﻿Karma: whether or not you believe in this unseen force, there are stories to
be found out in the world which provide some damning proof this vengeful power may exist.
Believed to trail behind those who’ve done wrong but have yet to receive adequate consequences,
karma is said to wait until their target lets their guard down.
Only in those moments of unguarded time will karma come and strike with an indiscriminating sense of
justice. This strike ends the tale of grievances the person may have left in their wake.
If there is any true crime story that displays the full effect of karmic energies,
it would undoubtedly be the story of one despicable man from Kentucky. This is the story
of Mel Ignatow, a tale that spans over two decades but ends with him getting just what he deserves.
Born in Kentucky on March 26, 1938, Melvin Henry Ignatow was viewed to be as average a man as any
during the time. While he had an abusive streak, which seemed to affect a significant number of
his relationships, there isn’t much information to refer to in terms of Ignatow before his crime
in the late 1980s. However, he found residence in Louisville at some point during his life and
had a number of relationships throughout his life, with at least one of these relationships resulting
in a child. This is confirmed by later news reports mentioning comments from Ignatow’s son.
Brenda Sue Schaefer was a lovely woman who was adored by those around her.
Her family and friends all described her as a bright-eyed person, though perhaps a bit naïve.
Schaefer also lived in Louisville and worked as a nursing assistant, though she hardly got a break,
as she also cared for her mother, who was sick with lupus, whenever she was not at work. There
didn’t seem to be anyone who had anything negative to say about this reliable and hardworking woman.
It is reported that Ignatow and Schaefer had been dating for about two years and were even engaged,
thinking about marrying. However, Ignatow had his violent streak, which Schaefer grew increasingly
(and rightly) upset about. She told the people around her – the people who cared for her – that
she planned on leaving the man very soon. From what is gathered, it reads as though Ignatow
was aware of Schaefer’s plan to leave him. This looming threat did not sit well with Ignatow, who
did not like the idea of being broken up with. When Schaefer began pulling away from his abusive
grasps, Ignatow began to plan her demise. The planning began weeks before the actual crime,
beginning with Ignatow contacting an ex-girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore.
There isn’t a lot of information to be found on the relationship between Ignatow and Shore,
but it is easy to assume they still had a communicative relationship despite being
separated. With surprising ease – or perhaps surprising ease only to those on the outside
looking in – Shore was quickly on board with the nefarious ideas Ignatow presented her.
During the weeks of planning, it was decided Shore’s home would be used as a place of torture,
and a grave would be dug amongst the trees in her backyard. By having this separate site,
Ignatow – who knew he would be a prime suspect – wouldn’t have to worry about evidence.
Within the weeks of preparation, the two would meet at Shore’s house and choose a location for
the grave, digging the hole in advance. Shore also spoke of the pair testing the home to see how well
noises could be heard from the outside. This was tested by one person screaming in the house while
the other listened outside for any commotion, proving this to be a heavily premeditated crime.
It was September 23, 1988, when Schaefer drove to Ignatow with the intention of either giving
jewelry back or selling it. It is said Ignatow convinced Schaefer to go with him to Shore’s
house, mentioning the woman potentially being interested in the jewelry Schaefer had. When the
pair arrived at Shore’s house, Ignatow pulled a gun on Schaefer and locked her in the home.
While held at gunpoint, Schaefer was made to strip and pose in various positions for Ignatow,
who was taking photos. From there, Ignatow bound his victim and gagged her, tying her
to a glass coffee table. The true horrors begin here, as Ignatow took his time raping,
sodomizing, and torturing Schaefer. During this time, Shore was present and had taken the camera,
capturing each violating action. It is reported the torment Schaefer experienced lasted for 5
hours before becoming overwhelmed and dying, her cause of death being suffocation with chloroform.
After Schaefer was finally out of her misery, Ignatow and Shore buried her body in the pre-dug
grave. One last detail Ignatow worried about was Schaefer’s car, dropping it on the shoulder of a
nearby interstate with a flat tire. While concerns started early, police finding Schaefer’s car is
what truly kickstarted the investigation. Due to his proximity with the victim and
being the last person to have seen Schaefer alive, suspicions immediately fell onto Ignatow. Still,
he remained calm and collected, knowing no evidence would be found in his spaces.
Due to the lack of physical evidence but an abundance of circumstantial evidence,
Ignatow was invited to speak in front of a grand jury to clear his name.
He accepted this offer, and during his testifying on his own behalf, he slipped up and named Mary
Ann Shore. It did not slip past the prosecutors, who began the search for Ignatow’s accomplice.
By the time officials were questioning Shore, the FBI was also involved in the case.
It would not take much before Shore was cracking under pressure, taking authorities to the grave
she and Ignatow had dug over a year after the crimes were initially committed. Due to the lapse
in time, all physical evidence that could have been tested to put Ignatow away was decomposed.
Instead, officials worked with Shore and convinced her to wear a wire when going to
meet with Ignatow. In exchange for the information they gathered on the wire,
Shore would be given a reduced sentence, protecting herself from the charges other than
evidence tampering. From the interaction that followed between the two criminals, prosecutors
were sure they had their case against Ignatow under wraps. There would be a two-year delay
after the body was found due to the notoriety of the case in Louisville, the case being moved to a
smaller town outside the metropolis. When court was underway, the first
problem to surface with their evidence is the disagreement on a word in the wire recording.
While the officials thought Ignatow said something about “site,” the jury decided
he had said something about “safe” instead. This changed the value of what was spoken, and it held
much less of an effect than initially suspected. This lack of value in the recording meant they
would have to rely on Shore’s testimony. Shore brought along her own problems,
beginning with her choice of attire for the court session. Shore showed up to the courtroom
to testify wearing a miniskirt, immediately pitting a conservative Kentucky jury against her.
The next major problem was Shore was unable to testify clearly,
experiencing many moments where she would giggle or laugh as she spoke. Her humorous attitude and
choice of clothing for the time period resulted in the jury viewing her as an unreliable witness.
Defendants were also quick to jump forward, claiming Shore must have killed Schaefer herself.
With all of the evidence prosecutors thought they had deemed “useless,” for lack of a better word,
the trial ended in 1991 with Shore getting a few years in prison for evidence tampering while Mel
Ignatow was acquitted. The decision from the jurors came as a shock for many,
but it came at the bafflement of the judge. The decision of this case would actually
drive the judge to write a personal apology letter to the family of Brenda Sue Schaefer
for how wrong the case had gone, an act that is relatively unheard of.
It would be another six months after Ignatow’s acquittal before hard evidence began to appear.
The first piece of evidence to show itself was the bag of Schaefer’s jewelry.
The bag had been found in the home Ignatow had lived in during the time of the murder. During
the years following the crime, Ignatow had moved out. A man working with carpet in the home came
across it and immediately alerted authorities, who began to search the rest of the property.
It was a short time later when the officials found the undeveloped tape films in the air duct of the
home. Though they already had a sickening feeling they knew what had been uncovered;
it was when the films were developed they saw the truth: everything Shore had said was the truth.
Caught now but protected under the law of “double jeopardy,” Ignatow knew the court would not be
able to try him for the same crime they had failed to find him guilty of years before.
Instead, Ignatow chose to come completely clean about the crimes he had committed,
deciding to cooperate with the authorities to reduce whatever sentence he would be given.
To cooperate with authorities, Ignatow confessed in detail to what happened on that September night
in 1988. He spoke to the jurors about the torture he put Schaefer through before finally suffocating
her with chloroform. After confessing to killing the woman, Ignatow thought it appropriate to turn
to look at Schaefer’s brothers who were in the courtroom, telling them she “died peacefully.”
When found guilty of perjury, Ignatow was sentenced by the jury to serve eight years
in prison but would be released after five. This freedom would be enjoyed for a few years before
Ignatow found himself in jail again in 2002. After his first release on perjury charges,
he ended up back in court for a case against Dr. William Spaudling, Brenda Schaefer’s boss.
Ignatow had made claims Spaulding threatened to kill him if he didn’t say where Schaefer
was in the past. This case would gain him another nine-year prison sentence for perjury,
but he would be released early once more. Released from his conviction in December of 2006,
Ignatow returned to Louisville, finding a new residence under 5 miles from the location he
had ended Schaefer’s life and hid her body. By the time of his release, Ignatow was 68
years old. In the last days of his life, it is said by the neighbors above and below him
that the elderly man struggled with pains and the inability to care for himself properly. It would
be less than two years of freedom from jail before Ignatow’s meeting with fate would finally occur.
The city of Louisville was able to sleep soundly once more on September 1, 2008,
when the news broke that Melvin Henry Ignatow had died. The cause of death
was not immediately released by coroners, but Ignatow’s son would speak to the news to explain.
From the detailing of his son’s recount, it appeared as though
Ignatow had stumbled before falling into the glass coffee table in the living area.
Punctured and cut by the glass pieces, Ignatow sustained a particularly nasty cut which would
ultimately lead to him bleeding out on his floor alone. Karma had finally caught up with him,
taking his life on a glass coffee table just as he had done to Brenda Sue Schaefer nearly two decades
earlier. True justice had finally been served. What did you think about the story of Mel Ignatow?
Do you think he got exactly what he deserved? Did you know double-jeopardy could prevent
murderers from being retried when more substantial evidence is found? Are there any other true crime
stories you would like to hear? Leave your thoughts, comments,
and suggestions down below, and don’t forget to subscribe for more true crime stories.