October 20, 2022 • 36 mins
This week, Rasha and Yvette look at the tragic case of Rebecca Schaeffer. Rebecca was a young actress who was killed by her stalker in 1989. We also discuss the threat of stalking, and how pervasive that issue is in the age of social media.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
We are your host. I'm a vet GENTI.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Lay and I'm Raschia Peccuerero and as always, our text
and producer Trevor Young is with us.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, good morning, good afternoon, and good night.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
All the things.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I don't know when people are listening to this, so
just had to get all the covered.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I know it could be any time of day, but
they are listening.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So one thing I wanted to maybe do today just
before we get going, is talk about some important podcasts
that are out there, you know, some of our contemporaries
and some of the work they're doing. One show that
is on the Tenderfoot side of things is a new
true crime show called La Monstra that I think everybody
should be listening to. Matt Graves who is originally from Austin,
(01:16):
Texas like me. We bonded over this when I talked
to him once. Is the host of the show. He
moved to Belgium decades ago and got entwined in the
story about a Belgian serial killer named Mark Dutroux. And
it's a really fascinating story of a number of people
who were missing and murdered in the eighties and nineties
(01:38):
by Mark Dutroux. So it's going now and for anybody
who hasn't started listening, I couldn't recommend it anymore. It's
just incredible. So I wanted to throw that out there.
I also want to say that we're making a show
right now. It's actually the third season of a show
called Thirteen Days of Halloween. It's just a fun little
(01:59):
anthology horror story for October people. So but yeah, are
are you all listening to anything? Or anything you guys
wanted to talk about? So?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, Number one, I have to tell you Trevor Vanna
is obsessed with and please tell me Sola Monstra, right,
that's how you pronounce it monstra. So she started down
that rabbit hole because prior to you know, root of
Evil and facing Evil. She hadn't ever really listened to
true crime, and she realized that because she she was
(02:31):
recently diagnosed with ADHD, that she was listening to music
when she was working and she wasn't staying focused. But
when she was listening to Facing Evil, she was like,
maybe I should try other true crime shows because I
kept sending her all these other shows because I like,
you know, I'll self help and Happy Galucky shows a
lot of the time. And so she started Withla Monstra
(02:52):
and now she's listened to everything that Tenderfoot and iHeart
have done together, but her favorite thus far is Atlanta Monster. Yeah.
She just loves really everything you have done, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I'll have to hear that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I mean, I just have to say that I love
The ten News and I know it is, you know,
four children, and we are so lucky that, you know,
our producer Tracy Kaplan, you.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Know, is the head of that show.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And my lovely niece Leilani has you know, been a correspondent.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
She's a tenor.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
She's a tenor.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But I just love it because it's so informative, yes
for the kids, but even for us adults. So that's
what I am listening to.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
All right, So with all of that being said, Trevor,
I would be honored if you take us through today's case.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
We're the cast from My Sister Sam. Now one of
us is gone forever.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
Rebecca Schaeffer was only twenty one years old when her
life was taken by a single shot from a handgun.
There's a fellow here that's been here are lots of
times who has a large bouquet and about a five
foot teddy bear, and he's left it with us, and
he wants us to deliver it to Rebecca Shaeffer. Zenka's
testifies that Barto hired him to find Rebecca Shaeffer's birthdate
(04:09):
and home address in May nineteen eighty nine, two months
before the murder.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Rebecca Shaeffer was a twenty one year old model and
actor who was killed in Los Angeles, California, in nineteen
eighty nine. She was known for roles in TV shows
like My Sister Sam and the film Scenes from the
Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. One person who watched her
developed an obsession with Rebecca. This man attempted to meet
(04:36):
Rebecca multiple times and even hired a private investigator to
find her home address. On January nineteenth, nineteen eighty nine,
that fan showed up at Rebecca's door. She politely asked
him to leave, but he showed up again a few
hours later. He pulled out a gun and shot her
point blank in the doorway, and she died before reaching
(04:57):
the hospital. The stalker was quickly arrested. He was convicted
of first degree murder and given a life sentence without
the possibility of parole. Rebecca Schaeffer is one of many
women who have faced violence at the hands of a stalker,
and for high profile individuals, stalkers can be particularly dangerous
and difficult to manage. And so who was Rebecca Shaeffer,
(05:21):
who was the man who murdered her? And what does
the story tell us about parasocial relationships and how they
often lead to dangerous situations.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So that's all so much, right, I mean, every case
that we talk about is so much. But when we
first started looking at cases, I knew I wanted to
do Rebecca Shaeffer's case because I remember being such a
big fan of hers. You know, I was really young
and the show she was on was all about you know, sisters.
My sister Sam was one of my favorite shows when
(05:56):
I was a kid. But I couldn't fathom how someone
could just go to her home and shoot and kill her, right,
And I wanted to know more. And I do remember
initially like knowing all the good things that happened after that,
and because of that, and that's why I wanted to
(06:19):
to talk about it. But you know, I was thinking
about stalking and about if that had ever happened to
like me or Evet or you know, thankfully nothing like
that has ever happened. But anytime you put yourself in
the public eye, you're vulnerable, right, Yeah, And we even have,
(06:40):
you know, sadly, we have some cyberstockers that we've had
to keep it bay.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, everything that you said is very true.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And you know, what we do know is the majority
of stockings that take place in this country, they are
perpetrated by someone that the victim knows.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I mean, you know, like an.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Ex boyfriend or you know, a friend, I mean someone
that they know, a coworker, yeah, someone that they know.
But then there are people that are in the public eye,
like Rebecca Schaeffer, and they're stalkers. They usually have no
prior relationship to those that they pray upon, and yet
(07:23):
they behave right as if they already know them, right,
Like that is someone that they already have a relationship with,
and they don't.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
That is they're infatuated with them, right m Yeah, it's
a real problem, and I think that's that happens with
a lot of celebrities. You know, it happened back then,
it's happening now. I mean, nearly one in three women
and one in six men have experienced stalking at some
point in their lifetime. And that's according to the Stocking
(07:51):
Prevention Awareness and Resource Center. And of course that behavior
can range from harassment to threats to invasion of privacy
two of course more serious crimes like assault or even murder.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, it seems to be potentially an even more risky
thing in the age of social media. I think, yes, yeah,
you know, people who are high profile are now like
making their lives more accessible and visible through things like
social media, and so I think people have to be
even more careful now, you know, especially what kind of
presence they have on Instagram or Facebook or what have you,
(08:28):
because you know, all of a sudden, you're posting pictures
of your family and your kids and your fans now
know who your kids are, what inside of your house
looks like, you know, all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, they know your location. You have to be very conscious,
you know, of being on social media and Russia and
I have this conversation all the time and again with me.
You know, it's a love hate relationship because of that.
Like I just don't feel that everybody needs to know,
you know, you're whereabouts at all times because of situations
(09:01):
like this.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
So you know, I will say, you know, for me
of course personally, like yes, I am very open on
social media. But Mom gave us a really good tip
years ago, especially when Facebook first started. She was like,
you know, baby, just always, you know, post your location
after you've left, you know. I mean, and I've had
(09:22):
especially like right after I was on the Biggest Loser
and Facebook was just kind of starting, I happened to
check in somewhere and a fan you know, showed up
at Red Robin where I was having a burger and
like just wanted a photo. But like what if that
would have been someone like Rebecca's stalker? You know, Like
I'm trying to balance it, especially being a mom and
(09:43):
having a family and all the things and my sister Evet,
And I know, Trevor, you're you're much more private too,
like you both teach me. Well, I'm doing my best
to be open yet still you know, share and still
be protected as well.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
But let's get back to Rebecca. I mean, we know
she was so very young, and she was twenty one
years old, right, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, I mean, she, much like Dominique Dunn, was very
much at the beginning of her career. Dominique Dounn was
another actor in Hollywood who we talked about a couple
episodes ago, and you know, like Dominique, she had just
started to make a name for herself on TV. Primarily
I already mentioned the show My Sister Sam, which y'all
(10:28):
had mentioned as well, which she was actually on with
Pam Dauber, and that show ran for two seasons before
it was canceled in nineteen eighty eight. Did either of
you watch the show?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I was heartbroken when it was canceled. Oh my god,
I was obsessed.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, we totally watched this show and it was so
cool because you know, it was filmed as if it
was in San Francisco, you know, so to see the
cable cars and all that before I'd ever come to
San Francisco. Was like, you just loved it in the
chemistry that they had, you know, between the two sisters.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It's like Russia.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
We always of course, of course, yeah, but I was.
I was actually really really sad when it was canceled.
And I think it's because, if I remember correctly, it's
because it moved to a different night, you know what
I mean, Like it had a really bad, you know spot,
and it was up against the facts of life, like
you know, everybody loves the facts of life, so it
(11:21):
was kind of dead in the water when it moved
to a different night. But yeah, I and I just
loved the chemistry between yeah, the two women on and
off screen, and you know, we'll get into that more
because Pam, Pam loved Rebecca. Yeah, yeah, and so funny too,
like of course, you know watching my sister Sam, like I,
I of course love that show. But I had no
(11:42):
idea that Rebecca spent a bunch of time in Oregon,
where my wife and I live, and she was actually
born in Eugene, Oregon, near University of Oregon Go Ducks.
The Schaeffer family was Jewish, and as a child, Rebecca
considered become a rabbi when she grew up, before she
became the famous actress that she became. She began modeling
(12:07):
in her junior year of high school and was even
featured in print ads and was also an extra in
TV and film. And Eugene, Oregon is really close to Portland, Oregon,
and Portland is the bigger city, so she ended up
actually getting an agent in Portland, and that is where
she got the acting and modeling bug, so she was
(12:29):
working consistently, and so with her parents' permission, she ended
up moving to New York to pursue her career. So
she landed a small role on one of my favorite
soaproppers of all time on ABC one, Life to Live.
And she ended up really just more so focusing on
(12:52):
her acting rather than her modeling because she was only
five seven, So she modeled a little bit in Japan.
But then once she you know, came back to the States,
she realized that New York probably wasn't the best fit
for her, at least for modeling, but for acting is
where she knew that was her sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, totally, and she definitely, you know had the drive,
you know what, you absolutely have to have in this business.
And apparently, you know, everybody said that she was a
spitfire and you could just look at her and tell that,
you know, she just you know, when they say that,
you you have it. Like she definitely had it. And
(13:33):
she was really, you know, serious about her work. So
like you said, she wasn't modeling, you know, or doing
as much modeling as she would like to do because
of her height. So she was off, you know, to
LA to get serious and become a serious actress.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, and I'm not sure if she was in LA
or New York when she was cast in the Woody
Allen film, but she was cast in a small role
in the Woody Allen movie Rado Days, but sadly, her
part was mostly left on the cutting room floor. So
she kind of thought that was going to be her
big break, but it wasn't. But interestingly enough, her big
break came from being on the cover of seventeen magazine.
(14:14):
And I had this magazine. I looked at it. I
remember seeing her bright, shining smile and her curls and
her dimples. And TV producers saw her on that cover
and they ended up you know, going through a whole
casting and auditioning process. But that is how Rebecca Schaeffer
was cast on the show. We keep talking about my
(14:35):
sister Sam, and Pam Dabber played her sister, and you
might remember Pam from.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Work and Mindy as Mindy, And apparently Rebecca and Pam
became really close in real life. They were almost like
real life sisters, you know, in that chemistry, like you
can't make that up.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
So the show was incredibly successful, you know, we have
said so much today. We both Vet and I watched
the show, absolutely loved it. But sadly, after two seasons,
my sister Sam ended up getting canceled and Rebecca ended
up appearing in a few more you know, movies, and
I think she did some more TV movies and I
(15:18):
think one film, but by this time she had already
moved out of Pam's house and into an apartment in
the Fairfax neighborhood in LA.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And just to back up a little and talk about
the stalker in this case, it was while Rebecca was
doing My Sister Sam that she started to receive fan
letters from a man named John Bardo. And he was
a teenager himself, a couple of years younger than she was.
He certainly wasn't her only fan, but she responded to him,
writing that his letter was quote the most beautiful that
(15:50):
she had ever received. And on this letter she drew
a peace sign a heart and signed it quote with
love from Rebecca. So the day Bardo received this letter,
he wrote in his diary, quote, when I think of her,
I would like to become famous to impress her end quote.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Little did she know she was writing to the person
who would one day stock and kill her.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yes, but we need to take a break, so we
will talk more about that after we get back.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
So to catch you up. Rebecca Schaeffer was a teenager
at the time while she was co starring in the
popular TV show My Sister Sam, and that's when she
began receiving fan letters from John Bardow. But who was
John Bardow?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well? Bardo was born in nineteen seventy in Edwards, California,
and he was the youngest of seven children. He allegedly
had a somewhat troubled childhood and he was diagnosed with
bipolar disorder at a very young age. He was institutionalized
at age fifteen to treat some suppose emotional problems, and
(17:01):
he ended up dropping out of high school not long
after that point. So he was just a young teenager
himself when he began to stalk a different girl named
Samantha Smith, who was a well known peace activist. So
Bardo went as far as taking a bus to Maine,
where Smith lived, and he continued to stalk her until
she tragically died in a plane crash in nineteen eighty five. Wow.
(17:26):
But the following year, in nineteen eighty six, John Bardo
found somebody new he was watching My Sister Sam and
quickly developed an obsession with Rebecca on screen. He built
a shrine to her in his bedroom, supposedly, and started
to obsessively write letters to her. Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
In June nineteen eighty seven, he attempted to meet Rebecca
by showing up at the Warner Brothers studio where My
Sister Sam was being filmed, and the studio's chief of
security said that that he just thought that this guy
was love struck, adding that Bardo had actually called the
studio multiple times, and he also said that when he
(18:10):
was there, he was terribly like insistent upon being let
into the studio and every you know, every other word
that he was saying was Rebecca. This Rebecca that, So
to me, that is a red flag. If I was
the security guard, I'm just saying I would have told
her people, right, told her manager, told someone that, you know,
(18:32):
this guy is there's something askew here.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
So I was actually watching an entire documentary on Rebecca
and her life in her case, and her manager was
with Rebecca on set when John Bardo was at the
gate at the Warner Brothers lot, and they did call
over to set and talked to the manager, not to Rebecca,
and the manager just dismissed it like, oh, not a
(18:56):
big deal, like sorry, we don't have time for that
fan today, and they didn't even think about it again.
So to them, it wasn't a cause for concern. But
for me and I think we can all three agree,
like these are all major red flags, right.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, I would definitely have to agree.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You know, they just thought he was just a fan, right,
a love struck fan, and ultimately, you know, they deemed
him harmless and he was just escorted off of the premises.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right. Well, a few years later, that might have been
different if this was happening in a different time period,
because in nineteen ninety four, the Violence Against Women Act
was passed, and since then, every single state has passed
laws making this sort of stalking a crime, but back
in nineteen eighty nine, there was no such law in existence.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Sadly it is, it is so sad.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Anyway, after this particular incident, John Barto returns to Tucson,
where he lives in Arizona, and once he was there,
he kind of got distracted and he ended up fanning
out over Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and Madonna. So he was
in a pop star phase as opposed to focusing on Rebecca, right,
(20:12):
I mean, it was it was a sign of the times.
But it was later discovered that Bardo had been carrying
a knife in his bag when he was trying to
reach Rebecca at the studio back.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
In LA That's just crazy. But can't you imagine though,
if he would have gotten on and he's he's got this, you.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Yeah, And at the time, I don't know if they
would have patted him down or even done a metal
detector or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Well, anyway, his new obsessions with you know, the pop
stars didn't last very long, and in nineteen eighty nine,
I think this was a really big trigger for him.
He watched Rebecca's latest film at the time, and it
was a movie called Scenes from a Class Struggle in
Beverly Hills, and it's very different from her past work,
(20:58):
and it's let's just say, it's truly a film for adults.
It's not for a teenage mind. And it's this farcical, dark,
upside downstairs comedy about rich people and their staff in
Los Angeles hooking up with one another. So Bardo I
think he was very triggered, and he hated the fact
(21:19):
that there is one scene in particular where Rebecca's character
has sex with someone. Okay, so he's held on to
this idea that Rebecca is this innocent girl like her
character and she's like not having sex, right, and he
says that she's now become quote one more of the
bitches of Hollywood end quote. He was so upset and
(21:41):
so enraged that he even drew a diagram of Rebecca's
body and marks spots where he planned to shoot her.
And he even asked his older brother to buy him
a gun, and his brother helped him buy a gun.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So now John Bardo has a weapon and he just
needs to locate Rebecca Schaeffer, and so he goes to
the links of hiring a private investigator to retrieve her
personal address, and he's able to do that pretty easily.
He goes to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and
at the time, all you had to do was pay
four dollars for that information and basically anybody could get it.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And so Bardow knows how to do all this, how
to hire the investigator and find out where she lives,
because he's right up on it and apparently it's not
a huge secret. So back in nineteen eighty two, there
was actually another actress named Teresa Saldana who had this
stoker who stabbed her at her apartment. After that man
acquired her address, pretty much going the same route, right,
(22:43):
like hiring a private investigator and going through the DMV
in this whole thing. So there's like a method to
doing this, and John Bardow has learned how to do that, right.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, he's become a stoker. Well, it's like he knows
he's a stocker, right, Well, he knows he knows because
he's doing exactly what that stalker did to Teresa Saldana,
who thankfully survived. She survived, Yeah, and she became an advocate.
So John Bardo in his head he's like, wait, that's
some way that I can get to Rebecca. Like does
(23:16):
he not know that he's a psychopath?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Like yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But the crazy thing about this is that same you
know investigator, that same PI was.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
The same guy, right, he used the same PI.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
His career is helping stalkers kill people.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah. Yeah, how can that PI feel good about themselves?
Like that's just gross. So it is, needless to say,
deeply unsettling. So around this time, John Bardo apparently writes
in a letter to his older sister which includes the
lines quote I have an obsession with the unattainable. I
(23:53):
have to eliminate what I cannot attain end quote. So
this now us up to the morning of the crime.
So that day in July of nineteen eighty nine, Rebecca
was awaiting the delivery of the script for The Godfather
Part three, which she's auditioning for. And this is a
normal thing. Couriers come by, they ring your doorbell, they
(24:15):
drop off the script you signed for it. It's like
a total thing in Hollywood. I remember, you Bet used
to get these all the time when we lived together
in La Yeah. So, but this time, when Rebecca's doorbell rings,
like I said, she's expecting it to be the script
being dropped off, but it's not. So Instead standing there
is John Bardo, so ABC News reported.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Quote.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
When she opened the door, he showed her the card
that she had sent him in response to one of
his many fan letters, as well as an autographed photo
of her, and told her he was her biggest fan.
According to police, she politely excused herself, telling him she
had to get ready for an interview. End quote. So
(24:59):
she is kind to him. She didn't say hey, get
the f out. She was nice. But this apparently pissed
him off because I felt maybe he felt like he
wasn't special. But anyway, he ends up leaving and he
goes to a diner where he stews over this entire interaction.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Right, and just a quick sidebar. An interesting detail is
that John Bardo has in his bag at the moment
a copy of the book Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
And interesting parallel with that is if that's the same
book that was in the possession of John Hinckley Junior,
who shot Ronald Reagan as well as Mark David Chapman,
(25:48):
who we all know shot and killed John Lennon. So
John Bardo is carrying this book around as a sort
of copy characters. You know you were asking about earlier,
like does he know he's like a stalker slash killer
And it's like very clear, like who he looks.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Up to and who who idols are.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I think he's like very actively putting himself in the
shoes of those people, you know, in his stated goal,
you know, going back from the earliest time he was
exchanging letters with Rebecca Schaeffer, was to be famous like
she is. And that's what a lot of stokers say, right,
a lot of stocker killers. So it seems like he
thought this was his path to stardom, right, this, this
(26:30):
would make him famous by killing a star, a celebrity.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
And so that's exactly what John Bardo is on his
way to do. So he returns to Rebecca's apartment shortly after,
and he rang her doorbell again, and this time when
she answers, she's annoyed, right and tells him he's wasting
her time, and he then responds by withdrawing the gun
(26:59):
that was in his waistband, and he shoots her point
blank in the chest. She dies before she even reaches
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Right Bardo then flees from Los Angeles, but he has
found the next day stumbling through highway traffic in Tucson.
Police apprehend him, and he almost immediately incriminates himself in
the crime. He also claimed he was quote stunned and
saddened to see on television that Shaeffer had died, which
(27:31):
is an interesting thing to say. You know, it obviously
implies that maybe he didn't intend to kill her, but
you know, wanted to harm her or just be known
for having tried maybe, you know. Yeah, but you know,
we may never know.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Right, Yeah, that is the case.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know, we may never know getting into the head
of someone like that, you just you don't you have
no clue of what they're thinking.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
But we do know that.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It takes two years for the trial to get underway,
and it's a very dramatic trial.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, and we will talk about that trial after we
take another quick break.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
So in the fall of nineteen ninety one, two years
after he's admitted to knocking on her door and shooting
her at point blank range, John Bardow's trial for the
murder of Rebecca Schaeffer begins.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
The prosecuting attorney is Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark.
And yes, that is the Marsha Clark that we all
know who would later go on to be the lead
prosecutor in the very famous OJ Simpson murder trial.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah, and that OJ trial was also covered by a journalist,
Dominic Dunn, who is the father of Dominique Dunn, who
we talked about in a few episodes ago. So interesting
connection there.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yeah, definitely. So Bardo by this time has confessed to
this crime, but he's pleaded not guilty to first degree murder,
which would classify the killing as premeditated. And this leaves
the prosecution with two big challenges. So first, Marcia Clark
needed to prove that John Bartow acted intentionally, so that
(29:14):
would mean at least twenty five years to life in prison,
but even with this there would be the possibility of parole.
So she also needed to prove that there's been a quote,
special circumstance, and Marcia Clark said that in this case,
that special circumstance was the fact that Barto was basically
lying in wait.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So to prove this, she goes to a videotape jailhouse
interview with Bardo, and in this video he describes the
killing in detail, showing how he hid the gun when
he knocked on the door, and in that tape he
also acted out the sounds of the gun shut and
(29:57):
Rebecca like dying and screaming.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
And as if that weren't enough to show that he
had arrived at her apartment that day with an intent
and a plan to kill her. He also revealed that
the song Exit by YouTube inspired him to murder Rebecca.
When the song was played in the courtroom, he actually
sat there drumming along, smiling and lip syncing the lyrics.
(30:29):
A psychiatrist who examined Bardo after his arrest did testify
that Barto interpreted parts of the lyrics as literal references
to himself and Rebecca Schaeffer.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, it's interesting. That's a thing a lot of murderers do,
is they imprint on musicians and songs, you know, like
they see music as being about something more personal to
them than it ever actually could be. You know, I
think back to Charles Manson and his obsession with things
(31:00):
like Helter Skelter, right where he was entirely misinterpreting it
to be about some personal image he had in his
own head that was very narcissistic in nature, but had
no basis in reality. Anyways, on October thirtieth of nineteen
ninety one, John Bardo is indeed found guilty of first
(31:22):
degree murder. He's also found guilty of the special circumstance
you mentioned Russia of the lying in wait to kill
Rebecca Schaeffer. So basically what this means is that he
now gets a life sentence without the possibility of parole,
and in fact he's still serving his life sentence today.
There was actually an attempt on his life in two
(31:42):
thousand and seven when he was stabbed repeatedly with a
shive by another inmate, but he survived this and is
alive today.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I don't ever want anyone to die, of course, but
you know, I'm happy that he does not have the
option of being prolled. But I will say, like I
said at the very top of the episode, I remember
being so inspired by Rebecca's case because I do know
that laws were changed because of the Teresa Saldama's and
(32:15):
the Rebecca Schaefers, and one of those laws that was
passed was in nineteen ninety four, the Driver's Privacy Protection
Act was passed. So this is a federal law that
limits the disclosure of personal information like where someone lives
that you can get from state DMVs, So no one
can obtain someone's home address from DMV reports the way
(32:39):
that that private investigator that John Bardo hired did. And
this law was spurred to try to ensure the safety
of people like Rebecca Schaeffer who are being stocked or battered,
as well as instances of anti abortion activists targeting abortion
providers and patients, you know, I mean, it protects so many, yeah,
(33:04):
and so in that way, I truly believe that there
is a little bit of light in this darkness of
this story. Right, things are a little bit better for
those of us or those of you who experience the
terror of stalking, you know, But of course the problem
is sadly far from over, but it's getting better.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
And that brings us to our EMUA. Today's message of
hope and healing goes out to all of those like
Rebecca Schaeffer who have faced fear and intimidation at the
hands of a stalker.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Being stocked can be a very scary experience. We have
to remember that stalking victims suffer much higher rates of depression, anxiety,
and insomnia than others, and the advancement of technology has
made the problem more acute in many ways. More than
twice as many victims are stocked with technology than without.
(34:04):
Cyber stalking and cyberbullying are sadly on the rise.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
And what we do know is stocking behavior is still
too often portrayed as just harmless or even romantic.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
But it isn't.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
It's incredibly dangerous and it should never be considered acceptable.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
End of story.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
If you're among the estimated thirteen point five million people
who are stocked in a given year, we see you,
and we will continue to speak out on your behalf.
When enough of us do this, it can really make
a difference. We all need to use our voices for good.
Onward and upward, Emua, Emua. If you or someone you
(34:53):
know is experiencing stalking behavior, you can find tools and
resources to help at www dot stokingawareness dot org. That's
www dot stokingawareness dot org.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Well, that is our show for today.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
As always, we'd love to hear what you thought about
today's discussion and if there is a case that you
would like us to cover, find us on social media
or email us at Facingeable Pod at tenderfoot dot tv
and one request. If you haven't already, please find us
on iTunes and.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Give us a review and a good rating. If you
like what we do, your support is always cherished until
next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Pequerrero in a Vetchintila,
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(36:06):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at Facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(36:30):
favorite shows
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
We are your host. I'm a vet GENTI.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Lay and I'm Raschia Peccuerero and as always, our text
and producer Trevor Young is with us.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, good morning, good afternoon, and good night.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
All the things.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I don't know when people are listening to this, so
just had to get all the covered.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I know it could be any time of day, but
they are listening.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So one thing I wanted to maybe do today just
before we get going, is talk about some important podcasts
that are out there, you know, some of our contemporaries
and some of the work they're doing. One show that
is on the Tenderfoot side of things is a new
true crime show called La Monstra that I think everybody
should be listening to. Matt Graves who is originally from Austin,
(01:16):
Texas like me. We bonded over this when I talked
to him once. Is the host of the show. He
moved to Belgium decades ago and got entwined in the
story about a Belgian serial killer named Mark Dutroux. And
it's a really fascinating story of a number of people
who were missing and murdered in the eighties and nineties
(01:38):
by Mark Dutroux. So it's going now and for anybody
who hasn't started listening, I couldn't recommend it anymore. It's
just incredible. So I wanted to throw that out there.
I also want to say that we're making a show
right now. It's actually the third season of a show
called Thirteen Days of Halloween. It's just a fun little
(01:59):
anthology horror story for October people. So but yeah, are
are you all listening to anything? Or anything you guys
wanted to talk about? So?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, Number one, I have to tell you Trevor Vanna
is obsessed with and please tell me Sola Monstra, right,
that's how you pronounce it monstra. So she started down
that rabbit hole because prior to you know, root of
Evil and facing Evil. She hadn't ever really listened to
true crime, and she realized that because she she was
(02:31):
recently diagnosed with ADHD, that she was listening to music
when she was working and she wasn't staying focused. But
when she was listening to Facing Evil, she was like,
maybe I should try other true crime shows because I
kept sending her all these other shows because I like,
you know, I'll self help and Happy Galucky shows a
lot of the time. And so she started Withla Monstra
(02:52):
and now she's listened to everything that Tenderfoot and iHeart
have done together, but her favorite thus far is Atlanta Monster. Yeah.
She just loves really everything you have done, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I'll have to hear that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I mean, I just have to say that I love
The ten News and I know it is, you know,
four children, and we are so lucky that, you know,
our producer Tracy Kaplan, you.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Know, is the head of that show.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And my lovely niece Leilani has you know, been a correspondent.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
She's a tenor.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
She's a tenor.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But I just love it because it's so informative, yes
for the kids, but even for us adults. So that's
what I am listening to.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
All right, So with all of that being said, Trevor,
I would be honored if you take us through today's case.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
We're the cast from My Sister Sam. Now one of
us is gone forever.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
Rebecca Schaeffer was only twenty one years old when her
life was taken by a single shot from a handgun.
There's a fellow here that's been here are lots of
times who has a large bouquet and about a five
foot teddy bear, and he's left it with us, and
he wants us to deliver it to Rebecca Shaeffer. Zenka's
testifies that Barto hired him to find Rebecca Shaeffer's birthdate
(04:09):
and home address in May nineteen eighty nine, two months
before the murder.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Rebecca Shaeffer was a twenty one year old model and
actor who was killed in Los Angeles, California, in nineteen
eighty nine. She was known for roles in TV shows
like My Sister Sam and the film Scenes from the
Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. One person who watched her
developed an obsession with Rebecca. This man attempted to meet
(04:36):
Rebecca multiple times and even hired a private investigator to
find her home address. On January nineteenth, nineteen eighty nine,
that fan showed up at Rebecca's door. She politely asked
him to leave, but he showed up again a few
hours later. He pulled out a gun and shot her
point blank in the doorway, and she died before reaching
(04:57):
the hospital. The stalker was quickly arrested. He was convicted
of first degree murder and given a life sentence without
the possibility of parole. Rebecca Schaeffer is one of many
women who have faced violence at the hands of a stalker,
and for high profile individuals, stalkers can be particularly dangerous
and difficult to manage. And so who was Rebecca Shaeffer,
(05:21):
who was the man who murdered her? And what does
the story tell us about parasocial relationships and how they
often lead to dangerous situations.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So that's all so much, right, I mean, every case
that we talk about is so much. But when we
first started looking at cases, I knew I wanted to
do Rebecca Shaeffer's case because I remember being such a
big fan of hers. You know, I was really young
and the show she was on was all about you know, sisters.
My sister Sam was one of my favorite shows when
(05:56):
I was a kid. But I couldn't fathom how someone
could just go to her home and shoot and kill her, right,
And I wanted to know more. And I do remember
initially like knowing all the good things that happened after that,
and because of that, and that's why I wanted to
(06:19):
to talk about it. But you know, I was thinking
about stalking and about if that had ever happened to
like me or Evet or you know, thankfully nothing like
that has ever happened. But anytime you put yourself in
the public eye, you're vulnerable, right, Yeah, And we even have,
(06:40):
you know, sadly, we have some cyberstockers that we've had
to keep it bay.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, everything that you said is very true.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And you know, what we do know is the majority
of stockings that take place in this country, they are
perpetrated by someone that the victim knows.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I mean, you know, like an.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Ex boyfriend or you know, a friend, I mean someone
that they know, a coworker, yeah, someone that they know.
But then there are people that are in the public eye,
like Rebecca Schaeffer, and they're stalkers. They usually have no
prior relationship to those that they pray upon, and yet
(07:23):
they behave right as if they already know them, right,
Like that is someone that they already have a relationship with,
and they don't.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
That is they're infatuated with them, right m Yeah, it's
a real problem, and I think that's that happens with
a lot of celebrities. You know, it happened back then,
it's happening now. I mean, nearly one in three women
and one in six men have experienced stalking at some
point in their lifetime. And that's according to the Stocking
(07:51):
Prevention Awareness and Resource Center. And of course that behavior
can range from harassment to threats to invasion of privacy
two of course more serious crimes like assault or even murder.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, it seems to be potentially an even more risky
thing in the age of social media. I think, yes, yeah,
you know, people who are high profile are now like
making their lives more accessible and visible through things like
social media, and so I think people have to be
even more careful now, you know, especially what kind of
presence they have on Instagram or Facebook or what have you,
(08:28):
because you know, all of a sudden, you're posting pictures
of your family and your kids and your fans now
know who your kids are, what inside of your house
looks like, you know, all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, they know your location. You have to be very conscious,
you know, of being on social media and Russia and
I have this conversation all the time and again with me.
You know, it's a love hate relationship because of that.
Like I just don't feel that everybody needs to know,
you know, you're whereabouts at all times because of situations
(09:01):
like this.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
So you know, I will say, you know, for me
of course personally, like yes, I am very open on
social media. But Mom gave us a really good tip
years ago, especially when Facebook first started. She was like,
you know, baby, just always, you know, post your location
after you've left, you know. I mean, and I've had
(09:22):
especially like right after I was on the Biggest Loser
and Facebook was just kind of starting, I happened to
check in somewhere and a fan you know, showed up
at Red Robin where I was having a burger and
like just wanted a photo. But like what if that
would have been someone like Rebecca's stalker? You know, Like
I'm trying to balance it, especially being a mom and
(09:43):
having a family and all the things and my sister Evet,
And I know, Trevor, you're you're much more private too,
like you both teach me. Well, I'm doing my best
to be open yet still you know, share and still
be protected as well.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
But let's get back to Rebecca. I mean, we know
she was so very young, and she was twenty one
years old, right, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, I mean, she, much like Dominique Dunn, was very
much at the beginning of her career. Dominique Dounn was
another actor in Hollywood who we talked about a couple
episodes ago, and you know, like Dominique, she had just
started to make a name for herself on TV. Primarily
I already mentioned the show My Sister Sam, which y'all
(10:28):
had mentioned as well, which she was actually on with
Pam Dauber, and that show ran for two seasons before
it was canceled in nineteen eighty eight. Did either of
you watch the show?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I was heartbroken when it was canceled. Oh my god,
I was obsessed.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, we totally watched this show and it was so
cool because you know, it was filmed as if it
was in San Francisco, you know, so to see the
cable cars and all that before I'd ever come to
San Francisco. Was like, you just loved it in the
chemistry that they had, you know, between the two sisters.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It's like Russia.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
We always of course, of course, yeah, but I was.
I was actually really really sad when it was canceled.
And I think it's because, if I remember correctly, it's
because it moved to a different night, you know what
I mean, Like it had a really bad, you know spot,
and it was up against the facts of life, like
you know, everybody loves the facts of life, so it
(11:21):
was kind of dead in the water when it moved
to a different night. But yeah, I and I just
loved the chemistry between yeah, the two women on and
off screen, and you know, we'll get into that more
because Pam, Pam loved Rebecca. Yeah, yeah, and so funny too,
like of course, you know watching my sister Sam, like I,
I of course love that show. But I had no
(11:42):
idea that Rebecca spent a bunch of time in Oregon,
where my wife and I live, and she was actually
born in Eugene, Oregon, near University of Oregon Go Ducks.
The Schaeffer family was Jewish, and as a child, Rebecca
considered become a rabbi when she grew up, before she
became the famous actress that she became. She began modeling
(12:07):
in her junior year of high school and was even
featured in print ads and was also an extra in
TV and film. And Eugene, Oregon is really close to Portland, Oregon,
and Portland is the bigger city, so she ended up
actually getting an agent in Portland, and that is where
she got the acting and modeling bug, so she was
(12:29):
working consistently, and so with her parents' permission, she ended
up moving to New York to pursue her career. So
she landed a small role on one of my favorite
soaproppers of all time on ABC one, Life to Live.
And she ended up really just more so focusing on
(12:52):
her acting rather than her modeling because she was only
five seven, So she modeled a little bit in Japan.
But then once she you know, came back to the States,
she realized that New York probably wasn't the best fit
for her, at least for modeling, but for acting is
where she knew that was her sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, totally, and she definitely, you know had the drive,
you know what, you absolutely have to have in this business.
And apparently, you know, everybody said that she was a
spitfire and you could just look at her and tell that,
you know, she just you know, when they say that,
you you have it. Like she definitely had it. And
(13:33):
she was really, you know, serious about her work. So
like you said, she wasn't modeling, you know, or doing
as much modeling as she would like to do because
of her height. So she was off, you know, to
LA to get serious and become a serious actress.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, and I'm not sure if she was in LA
or New York when she was cast in the Woody
Allen film, but she was cast in a small role
in the Woody Allen movie Rado Days, but sadly, her
part was mostly left on the cutting room floor. So
she kind of thought that was going to be her
big break, but it wasn't. But interestingly enough, her big
break came from being on the cover of seventeen magazine.
(14:14):
And I had this magazine. I looked at it. I
remember seeing her bright, shining smile and her curls and
her dimples. And TV producers saw her on that cover
and they ended up you know, going through a whole
casting and auditioning process. But that is how Rebecca Schaeffer
was cast on the show. We keep talking about my
(14:35):
sister Sam, and Pam Dabber played her sister, and you
might remember Pam from.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Work and Mindy as Mindy, And apparently Rebecca and Pam
became really close in real life. They were almost like
real life sisters, you know, in that chemistry, like you
can't make that up.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
So the show was incredibly successful, you know, we have
said so much today. We both Vet and I watched
the show, absolutely loved it. But sadly, after two seasons,
my sister Sam ended up getting canceled and Rebecca ended
up appearing in a few more you know, movies, and
I think she did some more TV movies and I
(15:18):
think one film, but by this time she had already
moved out of Pam's house and into an apartment in
the Fairfax neighborhood in LA.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And just to back up a little and talk about
the stalker in this case, it was while Rebecca was
doing My Sister Sam that she started to receive fan
letters from a man named John Bardo. And he was
a teenager himself, a couple of years younger than she was.
He certainly wasn't her only fan, but she responded to him,
writing that his letter was quote the most beautiful that
(15:50):
she had ever received. And on this letter she drew
a peace sign a heart and signed it quote with
love from Rebecca. So the day Bardo received this letter,
he wrote in his diary, quote, when I think of her,
I would like to become famous to impress her end quote.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Little did she know she was writing to the person
who would one day stock and kill her.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yes, but we need to take a break, so we
will talk more about that after we get back.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
So to catch you up. Rebecca Schaeffer was a teenager
at the time while she was co starring in the
popular TV show My Sister Sam, and that's when she
began receiving fan letters from John Bardow. But who was
John Bardow?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well? Bardo was born in nineteen seventy in Edwards, California,
and he was the youngest of seven children. He allegedly
had a somewhat troubled childhood and he was diagnosed with
bipolar disorder at a very young age. He was institutionalized
at age fifteen to treat some suppose emotional problems, and
(17:01):
he ended up dropping out of high school not long
after that point. So he was just a young teenager
himself when he began to stalk a different girl named
Samantha Smith, who was a well known peace activist. So
Bardo went as far as taking a bus to Maine,
where Smith lived, and he continued to stalk her until
she tragically died in a plane crash in nineteen eighty five. Wow.
(17:26):
But the following year, in nineteen eighty six, John Bardo
found somebody new he was watching My Sister Sam and
quickly developed an obsession with Rebecca on screen. He built
a shrine to her in his bedroom, supposedly, and started
to obsessively write letters to her. Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
In June nineteen eighty seven, he attempted to meet Rebecca
by showing up at the Warner Brothers studio where My
Sister Sam was being filmed, and the studio's chief of
security said that that he just thought that this guy
was love struck, adding that Bardo had actually called the
studio multiple times, and he also said that when he
(18:10):
was there, he was terribly like insistent upon being let
into the studio and every you know, every other word
that he was saying was Rebecca. This Rebecca that, So
to me, that is a red flag. If I was
the security guard, I'm just saying I would have told
her people, right, told her manager, told someone that, you know,
(18:32):
this guy is there's something askew here.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
So I was actually watching an entire documentary on Rebecca
and her life in her case, and her manager was
with Rebecca on set when John Bardo was at the
gate at the Warner Brothers lot, and they did call
over to set and talked to the manager, not to Rebecca,
and the manager just dismissed it like, oh, not a
(18:56):
big deal, like sorry, we don't have time for that
fan today, and they didn't even think about it again.
So to them, it wasn't a cause for concern. But
for me and I think we can all three agree,
like these are all major red flags, right.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, I would definitely have to agree.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You know, they just thought he was just a fan, right,
a love struck fan, and ultimately, you know, they deemed
him harmless and he was just escorted off of the premises.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Right. Well, a few years later, that might have been
different if this was happening in a different time period,
because in nineteen ninety four, the Violence Against Women Act
was passed, and since then, every single state has passed
laws making this sort of stalking a crime, but back
in nineteen eighty nine, there was no such law in existence.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Sadly it is, it is so sad.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Anyway, after this particular incident, John Barto returns to Tucson,
where he lives in Arizona, and once he was there,
he kind of got distracted and he ended up fanning
out over Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and Madonna. So he was
in a pop star phase as opposed to focusing on Rebecca, right,
(20:12):
I mean, it was it was a sign of the times.
But it was later discovered that Bardo had been carrying
a knife in his bag when he was trying to
reach Rebecca at the studio back.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
In LA That's just crazy. But can't you imagine though,
if he would have gotten on and he's he's got this, you.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Yeah, And at the time, I don't know if they
would have patted him down or even done a metal
detector or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Well, anyway, his new obsessions with you know, the pop
stars didn't last very long, and in nineteen eighty nine,
I think this was a really big trigger for him.
He watched Rebecca's latest film at the time, and it
was a movie called Scenes from a Class Struggle in
Beverly Hills, and it's very different from her past work,
(20:58):
and it's let's just say, it's truly a film for adults.
It's not for a teenage mind. And it's this farcical, dark,
upside downstairs comedy about rich people and their staff in
Los Angeles hooking up with one another. So Bardo I
think he was very triggered, and he hated the fact
(21:19):
that there is one scene in particular where Rebecca's character
has sex with someone. Okay, so he's held on to
this idea that Rebecca is this innocent girl like her
character and she's like not having sex, right, and he
says that she's now become quote one more of the
bitches of Hollywood end quote. He was so upset and
(21:41):
so enraged that he even drew a diagram of Rebecca's
body and marks spots where he planned to shoot her.
And he even asked his older brother to buy him
a gun, and his brother helped him buy a gun.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
So now John Bardo has a weapon and he just
needs to locate Rebecca Schaeffer, and so he goes to
the links of hiring a private investigator to retrieve her
personal address, and he's able to do that pretty easily.
He goes to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and
at the time, all you had to do was pay
four dollars for that information and basically anybody could get it.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And so Bardow knows how to do all this, how
to hire the investigator and find out where she lives,
because he's right up on it and apparently it's not
a huge secret. So back in nineteen eighty two, there
was actually another actress named Teresa Saldana who had this
stoker who stabbed her at her apartment. After that man
acquired her address, pretty much going the same route, right,
(22:43):
like hiring a private investigator and going through the DMV
in this whole thing. So there's like a method to
doing this, and John Bardow has learned how to do that, right.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, he's become a stoker. Well, it's like he knows
he's a stocker, right, Well, he knows he knows because
he's doing exactly what that stalker did to Teresa Saldana,
who thankfully survived. She survived, Yeah, and she became an advocate.
So John Bardo in his head he's like, wait, that's
some way that I can get to Rebecca. Like does
(23:16):
he not know that he's a psychopath?
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Like yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But the crazy thing about this is that same you
know investigator, that same PI was.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
The same guy, right, he used the same PI.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
His career is helping stalkers kill people.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah. Yeah, how can that PI feel good about themselves?
Like that's just gross. So it is, needless to say,
deeply unsettling. So around this time, John Bardo apparently writes
in a letter to his older sister which includes the
lines quote I have an obsession with the unattainable. I
(23:53):
have to eliminate what I cannot attain end quote. So
this now us up to the morning of the crime.
So that day in July of nineteen eighty nine, Rebecca
was awaiting the delivery of the script for The Godfather
Part three, which she's auditioning for. And this is a
normal thing. Couriers come by, they ring your doorbell, they
(24:15):
drop off the script you signed for it. It's like
a total thing in Hollywood. I remember, you Bet used
to get these all the time when we lived together
in La Yeah. So, but this time, when Rebecca's doorbell rings,
like I said, she's expecting it to be the script
being dropped off, but it's not. So Instead standing there
is John Bardo, so ABC News reported.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Quote.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
When she opened the door, he showed her the card
that she had sent him in response to one of
his many fan letters, as well as an autographed photo
of her, and told her he was her biggest fan.
According to police, she politely excused herself, telling him she
had to get ready for an interview. End quote. So
(24:59):
she is kind to him. She didn't say hey, get
the f out. She was nice. But this apparently pissed
him off because I felt maybe he felt like he
wasn't special. But anyway, he ends up leaving and he
goes to a diner where he stews over this entire interaction.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Right, and just a quick sidebar. An interesting detail is
that John Bardo has in his bag at the moment
a copy of the book Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
And interesting parallel with that is if that's the same
book that was in the possession of John Hinckley Junior,
who shot Ronald Reagan as well as Mark David Chapman,
(25:48):
who we all know shot and killed John Lennon. So
John Bardo is carrying this book around as a sort
of copy characters. You know you were asking about earlier,
like does he know he's like a stalker slash killer
And it's like very clear, like who he looks.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Up to and who who idols are.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I think he's like very actively putting himself in the
shoes of those people, you know, in his stated goal,
you know, going back from the earliest time he was
exchanging letters with Rebecca Schaeffer, was to be famous like
she is. And that's what a lot of stokers say, right,
a lot of stocker killers. So it seems like he
thought this was his path to stardom, right, this, this
(26:30):
would make him famous by killing a star, a celebrity.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
And so that's exactly what John Bardo is on his
way to do. So he returns to Rebecca's apartment shortly after,
and he rang her doorbell again, and this time when
she answers, she's annoyed, right and tells him he's wasting
her time, and he then responds by withdrawing the gun
(26:59):
that was in his waistband, and he shoots her point
blank in the chest. She dies before she even reaches
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Right Bardo then flees from Los Angeles, but he has
found the next day stumbling through highway traffic in Tucson.
Police apprehend him, and he almost immediately incriminates himself in
the crime. He also claimed he was quote stunned and
saddened to see on television that Shaeffer had died, which
(27:31):
is an interesting thing to say. You know, it obviously
implies that maybe he didn't intend to kill her, but
you know, wanted to harm her or just be known
for having tried maybe, you know. Yeah, but you know,
we may never know.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Right, Yeah, that is the case.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know, we may never know getting into the head
of someone like that, you just you don't you have
no clue of what they're thinking.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
But we do know that.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It takes two years for the trial to get underway,
and it's a very dramatic trial.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, and we will talk about that trial after we
take another quick break.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
So in the fall of nineteen ninety one, two years
after he's admitted to knocking on her door and shooting
her at point blank range, John Bardow's trial for the
murder of Rebecca Schaeffer begins.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
The prosecuting attorney is Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark.
And yes, that is the Marsha Clark that we all
know who would later go on to be the lead
prosecutor in the very famous OJ Simpson murder trial.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah, and that OJ trial was also covered by a journalist,
Dominic Dunn, who is the father of Dominique Dunn, who
we talked about in a few episodes ago. So interesting
connection there.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yeah, definitely. So Bardo by this time has confessed to
this crime, but he's pleaded not guilty to first degree murder,
which would classify the killing as premeditated. And this leaves
the prosecution with two big challenges. So first, Marcia Clark
needed to prove that John Bartow acted intentionally, so that
(29:14):
would mean at least twenty five years to life in prison,
but even with this there would be the possibility of parole.
So she also needed to prove that there's been a quote,
special circumstance, and Marcia Clark said that in this case,
that special circumstance was the fact that Barto was basically
lying in wait.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
So to prove this, she goes to a videotape jailhouse
interview with Bardo, and in this video he describes the
killing in detail, showing how he hid the gun when
he knocked on the door, and in that tape he
also acted out the sounds of the gun shut and
(29:57):
Rebecca like dying and screaming.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
And as if that weren't enough to show that he
had arrived at her apartment that day with an intent
and a plan to kill her. He also revealed that
the song Exit by YouTube inspired him to murder Rebecca.
When the song was played in the courtroom, he actually
sat there drumming along, smiling and lip syncing the lyrics.
(30:29):
A psychiatrist who examined Bardo after his arrest did testify
that Barto interpreted parts of the lyrics as literal references
to himself and Rebecca Schaeffer.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, it's interesting. That's a thing a lot of murderers do,
is they imprint on musicians and songs, you know, like
they see music as being about something more personal to
them than it ever actually could be. You know, I
think back to Charles Manson and his obsession with things
(31:00):
like Helter Skelter, right where he was entirely misinterpreting it
to be about some personal image he had in his
own head that was very narcissistic in nature, but had
no basis in reality. Anyways, on October thirtieth of nineteen
ninety one, John Bardo is indeed found guilty of first
(31:22):
degree murder. He's also found guilty of the special circumstance
you mentioned Russia of the lying in wait to kill
Rebecca Schaeffer. So basically what this means is that he
now gets a life sentence without the possibility of parole,
and in fact he's still serving his life sentence today.
There was actually an attempt on his life in two
(31:42):
thousand and seven when he was stabbed repeatedly with a
shive by another inmate, but he survived this and is
alive today.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I don't ever want anyone to die, of course, but
you know, I'm happy that he does not have the
option of being prolled. But I will say, like I
said at the very top of the episode, I remember
being so inspired by Rebecca's case because I do know
that laws were changed because of the Teresa Saldama's and
(32:15):
the Rebecca Schaefers, and one of those laws that was
passed was in nineteen ninety four, the Driver's Privacy Protection
Act was passed. So this is a federal law that
limits the disclosure of personal information like where someone lives
that you can get from state DMVs, So no one
can obtain someone's home address from DMV reports the way
(32:39):
that that private investigator that John Bardo hired did. And
this law was spurred to try to ensure the safety
of people like Rebecca Schaeffer who are being stocked or battered,
as well as instances of anti abortion activists targeting abortion
providers and patients, you know, I mean, it protects so many, yeah,
(33:04):
and so in that way, I truly believe that there
is a little bit of light in this darkness of
this story. Right, things are a little bit better for
those of us or those of you who experience the
terror of stalking, you know, But of course the problem
is sadly far from over, but it's getting better.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
And that brings us to our EMUA. Today's message of
hope and healing goes out to all of those like
Rebecca Schaeffer who have faced fear and intimidation at the
hands of a stalker.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Being stocked can be a very scary experience. We have
to remember that stalking victims suffer much higher rates of depression, anxiety,
and insomnia than others, and the advancement of technology has
made the problem more acute in many ways. More than
twice as many victims are stocked with technology than without.
(34:04):
Cyber stalking and cyberbullying are sadly on the rise.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
And what we do know is stocking behavior is still
too often portrayed as just harmless or even romantic.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
But it isn't.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
It's incredibly dangerous and it should never be considered acceptable.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
End of story.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
If you're among the estimated thirteen point five million people
who are stocked in a given year, we see you,
and we will continue to speak out on your behalf.
When enough of us do this, it can really make
a difference. We all need to use our voices for good.
Onward and upward, Emua, Emua. If you or someone you
(34:53):
know is experiencing stalking behavior, you can find tools and
resources to help at www dot stokingawareness dot org. That's
www dot stokingawareness dot org.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Well, that is our show for today.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
As always, we'd love to hear what you thought about
today's discussion and if there is a case that you
would like us to cover, find us on social media
or email us at Facingeable Pod at tenderfoot dot tv
and one request. If you haven't already, please find us
on iTunes and.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Give us a review and a good rating. If you
like what we do, your support is always cherished until
next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Pequerrero in a Vetchintila,
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(36:06):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at Facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(36:30):
favorite shows
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