Hollywood Murder: Rebecca Schaeffer

I haven't done a post on any true crime lately, so I thought I would revisit my roots. It's no secret that I love my friend Scott's website Find A Death, since it's chalk full of information on celebrities' deaths, drama, and stalkers. I have been on his tour several times and one story that always touches my heart and stays with me is that of actress Rebecca Schaeffer.

If you aren't familiar with her, Rebecca was a young actress getting her start in Hollywood in the late 80's. She was on a successful sitcom, "My Sister Sam," with Pam Dauber. You might remember it. "Schaeffer quickly climbed the Hollywood ladder of success before a crazed fan, 19-year-old Robert Bardo, viciously accosted her. Bardo had been writing Schaeffer love letters for months. The actress was so thoughtful, she personally responded to each one of her fans, including Bardo (Investigation Discovery)."

"Bardo, took to wandering around her neighborhood in an attempt to locate her home. He flashed his personally autographed photograph of Rebecca to anyone who would look at him, asking if people knew where she lived. Finally he hired a private detective to get her address. The dick goes to the DMV, fills out a form, spends a buck, gets her address and provides it to her stalker. Completely legal.

On Tuesday morning, July 18, 1989. The 21 year old Schaeffer lived in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, in a Tudor style building on Sweetzer (Find A Death)."

Bardo rang the bell, Schaeffer came down to the door, since the intercom wasn't working, and Bardo gets upset because she basically tells him to leave her alone. He leaves, then returns, rings the bell again, and this time when she opens the door, he shoots her and runs away, leaving her to die in her entryway.

"It was learned later that Bardo obtained Schaeffer’s address from a Tucson, Ariz., detective agency, which paid $250 to retrieve the address from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

After he murdered Schaeffer, Bardo hopped on a Greyhound Bus and headed back home to Tucson. Instead of returning to his house, he literally played on a freeway. Bardo, who seemed intent on killing himself, was arrested and ticketed for jaywalking.
While Bardo sat in a Tucson jail cell, a relative of his contacted the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) when she heard news of Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder. The relative informed police that the day before the murder, Bardo told her he was going to Los Angeles to visit the actress. She then told LAPD that Bardo lived in Tucson.

The young executioner was soon extradited to Los Angeles and tried for the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer. District Attorney Marcia Clark successfully prosecuted Bardo for first degree murder and he was given a sentence of life without parole. Afterward, California Gov. George Deukmejian signed a law that would give individuals the ability to prevent the DMV from releasing their personal home address (Investigation Discovery)."

How Sad? At least some good has come of her death. There are now several anti-stalking laws that are in place because of this situation.

Thoughts?

On a lighter note, don't forget to vote for tomorrow's post on Fine Man Friday! Polls close tonight!

True Crime: The Menendez Brothers

Although I don't like giving attention to convicted murderers, I find many of these true crime cases fascinating. One of these cases is the murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The Menendez's were a very successful family in Los Angeles. Jose Menendez was a successful music producer who later became involved in the film industry. In 1989, he was making roughly $500,000 annually.

Jose and Kitty had two children, Lyle and Erik. The boys were very spoiled, and used to getting anything they wanted. They drove expensive cars, attended the best private schools, and were given lessons on their tennis game. This wasn't enough.

In 1988, the boys were caught stealing $100,000 worth of money and jewelry from their neighbors Calabasas home. Jose paid off the neighbors and made younger brother Erik take the fall so Lyle wouldn't ruin his reputation for possible enrollment at Princeton. Because of this incident, the family moved to Beverly Hills to avoid embarrassment.

"By that same winter, Lyle had been kicked out of Princeton for cheating on a psychology 101 exam. He returned home with his tail tucked between his legs. His father was furious. He started to believe that his sons would never amount to anything. The brothers worried that they might be kicked out of their Beverly Hills home and forced to work for a living. They also feared they would be dropped from their father’s will. Jose Menendez was worth $14,000,000."

On August 17, 1989, Lyle drove to San Diego and purchased two sawed-off shotguns. Three days later Jose and Kitty were murdered. "Just days after the murders, the Menendez brothers went on a shopping spree purchasing new Rolex watches, a new Jeep for Erik, a Porsche for Lyle and tennis lessons for both of them. They stayed at $2,000-a-night hotels and claimed to be hiding from the Mafia. Lyle even bought a chicken wing restaurant in Princeton.

Lyle seemed nonplussed about the murders and kept quiet. Erik, on the other hand, could not keep his mouth shut. He blabbed to a friend that he had killed his parents. He also told his psychologist of the deed."

Because of this, the psychologist told his girlfriend, and the girlfriend went to the police. Their first trial was a mistrial. The second they were convicted.

I took a tour of Hollywood that took us to the home of Jose and Kitty Menendez. It is very eerie to picture the horrible things that took place there. In an interview with the brothers, Lyle says that no one came or called the police after they murdered their parents. They couldn't believe that in Beverly Hills no one would report gun shots. Because of this, they made up the story that their parents had been murdered. Scary...oh, as a side note, both men got married while in prison.

(All information provided by ID: Hollywood Crimes)