Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Killer Cop” Gerard John Schaefer Pt. 2

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

In 1972, Schaefer was the newly appointed Deputy Sheriff of Martin County. He used his badge to gain trust and wield authority over teenage girls — particularly hitchhikers, whose sudden disappearances could be explained away. Authorities connected Schaefer to nearly thirty missing persons cases, but he was only ever convicted in the murders of two.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of rape, violence, mutilation, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Deputy Sheriff Gerard John Schaefer spent a summer morning in 1972 speeding down a Florida road. He grinned as he heard his passengers, teenagers Nancy Trotter and Sue Wells, laughing in the back seat. They giggled as he turned on to a dirt. dirt path and plunged into the woods, hitting every bump along the way. But Nancy and Sue's excitement turned to confusion when 26-year-old Gerard screeched to a halt.

They were in the heart of Hutchinson Island, a stretch of wilderness with just a few residents. This confusion only grew as they followed him out of the car and threw some underbrush. Gerard had bragged to them about a cool, secret fort, but now they wondered if they'd been oversold, this whole place seemed dirty and creepy. When Gerard finally pointed to their destination, Nancy and Sue's disappointment was confirmed. The so-called fort was just an old rotting shed. Still, Bettines nodded politely while Gerard ranted about the supposed history of the structure. However, as soon as one of them made a comment about leaving for the beach, Gerard's mood

changed dramatically. Dropping his friendly demeanor, the deputy sheriff fired off. questions about drug use, as though he was interrogating them. Thinking he was joking, Nancy and Sue laughed. But Gerard was serious. He barked at them to stand still. They were under arrest. Gerard could barely contain his excitement as the scared teens willingly held out their wrists.

People always did what he told them. That's why he loved his badge. After verbally berating the two young teens, he was. walk to his car and pop the trunk. Coils of rope and torn sheets lay inside. Now his fun could begin. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we'll wrap up our discussion on Gerard John Schaefer. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.

Last time, we learned about Gerard's vivid sexual torture fantasies, which he inflicted on himself and the animals he hunted. We followed Gerard as narcissism drove him to join the police force. He felt untouchable, but it wasn't long before he started making his twisted fantasies a brutal reality. This time, we'll see Gerard hide behind his badge, all while hunting the very people he swore to protect. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

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Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. In the late 1960s, a terrifying pattern was developing in southern Florida. Girls were disappearing off the streets. And for many of them, there was hardly a shred of evidence to hint at where they'd gone. By 1972, dozens of girls in the region had vanished. But it seems like no one noticed a larger pattern. Granted, there wasn't a lot to connect these women to one another. The only thing they seemed to have in common was that they were young, pretty, and unlucky.

But it's possible they all had another connection, Gerard John Schaefer. Gerard has never been officially linked to any of the disappearances from this period, but there's reason to believe he claimed at least two victims before 1972, Lee Hainline and Carmen Halleck. And with more women vanishing all over Southern Florida, it's not hard to imagine that his real victim count was even higher. But far from being a suspect in any of the same, unsettling cases. Gerard was thriving. At 26 years old, he was finally a bona fide police officer.

The city of Wilton Manors, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, had hired the young cadet. As part of an educational training program, they sent him to Broward County Police Academy. While at the program, Gerard didn't make a lot of friends. He often hovered on the edges of the group, listening for a few moments before walking away, unimpressed. But when he did talk, he shocked people with with what he had to say. Gerard loudly boasted to his fellow trainees about his love life with his wife, Teresa. He dove into illicit details about oral and anal sex, often without any prompting. He likely enjoyed seeing people squirm at hearing these personal stories, but a little discomfort

didn't seem to be enough. At one point, he showed other officers' photos of a strangled and mutilated woman. Gerard claimed it was a crime scene and that he got the photo from another woman. police jurisdiction. It's unclear where he really got this image. He liked to indulge his dark sexual fantasies through writing graphic stories and taking souvenirs from alleged victims. Perhaps he also photographed women he killed,

and showing it off to other people may have been part of the fun. Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Last time we established that Gerard was a narcissist and sadomasochist. According to a 2021 article published in Annals of Behavioral Science, the combination of these traits can lead a person to seek an audience for their exploits.

Sadists want to humiliate, and narcissists want to do it in front of other people. To accomplish both creates a feeling of omnipotence, since both the victim and the witness are under their control. So while seeing a photo of a strangled woman, turn to a woman, woman turned Gerard on, it felt even better to show it to someone else and watch them recoil. Ironically, as Gerard found more ways to assert his power over others, his own impulses became harder to control. While he was at the police academy, he started an affair with 22-year-old Belinda Hutchins, but their dalliances came with a price. Belinda was an extremely beautiful,

high-priced sex worker. As a married mother, she was proud of her career. She provided a luxurious life for her family by dating people like Gerard. Gerard, on the other hand, likely saw Belinda as a stain on society. And though he reportedly used her for his personal pleasure, he also felt it was his duty to eliminate her from the world. In early 1973, Belinda got ready to meet one of her customers. She dressed in a pink dress and heels, kissed her husband and baby goodbye, then got into a car with her client. It was the last. time anyone saw her. Gerard was never officially connected to Belinda's disappearance, but some details hint

at his involvement. For one, the vehicle that picked up Belinda was described as a light blue or white, Toyota, or Dotson. Gerard, who was a reported client of Belinda's, drove a blue Dotson. And around this time, Gerard introduced a new character into one of his creepy stories, a sex worker named Belinda. Though her family and the police attempted to track Belinda down, there was no physical evidence to follow. And if the individual is an adult, law enforcement may not consider the missing person case a crime. It isn't unheard of for people to simply get tired of their lives and run off. Though Belinda's family knew she would never leave her child behind, the law wasn't so sure.

So for now, Gerard remained safe from any suspicion. However, his police career wasn't going as well. as he thought it was. His lack of a filter wasn't the only thing giving him a bad reputation. From the beginning, it was clear he was badge-happy. His fellow officers joked that he barely pulled his patrol car out of the driveway before he ticketed someone. Weielding power over people wasn't the only part of the job that interested Gerard, and he wasn't shy about showing his disdain for tasks where he didn't get to use this power. While on traffic control duty, where he was simply a mediator, he often wandered away from his post to buy.

snacks. Other officers at Wilton Manors started to keep their distance, and the chief spoke to him several times about his behavior, but Gerard seemed indifferent to criticism. He began angling for work at other police departments, spreading lies about corruption at Wilton Manors as his reason for looking elsewhere. When word reached the chief that the 26-year-old rookie cop was slandering the department, it was the final straw. He fired Gerard in the spring of 1972. According to authors, Catherine Cole and Cynthia Young, the chief actually fired him over a specific incident. The story is unconfirmed, but they claim Gerard pulled over an intoxicated man and hung him by his ankles from a bridge. Allegedly, Gerard wanted to teach the guy a lesson. Regardless of what got

him fired, Gerard took his usual stance. He felt he'd done nothing wrong. And when a position as Deputy Sheriff opened up with the Martin County Sheriff's Department, he decided to make a move. Gerard wrote himself a glowing letter of recommendation, praising his own leadership and professionalism. He then signed it on behalf of the Wilton Manor's Police Department and sent it in. Thanks to this false application, Gerard landed an interview for the deputy position. He arrived at the Martin County Sheriff's Department and met with Sheriff Robert Crowder. Gerard put on a show for Crowder, hiding his less than savory personality behind a veneer of polite professionalism. In the interview, he didn't seem like a man who was badge-happy or aggressive.

The smoke and mirrors worked. That summer, the Martin County Sheriff's Department accepted Gerard's application. They had no idea. They just hired a monster. Coming up, Gerard's victims fight for their lives. They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes time can do anything but. Welcome to Cold Cases, the new Spotify original from Parcast. I'm Carter Roy.

Every Monday, join me as I revisit the clues and miscues of some of the most elusive criminal cases in history. From burglary and arson to kidnappings and murder. Each episode of Cold Cases explores the many types of crime, the many ways they remain unsolved, and how long it takes to find the answers. if ever. Will justice be served? Only time we'll tell. Follow cold cases free and only on Spotify. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptitide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity. Or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the

weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it. Or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision

changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zep bound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting which can cause dehydration and and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. Now back to the story. By the summer of 1972, the tourist season in Florida

was in full swing. And the new deputy sheriff of Martin County, Gerard John Schaefer, was determined to take advantage of it. He knew how many impressionable young women came down to the coast, and he couldn't resist stepping on their fun. In late July, the sun was brutally hot. Gerard drove his patrol car past Jensen Beach, where hordes of people had gathered to escape the heat.

From the driver's seat, he spotted two teenage girls, Nancy Trotter and Paula Sue Wells, who went by Sue. The young women, tanned in laughing from their beach day, stuck their thumbs out for a ride. Gerard may have decided off the cuff that the young women were hippie vagabonds, a type he despised. In his mind, they had no business in his county. He pulled over and lowered his window. Then he told the girls that hitchhiking was illegal in Florida. He seemed to enjoy seeing the shock and fear in their faces, as they promised they didn't know

about the law. Nancy and Sue's interaction with Gerard was likely influenced by a phenomenon called authority bias. This tendency leads people to automatically obey the orders of someone perceived as an authority figure, like a doctor, teacher, or judge. This instinct is so strong it can actually outweigh personal feelings or desires. According to a 1963 study published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, the average person will follow the instructions of someone in an authority position,

even if they don't feel comfortable doing so. This was exactly what Gerard loved about his job. Now that he had Nancy and Sue in the palm of his hand, suddenly switching his demeanor, Gerard reassured the young women that it was all right, and he offered them a right home. They were staying in the nearby town of Stewart, which was a far walk for such a hot day. They happily agreed.

After some friendly chatting, Gerard dropped Nancy and Sue at their accommodations. He also mentioned that he could give them a ride to the beach the next day. The line worked like a charm. The young women seemed flattered that an older man, a deputy sheriff, wanted to spend the day with them. They accepted. The next morning, Gerard dressed in plain clothes and took his bowels. blue Dotson to pick them up. In his trunk, he hid coils of rope, torn sheets, pillowcases, and other instruments of torture. Nancy and Sue had no idea what awaited them as they slid

into the car, making small talk with their new friend. While driving to the beach, Gerard asked the two teenagers if they wanted to stop and see an old Spanish fort he knew about on the way. It was deep in the woods, but it was really something to see. Always ready for an adventure, The passengers accepted. Gerard turned down a dirt road on Hutchinson Island. He drove a while before stopping the car near the Indian River. Then he got out and led the girls into the brush before proudly showing off the fort with a wave of his arm.

Nancy and Sue were confused and disappointed by what seemed to be just a dilapidated shack. They just wanted to go to the beach. But when one of them mentioned it, Gerard's demeanor changed. He launched into a random, barely comprehensible interrogation about drug use in the community. The young women could only laugh uneasily. Laughing was exactly the wrong reaction. Girard seemed to grow furious and handcuffed Nancy and Sue.

Once their hands were behind their backs, he shifted from an uptight police officer to a full-blown predator. He started taunting the young women, asking them if they'd heard of white slavery, and if they thought their parents. parents would pay ransom money for them. Nancy and Sue were terrified, so they gave their capture the silent treatment, not knowing how to engage. Their indifference only fueled Gerard's fury. They needed to understand exactly who was in control here.

He went to his car and pulled out coils of rope and torn sheets. Then he gagged both young women and bound their hands. After tying Nancy up, Gerard marched her further into the wilderness, where he made her stand on a tree root. Then as he mocked her, he tied a noose and slipped it around her neck so she had to balance on the root to breathe. One misstep and she would die. Standing back at admiring his handiwork,

Gerard groped Nancy and threatened to rape her. Then he left her dangling and went back for Sue. He gave her the same treatment, tying her in a hangman's noose to a tree. but before he could go any further, something stopped him. There are many versions of what interrupted Gerard's torture, but it seems he got a call in his police radio from the station. Gerard was surely frustrated by the distraction,

but he probably liked the idea of leaving his victims literally hanging, so he got into his car and drove away to attend to business. He wasn't gone long, but when Gerard pulled his car back up to the trees, All he found was a pile of ropes. Nancy and Sue were gone. He looked around for a few moments before panic set in. He'd told the young women his real name, where he worked and what he was planning to do.

And now they were roaming free. With no other options, Gerard got back in his car and drove home. He had some calls to make. First, Gerard phoned Sheriff Crowder. He told his boss that he'd done something stupid. He'd picked up two hitchhikers, and that wasn't all. He'd tied them up to scare them out of thumbing rides. He claimed he hadn't meant any harm,

but he admitted the girls had gotten away and it probably looked bad. Crowder couldn't believe what his deputy was telling him. The sheriff launched into action, jumping into his car and driving around in search of the two terrified teenage girls. Sue had escaped her binds and made it to a road. There, she managed to flag down a truck train. who called the police on her behalf. She told her rescuer to be careful

and ask for anyone besides the deputy she'd already met. Nancy used her teeth to free herself from the noose and swam while handcuffed across the river. Crowder spotted her on the side of the road, screaming for help. The sheriff pulled to the side and pulled a blanket around the crying, drenched girl. She was bruised and bleeding from the handcuffs,

so he freed her. Together they went to meet up with Sue. Girard had some serious explaining to do. Back at the Martin County Police Station, Crowder spoke to both girls. After hearing their identical horrific stories, he fired Gerard on the spot. Then he arrested him. Gerard seemed more sheepish than anything, like a child being scolded. Crowder also asked informally for the public defender to request that Gerard go through a

psychiatric examination. Unfortunately, after his arrest, Gerard posted bail. He paid the $15,000 and went back home to Teresa. His naive, adoring wife, wholeheartedly believed his story about trying to scare some sense into the girls. In fact, most people seemed to swallow the bizarre tale, he told, about taking a lesson too far. Authorities were outraged and confused, but they didn't investigate beyond this one incident. Nobody wondered if Gerard had done this before or bothered to him. search his house. He never even got the psych evaluation the sheriff requested.

The weak punishment likely fed Gerard's already inflated ego. After his lifetime of abusing his power and acting out torture fantasies, he'd finally been caught, only to receive a slap on the wrist and be sent home. However, he was facing a kidnapping charge. It probably seemed unlikely to the narcissistic cop, but there was still a chance he'd do time for this. So he had to act quickly if he wanted to have some fun before the trial. About a month after he was fired, Gerard started attending some courses at an adult education center in Fort Lauderdale.

He wasn't interested in the classes. He was hunting. It's not clear when, but at some point he met two teenagers, Susan Place and Georgia Jessup. The young women were self-proclaimed free spirits with a history of running away. Gerard knew exactly what part he had to play.

He introduced himself as Jerry, Sheppard, a student at the University of Colorado who was traveling around the country. To Susan and Georgia, Gerard was the perfect combination of adventurous and approachable. The three started spending time outside of class together. In a world of cruel peers and stuck-up parents, Gerard seemed to understand and support the two teens in a way that nobody else could. They began planning their own road trip to Colorado, where Susan and Georgia could strike out on their own.

On September 27, 1972, 50 years ago this week, the three students stopped at Susan's house. While at home, Susan told her mother, Lucille, about the trip. She knew how much running away had hurt her family before, so she wanted to keep them involved in her life while making a play for independence. She promised to write letters and call as often as possible. Gerard, listening from the porch, probably didn't like the sound of that. He couldn't leave a trail after all. Lucille wasn't sure about this Jerry character she had heard so much about. It seemed like he encouraged her daughter's acting out,

and on the day Susan left, she hated how smug he looked. So before they departed, Lucille wrote down the tag number of his Blue Dotson. She couldn't stop her daughter from leaving, but that didn't mean she had to trust the stranger she left with. Then she watched Susan, Georgia, and Jerry drive away, not knowing it would be the last time she ever saw her. her daughter alive. For four days, Lucille waited for Susan to make contact. When she didn't, it was hard not to wonder if her daughter had run away again. But the more Lucille thought about it,

it just didn't add up. Susan had seemed so adamant about keeping in touch during her travels this time. Lucille was eager for answers. She contacted the police and gave them all the information she had on this so-called Jerry Shepard, including his car type and tag number. She believed he taken Susan and Georgia. But the authorities didn't seem to look too closely at the case. Georgia had written a note to her mother saying she ran away, and both the girls seemed to have gone willingly. In the eyes of the law, Susan and Georgia were runaways. As a police officer, Gerard likely knew this would be the reaction to their disappearance.

Perhaps that was the reason he invited them on a road trip to Colorado in the first place, a trip that never took place. because the girls didn't even make it out of the state before they met a terrifying and brutal end. Coming up, Gerard's true body count is revealed. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want.

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of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Now back to the story. In the fall of 1972, teenagers Susan Place and Georgia Jessup disappeared after leaving for a road trip to Colorado. The police seemed to think they had run away, but their families disagreed, especially Susan's mother, Lucille. She was certain that something terrible had happened to her. her daughter. Meanwhile, former deputy sheriff Gerard John Schaefer knew exactly where the teens were.

He'd killed them, all while waiting to stand trial for kidnapping a different pair of young women. But even after murdering Susan and Georgia, Gerard wasn't content with sitting at home in Stuart Florida with his wife. He wanted to wreak some havoc before potentially getting locked up. According to a 2007 paper published in Aggression and Violent Behavior, sedistic or compulsive killers can be overcome by stress and tension if they don't continue killing and acting out their rituals. It wasn't just an extra bit of fun, Gerard was facing possible imprisonment. If that happened, it meant he'd be unable to continue carrying out his horrific fantasies.

It seems he needed to take more lives before he went behind bars, so after killing Susan and Georgia, Gerard reportedly scoured the Fort Lauderdale area for more. more victims. He started hanging out with groups of vagabonds, drugies, and hippies. Going by the name Gary Shepard, he met a lot of young people who were just passing through. That included teenagers, Mary Briskillina, and Elsie Farmer. The two teens hitchhiked around Fort Lauderdale and often hung out with older criminal men. They stayed out all night, drank and smoked marijuana. To Gerard, who rationalized his attacks as ridding the world of moral rot, they were possibly the kind of women he considered irredeemable.

In late October, Mary and Elsie were likely trying to hitch a ride to a restaurant when they disappeared. Their bodies were found months later, bludgeoned and abandoned on a construction site. Though their disappearances were never linked to Gerard, he eventually came to own jewelry that once belonged to Mary. Gerard had his trophies, but he was nowhere close to being caught for these latest attacks. He was still in the process of facing justice for Nancy and Sue's kidnapping. In November of 1972, he went to court for two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of false imprisonment. Unfortunately, Gerard's attorney pieced together a deal. If Gerard pleaded guilty to just one count of aggravated assault, the other charges would be

dropped, so in the end, he was only found guilty of the assault against Nancy Trotter. That winter, he was sentenced to a year in prison, with the chance of getting out in six months. plus three years of probation. Instead of going to jail right away, he was allowed to spend the holidays at home and start his term in January of the following year. Six months in the grand scheme of things was not a lot of time,

but it must have felt like that to Gerard, who was used to having the freedom to do whatever he wanted, so he may have decided to get one more fix before heading to jail. Before his prison sentence began, Gerard went out of state for a hunting trip. He claimed he went to Iowa, and while he was away,

a call was made from Cedar Rapids to his home and steward. It's not clear who made this call, but it's possible it was Gerard, making contact with Teresa. The locale was significant because in January 1973, 19-year-olds, Colette Good Enough and Barbara Ann Wilcox went missing. The teens were from Cedar Rapids and had been on their way to Florida for a break from the cold,

but it seems Gerard intercepted them. Just a few days after Collette and Barbara vanished, Gerard admitted himself to jail to begin his sentence. While Gerard sat behind bars for his assault charge, Susan Place's mother, Lucille, was still determined to find her daughter, and her first target was Jerry Shepard, Gerard's alter ego. The police hadn't been very helpful. Some February of 1973, Lucille requested all the information they had in the case.

She was going to take matters into her own hands. With the help of Georgia Jessup's mother, Lucille looked up the vehicle tag number for Jerry Shepard's car. She discovered it actually belonged to a man named Gerard John Schaefer. Along with his name, she also got his address. Lucille and her husband drove to Gerard's apartment in Stewart. She knew if she saw him, she would remember whether or not he was the man who took her daughter in September. When she arrived, she went to the manager's office to ask about the tenant. She said she believed that he was responsible for her daughter's disappearance

and asked if they could provide any information about him. Shocked, the manager told her, Gerard was currently in prison for kidnapping two girls. At that moment, Lucille felt the air rush out of her. Quickly, she and her husband went to the Martin County Jail to talk to officers. She described the man who went by Jerry Shepard, and several officers confirmed the description matched Gerard exactly. She gave them a photo of Susan to show to Gerard.

But when they did, he insisted he didn't know her. With only a few months left on his sentence, he wasn't going to risk getting caught. For now, there was nothing Lucille could do. According to the law, her daughter had simply run off. What she needed was hard evidence. The next break in the case came in early April. A man and his son were scavenging for scrap metal in a wooded area on Hutchinson Island. They were just about six miles north of where Gerrard.

had tied up Nancy Trotter and Sue Wells. The father stumbled upon a bunch of clothing at the foot of a tree. Ignoring the horrible smell, he picked through the fabric, trying to make sense of the odd entanglement of branches. Suddenly, he realized the branches weren't part of a tree. They were pieces of a headless, human skeleton. The desiccated bones were still tied to the trunk, which had scratch marks all around the base,

like someone had desperately tried to break free. Stumbling backward, the father almost tripped over another skeleton, which had also been decapitated. The man and his son fled the area and raced to find a phone. The Martin County Sheriff's Department quickly found a match for the clothing. It fit descriptions of items owned by Susan and Georgia. The clothes were the only immediate method of identification possible. At that point, the body said decayed far beyond recognition. Shards of jaw and and teeth were found around the skeletons, and these were sent off to compare to dental records

while autopsies were ordered. The exact cause of death could not be determined, but signs of mutilation were everywhere. It also seemed someone had sexually violated the bodies after death. Soon, dental records confirmed they discovered Susan Place and Georgia Chessup. Immediately, Gerard John Schaefer became the number one suspect. Lucille had already IDed him as the last man to see the two teenagers alive. On top of her testimony, the bodies were arranged in a similar way to the Nancy Trotter and Sue Wells kidnapping.

Both young women were bound in rope and tied to trees on Hutchinson Island. Gerard had to be investigated. Within a week of the bodies being discovered, officers searched Gerard's home in Stewart. Hidden among sock drawers and jewelry boxes, they found a number of of extremely alarming items, a pillowcase stained with mysterious liquid, women's jewelry, clothes, and human teeth. Some of these items matched the missing women we mentioned earlier, including Georgia Jessup, but most owners of the objects were never identified.

The next day, authorities also entered Gerard's mother's home where he grew up. There, they found 37 photos of mutilated women, though it was unclear if Gerard took them or found them elsewhere. Scattered in both homes, investigators discovered over a hundred pages of torture smut that Gerard had written. Some of these writings mentioned missing women by name. The stories which Gerard claimed were fiction were extremely graphic. They described first-person narratives of kidnapping, torture, execution, mutilation, and more. If they weren't the complete truth, many believed they were based on Gerard's exploits.

After looking through both houses, Authorities connected a total of 28 missing persons cases to Gerard. That included 21 women and seven men. It seemed that Gerard had been busier than anyone could have imagined. But with so many missing people and no bodies, it was impossible to prosecute most of the cases. In fact, the only charges brought against Gerard after this monumental discovery were for the murders of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup. Still, it was clear the potential number of people.

victims was much higher. One prosecutor even told journalists that Gerard made Ted Bundy look like a Boy Scout. Gerard was transferred to the Florida State Mental Hospital for intense psychological evaluations. Psychiatrists found that he suffered from paranoia, psychosis, and sexual deviation. Professionals noted that he couldn't stop smiling while he was talking about his criminal fantasies. In the end, he was declared fit to stand trial. In October of 1973, About a year after he killed Susan and Georgia, he was given two concurrent life sentences. His wife Teresa stuck by him at first, but eventually left him. Still, Gerard wasn't abandoned by everybody.

He occupied his time by corresponding with those who were fascinated by his crimes. It seemed Gerard would do anything for attention. While incarcerated, he brazenly insisted on his innocence, all while writing more supposedly fictional stories about his alleged victims. He spoke to reporters and authors about his experiences, never confessing to any unconfirmed murders, but thoroughly enjoying his fame. After over 20 years in prison, Gerard earned a reputation as aloof and self-superior. His attitude caused many inmates to suspect he was a snitch, and whether or not it was true,

word got out that he was testifying against other prisoners. In 1995, fellow inmate Vincent Rivera stabbed Gerard to death with a shiv. It's unclear exactly why he did this, but many of the rumors suggest it was over concerns that Gerard was a rat. Gerard John Schaefer was only convicted for two murders, but he may be one of the most depraved and disturbed serial killers in American history. We'll never know how many people he killed or how brutally he tortured them. In Gerard's mind, his badge allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

And thanks to his lust for power, the lives of his countless victims were cut far too short. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode. For more information on Gerard John Schaefer, amongst the many sources we used, we found American Ripper, the Enigma of America's Serial Killer Cop by Patrick Kendrick, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast

are free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Michael Motion, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden.

This episode of Serial Killers, was written by Kit Fitzgerald, edited by Terrell Wells and Kate Murdoch, fact-checked by Amelia Millars, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, and produced by Bruce Kitovich. Serial killers stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson. Hi, I'm Carter Roy, host of the Spotify original from Parcast Cold Cases. From burglary and arson to kidnappings and murder, explore the many types of crime, the many ways they are. remain unsolved and how long it takes to find the answers, if ever.

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