Jump to content

The Nonsense thread


Overtime

Recommended Posts

This forum is supported by the 12ozProphet Shop, so go buy a shirt and help support!
This forum is brought to you by the 12ozProphet Shop.
This forum is brought to you by the 12oz Shop.

Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an American actress best known for her role in the sitcom My Sister Sam. Schaeffer was stalked and then murdered by an obsessed fan, prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.

 

 

On July 18, 1989, Schaeffer was murdered by Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her for three years. Bardo had become fixated on Schaeffer after his previous fixation, child peace activist Samantha Smith, was killed in an airplane crash. Bardo wrote several letters to Schaeffer, one of which was answered by an employee from Schaeffer's fan service. In 1987, Bardo traveled to Los Angeles in an attempt to see Schaeffer at the My Sister Sam set, but was turned away by CBS Television City security. Angry, he returned a month later armed with a knife but again security guards prevented him from gaining access to the actress. Bardo returned to his native Tucson and forgot about Schaeffer for a while; he became preoccupied by teen singers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.

 

In 1989, after viewing Schaeffer's film Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, in which she appeared in bed with a male actor, Bardo became enraged and decided that Schaeffer should be punished for becoming "another Hollywood whore." Having read that Theresa Saldana's stalker, Arthur Richard Jackson, had obtained Saldana's address through a private investigator, Bardo approached a Tucson detective agency and paid them $250 to get her home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records. Bardo's brother helped him get a handgun because he was underage (Bardo was then 19).

 

Bardo then traveled to Los Angeles for a third time and, after locating Schaeffer's apartment, wandered the neighborhood asking passersby if Schaeffer actually lived there. Confident that the address was correct, he rang the doorbell. Schaeffer, who was preparing for an audition for a role in The Godfather III, answered the door. Bardo showed Schaeffer the letter and autograph she had previously sent him and, after a brief conversation, Schaeffer asked Bardo not to come to her home again. The two shook hands and Bardo left. He then walked to a local diner and ate breakfast. An hour later, Bardo returned to Schaeffer's apartment for a second time. Schaeffer answered the door again with "a cold look on her face," Bardo later said. Bardo pulled out a gun from a brown paper bag and shot her once at point-blank range in the chest in the doorway of her apartment building. Schaeffer screamed and collapsed in her doorway as Bardo fled. A neighbor phoned paramedics, who arrived to transport her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Schaeffer was pronounced dead 30 minutes after her arrival. The following day, Bardo was arrested in Tucson, after motorists reported a man darting through traffic on Interstate 10. He immediately confessed to the murder.

 

Bardo was tried by prosecutor Marcia Clark, who later became famous for her role in the O.J. Simpson trial. Convicted of capital murder in a bench trial, Bardo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...