Casefile True Crime - Case 97: Rebecca Schaeffer

Episode Date: October 20, 2018

When aspiring actress Rebecca Schaffer secured the second lead in a new Hollywood sitcom, My Sister Sam, it felt like all her dreams were finally coming true. As she was thrust into stardom, she learned the truth the hard way – that fame comes with a dark side. ---  Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Episode researched and written by Eileen Ormsby For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-97-rebecca-schaeffer

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SiriusXM, everything you want to hear lives here. Our episodes deal with SiriusXM and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. In 1986, young actress Rebecca Schaefer landed her dream job. Beating out thousands of Hollywood hopefuls,

Rebecca was offered the second lead in a new Hollywood sitcom, which was to air weekly on the CBS television network in a prime-time slot. To the outside world, Rebecca was a complete unknown, thrust into sudden stardom. But even though she was barely an adult, she had packed a lot into her 18 years of life so far. Born November 6, 1967, to father Benson, a psychologist, and mother Dana, a writer and teacher,

Rebecca Schaefer was a much loved only child. She grew up in Eugene, Oregon, enjoying a comfortable childhood. Her formative years were filled with forces, poetry, books, the outdoors, and the unconditional love of her parents. When Rebecca was aged 13, her family moved 100 miles north to Laurelhurst, an affluent suburb of vintage homes and winding treelineed streets in Portland, Oregon. There, Rebecca enrolled in the elite Lincoln High School, the same school Simpson's creator, Matt Groening, had attended a decade earlier.

She excelled at school, where she joined the talented and gifted program, and was elected a student officer. By age 14, Rebecca was often complimented for her wholesome, girl next door natural beauty. She strove to do well at school and was deeply committed to her Jewish faith. Rebecca considered pursuing a career as a rabbi when she was older. She also contemplated careers as either a doctor or a lawyer. But it was a chance conversation with her hometown hairdresser who tended to her thick

mop of dark curls that landed her first break. Seeing the potential in Rebecca's perfect features, the hairdresser facilitated a meeting with another of his clients, local talent agent, Nanette Trowman. Nanette wasted no time in signing Rebecca Rohn as a client of the Trowman agency, and soon, Rebecca Schaffer's sweet smile radiated from department store catalogs and TV commercials, convincing parents to spend up big on back-to-school items. Although she had taken part in an occasional school play,

Rebecca hadn't given any consideration to her career in acting, but her agent found her some extra work on some local TV shows. Suddenly, a whole new world was opening up to her, and the idea of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or rabbi was losing its allure when compared to the glamorous world of modelling and performing. In 1984, 16-year-old Rebecca landed a summer internship at Elite Model Management, which meant travelling to the other side of the country to spend three months in New York City. She welcomed all the challenges the Big Apple threw at her and soon felled at home.

So at home, in fact, that she decided she wanted to stay to see if she could make it there as a model. Rebecca's parents weren't convinced of the idea, despite Rebecca promising she would see out her final year of high school at an academy for aspiring actors while she was working. She made impassioned pleas and wore them down with sound arguments, supported by the agency, which wanted the fresh young Rebecca on their books. Dana and Benson had to admit their daughter had inherited their own adventurous spirits and the risk-taking attitude that had seen her father put his career on hold some years earlier to study Yiddish theatre in New York.

Not wanting to stand in the way of her dreams, the Shaifers relented and gave their daughter their blessing. Rebecca wasted no time, and by August 1984, she was sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with five other aspiring models. She called her parents regularly to let them know how she was doing. One day, not long after she had turned 17 years old, Rebecca was in the subway heading to an audition. As she sat on a bench on the platform, she noticed a man pacing back and forth slapping a sharpened screwdriver against his hand. Rebecca was wary, but she noticed another young woman in front of the man who was clearly terrified. She marched over to the young woman, a total stranger, and said, Hi, it's nice to see you. Come on, let's go get a coffee.

Rebecca took the woman by the hand and pulled her up the stairs away from the troubled man. Upon hearing this story, Rebecca's mother, Dana, felt proud of her daughter's bravery and quick thinking. She felt that a boated wall for survival in this crazy world. In New York, competition in the modeling industry was fierce. Rebecca Schaefer was one among an oversupply of young women struggling to find jobs. At five foot seven inches, she was at least two inches below the minimum height to model high fashion, as clothes hung so much better on the girls who were taller. She also began obsessing over her perfectly normal weight, comparing herself to the girls that graced the pages of the fashion magazines.

At any time, Rebecca could have cut her losses, packed her bags, and returned to the loving embrace of her parents. But Rebecca's youthful optimism saw her determined to make the most of the opportunities she had. She took up acting class five hours a day, three days a week, in a class of 20 students, and found a theatrical agent willing to take on a fresh young face with a strong work ethic. Aiming for work in film or theatrical productions, perhaps eventually getting to Broadway, Rebecca auditioned for a small part in sci-fi movie The Manhattan Project, but didn't get the role. Instead, she landed a small but ongoing role as any Barnes on the long-running ABC daytime soap opera, One Life to Live. Rebecca was grateful for the work,

but never took daytime soap seriously as a career choice, seeing the six-month roll as a way to earn money while looking for modeling jobs. She wanted to join the ranks of the bright young models on Teen Magazine, Madonna on the cover of Tiger Beat, or when she was really dreaming, Brooke Shields on the cover of Seventeen. When her agency suggested that there might be a stronger market for someone of her hide in Tokyo, where her pale skin and brown curls would be considered exotic, once again, the ambitious teen didn't hesitate. Her parents couldn't believe that their only daughter was traveling even further away to foreign lands, but Rebecca reassured them that she would be alright. Rebecca told them, no matter where we are in the world,

we are like a three-legged stool. The saying became her family's mantra. Rebecca made the move to Japan in 1985, but still, she struggled to find work. Within a year, she returned to the United States, and once back in New York, her agent gave her the tough truth that she was unlikely to make it big as a model in America. However, she had earned herself a good reputation as reliable and hard-working on one life to live, so her agent advised Rebecca to pursue acting instead. Rebecca began the gruelling job of auditioning and facing rejection after rejection, as she entered a world that was arguably even more competitive and difficult to crack than

modeling. She never let the rejections get her down, believing that it was a numbers game, and she would eventually pick up some work. Her optimism was rewarded when a casting director remembered her from the audition for the Manhattan Project, and was impressed enough to ask her to audition for Woody Allen's new film, Radio Days. Rebecca got the part, which was too minor for her character to be given a name other than simply Communist's daughter. Work on the sharp, satirical film was fun and rewarding, and soon after, Rebecca landed another small part on the Steven Spielberg Twilight Zone-esque television series Amazing Stories. Her role was as a magazine model come to life in the episode Miscalculation. Despite these minor successes, Rebecca missed

out on the vast majority of the parts she auditioned for, and her modeling work was sporadic at best. She tried to remain upbeat and hopeful, but the bills were mounting and her phone was cut off. She was just starting to contemplate waitressing when in the winter of 1986, she came home to a note stuck on her door. It was from her agent asking her to urgently get in touch about testing for a new Warner Bros. television series called My Sister Sam. The series was the best-starring vehicle for Pam Dorba, an actress who earned Hollywood stardom thanks to her long-running role as Mindy to Robin Williams' Mork in the cult series Mork and Mindy. In My Sister Sam, Pam Dorba would be playing the title role of Sam,

and the studio was on the hunt for someone to be given second billing to the more established actress, playing Sam's zany little sister, Patty. The television producers had seen some of Rebecca Schaffer's auditions and thought she would fit the bill as Patty perfectly. Rebecca jumped on a plane and was tested for the part the next day. Rebecca certainly looked the part of the flighty teen character. She easily passed for a 16-year-old, even though it was nearly three years younger than her actual age. The studio executives loved her and the chemistry she had with Pam Dorba, and so it came to be that serious, hard-working, and ambitious Rebecca was cast to play flaky, impulsive Patty on My Sister Sam.

Robert Giombardo liked to write letters. He would scroll them in a ballpoint pen on pages ripped from notebooks, sitting in whichever corner of his parents' house allowed him some respite from the scorching Arizona heat. Sometimes he would send the letters. Other times, the raw emotion was too personal and he would file them away instead. The youngest of seven children, Robert Bardo, had a tough upbringing. The family would move frequently, sometimes due to his father's job as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, but other times because trouble seemed to follow the dysfunctional family. Eventually, in 1983, Bardo settled into a single-story house in Tucson, Arizona,

when Robert was 13. Tucson had a high crime rate but low cost of living and was hot all year round. Temperatures soared over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer and stayed there for months on end. Hunting and fishing were the most popular pastimes, with plenty of nearby places to do so. In high school, Robert was a bright student, but he was also a loner with no friends. Although he had no trouble achieving high marks, sometimes he would write disturbing and threatening letters to his teachers. In junior high, he wrote one teacher up to three letters a day in which he spoke about ending his own life and hinted at killing the teacher. He signed the letters with the names of tough guy movie characters, Scarface, Dirty Harry,

or James Bond. The school contacted his parents, but they refused to enroll him in counseling, claiming there was nothing wrong with him. Although generally well-spoken and polite, there was something odd about Robert Bardo that made him incapable of maintaining a relationship with anyone. Neighbours often saw him hanging from the eaves of his parents' single story house, swinging into the windows. Sometimes they saw him charging into a concrete wall in his backyard over and over, as if held bent on self-destruction. Other times, he seemed to be playing hide and seek with imaginary friends. With nobody to play with, Robert spent much of his time watching television and movies where he

could escape into a fantasy world. He was fascinated by actors, musicians, and anyone else who lived their lives in the spotlight. Desperately unhappy in school and at home, Robert yearned to be one of the rich and famous, the type of boy that the girls in the magazines and on the TV screen would fall in love with. Sometimes he would practice guitar in the hopes of furthering his dream of becoming a rock star. When he was 13 years old, a new type of girl celebrity appeared on Robert's TV screen, this time in the news and on talk shows instead of acting or singing. The young girl by the name of Samantha Reed Smith seemed to be everywhere. The media was calling her America's youngest ambassador.

The precocious Samantha had written to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to implore him not to let Russia go to war with the United States. She asked him to reconsider hostilities because, quote, God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight. The letter was published in a Soviet newspaper and the sweet, simple words of a little girl resonated with the public in both countries. Samantha received a response from Andropov, inviting her and her family to visit in Russia. And from there, the little girl became a celebrity who everyone wanted to interview. Robert became infatuated with Samantha Reed Smith and decided to do what he did best. He wrote her a letter. The letter was polite and heartfelt, praising her

work and telling her how much he admired her. Robert was thrilled to receive a postcard from Samantha in response. The Smith family's phone number was still listed in directories. Robert soon found it and began calling to speak to his new crush. One time he got lucky when Samantha answered the phone and they had a chat, mostly on Robert's side as he rambled, trying to keep the conversation going. After that, Samantha's relatives always answered the phone, and when they realized it was Robert on the line, they asked him to stop calling. They recalled the boy to be persistent but never rude, just difficult to get off the phone. As Samantha's star continued to rise, Robert felt that the two of them had a real connection.

He understood that she was busier than ever, as she had parlayed her fame into hosting her own Disney shows and writing a book. But he still tried his luck by calling again and again. Samantha's family denied him from speaking with her every time. The more Robert was blocked from contacting Samantha, the more obsessed he became. In Robert's mind, he and Samantha had a relationship that other people were trying to spoil. Frustrated by his inability to get in contact with her, 14-year-old Robert stole $140 from his mother's purse and set off on the 2,800-mile journey to Maine. The trip took several days, and by the time he arrived, his parents had figured out what he planned to do.

They contacted the main authorities and Robert was taken into custody about two blocks from Samantha's home. Noting that he carried no weapons and there was no indication he planned to harm the girl, the police wrote him off as just another love-sick teen and returned him home to his parents. Robert was later diagnosed with depression. Following what he claimed was a sustained period of abuse by one of his siblings, Robert threatened to end his life and was subsequently placed in foster care for a month. Then in August 1985, Samantha Reed Smith died in a light plane crash at age 13. Robert was overcome with grief at the loss of his celebrity crush and spiralled further into depression, believing he had somehow been responsible for her death.

At age 15, he was briefly institutionalised due to his emotional problems. This led Robert to drop out of high school in the 9th grade, despite achieving consistently good marks. He began working as a janitor at a fast food joint jack in the box. The work was boring and even more isolating with its 5am starts and little contact with people. He's retreated into the fantasy world where he could pretend to be part of the glamorous lives of the people he saw on the television screen became even more intense. In the summer of 1986, Robert saw a commercial for a new television series which was due to start in the fall. He watched a cute, curly-haired teenage girl talking cheekily to the actress

he recognised as Mindy from Mork and Mindy. As the teenage girl spoke to the audience from the glowing television screen, Robert felt she was speaking directly to him. He was instantly infatuated by her quirkiness and beauty and he couldn't wait for the new show, My Sister Sam, to start. As soon as she had confirmation that she had landed the role in My Sister Sam, 19-year-old Rebecca Schaefer once again packed her bags and moved across the country, this time to Hollywood. Rebecca's grandfather lived in West Los Angeles, so her parents were relieved that she had family nearby and she was now closer to home to make visiting much easier. Rebecca and the show star Pam Dorbar hit it off immediately.

Once they started filming, Pam invited Rebecca to come and live with her and her actor-husband Mark Harmon. In invitation, Rebecca gratefully accepted. Rebecca had not fallen in love with Los Angeles as instantly as she had with New York. In New York, everything she needed had been on her doorstep, but she felt that LA was too spread out. Rebecca lamented to her mother that she missed being able to order Chinese food at 3am. However, her new job kept her busy and everyone on set took the inexperienced teenager under their wing. The cast became Rebecca's second family and she would follow crew around the set when she wasn't required, asking intelligent questions, curious to know what they were doing. She liked to know how everyone fit in and wanted to understand all

the jobs that went into making a television show. The pilot of My Sister Sam went to air on October 6, 1986, in the plum time slot of Mondays at 8.30pm, scheduled between two of the most popular shows on the CBS lineup, Kate and Allie at 8 and Newhart at 9. The show was typical sitcom fare. Pam Dorber played an ambitious uptight photographer who was living an orderly life in San Francisco when, out of the blue, her free-spirited, tie-dye-wearing younger sister, Patti, landed on her doorstep. Patti had been living with her aunt and uncle in Oregon since the death of her parents, but when they tried to make her trade her electric guitar for a clarinet and some Benny Goodman records, she tracked down her sister in the big city.

Navigating this new relationship, the chalk and cheese duo proceeded to turn each other's lives upside down, whilst giving each other valuable life lessons. The sisters were joined by the usual cast of wacky and stereotypical sitcom sidekicks. Despite lukewarm reviews in the press, the cheesy, sweet-natured sitcom of generation gap humor struck a chord with the American viewing public. Rebecca and Pam had great chemistry, and Rebecca played her character with such charm and infectious sweet-natured goofiness that many viewers assumed that the actress was much the same way. Rebecca's Patti was a wannabe rock star with good intentions, but who was always getting into scrapes, much to the annoyance of the uptight and sensible Sam. By the end of each half-hour episode,

everything would get resolved and bring the sisters closer together. It was a quintessential 80s sitcom, full of big perms, choice fashion, and wisecracking characters. The popularity of the show revived Pam Dorber's career and shot Rebecca Schaefer into B-list celebrity fame. She was interviewed for stories about my sister Sam, and her picture would pop up in a different celebrity magazine every week. CBS put Rebecca to work cross-promoting, and in November, she rugged up and braved the Toronto Winter to co-host the Canadian part of the 1986 All-American Thanksgiving Parade. She charmed her co-hosts and proved her versatility and ability to add lib whilst dutifully promoting the various sponsors of the network.

Once my sister Sam had been on air for a few weeks, Rebecca discovered another aspect of stardom. Fan mail started trickling in, passed on to her by Warner Brothers or her agent. The letters were sweet and gushing, mostly from young girls who aspired to be like her. Rebecca was determined to read and respond to every single one. 16-year-old Robert Bartow waited eagerly for my sister Sam to start, and was ready with his videotape recorder for its debut on October 6, 1986. Entranced by Rebecca Schaefer's sweet smile and the zany personality of her character, Robert was immediately smitten by the younger star. Rebecca was beautiful, wholesome, modest, and in Robert's mind, attainable.

After he watched the premiere episode live, he watched it again on tape. He then looked up the TV guide to find out when repeats were scheduled, and he watched those too. With each viewing, Robert's enchantment with Rebecca Schaefer grew. He went to the store and flipped through magazines, looking for articles about her, and took in every detail. He decided he would write Rebecca a letter and let her know how he felt about her. Nothing too intense, just telling her how pretty and nice she was and how happy it made him to watch her. Robert wrote one letter, then another, and another. There were long, rambling letters in blue ballpoint where he poured his heart out to her.

He loved how she was so fresh and innocent, a sweet girl next door type rather than one of the starlets that used sex appeal to get attention. He believed they could be friends if only they could meet. Robert felt that Rebecca's character Patty was somebody who would really understand him. Patty was 16, the same age as him, and played guitar, just like he did. He was sure that Rebecca was much the same as the character she played. As he wrote to Rebecca, Robert felt himself beginning to fall in love with her. He was careful not to overstep the line in his letters though, because he didn't want to scare her off. His letters were gushing and adoring, designed to make her feel good. The ones that went a bit too far he put to one side without

sending, keeping them for himself to read when he was lonely. After the success of My Sister Sam, Los Angeles had suddenly become a far more exciting place for Rebecca Schaefer. Her star status meant she was invited to premieres and parties snapped by paparazzi and showered with gifts by brands who hoped she would be photographed wearing their clothes or using their products. Most of Rebecca's time was spent at the Burbank Studios where her co-stars and the crew on the set became her closest friends. In between takes she would stretch out on a lawn at the Warner Brothers lot known as The Ranch. She treated everyone with the same warmth, humour and respect, from the head of the studio to the latest production assistant.

When it came to her work, she was the ultimate professional. Although she loved living with her co-star Pam Dorber, Rebecca's independent spirit led her to Craver home of her own. She moved into a small apartment in the Hollywood Hills where she was free to dance around the kitchen and practice yoga any time of day or night and began to expand her social circle. In early 1987 a friend set her up on a blind date with an emerging young screenwriter and director. It was Brad Silberling's very last day of film school and he was distracted when he agreed to go on a date with the actress four years his junior. For the date, Brad escorted Rebecca to a screening of his student thesis. He was berating himself for agreeing to the setup at a time when

things were so hectic but that all dissolved away when he opened the door to the beautiful brunette. Brad was immediately smitten with Rebecca and soon fell for the wicked sense of humour that tempered her serious side. He understood and supported Rebecca's commitment to her work and her maturity meant that the four-year age gap was barely noticeable. Brad was Rebecca's first real boyfriend but she wouldn't allow the new romance to get in the way of her work. As she spent so much time on set, Brad would often visit and sit with Pam Dorber's husband Mark where the two would watch the women perform. In March 1987 a long-held dream of Rebecca's was realised when she was chosen to be the cover girl for Seventeen magazine, the leading magazine for

teenage girls in America. It was one of the most coveted modelling gigs in the country and meant recognition that Rebecca was somebody to watch. Although she was now a television star, Rebecca was not one for the stereotypical Hollywood lifestyle. She maintained her adherence to her Jewish faith and was never snapped by the paparazzi in compromising photographs, preferring quiet nights at home and simple outdoor trips on the weekends or visits home to Oregon. My sister Sam continued to rate well and the cast were elated to be told that the show had been renewed for a second season. Robert Bardo videotaped the Thanksgiving Day parade in which Rebecca Schaeffer guest presented,

along with every episode of My Sister Sam. He also tracked down Rebecca's appearance in the television series Amazing Stories and added that to his video collection. He scoured magazines and newspapers for any mention of Rebecca and if he couldn't steal them he would use his Meeker paycheck to buy them and cut out the articles and pictures. He even got a copy of Seventeen magazine which was targeted to girls because Rebecca was on the cover. He read so much about Rebecca that he felt like he knew her. To Robert, Rebecca was not a stranger and he felt it in his soul that one day they would be together. Unsure of the best address to reach her, Robert sent letters to the studio lot of Warner Brothers and to Rebecca's agents in New York and Los Angeles. He did receive

responses, glossy photos of the starlet, sometimes with her signature on them. Then he received a photograph of Rebecca with a peace symbol and a heart that said, with love, from Rebecca. The photo became Robert's most treasured possession, proved to him that their attraction was mutual. The day he received it, he wrote in his diary, quote, I would like to become famous to impress her. Robert taped Rebecca's photographs to the walls of his room, along with pictures of her he carefully cut from magazines. He kept the articles neatly tucked away in paper folders that he stored safely in a drawer. Soon, his room became a shrine to Rebecca with barely a spot on his wall left uncovered.

In his heartfelt letters, Robert would quote John Lennon and also write song lyrics of his own. He told Rebecca how sensitive he was, assuring her in one letter, quote, I'm harmless, you could hurt me. He told her how one episode of My Sister Sam, in which her character yearned for the life of a celebrity, particularly resonated with him. I know what you mean, he wrote to her. His letters were filled with hope of a friendship and hinted that he was interested in more. Robert waited patiently for Rebecca to respond to him. After a brief vacation when the first season of My Sister Sam wrapped, Rebecca Schaefer returned to the studio and continued to spend all of her time on set. Her work remained her top priority,

and her relationship with boyfriend Brad Silberling suffered as a result. Eventually, the pair decided to split, though things between the two remained amicable. Rebecca's fan mail was now delivered to her in sacks, forwarded to her after the office weeded out any that were rude or offensive. Rebecca still wanted to respond personally to each one, but it was becoming difficult, and she had to enlist the help of a Hollywood fan mail service to ensure that each letter got some sort of reply, usually a mass produced photo with her printed autograph. Rebecca still received every piece and would try to respond personally whenever she could. She had a number of stock phrases that she would scroll across the postcard-sized

publicity shots, and sometimes she would draw hearts or piece symbols. She responded to one rambling letter with, quote, "'Yours is one of the nicest letters I've received.'" A standard response she wrote to fans who took the time to write long letters, even though she didn't have time to read them properly. Rebecca had become used to people recognizing her and occasionally stopping her in the street for a chat or an autograph. Sometimes fans would try and visit her on the set, but the security guards nearly always turned them away, and the studio usually didn't bother her with the details. Although Rebecca dated occasionally, she was mostly a loner who would just as soon sit at home practicing yoga or writing poetry than attend a nightclub opening or film premiere.

That year, she moved from Hollywood Hills to North Sweetser Avenue, a street of 1940s-era spacious apartments and sunny courtyards in a quiet neighborhood near the Fairfax District in West Hollywood. The area had a cool, slightly edgy vibe and a mix of hip and trendy restaurants and quirky shops. It was popular with the industry's up-and-comers, who were comfortable, but didn't have the A-list incomes required to live in neighboring Beverly Hills. One of Rebecca's neighbors was a handsome, chiseled-jaw wannabe actor whose credit so far only amounted to a feature spot in a Pringles TV commercial and a substandard slasho horror flick, a young man named Brad Pitt. Rebecca's new apartment was in a small, tutor-style apartment block. The entrance was a

glass security door on the ground floor, where visitors would press the button of the apartment they wanted and announce themselves via intercom before being buzzed in. Rebecca's parents were happy with the move to an area they considered safer than the one she had lived in previously. When Robert Bardo received a new photo of Rebecca in the mail, this one was truly special. She had taken the time to personally write to let him know that she treasured his letters. She had written, quote, Yours is one of the nicest letters I've received. Robert wondered which letter it had been that elicited the personal response, as he had written so many. It was excited that their relationship had gone to another level,

that Rebecca acknowledged their connection, and that maybe she was falling in love with him, as he had with her. Everyone who came into contact with Robert got an earful about how amazing Rebecca was, and they all knew the boy had a celebrity crush that bordered on obsessive. In the summer of 1987, Robert decided to visit Rebecca so that he could tell her how he felt in person. He found the cheapest Greyhound bus ticket for the 10-hour journey to California, and spent the money he had saved from his janitor job on a huge teddy bear, and the largest bouquet of flowers he could afford. On June 2, Robert made his way to the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank.

Security guards were used to fans arriving at the gates hoping to meet with their idols, and many of them came bearing gifts. Still, it was an unusual sight to see a teenage boy bustle up to the gate clutching a ridiculous five-foot-high teddy bear and a huge bunch of flowers. When Robert asked to see Rebecca Schaefer, it was like a lovesick puppy, nervous but full of hope. Although the security guards felt sorry for him, rules were rules. Fans were not allowed on the lot while actors were working, and Robert was turned away. Desperate to be let in, Robert showed the security guards the handwritten note he'd received from Rebecca and assured them that she would want to see him, but they stayed firm.

Bewildered and upset, Robert loitered outside the studio in the shadow of the iconic Warner Brothers Water Tower, trying to catch a glimpse of Rebecca. Only to be told he had missed her when he walked across the street to buy something to drink. Later, he went on a mission to the Hollywood Hills, wandering the winding streets on the lookout for any apartments that matched the description Rebecca had given in an interview with Seventeen magazine. Unable to find her out of money and needing to return to work, Robert reluctantly went back home to Arizona. He bombarded the studio with telephone calls, insisting he'd be allowed to speak to Rebecca, but they never put him through.

Robert wondered if Rebecca was becoming arrogant, too important to speak to her fans, or if the studio was simply not passing on his messages. A month later, Robert returned to the Warner Brothers Studios with a knife concealed in a bag. The security guards recognized him as the annoying fan who was fixated on Rebecca Schafer, and again, they refused to let him in. Robert was so persistent that the guards escorted him to the office of their boss, John F. Agar, the security chief of Warner Brothers. Agar demanded an explanation. Robert launched into details about how much he loved Rebecca Schafer and that he just wanted to give her the teddy bear and flowers, but the security guards

had stood in his way. He told the security chief how far he had come to see her. Agar's heart went out to the lovesick fan, who struck him as intelligent and polite, but also overly intense. He thought the teen needed a bit of tough love, but also needed to be far away from Rebecca. The security chief escorted Robert off the premises and personally drove him back to his rundown Hollywood motel. In the car, they had a heart-to-heart talk in which Agar firmly told Robert that it was time he returned to Arizona. Agar advised Robert to forget about the actress, go home, and work towards his own goals. Agar felt he had done the right thing, thinking the kid just needed someone to talk to. Later, Robert called Agar

from a payphone at the bus station on his way out of town, thanking him for the chat and telling him he would take his advice. However, the incident was unsettling enough that the head of security informed the show's production company that Rebecca Schaefer had a fan who seemed a little haywire. If the production company told Rebecca Schaefer about Robert Bardo, it didn't make much of an impact on her. She may have told friends in passing about an overly persistent fan, but it wasn't something that the actress seemed to dwell upon. She was too busy dealing with a sudden change of fortune in her working life. The second half of 1987 was not as great for Rebecca as the first half had been. The Woody Allen film she had worked on radio days

came out and Rebecca's scenes had been cut. There remained only the briefest glimpse of her in the background. An even greater blow came with the announcement of a scheduling change for my sister Sam. Rather than the prime Monday evening time slot, the second season of the sitcom would play on Saturday evenings up against The Facts of Life, a well-entrenched and hugely popular show aimed at a similar demographic. The new season started on October 3, 1987, opening to a much smaller audience than the first season had enjoyed. Over the next few weeks, ratings fell to a level so dismal that by November the network put the show on hiatus while they decided what to do with it. The cast and crew of My Sister Sam were deeply disappointed, but the show remained in

production while decisions were made about its future. During this time, Rebecca maintained her trademark optimism and work ethic, giving the role of Paddy her full attention. She still enjoyed personal popularity and recognition and was invited back to co-host the CBS Thanksgiving Parade for the second year running, this time from Detroit, Michigan. The acts came down in early 1988 and My Sister Sam was officially cancelled by CBS after episode 10 of season 2, leaving 12 remaining episodes unheard. Rebecca Schaefer was officially out of a job. Deflated by his encounter with the security guards at the Warner Brothers lot, Robert Bardo tried to forget about Rebecca Schaefer. He removed the photographs that had

adorned his bedroom walls, but didn't throw them away. Forgetting about Rebecca didn't stop Robert from yearning for the celebrity lifestyle, or his burning wish to have a famous and beautiful girlfriend. Robert turned his attention to pop singers, but we thought might be more receptive to him as he was an aspiring musician himself. 80s pop sensations Debbie Gibson and Tiffany were soon on Robert's radar. He considered Madonna, but then deemed her to be too old. He started writing letters to the pop stars, but none wrote back. He went to a Tiffany concert, but noted the heavy security and knew there was no chance of getting anywhere near her. In 1988, Robert made the trek to New York City in the hope of meeting Debbie Gibson.

He was again rebuffed by security guards and unsuccessful in his attempts to meet with his new crush. While he was there, Robert visited the spot where Mark David Chapman had gunned down to one of Robert T. Rose, former Beedle band member John Lennon. Robert had read a book about the murder and learned that Chapman was the son of an Air Force serviceman, just like him, and felt lost in the world, also just like him. Robert found himself relating to a guy he had previously despised for killing one of his music heroes. Mark Chapman had been obsessed with the book Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and had repeatedly said afterwards that the book inspired him to carry out the assassination. Robert bought a copy of the book for himself, trying to determine

how it had motivated Chapman to kill Lennon. He read it twice, but still couldn't figure it out. Back home, Robert Bartow's erratic behavior led to some brushes with the law. Over the next year, he was arrested three times on domestic violence and disorderly conduct charges. In one of the incidents, his brother called 911 after he and Robert had a dispute over the living room TV which escalated into violence. Both were arrested and his brother maintained that Robert had gone crazy. Robert was never formally convicted for any charges, but after pleading no contest after the third arrest, Robert was sentenced to an unsupervised counseling program, but he never enrolled and nobody ever followed up on it.

Rebecca Schaefer had captivated millions playing the irrepressible Patty in My Sister Sam, and unlike the rest of the cast, she was still very young. Whilst the cancellation of her TV show was disappointing, it had certainly not put an end to her career. Rebecca recommenced the rounds of auditions for film, television, and theater. She told friends that she still harbored dreams of being in a Shakespearean play, or making the leap from TV star to serious film actress. As always, auditions more often than not ended in disappointment, but at least Rebecca's name was on the radar with casting agents. The roles she auditioned for were in big films from top Hollywood producers. However,

she was never quite right for the part, or someone else was just that bit more suited to it. Rebecca was briefly considered for the lead role of Vivian Ward in romantic comedy Pretty Woman, but was deemed too girlish with too much youthful sweetness to be taken seriously for the character. Julia Roberts, who eventually landed the role, was only nine days older than Rebecca, but came across as more worldly. Rebecca knew that one of the biggest risks for an actor who appeared every week on a popular TV show was that people could not see that actor as anyone but the character they played. In an attempt to shed the patty association and avoid being typecast,

she began to make subtle changes to her appearance that made her look more sophisticated. She picked up roles in a couple of made-for-TV movies, sci-fi thriller Out of Time and a drama Voyage of Terror, The Achilles Laurel Affair. She was able to satisfy some of her wanderlust with Voyage of Terror, in which she worked with Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster and Eva Marie Saint, and got to travel to Egypt for the filming. Rebecca's break into a major motion movie picture came when she was cast to play Zandra, a spoiled daughter in Paul Bartell's Satire, scenes from the class struggle in Beverly Hills. The part was small, but those who worked with her were impressed by Rebecca's acting skills,

and she was considered a sweetheart to work with. There was a buzz around Rebecca Schaefer, and her name was on the lips of some of Hollywood's most prominent executives. The 20-year-old was an up-and-coming actress in Hollywood, and one to watch. Although Robert Bardo had tried to forget Rebecca Schaefer and replace her with other famous women, none of his new celebrity crushes ever quite lived up to the sweet, innocent Rebecca. She was no longer on TV, but there were still occasional TV appearances on talk shows and interviews in magazines. In them, she would talk about the roles that she had in forthcoming films, and Robert noted them carefully in his diary, so he could be sure to see them as soon as they came out.

He was one of the first to buy a ticket to scenes from the class struggle in Beverly Hills when it was released in May 1989. It was billed as a comedy, and he looked forward to Rebecca reprising her role as a wacky but sweet, wholesome teenager. What he saw shook him to the core. The film was edgier than he expected, a dark satire and parody of soap operas. In the film, Rebecca had a love scene in which she appeared in bed with her co-star, Ray Sharky. The scene was mild, but sex was clearly implied. Robert's innocent image of Rebecca was shattered. He felt she was just like all the others, a, quote, Hollywood whore, prepared to sleep her way to the top. Deeply disturbed, Robert went home and wrote to Rebecca again. His letters took on a more

menacing tone. In one, he called her, quote, missed nudity two shoes. By 1989, Rebecca was working steadily, but had yet to land a role that put her in the spotlight like my sister, Sam. She rekindled her relationship with Brad Silberling in the early part of the year, and the two were soon exclusive. The couple celebrated the release of scenes from the class struggle in Beverly Hills, which was popular with both critics and the public, and Brad would sometimes visit Rebecca on the set of the new film she was working on, The End of Innocence. When they weren't working, they spent their dates with simple, home-cooked meals, or cuddled up on the couch with Rebecca's cat, Catherine,

named after Catherine Hepburn. The couple started discussing the possibility of getting engaged. Rebecca had been brought up to have a social conscience. When still at school, she helped her father, child psychologist Dr. Benson Schaefer, teach a class for developmentally disabled youngsters. In 1989, her chosen cause was Thursday's Child, a charity for at-risk teens and young adults. She donated her time and her high profile, becoming a spokesperson for the organization and helping out when she could. When she missed a signing event for the charity because of filming commitments, she made a personal appearance at a girl's shelter, where the girls excitedly crowded around her

as she graciously signed autographs for all of them. Rebecca's popularity had not waned, despite no longer being a regular fixture on people's television sets. Two sacks of unanswered fan mail sat on her lounge room floor, waiting for Rebecca to have a long enough break in her schedule to get around to them. Robert Bardo's obsession with Rebecca Schaefer was reignited, but it was different now. He still loved her, but he believed in new photographs Rebecca had lost some of her youthful sweetness and was looking older and harder. He presumed that it was because she was sleeping around, and he believed she should be punished for her immorality. Prostrated that he had failed on his many attempts to meet or speak to Rebecca,

Robert turned to stories of other celebrity stalkers for hints about how they managed to get close to their targets. A People magazine article provided inspiration. It told the story of raging bull actress Teresa Saldana, who had nearly been killed in a frenzied stabbing attack by Scottish drifter Arthur Jackson in 1982. Jackson had hired a private investigator to get the phone number of the actress's mother, whom he then tricked into giving up Saldana's address. Robert Bardo pulled out the yellow pages and called the first private investigator listed for Tucson, AA investigators. They told him they could find anyone, but it would cost at least $250. Robert rifled through his meager possessions, looking for things he could pawn

or sell. The next day he sold two guitars, about 20 compact discs and an amplifier, which provided him with enough money to pay the private investigator and have enough left over for a greyhounder bus ticket to Los Angeles. On June 1, 1989, Robert Bardo entered the door of AA investigators clutching a folder containing several letters and a glossy photograph of smiling Rebecca Schaefer. He explained to the investigator that Rebecca was an old friend with whom he had corresponded in the past, but they had lost touch when she moved house. He wanted her new address so we could send her a gift. Robert presented as an ordinary teenager who held down a job and had lived with his parents in the same address in the area for several years.

More importantly, he had $250 in cash ready to pay for a job that would take a few phone calls and cost a couple of bucks. The investigator happily accepted Robert as a client and promised him the information as soon as possible. What Robert didn't know was that anyone in California could ring the Department of Motor Vehicles and for a nominal fee get someone's driver's license details, including their address. He could have done it himself and saved the $250 if he had known. As soon as he left the office, the investigator put in a call to a contact in Los Angeles who easily got Rebecca Schaefer's current address. AA investigators provided their new client with the information and the simple business transaction was settled.

At the beginning of July, Rebecca Schaefer's agent called with news that could once again change the young woman's life. Legendary Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola wanted her to audition for the third installment of the Godfather trilogy. The part was Mary Corleone, favorite daughter of the head of a mafia family, and a pivotal role in the Godfather part three. Ford Coppola had considered multiple actresses, including Julia Roberts and Madonna, but he believed Rebecca Schaefer was the one who was right for the part. It was the sort of role that could catapult the 21-year-old out of the B-list and ride into A-list celebrity fame. Working with one of the most famous directors in the world would open

up endless possibilities for a young actress. After he received Rebecca Schaefer's address from the private investigator, Robert Bardo had another stop to make. At 19, he was too young to legally purchase a firearm in Arizona, where the legal age limit was 21. So Robert enlisted the help of his older brother Edgar. The two young men entered Jensen's firearms and browsed the guns on display. Robert pointed out a .357 magnum and told the salesman it was the one he wanted. Although it should have been obvious the handgun was being purchased for the underage Robert and thus an illegal purchase, the salesman allowed Edgar to buy it with no questions asked. Robert wrote a letter to his sister in Tennessee in whom he sometimes confided

and told her of his love for Rebecca Schaefer, adding, quote, if I can't have her, no one can. On July 15, Robert Bardo was disturbed by the noise of a party across the street. His neighbors were holding a 15th birthday party for their daughter. Robert marched over the road screaming and swearing, telling the party goers to go back to Mexico. When they failed to respond, he screamed, if you don't shut up, I'm going to get my .357 magnum and shoot you. That night, Robert drew a diagram of Rebecca Schaefer's body and marked spots where he planned to shoot her. He listened to music by Irish rock band U2, specifically the song Exit, the second last song on the band's 1987 album, The Joshua Tree.

He listened to the lyrics that sang of heavy pistols and beating love, and he became convinced U2 was telling him what he needed to do. Robert wrote Rebecca another letter before booking a ticket on an overnight Greyhound bus. Before he left, Robert apologized to his neighbor for his threatening outburst. He packed his copy of Catcher in the Rye and his gun, and left to board the bus. On the evening of Monday, July 17, Rebecca Schaefer hosted a gathering for her grandfather's 71st birthday. It was not going to be a late finish as her grandfather was rarely up for a big night, but even more importantly, Rebecca had to be fresh for an 11 o'clock audition the

following morning for the godfather part three. Rebecca's parents called from Oregon to ensure she passed on their birthday wishes and to wish her luck for the audition. They ended the call as they always did, each telling the other, I love you. At 7pm, Robert Bardo boarded an overnight Greyhound bus in Tucson, bound for Los Angeles. After a restless night, the bus arrived to Union Station in LA in the early hours of Tuesday morning, July 18. Robert didn't pack a change of clothes, so when the bus arrived to LA, his yellow shirt was creased and his hair dishevelled. The terminal was some way from the address the investigator had given him, and he couldn't afford a cab. But Robert was adept at public transport and had been to LA enough times to know the bus routes.

He jumped on a city bus headed west. Robert arrived at North Sweetser Avenue and made his way along the sunny treeline street to Rebecca's address. The white building looked like a Tudor mansion and Robert wasn't sure he had the right place. He reached into the manila folder he was carrying and pulled out the photograph that Rebecca had signed to him. Robert began a costing passers-by, trusting the photograph of Rebecca under their noses and asking if they knew where the woman in the picture lived. After being ignored, Robert trusted he had the right address, after all, and pressed on the buzzer to Rebecca Schaefer's apartment.

Rebecca Schaefer woke early on the morning of Tuesday, July 18. It was the day of the biggest audition of her career so far. The script for The Godfather Part 3 would be delivered to her apartment sometime that morning, couriered over by the studio shortly before her audition, as was customary for major films. As luck would have it, the intercom to Rebecca's apartment building was broken and she would have to go downstairs to answer the door that led out to the street. While she waited, she called her boyfriend Brad to ask him about the new screenplay he had been hired to write. Brad didn't pick up, so she left a message on his answering machine. When Robert Bardo sounded the buzzer to Rebecca's apartment, he didn't know the machine

was busted and that Rebecca would appear in person at the glass security door to greet him. When she appeared, the starstruck team blurted out that he was her number one fan, whilst holding up the signed photograph he had of her. Rebecca smiled kindly and commented that it was clever of him to find out where she lived, but it wasn't appropriate for him to come to her house. I appreciate you coming, but please don't return, she requested as she shook his hand. Please take care, she said, before closing the door. Rebecca returned to her apartment to shower and get ready. The phone rang and she spoke briefly to Brad, who had returned her call and wanted to wish her luck for the audition, knowing how

important it was to her. Rebecca's audition outfit was neatly laid out on the bed, ready for her to change into just before going to her meeting. Robert Bardo walked away from Rebecca Schaffer's apartment block, shaken and disarmed with how lovely she had been to him. Realising he had neatened since boarding the bus the night before, he retreated to a nearby diner, Jan's restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, where he ordered onion rings and a cheesecake. He pulled out the copy of Catcher in the Rye and wondered again about Chapman calmly reading it at a cafe table just like the one he was at after shooting John Lennon. He rang his sister in Tennessee and when she answered he said, quote, I'm a block and a half away from Rebecca Schaffer's house.

He told her he was on a mission to stop Rebecca forsaking her innocent image and becoming a, quote, fornicating screen-haul, but he didn't say what that mission would entail. As he finished his meal, Robert felt the cassette tape in the folder that he had meant to give to Rebecca. It contained samples of his music, songs that he had written about her and which he had meant to give her along with the last letter he had written. He had been too flustered by the encounter and had forgotten to do it. Rebecca had told Robert not to come back, but he needed her to hear his lyrics and read his words. Robert decided to return to Rebecca's apartment. At 10.15 a.m. he rang the buzzer to Rebecca's apartment for the second time.

Moments later, Rebecca appeared at the door in her bathrobe. Upon realizing it was Robert disturbing her once again, she gritted her teeth and glared at him. She said, you came to my door again. You're wasting my time. Reaching into the manila folder, Robert replied, I forgot to give you this. But instead of pulling out his cassette tape, he pulled out the 357 Magnum. Stepping forward, Robert grabbed Rebecca's forearm so she couldn't slam the door shut or move away. Rebecca's eyes widened as Robert pointed the handgun at her chest. His finger was already squeezing the trigger as she screamed, why? Why?

As Rebecca crumpled to the ground on the doorstep, Robert briefly considered turning the gun on himself and falling on top of her. Instead, he ran, discarding the gun, his yellow shirt, and his copy of Catcher in the Rye nearby. Rebecca's neighbors, startled by the screams and the sound of gunfire, found Rebecca lying on her back in the doorway, the patch of blood spreading across her chest. Neighbors called emergency services, and as they waited for the ambulance, one neighbor pressed towels into her wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. An ambulance rushed Rebecca to hospital, but within 30 minutes of her arrival, Rebecca Shaver had passed away.

When news of Rebecca's slaying hit the press, Robert Bardo's sister contacted a friend in the Tennessee Highway Patrol to tell them she was sure that her little brother was the culprit. Her friend contacted Los Angeles Police, and by 2am, authorities had a name of a prime suspect, but no idea where he might be. Believing he may have returned home, the LAPD notified police in Arizona. Later that morning, Tucson TV news reporter James Weeder overheard a report on his police scanner that a dirty and disheveled man was running into freeway traffic. Weeder said he saw a man in what looked like a suicidal game of chicken. Grabbing his camera man, Weeder attended the scene and saw a young man behaving erratically,

perhaps drunk or stoned, but definitely disorientated. When police apprehended the man, Weeder described his manner and the look on his face as reminiscent of Vincent the Nafrio's betrayal of the tortured and unstable character, Private Leonard Lawrence, full metal jacket, with his head held low and his eyes locked up in a blank, terrifying stare. Upon his arrest, Robert Bardo was passive and polite to everyone. He told police he thought he deserved to die because Rebecca was dead. He told them where they could find his gun, shirt, and his copy of Catcher and the Rye, tossed onto a roof of a rehab center in an alleyway right near Rebecca's home. Robert Bardo was charged with the murder of Rebecca Shaffer.

He was 19 years old. Robert Bardo had no hope of posting the million dollar bail and so was remanded in custody in the sensitive needs unit to wait for his trial. He agreed to waive his right to be hurt by a jury and opted for a bench trial before a judge alone in return for the state not seeking the death penalty. Robert's attorney employed many pre-trial tactics to have the case thrown out and was nearly successful in having his extradition to California declared unlawful, but ultimately failed. Such antics delayed the commencement of the trial until October 1991, more than two years after the murder. At trial, Robert's attorney argued that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense had arranged Robert to be interviewed by a psychiatrist who specialized in celebrity stalkers and that doctor declared Robert a schizophrenic whose illness led him to shoot Rebecca Shaffer. The defense painted a picture of a mentally ill child who had been neglected by his parents, the mental health system and the courts. When his lawyer played the video recording of his own account of the shooting, Robert hung his head and pressed his clenched fists over his ears. On the tape, Robert Bardo said, quote, She had this kid voice, sounded like a little brat or something, said I was 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 at the door, gun still in the bag, I grab it by the trigger, I come around and capow. And she's like screaming, screaming, why? And it's like, oh God. Robert sat motionless through most of the trial, but sprang to life when New Two's song Exit was played in court as part of the defense case. Robert claimed the lyrics had told him that he should shoot Rebecca. As the song played through the loudspeakers, he grinned, bogged to the music, rocked in his chair, drummed his hands on his leg and smiling, mouth the words, pistol weighing heavy. The defense argued that there was no doubt that Robert Bardo had killed Rebecca Shaffer, but that he should only be found guilty of second degree murder, which would mean a

sentence of around eight years. The attorney said that Robert had returned to Rebecca's apartment in order to give her the cassette tape and a letter, and had only shot her on impulse when she had been rude to him. Several witnesses, including studio security chief John Eggo, and to the private investigator who sold Robert the actress's address, testified that Robert presented as intelligent and lucid. After three weeks of listening to testimony on both sides, the Superior Court judge rejected the defense argument that Robert was too mentally ill to pre-meditate murder. Robert Bardo was convicted of first degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in weight,

which meant a mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole. As Bardo was being escorted out of the courtroom, Rebecca's mother, Dana, hissed him, quote, have a wonderful time in jail. Rebecca's boyfriend, Brad Silberling added, quote, your cowardice is going to haunt you for the rest of your life. Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Rebecca Schaefer, held at a cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Her casket was adorned with white, blue, and purple flowers. Boyfriend Brad Silberling broke down in tears, calling Rebecca a sparkling soul whom he had hoped to marry. Her father Benson said of his only child, oh Rebecca, we're always thinking of you,

we will always think of you. Rebecca Schaefer's death reverberated around Hollywood. Until then, entertainers in the spotlight were told that the occasional unhinged fan was to be expected in their line of work, and there was little that they could do about it. After the death of the young rising star, Hollywood was determined that something had to be done about it. Rebecca's murder became the catalyst for creation of the LAPD's threat management unit, which was the United States' first law enforcement unit specifically specializing in stalking cases. Soon after, in 1990, California passed America's first anti-stalking law, making certain patterns of threatening behavior a criminal offense.

A law was also passed that restricted the Department of Motor Vehicles from releasing the home address of individuals on its database. The law has since provided recourse for celebrities such as Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Jerry Ryan, and David Letterman. Hollywood studios began engaging threat management experts and scrutinized the fan mail directed at their stars more carefully. Any deemed unusually obsessive were passed on to the police. Experts agreed that obsessive declarations of love were usually more dangerous than threatening communications. The role destined for Rebecca of Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III seemed to be cursed. After Rebecca's death, Winona Ryder was cast, but had to pull out on doctor's orders

after suffering from exhaustion and a respiratory infection, having just finished making three films back to back. Frantic for a last-minute replacement, Francis Ford Coppola cast his own daughter, Sophia. The film never reached the success or admiration of its record-breaking, award-winning predecessors, with Sophia's acting performance criticized by some. Rebecca Schaffer's parents became active and vocal advocates for gun control, becoming leaders in Oregon's gun control movement. They worked hard on the gun bills, lobbying for the Brady Bill, an act of Congress that mandated federal background checks on people wishing to buy a firearm, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases.

Benson Schaffer said, quote, Getting involved with the gun control issue helped us to focus our anger. In 2017, Dana Schaffer, aged 74, premiered a one-woman show dedicated to her daughter, called You in Mid-Air, Elegy for a Daughter. In it, Dana held nothing back. She walked the audience through the painful ordeal of losing her only child, including getting the news, rushing to Los Angeles, visiting the morgue, attending the high-profile trial, and later, seeking therapy. The show also featured tender moments of light-hearted humor, very much a reflection of the joy and spirit of Rebecca herself and the positivity she radiated.

On the day after Rebecca Schaffer's murder, her grieving parents sat on the floor of her Los Angeles apartment and began sifting through the two sacks of unread fan mail that their daughter had previously moved to one side, hoping to get around to it later. They found two letters, one sent in 1986 and the other in 1987, both signed with the name Robert Bardo. Pale and shaking, Benson and Dana Schaffer read both letters, searching for anything that would give them answers. But the teenage author's messy handwriting contained only vague, rambling prose that detailed his adoration and worship of their daughter. Rebecca Schaffer, the director of the Los Angeles Department of Health, said that she and her daughter had

been in a relationship for a long time, and that they had been in a relationship for a long time. She said that they had been in a relationship for a long time, and that they had been in a relationship for a long time, and that they had been in a relationship for a long time, and that they had been in a relationship for a long time, and that they had been in a relationship for a long time, and that