Obsessed fan’s deadly stalking led to young actress’ tragic murder | US | News

Rebecca Schaeffer, a promising young actress, is murdered by a deranged admirer.

The former teen model began her acting career in the soap opera Guiding Light, before landing her breakthrough role in the sitcom My Sister Sam. Before her shocking death, she was scheduled to meet Francis Ford Coppola and audition for Mary Corleone in The Godfather: Part III.

Rebecca was only 21 years old at the time and living in Los Angeles. She also had a romantic relationship with director Brad Silberling.

Her murder later inspired the 2002 film Moonlight Mile, about a man’s grief following the murder of his fiancée.

On July 19, 1989, Rebecca was fatally shot in her Los Angeles apartment by Robert Bardo, a crazed stalker. Robert initially became obsessed with Rebecca during her stint on My Sister Sam.

Robert wrote numerous fan letters to Rebecca, and her psychologist father, Benson Schaeffer, noted that they appeared harmless and appeared to be correspondence from “another weird kid who just wanted someone to pay attention to him,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Rebecca even replied to one of them: “Yours was one of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever owned.”

Robert’s obsession began in the summer of 1987 with Warner Bros. It got deeper when he traveled to California to meet Rebecca at her studio, but was denied entry by security, according to ABC News’ 20/20 exclusive Rhonda Saunders, who formerly worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

He was holding a teddy bear and flowers. Robert’s obsession turned “furious” when he witnessed Rebecca taking part in a romantic scene in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.

“All these angry emotions. … ‘How dare he? He’s mine. … He needs to remain innocent for me.’ Clinic police and forensic psychologist Dr. Kris Mohandie explained to 20/20: “This… turns into a cold-blooded revenge plot.” “I will punish you and take your life to possess you permanently.”

In July 1989, Robert attempted to purchase a firearm from a gun store in Tucson but was turned away.

Jeff Dunn, a former police detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, revealed to 20/20 that the gun shop owner sensed something was wrong with Robert and began questioning him.

Jeff explained that Robert had confessed his mental health history to his owner. After this statement, the gun shop owner realized that Robert was a “prohibited gun owner” and could not legally purchase a firearm.

He told Robert he wouldn’t sell the gun. Robert then persuaded his brother Edward to purchase a pistol in his name.

“His brother didn’t know what was going on in his mind, he was focused on Rebecca Schaeffer,” Rhoda explained to 20/20. “He just thought: ‘Oh, he wants a gun, he’ll do some target shooting.’ And… I told Robert, ‘Okay, I’ll give you the gun, but you can’t use it unless I’m with you.'” Robert then hired a private investigator to secure Rebecca’s home address, which the investigator obtained from the State Department of Motor Vehicles.

During a jailhouse interview aired on 20/20, Robert explained what motivated him to contact a private investigator to locate Rebecca. He learned that Arthur Jackson, a Scottish individual, had used a private investigator to track down actress Theresa Saldana in 1982.

Arthur stalked and stabbed Theresa, an attack from which she survived.

According to authorities, Robert boarded a Greyhound bus from Tucson to Los Angeles and headed to Rebecca’s house armed with a briefcase and a firearm. Inside his bag was a card Rebecca had sent him, her photo, and the book The Catcher in the Rye, which Mark David Chapman had when he killed John Lennon in 1980.

Robert arrived in Los Angeles around 5 a.m. on July 18, 1989.

That very morning, while Rebecca was waiting for the script for The Godfather Part III to be delivered, Robert rang the doorbell. The intercom was out of order, so Rebecca went downstairs and opened the door herself.

Robert then presented Rebecca with the autographed photo he had of her. He graciously informed Robert that he needed to prepare for an interview.

Robert went to a cafe to eat before returning home. Rebecca opened the door once again, and Robert claimed that Rebecca declared that she was wasting her time, and that this comment triggered his reaction.

“I forgot to give you something,” Robert told Rebecca a short time later, before pulling out his gun and shooting her in the chest at close range. Robert fled the scene.

He later told a psychiatrist that Rebecca had repeatedly asked him “Why? Why?” He said he asked. He lay dying.

A neighbor who heard the gunshot and Rebecca’s screams immediately called an ambulance. Rebecca was taken to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

The day after he shot Rebecca, Robert was seen running along a freeway in Tucson and yelling, “I killed Rebecca Schaeffer,” according to police.

Paul Hallums, the Tucson officer who arrested Bardo, told 20/20: “We got him to safety right away. We did a quick search and search and found a picture of Rebecca Schaeffer in his shirt pocket,” adding: “He looked disheveled. His clothes were dirty. His hair was a mess. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. We started putting two and two together.”

Jeff said of Robert: “Robert Bardo was a troubled young man… He had a troubled childhood history. He had threatened his neighbors and schoolmates.”

Robert was sent back to California and tried there for Rebecca’s murder. He was found guilty of first-degree murder by a judge at his 1991 trial, waiving his right to a jury trial in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Robert was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December 1991. Rebecca’s murder resulted in California enacting its first anti-stalking law in 1990; This law currently exists in all 50 states.

His death also shaped the Driver Privacy Protection Act, passed in 1994. Federal law prevents the DMV from disclosing a driver’s personal information, such as address.