Paul Monroe said. “He said he had his wife killed. I said, ‘Why would you do that?’ He said he was going through a divorce and lots of money.”

The hired killer — a handyman who worked for Bob named Joseph Gentz — admitted he murdered Jane in the garage at Bob’s behest and drove her to the dingy hood where she was found.

His price tag? An old Cadillac and $2,000.

Bashara would also try to have Gentz killed behind bars but the hitman played let’s make a deal with cops.

On Jan. 15, 2015, Master Bob was sentenced to life in prison. He died in prison in 2020. His children never spoke to him again.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

Article content

The leafy suburbs of Detroit offer a life of luxury far removed from the city’s notoriously dirty, dangerous inner city.

Article content

Murder seldom touches areas like Grosse Pointe Park. But that changed on Jan. 25, 2012.

Article content

A tow-truck driver looking for stolen cars in the inner city noticed an abandoned luxury Mercedes Benz SUV — not the type of vehicle you find in rough East Detroit.

But when the driver looked closer, he was horrified to discover inside the vehicle the body of a middle-aged, well-dressed white woman. And she was very dead.

The medical examiner determined the woman had been strangled to death and that the killer had crushed her wind-pipe. It had been an agonizing death, taking her a long time to die.

The victim’s name was Jane Bashara, 56, a successful manager for a marketing company. Married with two children and a successful, popular husband, Bob, she was a long way from home.

Article content

Article content

Colleagues had last seen her the previous afternoon following a planning meeting. That evening, after frantically calling around, Bob Bashara reported his wife of 26 years missing around 11 p.m.

He told detectives he had expected her home to their posh mansion around 8 p.m. and as the clock ticked away he became increasingly worried.

Now, detectives had a puzzle on their hands. The Bashara’s seemed to have it all — careers, money, solid marriage. Theirs was an old-money world of private clubs and private lives.

Bob Bashara was wealthy in his own right. He was a property mogul worth millions who friends called “Big Bob,” a gregarious church usher who raised millions for charity and always lent a hand for his kids’ sports.

Article content

His father, George, was a judge, his pedigree impeccable.

Friends often wondered how two people so different could be together. Jane would laugh and tell them, “You know, sometimes opposites attract.”

But something wasn’t adding up for detectives. What was Jane doing in the poor side of town? Was it a robbery gone awry? Or was it personal?

Two days into the investigation, Detroit cops shocked the community when they named Bob Bashara as a “person of interest” in his wife’s brutal slaying.

“I did not kill my wife,” he protested to reporters. “I had nothing to do with this.”

But Bob Bashara had been hiding a filthy secret for years. In the underground world of Detroit sex clubs, he was known as Master Bob.

“You’re close to someone for so many years and you think you know him,” Jane’s mom, Lorraine Engelbrect told reporters. “He had me completely fooled.”

Article content

Master Bob was the kinky king of BDSM who loved whipping and humiliating the sex slaves he’d pluck from websites or orgies. He even kept a sex dungeon in the basement of the Hard Luck Lounge, where he could whip and humiliate willing women at his leisure.

Cops now had a motive: Bob wanted Jane dead so he could indulge his lust-fuelled twisted sex fantasies full-time — and he wasn’t keen on giving her half his fortune.

His mistress Rachel Gillett told investigators a shocking tale.

She had met the perverted playboy on BDSM swap site, alt.com. At first, Master Bob said he was a widower but his tune later changed. And his sexual appetite was insatiable.

“He didn’t want to stop whipping me,” Gillette said, adding that Master Bob even wanted another slave to satisfy his sick desires.

Article content

She described one threesome.

“He blindfolded us both, put us in his van and said we were going somewhere. When we got to the bottom of the staircase in a house, we took our blindfolds off and realized it was his family home. I freaked. I didn’t want to be there.”

The trio engaged in torrid three-way sex in his marital bed. Rachel was forced to sleep on the floor as Bob lured the other woman into a polygamous relationship.

After Jane was murdered, Master Bob came up with a sinister plan — he would say they had an open marriage and that his raunchy wife had sex with numerous men and women.

Article content

But friends and family — and cops — knew that wasn’t true.

Besides Bashara’s penchant for perversion, there was more.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Jane’s sister Julie Rowe told cops the dead woman was “unhappy and wanted a divorce” but wouldn’t do it because of the finances. And she worried Master Bob was spending thousands of dollars on cocaine.

A coke dealer who lived in one of his buildings told cops the distraught dungeon master confessed what he had done.

“He started crying,” Paul Monroe said. “He said he had his wife killed. I said, ‘Why would you do that?’ He said he was going through a divorce and lots of money.”

The hired killer — a handyman who worked for Bob named Joseph Gentz — admitted he murdered Jane in the garage at Bob’s behest and drove her to the dingy hood where she was found.

His price tag? An old Cadillac and $2,000.

Bashara would also try to have Gentz killed behind bars but the hitman played let’s make a deal with cops.

On Jan. 15, 2015, Master Bob was sentenced to life in prison. He died in prison in 2020. His children never spoke to him again.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun