Karma strikes July 2007 - see RED text below
Rebecca Schaeffer
Karma strikes July 2007 - see RED text below
It was Tuesday morning, July 18, 1989. The 21 year old Schaeffer lived in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, in a Tudor style building at 120 N. Sweetzer. This guy in a yellow Polo shirt keeps showing her photo to anyone that passes him, asking if they know where she lives. He rings the bell. Ding Dong, psycho calling. The intercom doesn’t work, so she comes downstairs (thank you Rick Jackson) to the apartment building's front door. She sees him, and blows him off. He grabs a bit at Jan's restaurant nearby (cheesecake and onion rings - TRUE!) and returns to the building an hour later.
He rings the bell again, Ding Dong, Death calling. Still in her housecoat, she returns to the front door, turns the handle and opens it and says something like, 'You're wasting my time now, please leave me alone." Bardo responds, "I forgot to give you this," He pulls a 357 out of a plastic bag, and shot.
Robert John Bardo was psycho with a capital SIKE. The 19-year-old hired a detective agency to find her address, for $250.00. They got it for him, courtesy of the Department of Motor Vehicles. By the way, he was carrying a copy of Catcher in the Rye. I mean honestly, why don't they put tracking devices in those things? It's pretty much a handbook for crazy.
Bardo's own account of the incident: "She had this kid voice…sounded like a little brat or something…said I wasting her time! …Wasting her time! No matter what, I thought that was a very callous thing to say to a fan, you know…I grabbed the door…guns still in the bag…I grab it by the trigger…I come around, and kapow, and she's like screaming… aaahhh…screaming…why, aaahhh … and it's like, oh God…"
She lay in the doorway, eyes staring into the sky, neighbors called 911. Bardo hits the pavement, for the bus station. A neighbor named Richard Goldman rushed over to her, and checked her pulse, but found none. Half an hour later, she was pronounced dead at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
From what I understand, Bardo had a history of being off balance, and an obsession with Schaeffer that loads of people knew about. I heard one story that his family heard it on the radio and all sorta looked at each other...
The next day he was arrested in Tucson, obstructing traffic in a major intersection. He confesses immediately to the murder. Arizona police faxed his photo to LA, and witnesses confirm his identity.
Rebecca's body was shipped back to her native Oregon, for burial.
A year after the slaying, Bardo gave an interview in which he stated, "I was a fan of hers and I may have carried it too far. But a lot of things have appeared in the press to make me out to be a monster. If I had one wish where if it was to ever come true it would be for Rebecca Schaeffer to be alive today." I can't make light of this one. Lock him up and throw away the key. Please.
This in from Findadeath.com friend Barbara
Puckett: " Marcia Clark, who attempted to prosecute
O.J. Simpson is also the same person that prosecuted Rebecca's killer.
Thanks Barbara!
The Security industry owes a big thank you to Bardo, and Manson before him. They (rightfully) put the fear of God into many celebrities. Less than a year later, the Los Angeles police department began the Threat Management Unit to deal with Stalking and Harassment cases. The Department of Motor Vehicles no longer lets this information be accessible to the general public.
You can also use your post office address on your drivers license, which is awesome.
Thank you to Terri Rios and Justin Mercer for the photographs in this story.
This just in, January 2004, from Findadeath friend Leigh Sasser:
UPDATE, March 2004, from Findadeath friend Michelle:
Apparently, Rebecca Schaeffer's killer was inspired by the U2 song "Exit," on the Joshua Tree album (I have noticed a few mentions of Bono on your site with little "Ughs," but that's ok =P). The song is about a man who is abusive and contemplating either murder or suicide (with the lyric: "Hand in the pocket/finger on the steel/the pistol weighed heavy/his heart he could feel was beating, beating, beating, oh my love, etc.). I'm not sure how that played out in court, though. Just thought I'd pass on what I've heard!
This just in, March 2004,
from Findadeath friend Vanessa:
Just another update, I believe Brad Silberling is also married to Amy Brenneman from "Judging Amy" fame. Small world! Also RE: your
latest home page from the 11th March, what some folks don't seem to get, is that no matter how rich and famous people can be they still end up in the ground
or the oven eventually!
Friend of Findadeath Vanessa from Chicago
Unbeknownst to her, Rebecca has saved lives.
Thank you to the bajillion findadeath pals (for which I am truly grateful) who sent me this article - July 28, 2007:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The obsessed fan who murdered television actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989 has been stabbed repeatedly by a fellow inmate at a California prison, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.
Robert John Bardo, 37, suffered 11 stab and puncture wounds on Friday at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, about 110 miles east of San Francisco.
Bardo, who is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole, was airlifted to a hospital for treatment then returned to the prison, the Times quoted officials as saying.
The paper said the suspect was a 49-year-old killer, also serving a life term.
The death of 21-year-old Schaeffer, a star of "My Sister Sam," helped prompt anti-stalking laws. Bardo had been obsessed with her for years, and hired a private investigator to obtain her Los Angeles home address through the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
He shot her when she opened her door, and was arrested the next day. He was convicted and sentenced in 1991.
You can discuss Rebecca's murder with others
on the Findadeath
Forum.
www.findadeath.com
