when actress rebecca schaefer was
murdered in 1989
it set the wheels in motion for the
nation's first anti-stalking laws
privacy protections across the country
were strengthened and stalking was
designated a crime for the first time in
america this
is the tragic murder of 80s actress
rebecca shafer
explained rebecca schaefer was born on
november 6th 1967
in oregon to dana and dr benson shaffer
schaeffer's mother worked as a writer
and teacher at portland community
college while her father specialized in
child psychology
from an early age she showed a passion
for theater and drama
soon she was appearing in tv commercials
and department store catalogs
however according to jewish journal
schaefer hadn't always aspired to be a
model and had originally
dreamt of becoming a rabbi schaefer
moved to new york city and took up work
as a waitress
she managed to book a few small roles on
soap operas and movies over the course
of two years
but nothing seemed to pan out and then
in 1986
she landed the role of paddy on my
sister sam
which turned out to be her breakout role
schaefer moved to california for the
part
and although audiences loved the show it
was unfortunately canceled halfway
through the second season
born on january 2nd 1970 robert john
bardo was the 7th and youngest child of
june and philip bardo
bardo's father had been a
non-commissioned officer in the u.s air
force and had met bardo's mother while
he was based in japan
the family moved around a great deal
during bardo's childhood
until finally settling in tucson in
1983.
as a child bardo is said to have
experienced severe neglect and abuse
from his mother
his father and his older brothers
throughout his youth he is reported to
have written letters to his teachers
apparently crying out for help amidst
the dire situation with his family at
home
at one point bardo wrote that he wanted
to commit suicide
and that he felt at the end of his rope
although bardo ended up receiving a few
counseling sessions
nothing else was done his mental health
problems went unaddressed and he was
eventually placed in a foster home
in 1985 barda was admitted into a
psychiatric hospital
there he was diagnosed with bipolar
disorder after one month bardo's parents
removed him from the psychiatric
hospital
and soon after he dropped out of high
school and got a job as a janitor at a
jack in the box
bardo repeatedly displayed erratic
behavior and in a year and a half before
schaefer's murder
he'd been arrested three times by the
police for his anti-social behavior
on charges that included domestic
violence
robert john bardo first saw rebecca
schaefer in a commercial for my sister
sam
and reportedly felt an instant kinship
with her
he started sending her letters and gifts
e reports that schaefer initially found
the fact that a fan was sending gifts
her way to be
endearing barto recorded every episode
of my sister sam
and began to believe that he had a real
and legitimate relationship with her
and when schaefer responded to one of
barto's letters he decided that was a
sign
that she felt the same way about him as
he did about her
he then started visiting los angeles
himself trying to meet schaefer in
person
but once he got to burbank studio
looking to meet schaefer
teddy bear and flowers in hand bardo was
unable to make it past security
real reviews reports that one month
later bartow tried again
this time armed with a knife but he was
still unable to gain entrance into
burbank studio
in response bardo wrote in his diary i
don't lose
period this wasn't the first time the
bardo had stalked someone
at one point in the 1980s bardo had
become obsessed with samantha smith
a young peace activist and had attempted
to go to maine looking for her
however he was arrested on the way and
sent home after smith tragically died in
a plane crash in 1985
bardo turned his sights onto debbie
gibson a pop star
and went to new york in pursuit of her
barto's infatuation with rebecca
schaefer became deadly
after he saw her in scenes from the
class struggle in beverly hills
seeing her in a sex scene with another
actor put him into a rage
clinical police and forensic
psychologist dr chris mohandi
describes how these feelings were
converted into a plan to murder
with bardo telling himself i'm going to
punish you and permanently possess you
by taking your life
originally bardo had been obsessed by
schaefer's innocence and
didn't understand the idea that she was
playing a character
he said she came into my life in the
right moment
she was brilliant pretty outrageous
her innocence impressed me she turned
into a goddess for me
an idol since then i turned into an
atheist
i only adored her now he felt betrayed
in blindsided homicide where it is least
expected
gregory came off at writes that bardo
later told a court-appointed
psychiatrist quote if she was a [ __ ]
god was going to appoint me to punish
her bardo also wrote a letter to his
sister that read
i have an obsession with the
unattainable and i have to eliminate
what i cannot attain
according to the saturday evening post
it was at this point that bardo decided
to find
schaefer's home address on march 15
1982 actress teresa saldana was attacked
by a stalker named arthur richard
jackson
he had become obsessed with saldana
after seeing her films
and planned on murdering her in order to
reunite with her in heaven
according to the new york times jackson
used a private detective to find
saldana's apartment building
where he stabbed her all over her body
10 times with a hunting knife
saldana managed to survive because a
delivery man who was driving by
stopped his truck and fought jackson off
according to e
robert john bardo read an article about
jackson and saldana and was inspired to
hire a private detective in order to
track down rebecca schaefer
yeah uh the teresa saldana case i read
about that in people magazine
and that's where i got the idea to hire
the private investigator
he'd initially tried to get her address
from schaefer's agent on july 17
1989 but had been refused so for the
price of 300
private investigator anthony zinkus got
shaffer's address from dmv records
after bardo got shafer's address from
the private eye he went to schaeffer's
apartment on july 18
1989. witnesses later recalled
we saw bardo on rebecca's street showing
pastors by her photo and asking if they
knew her and where she lived
although people ignored him barto found
schaefer's building
since the intercom wasn't working
schaefer came down to the front door
when bardo rang the bell
when schaefer came to the door bardo
showed her how she'd responded so kindly
to his letters and told her that he was
her biggest fan
schaefer was polite in turn but she told
bardo that she was busy at the moment
and said
please take care as she shook his hand
and bit him goodbye
bardo went to jan's restaurant for a
meal and then returned to schaefer's
apartment one hour later
this time when schaefer came down she
said you came to my door again
hurry up i don't have much time e also
notes that she was also waiting for the
script for the godfather part 3
since she was scheduled to audition for
the role of mary corleone
which might explain why she was willing
to repeatedly answer the door
during the trial bardo stated that he
said i forgot to give you something
he then shot her twice in the chest
rebecca schaefer's neighbor richard
goldman heard two gunshots
and two screams and came racing to the
front door however schaefer died shortly
after being rushed to the hospital
goldman and other witnesses saw a man in
a yellow shirt leaving the scene
but they lost sight of him after he
turned into an alley the following day
police in tucson arizona were informed
that there was a man
walking in between cars on the highway
yelling i killed rebecca schaefer
when asked about this incident later
bardo said i thought i owed it to
rebecca to kill myself after what had
happened tucson police arrested bardo
and his statements were taken to be a
confession to murdering
schaefer and barto offered little to no
resistance to the police
according to associated press barto
appeared to be exhausted and was in an
unkempt and filthy condition when he was
picked up by the police
he was held on a bale of one million
dollars until witnesses confirmed that
he was the one they saw at schaefer's
apartment
then bardo was extradited to california
robert john bardo's trial began in late
september 1991.
during the trial it was revealed that
when he first tried to purchase a gun
he was turned down due to his history of
mental illness
all that's interesting writes that bardo
was undeterred
and asked his brother to purchase it for
him instead allegedly the brother made
bardo swear to only use the gun when the
two of them were together
and he was able to be supervised barto's
sister also testified that on the
morning of rebecca schaefer's murder
bardo had called her to let her know
that he was near the actress's home
bardo's history of mental illness was
brought up by his defense attorney
stephen galindo but then deputy district
attorney marcia clark dismissed this
claiming that bardo was obsessed rather
than mentally ill
galindo hoped to use bardo's history of
mental illness to prove that he was
incapable of planning the murders
and thus only guilty of murder in the
second degree
he was a victim of a mental health
system which was powerless
to provide the type of help that he
needed the prosecutors had agreed not to
seek the death penalty
so after being found guilty of murder in
the first degree bardo was sentenced to
life in prison without the possibility
of parole
as of 2021 bardo continues to serve his
life sentence at avenall state prison in
california
in 1990 california passed the first
anti-stalking law in the united states
in response to rebecca schaefer's murder
according to california's anti-stalking
statute by christine b
gregson stalking is repeatedly following
or harassing another person
and making a credible threat that causes
the person to fear bodily harm
although a first stalking offense might
be prosecuted as a felony
it may only be regarded as a misdemeanor
if there isn't already a restraining
order in place
this is likely due to the fact that
rebecca schaefer wasn't the only woman
murdered by a stalker that year
according to e apparently four other
women had been murdered in orange county
alone
despite their having restraining orders
filed against the men they were afraid
of
soon the rest of the country created
their own anti-stalking laws
and in 1996 congress passed the
interstate stalking punishment and
prevention act of 1996.
according to the law library the act was
supposed to
quote close the gaps between individual
state laws and to bolster their
deterrent effect
considering that more than one actress
had been assaulted
the screen actors guild also centered
their efforts around privacy protections
and began lobbying california to
strengthen their privacy laws
the los angeles times reports that
originally it only took one to five
dollars to get
anyone's home address from the dmv as
long as you filled out all the paperwork
in 1988 alone the dmv reportedly
received 16 million requests of this
type
in response to schaefer's murder
information regarding home addresses
became heavily restricted
only accessible by entities such as law
enforcement and insurance agencies
in 1994 congress similarly passed the
driver's privacy protection act
which mandated that every state's dmv
apply similar protections
this act makes it illegal for state dmvs
to give out the personal information of
a driver without explicit authorization
from the driver however the hollywood
reporter notes that these protections
only go
so far and there are numerous ways that
stalkers can continue to torment their
victims
with cyber stalking on the internet
being one such way
but in 2015 cyber stalking was also made
a federal crime
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