Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Crazy Fan Murders a Famous Actress - The Robert Bardo Story

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Robert Bardo is best known as the man who murdered actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989, a crime that shocked Hollywood and led to major changes in stalking laws.

So this crazy fan becomes so obsessed with this famous actress that he starts stalking her. Now the guy's name is Bardo and Bardo's a teenager when this story starts, live in Arizona, and Bro has a serious problem. He's mentally unstable and he gets obsessed with young female celebrities. And as a teenager he tries to stalk some of these celebrity women, like he legitimately tries to track some of them down, but he ultimately fails at that, Lucky for the women. But then in 1986, he turned 16, and this is when his life changes forever. Because one day he's at home watching TV, and he comes across this commercial for a sitcom

called My Sister Sam. And that is when he spots one of the actors. This girl, Rebecca. Rebecca's 19, and she just booked this sitcom, and she's like kind of a rising star. Like she's going places. And unfortunately, Bardo is immediately way into her. Like, she is all he can think about. He can't get her out of his head. And like suddenly he's watching the show every week and he's recording all the episodes, just so he can go and play them back again. And eventually he starts writing her fan letters.

And to his surprise, one time, Rebecca actually writes him back. And she tells him, Yours is one of the nicest letters I got. And she even sends him a signed picture of herself. And this, of course, makes Bardo's whole life. Like, he's going to be riding on this high for years. And he starts to think that maybe, just maybe, Rebecca likes him back. And so he starts writing her even more letters.

But this time, of course, Rebecca doesn't write back. She ain't got time for all that. So he writes her again and again and again, hoping that she'll acknowledge him again, but she doesn't. He then starts calling the production office for my sister. Sam, the sitcom she's on. He calls multiple times hoping to hear her voice, but he never gets through to her. And this goes on for about a year. And so he's like 17 now. And this is when he decides that if Rebecca won't take his calls and won't write him back anymore, that he'll go track her down

himself in person. And so he goes out and he buys a huge novelty size teddy bear. It's like five feet tall. Then he buys some flowers. And he catches a flight. and he flies from Arizona all the way over to the Los Angeles area where her sitcom films. And so he gets there and he goes right to the studio lot and he tries to enter the lot. And I assume he's standing there with the flowers in his hand and a giant ass five foot teddy bear. And security's like, let me stop you right there. And Bardo's probably like, but I want to see Rebecca. And security's probably like, you can see your ass right off this lot.

And so Bardo has to fly back home, probably. feeling all embarrassed, but he's not going to give up. He is determined to meet Rebecca. And so a month later, he flies back to Los Angeles again, and he comes back to the studio lot. This time, he's brought a knife with him for some reason. Like maybe he's going to fight his way onto the lot. And of course, the security guard doesn't let him in again. And lucky for him, Bartow doesn't fight his way onto the lot. He just flies back home, all disappointed that he didn't get to meet the woman who he feels is the love of his life. And a few months pass, and it's now 1988.

And unfortunately, for both Bardo and Rebecca, the sitcom My Sister Sam gets canceled. However, her career is still pretty hot. Like she gets cast in a couple of movies, one is called Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Now, this movie comes out in 1989, and in one scene of the movie, Rebecca is depicting. in bed with another actor. And Bartow watches this movie and he sees this scene and he gets real pissed off and jealous. He feels like she's cheating on him. And this is when he decides she needs to be punished.

It's still 1989. And Bartow's like 19 now. And he's still determined to punish Rebecca. But first, he's got to get her address. Not the address of the studio lot where she used to film, but her actual home address. So he goes and hires a private investigator. And I guess he's like, you know that actress from that show, my sister Sam? I need her address. And I guess the private investigator is like, well, that doesn't seem suspicious at all. And so

the private investigator goes to the DMV and gets a copy of her records, which is how he gets Rebecca's home address. This is 1989. So the laws were different. Like I guess you could just walk into a DMV and ask and they would give you anyone's personal. information. Anyway, once Bardo gets her address, he goes to the gun shop to buy himself a murder weapon. But in order to do that, he has to fill out paperwork. And one of the requirements in the paperwork is to disclose your mental health history. So Bardo fills it out and he notes that he has had some mental health issues in the past because he genuinely has. And so they don't sell him a gun. And this is very frustrating for him, but he's still not going to give up. And so he goes,

to his older brother. And he's like, will you buy me a pistol? And older brother's like, why? And Bartow's like, I'm getting into target practice. And I guess his brother believes him and he goes and he buys him one. So now, Bardo has everything he needs to punish Rebecca for cheating on him, aka doing a scene in a movie with another actor. So he gets on a Greyhound bus. And that takes him from Arizona all the way back to the Los Angeles area. Once he's there, he goes to her address and he starts wandering through her neighborhood, talking to random people, asking them if Rebecca really does live there. And I guess some people confirm that she does, so now he knows he's in the right place. Now, coincidentally, that morning, Rebecca is at home and she's expecting a script to be delivered

to her house because she has an audition for a role later that same day in the movie, The Godfather 3, which is a big role for her, and if she gets the part, it will be huge for her career. So, When someone rings the doorbell, she assumes it's the guy who's supposed to be delivering her script. Oh, but it's not that guy. She goes and she answers the door and she sees that it's Bardo's creepy ass. And Rebecca has no idea who Bardo is and how dangerous he is. To her, he's just like this strange man standing outside her door. So Bardo starts talking to her.

And he's super nice. He's like, hi, I'm your biggest fan. Remember me? You sent me a note. And here's your picture with your autograph. But Rebecca, she's busy. She's got that Godfather 3 audition that she's got to prepare for. Plus, it's kind of weird that a fan just showed up at her door out of nowhere.

So she's like, uh, that's great. I really don't have time. Have a nice day. Basically telling him to leave and not come back. And Bardo's like, damn it. All right. And he leaves. And so he goes to a nearby diner and he gets something to eat.

But while he's doing that, he starts thinking about what happened. And he starts to get pissed off again. pissed off that she turned him away. And the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets. And so, boom, he goes back to her apartment and he rings the doorbell. And Rebecca answers again. And when she sees him, now she's annoyed. Like, what the hell is this guy doing back?

So she's like, you again? You're wasting your time. Then, Bardo tells her he has something to give her. And he pulls out that pistol. And blam, he shoots her. And she, unfortunately, doesn't survive. And then Bardo, he knows this is bad, and so he flees the scene, and he heads back to Arizona. The next day, police find him in Arizona, running down the highway through traffic, screaming,

I killed Rebecca! I killed Rebecca! I guess the guy just went crazy and had a full-on mental breakdown. I don't know, but bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. And ultimately, Bardo gets sentenced to life in prison.