The Stalking Death of Rebecca Schaeffer
Rebecca Schaeffer was young, beautiful, and talented but it only took one twisted mind to end that in a split second.
Rebecca began modeling at the age of 16, even appearing on the cover of Seventeen magazine. She moved to New York to pursue acting. It wasn’t long before she landed the role of Patti Russell on the CBS sitcom My Sister Sam and moved back to Los Angeles. The series, which also starred Pam Dawber, ran for two seasons. After its cancellation in 1988, Rebecca appeared in several movies, including two that were made-for-television. Rebecca also served as the spokesperson for Thursday’s Child, a charity that supports at-risk teens.
Sadly, Rebecca’s thriving acting career ended prematurely. While it wasn’t publicly known at the time, Rebecca had been stalked by Robert John Bardo for three years prior to her death. Bardo had written her letters in the past. One such letter, answered by her fan service, included a photo and autograph. Almost two years before her death, Bardo showed up on the set of My Sister Sam to see Rebecca, but was turned away. He returned a month later to the set, this time, armed with a knife. He was once again turned away by security. Rebecca got a brief break from Bardo when he returned to his home in Tucson and focused on teen singers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.
However, Bardo’s obsession was reignited when he saw Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. In the movie, Rebecca appeared in bed with a male actor and in Bardo’s warped mind, she had lost her innocence. Bardo set out to murder Rebecca, but first, he had to find her address. Unfortunately, he learned how to do that from another stalker. Bardo read that Arthur Richard Jackson had obtained actress Theresa Saldana’s address by hiring a private investigator, so he did the same. It cost him $250 to hire a Tucson detective to obtain Rebecca’s home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles records, which were public at the time.
Bardo went to Los Angeles on July 18, 1989 and visited Rebecca’s apartment, asking people he saw if Rebecca really lived there. He rang the doorbell and Rebecca answered. Bardo showed her the fan letter and autograph that had been sent to him earlier. They talked briefly and shook hands before Bardo left, but the conversation ended with Rebecca asking Bardo not to come to her home again.
Bardo went down the street and ate breakfast. An hour later, he appeared at Rebecca’s door, which she once again answered. Bardo said she had a “cold look on her face” and told him he was wasting her time. He pulled his Ruger GP100 revolver from a brown paper bag and shot Rebecca once in the chest at point-blank range. He fled the scene and hearing the screams, neighbor Richard Goldman called for an ambulance. Rebecca was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was pronounced dead 30 minutes after arriving. She was 21 years old. Because Bardo was underage at the time (19), he got his brother to purchase the revolver he used to kill Rebecca.
Bardo was apprehended the next day in Tucson running madly in traffic and immediately confessed to the murder. LAPD had been tipped off by a friend of Bardo’s that he might be the suspect they were looking for because he was obsessed with Rebecca. Once Tucson police faxed a photo, LAPD confirmed it was him though witness identification.
Bardo was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In July 2007, he was stabbed 11 times at the Mule Creek State Prison by another inmate. He was treated at the UC Davis Medical Center then returned to prison.
At the time of her death, Rebecca was getting ready to audition for a role in The Godfather III. Instead, she would be featured in the first episode of E! True Hollywood Story…posthumously.
Some good did come from the tragedy as the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 was enabled. It stated that the DMV could no longer release private addresses. The LAPD also created the Threat Management Unit to deal with threats to public figures and stalking cases.
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Tags: My Sister Sam, Pam Dawber, Rebecca Schaeffer