The Hangman

Gerard John Schaefer was convicted for murders he committed while he was working as a police officer. While he was convicted of murdering "only" two victims, he was suspected of many others. Schaefer exhausted his appeals while simultaneously boasting — in writing and in conversation — of having murdered over eighty women and girls, although the true number of victims is unknown.

SOURCES

https://www.newspapers.com/article/31335180/lg-crime-serial-murderercop-girl/
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/133727420/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/100219708/fort-lauderdale-news/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/778633187
https://www.newspapers.com/article/103108202/the-palm-beach-post/
https://web.archive.org/web/20220709143237/https://www.miamighostchronicles.com/the-devil-tree.html
Parker, RJ (2014). "Protect and Serve: Gerard John Schaefer". In Hartwell, Deb (ed.). Serial Killer Groupies.
https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/schaefer-gerard.htm

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Episode Transcript

(00:30):
Dark Cast Network. Welcome to thedark Side of podcasting. Hey, Hey,
welcome back to Autumn's Oddities. I'mAutumn. I have to warn you
that today's episode is a gold Starcase, meaning that it is graphic and
as gruesome as it gets. Youknow that I don't like, you know,

(00:53):
covering a ton of serial killers,mainly because I feel like that's what
they want. They want attention,they want their name out there. I'm
not going to say this asshole's namemany times. I'm going to refer to
him by his last name. I'mnot going to say his nickname a bunch
of times. But I felt theneed to cover this case because there are
victims that never got justice. Sostrap In this one is not for the

(01:18):
faint of heart. Trigger warnings allaround. It does involve sexual assault,
dismemberment, necrophilia, horrifying manifestos aboutviolence against women, and the most deviant
behavior that you could possibly imagine.Let's get into it. Gerard John Schaeffer
was convicted in nineteen seventy three formurders he committed while he was working as

(01:42):
a police officer. While he wasconvicted of murdering only two victims, those
are his words, he was suspectedof having killed many others. Schaefer frequently
appealed against his conviction, yet privatelyboasted, both verbally and in writing,
of having murdered over thirty women andgirls. From here on, I won't

(02:07):
be giving this monster the respect ofsaying his full name. Also, I'm
only speaking about his background so thatyou can see what real evil looks like.
I personally don't give a shit abouthis background. It doesn't justify what
he did. Shaffer was born inWisconsin on March twenty fifth, nineteen forty

(02:27):
six, the oldest of three childrenin a family he later described as turbulent
and conflictual. Big deal. Yearslater, when interviewed by court appointed psychiatrists,
he would refer to himself as anillegitimate child, even though he wasn't
now he was the product of ashotgun wedding, and to that, I
say, so what, I marriedmy husband when I was pregnant. Big

(02:50):
deal. He described his father asverbally abusive and an alcoholic, flagrantly adulterous,
and often absent from home on businesstrips or otherwise. And again same
here. I went through the samething as a child, and I've never
killed anyone. In nineteen sixty,Schaeffer's family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
and by that time, if webelieve Schaeffer's statements to psychiatrists, he

(03:15):
was well on his way to hisestablished m O. From an early age,
doctor R. C. Eaton recordedin nineteen seventy three Shaffer had numerous
sexual hang ups. I don't thinkthat's the correct term for them, sir.
His experiments with bondage and sado masochismbegan around age twelve. He said,

(03:38):
I'd tie myself up to a treeand I'd get excited sexually and do
something to hurt myself. And thisis he told this to doctor Mordecai Haber.
Around the same time, he beganto masturbate and fantasize about hurting other
people, women in particular. Andas if this wasn't enough, Shader Shaeffer,

(03:58):
I don't know. I don't givea shit if I miss pronounce his
name, Shaffer recalled quote. Idiscovered women's underwear panties. Okay, sometimes
I wore them. I wanted tohurt myself. Oh I wish you had,
sir. The violent self loathing wentback to his earliest childhood games.
I guess he played these games withhis sister, and he said that he
always got killed in the games,and he wanted to die, and that

(04:21):
his father favored his sister, sohe wanted to be a girl. He
repeated over and over that he wantedto die because he was such a disappointment
to his family as a kid,and that his father only loved his sister.
He just couldn't please his dad,so in playing games, he wanted
to be killed. And to that, I say, if you wanted to
die, why didn't you just goahead and kill yourself instead of praying on

(04:44):
women and girls. Seems like asimple solution, right, No, I
think he just wants sympathy. Hedid not really want to die. Schaeffer
claimed to have visited a psychiatrist innineteen sixty six seeking treatment for his sexual
deviance and homicidal fantas sees, butsaid that therapy did nothing to abate them.
Again, if his later statements arecredible, he claimed that he heard

(05:08):
voices telling him to kill That sameyear, he toured the South with this
is ridiculous moral rearmament, which Iguess is like a cheery folk group that
sang songs like Up with the Peopleabout freedom not being free. Freedom isn't
free. Yeah. So Shaeffer thoughtabout the priesthood as a calling, but

(05:29):
he was turned away from Saint John'sseminary, where he said that they told
him that he didn't have enough faith. The rejection aimed angered Shafer so much
that he quit the Catholic Church.All what a loss for them. Schaeffer
developed erotic fantasies of hurting women whomhe deemed worthy of his contempt. And
I don't know or care what hiscriteria were, but I guess he had

(05:54):
them, probably as if you identifiedas a woman, then he thought of
you as worthy of his contempt,is my guess. These fantasies gradually evolved
into his developing a penchant for sadomasochism and bondage, and deriving pleasure from
inflicting pain upon himself occasionally as hewore women's underwear until he achieved orgasm via

(06:17):
autoerotic asphyxia. And this is soundingvery BTK. Typically, these sado massochistic
rituals involved Schaefer tying himself to atree in rural locations, and again Dennis
Rader did the same stuff. Thesefantasies would increase in terms of frequency and
intensity over time, gradually taking overhis mind during waking hours. Schaeffer also

(06:44):
became a peeping tom in his midteens and is known to have developed the
habit of cross dressing. And Ithink by that it's meant that he would
put on much like Dennis Rader wouldput on women's lingerie and take pictures of
himself in a compromising position. Iguess although he did date women in his
high school years, several female classmatescame forward just you know, with nothing

(07:09):
good to say about him. Theyall viewed him with a lot of disdain.
One former classmate, Barbara Crowlick,later recalled, I can't remember him
being friends with any of the guys. He was always an outsider looking in.
As a matter of fact, theonly thing I really remember is that
I always had to tuck my skirtunder my legs because Schaffer would practically stand

(07:29):
on his head to look up agirl's skirt. Man, I would have
fucked this dude up. I wouldhave This is just infuriating, you know
what I mean, Like a girl'sgoing to school and has to tuck her
things between her legs, so thatthis guy doesn't assault her. It's disgusting,
absolutely disgusting. And to that,I say, why was this kind

(07:50):
of behavior ever allowed? Schaeffer wasconsidered a promising student by his teachers,
even though he was a freaking pervertand disgusting all around. And his records
revealed that he was a member ofthe varsity football team during his sophomore in
junior years, and he is knownto have been an excellent golfer. And
to that, I say, whocares? He was just trying to mimic

(08:13):
what normal people do. It's notbecause he had an interest in any of
those things. He graduated from SaintThomas Aquinas High School in June of nineteen
sixty four, and very briefly workedas a fishing guide in the Everglades before
enrolling at Broward Community College. Schaferinitially enrolled as a social studies major at

(08:33):
Broward Community College in September of nineteensixty four before switching to teaching god in
which he got average grades shocking Afterhis sophomore year at Broward, he applied
for and was accepted for a scholarshipat FAU Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton,
where he began his studies in nineteensixty eight. Oh, in the

(08:58):
hopes to obtain a Bachelor's of Artseducation. And yes, because this deviant
who wants to hurt women and girlsshould be allowed in a school. God,
you're going to be furious by theend of this episode. How many
just grotesque things this man does whileon the job in public service jobs most

(09:18):
of the time, and he justkeeps getting away with it like he'll be
dismissed and rehired somewhere else and nobodydoes need do diligence. You're going to
be pissed. In December of nineteensixty eight, Schaefer married Martha Marty Louise
fogg I can't believe he found anyoneto marry him. She was a fellow
FAU student two years younger than him, whom he'd met at Broward. The

(09:41):
two briefly toured together in her patrioticsinging troupe sing Out sixty six, which
offered an alternative to the contemporary hippiemovement. And Wow, not only is
this guy a psychopath, but he'sa narc two. He's got all kinds
of strikes against him. The couplerunted a lace on Southwest twenty second Street
in Fort Lauderdale, and unsurprisingly,their relationship did not last long. Shafer's

(10:07):
incessant demands for sex and you know, him spending pretty much all of his
free time hunting or the catalysts fora breakup. The two divorced on May
second, nineteen seventy, with hiswife citing Schaeffer's extreme cruelty as the reason
for their separation. And to that, I say, what did he do?

(10:28):
I couldn't really find that anywhere.Well, this is every parents worse
nightmare. In March nineteen sixty nine, Schaeffer got a student teaching internship at
Plantation High School. He began onSeptember twenty three, teaching mainly geography,
but he was fired on November seventh. So how long is that like a

(10:50):
couple of weeks? Barely for refusingto accept the advice from his superiors,
and also for constantly attempting to imposehis own moral and or pull political opinions
on his students that resulted in theschool receiving numerous complaints from parents of his
students. Shortly thereafter, Shaffer wasunsuccessfully he applied for a teaching position at

(11:13):
Boca Raton Community High School. Hedid not get that good excellent. Four
months later, in March of nineteenseventy, Schaeffer somehow got another teaching internship.
This application was accepted, and hebegan teaching geography at Stranahan High School
on April second. Progress reports indicatethat Schaefer did not perform well. In

(11:35):
fact, he performed very poorly atStranahan High. His superiors noted that he
was arrogant and he had very limitedknowledge of the subject he taught. You
fucking them, Schaeffer. Seven weeksafter Schaeffer started that teaching position, the
principle of Stranahan High informed him ofthe school's decision to withdraw him from the

(11:56):
internship by May eighteenth. Again,this man is not lasting long anywhere.
He goes like just a couple ofmonths really, and his career as a
student teacher formally ended the following day. I mean, if these people were
being honest, like I think theywere making excuses to fire him, you
know, like he had limited subjectknowledge. Maybe that's true. I think

(12:18):
they probably saw him around students andwere like, oh, no, we
made a mistake. This guy isa creep. He got to go.
So Schaeffer took a few weeks tonurse his wounds, you know, from
being fired. He went to Europein North Africa that summer, and he
came home with a new goal forhis life. If he couldn't be a

(12:39):
priest or a teacher, you know, someone wielding power over children, he
would be a policeman. And tothat, I say, wow, let's
give him a gun and a badgewhile we're at it. Good God.
He applied to several departments and wasrejected by the Broward County Sheriff's Office after
failing a psychological test, which isa pretty hard to pass if you have

(13:01):
like any sort of mental illness ordark thoughts. My dad used to administer
some of those tests for the firedepartment. He was a chief, a
battalion chief, and he said,you would be surprised how many people openly
admit to fantasizing about killing other peopleor killing their parents. He said,
it's a lot, like a surprisingnumber. But anyway, the small Wilton

(13:24):
Manors Police department went ahead and hiredhim even though he couldn't pass a psychological
evaluation. It's just great, goodjob guys on September one, nineteen seventy,
Schaefer applied for a vacancy in theWilton Manors Police Department. However,
he failed to disclose the fact thathe had twice been fired from student teaching
positions within just the previous year.Instead, he falsely claimed to have had

(13:48):
two years of experience as a researchassistant at FAU and to have also recently
returned to the US from Morocco fromsome sort of a mission trip, which
was just complete and total bullshit allof it. Schaefer's previous work history was
not verified because I guess someone waslazy and just didn't feel like checking on
the background of someone they were aboutto give a whole lot of power and

(14:09):
a weapon too. And He wasformally inducted into the Broward County Police Department
in September of nineteen seventy one,graduating as a patrolman at the end of
the year at the age of twentyfive. In January of nineteen seventy one,
seven months before Schaefer began his careeras a police officer, he met

(14:30):
a nineteen year old secretary named TeresaDean while he was still working at a
security guard Before he got the policingjob. They were soon engaged and married
in Fort Lauderdale on September eleventh ofthat year. According to Schaeffer, his
second marriage was a lot better thanthe first. His second wife just acquiesced
to his constant demands for sex andalso shared his passion for fishing. So

(14:54):
they did that together. And Iguess his standards for a good wife,
you know, was her willing tobe a sex doll? Disgusting. But
Shaeffer, he didn't last long inhis position within the Wilton Manors Police.
He was there for just six monthsWilton Manners. I don't know why.
It's hard to say. Although heearned a commendation for his conduct during a

(15:15):
March nineteen seventy two police raid ona drug house, his overall performance was
considered poor. Just one month afterreceiving that commendation, he was fired on
April twentieth, and explanations for hisfiring very Chief Bernard Scott later said that
Shaffer did not have quote an ounceof common sense, while x FBI agent

(15:37):
Robert Wrestler reports that Schaeffer was disciplinedfor running female traffic violators through the department's
computer, obtaining their personal information andlater calling them for dates. God,
this is all of this? Arethe top five every part of this,
or just the top five worst nightmaresfor women? I don't know if you've

(15:58):
ever had an experience with being pulledover by somebody who clearly was pulling you
over to flirt. I had thathappen to me when I was in high
school. I think I was asenior in high school. I got pulled
over when I was I was goingto speed limit for sure, I was
lost, and cop pulled me overin a very isolated country road. I
was on my way back home fromtaking one of my friends to prom like

(16:21):
I think it was in Cynthiana.I saw Anya. Yeah, we went
together with a couple of random guys. Very last second, very last second.
But I was going pretty slowly downa country road and I got pulled
over, and you know, heasked why you know? Do you know
why I pulled you over? AndI was like, honestly, no,
and he said you were speeding andI said honestly, I was like sorry,

(16:42):
I don't think I was. Andhe was like it's okay, I'm
gonna let you off with a warning, and then stood there and flirted with
me and tried to take my phonenumber and everything. And I mean he
took my license. He knew Iwasn't even eighteen. Yeah, so that
was scary. I was like,I was extremely afraid. We were not
near anyone or anything, and I'mlike, if this man wants to hurt

(17:06):
or you know, sexually assault orkill me, he could do it and
no one would believe me most likely. So this is terrifying. This is
a terrifying scenario for women. Whateverthe cause of his firing, Schaeffer needed
a new job. Near the endof June, he signed on with the
Martin County Sheriff's Department, pulling upstakes and moving to Stuart, Florida.

(17:26):
He had been on the job lessthan a month when he made quote a
dumb mistake. And when you hearwhat this dumb mistake is, you're gonna
be just floored. And that dumbmistake would cost him his career and his
freedom. Shortly before this dismissal fromWilton Manor, Schaeffer had started looking for
a better paying law enforcement position elsewhere, and he began his service as a

(17:51):
deputy with the Martin County Sheriff's Departmenton June twenty third, nineteen seventy two,
after forging a letter of recommendation fromWilton Manners endorsing his application. A
standard background check revealed that he hadno criminal record, which is extremely unfortunate.
But they didn't really do any furtherdigging. They just accepted this forged

(18:14):
letter from Wilton Manor. Nobody pickedup the phone and called and said,
hey, about that letter of recommendationhe wrote, Can I talk to you
about this applicant that we have?No They just took it at face value
and hired this guy, even thoughhe I believe had been fired for inappropriately
he calling women that he pulled overbecause he wanted a date with them.

(18:37):
On July twenty first, nineteen seventytwo, Shaffer came across two teenage hitchhikers,
eighteen year old Nancy Ellen Trotter andseventeen year old Paula Sue Wells,
on the highway near a local beachwhile he was on duty. He pulled
over and told them that hitchhiking wasillegal in Martin County, which was a
lie. It was not illegal atall. He went on to lecture them

(19:00):
about the dangers of hitchhiking and toldthem not to do it anymore, and
then he drove them back to wherethey were staying. After talking to the
girls on the ride home, hegleaned the information that, you know,
neither one of them was from Florida, they didn't have any family there.
So Schaeffer offered to meet them thenext morning, that time off duty and
drive them to Jensen Beach himself.The girls agreed to meet him at a

(19:25):
bandstand on East Ocean Boulevard at ninefifteen am, but instead of taking them
to the beach on July twenty second, Shaeffer drove them to swampy Hutchinson Island
off State Road A one A.On this occasion, he was not wearing
his police uniform and he was alsodriving his own personal vehicle. He convinced
Trotter and Wells that he was stillon duty, having been switched to Plaine

(19:49):
clothes and an undercover assignment. Soyou know, this was his explanation for
driving an unmarked vehicle wearing plain clothes. And these girls they just did not
know any better. Why would theywhy would you be Like my first instinct,
especially back in the seventies, myfirst instinct or sixties. Why would
you be like I should start questioningthis cop. You know, like there

(20:10):
wasn't a ton of distrust. Ithink there was starting to be, at
least within the counterculture movement, butI don't think they were like we should
question this authority figure. Shortly afterthe girls got into the car, though,
Schaeffer deviated from their route and hewas like, I'm going to show
you an old Spanish fort near HutchinsonIsland. En route, he again briefly

(20:33):
lectured the girls against accepting rides fromstrangers and of course, the dangers of
being sold into white slavery yikes,And he stopped the vehicle close to a
dilapidated shed deep inside a remote forest. If you're getting a sinking feeling,
yeah, you're you're correct. Thisis where it's going to get rough.

(20:55):
When they got to the shed inthe middle of nowhere, he started making
sexual remarks to the two girls andsaid that he was going to sell them
into sexual slavery. Yeah. Sohe pulled over by that shed. He
forced them out of the car,then handcuffed and gagged them. He then
took one of them to a largecypress tree close to the Indian river,

(21:15):
tying her legs to the trunk justbelow her knees before putting a noose around
her neck. He then affixed thenoose to a branch in such a manner
that she was forced to stand onthe exposed roots of the tree in order
just to counter you know, thepressure of the noose around her neck,
just to stop herself from being hung. Schaeffer then took the other victim to

(21:37):
another tree a short distance away,where she too was bound in a similar
manner and forced to stand on thenarrow, exposed tree roots. Schaeffer then
coldly told both of them that theywere going to be raped and murdered,
and I cannot even imagine the absoluteterror that he put them through. At

(22:00):
that moment, Shaffer received an urgentradio dispatch telling him to immediately report to
the police station. He left bothgirls bound and standing on the roots of
trees, desperately trying to keep theirbalance so they wouldn't slowly suffocate. He
vowed to return and told one ofthem, I gotta go. Both girls
were warned not to try and runaway, because I'm not going to be

(22:22):
very far down the road with Schaeffer. He was claiming that he was going
down the road to talk to theman that he intended to sell them to.
When Shaffer returned to the forest roughlytwo hours later, he discovered that
both girls had escaped. He immediatelyreturned home to call his station, where
he informed Sheriff Robert Crowder quote,I've done something very foolish. You'll be

(22:45):
mad at me. Shaffer then proceededto explain that he decided to teach two
girls a lesson about the risks ofhitchhiking, but he overdid the job.
He then proceeded to explain he hadabandoned the two and the general swampland area
of Hutchinson Island, not far fromthe Indian River. What what like if

(23:08):
you were this man's boss and yougot this call, what would you even
do? Like? Really? WhileCrowder and Lieutenant Melvin Waldron rushed down Florida
State Road A one A, whereclose to the highway, they discovered a
desperate, partially gagged teenage girl withher hands tied behind into her back,

(23:29):
flutter kicking down the river. Asthe officers got closer, they observed the
distraught girl climbed from the river bankwith her jeans and blouse partially shredded.
After removing the gag from her mouth, she said that her name was Nancy,
and she managed to get out thather friend was still somewhere in the
forest. To Nancy's relief, shewas informed that a truck driver had discovered

(23:53):
her friend staggering through the woods inthe direction towards the highway about forty five
minutes earlier, and that her friendwas already at the police station. Thankfully,
Schaeffer was fired on the spot,no ship and charged with false imprisonment
and two counts of aggravated assault.Approximately two weeks after his arrest, Shaffer

(24:14):
posted a fifteen thousand dollars bail,meaning that he was a freeman until his
November nineteen seventy two trial began.Can I ask why the fuck somebody let
him out? He kidnapped and boundtwo teenage girls, left them in the
woods with nooses around their neck.You let him out? Are you out
of your mind? Truly? Hethen returned to the house that he and

(24:37):
his second wife rented in Stewart,and his wife and in laws said they
noticed no change in his behavior ordemeanor, and they actually believed his claims
that he was just trying to teachthe hitchhikers a lesson. And to that,
I say, even if you believethat that's what he was doing,
he still kidnapped two girls and tiedthem to trees with a noose around on

(25:00):
their necks. That's not teaching someonea lessons. That is committing several crimes
for which he was charged Good Lord. At trial in November nineteen seventy two,
he pled guilty on one assault chargeand the other counts were dropped.
Judge D. C. Smith calledSchaeffer a thoughtless fool and sentenced him to
a year in county jail, tobe followed by three years probation. The

(25:22):
ex deputy began serving his sentence onJanuary fifteenth, nineteen seventy three. That's
not it, though. The mostshocking revelations were yet to come. Two
other girls were missing from the neighborhood, and they would not be as lucky
as Trotter and Wells. On Septembertwenty seventh, nineteen seventy two, while

(25:44):
Schaeffer was free on bond pending trial, seventeen year old Susan place In sixteen
year old Georgia Jessup vanished from FortLauderdale. Susan's parents said the girls were
last seen at her house, leavingwith an older man named Jerry Shepherd on
their way to play guitar at anearby beach. In reality, on that

(26:06):
day, September twenty, nineteen seventytwo, Schaeffer abducted Susan Carroll Place and
Georgia Marie Jessup. The two firstmet Schaeffer while all three of them were
attending a class at an adult educationcenter in Fort Lauderdale. Schaefer introduced himself
to the girls as Jerry Shepherd,claiming that he was from Colorado and that
he was going to return there aftera trip to Mexico, and somehow he

(26:30):
befriended the much younger girls. Onthe afternoon of their disappearance, susan places
mother, Lucille, arrived home tofind her daughter straightening up her room as
Georgia Jessup set on a chair.Both of them introduced Lucille to a man
in his twenties, whom they referredto as Jerry. Place initially informed her

(26:51):
mother that she, Jessup, andJerry were going to the beach to play
guitar, although you know Place,his mother remained suspicious. Jerry assured her
that his intentions were good, andLucille won buying it. She was still
skeptical, so she jotted down thelicense plate number of his nineteen sixty nine
debts and Place assured her mother thatshe would be gone just for a little

(27:12):
while and that she would remain incontact. The girls left the Place household
with Schaeffer at approximately eight forty fivePM. Yeah, this is so sad.
When Place had not returned after fourdays, Lucille first contacted Georgia Jessup's
mother, Shirley, only to learnher daughter had run away on September twenty

(27:33):
seventh, and that she likewise hadnot heard from either girl. Since both
girls were subsequently reported missing to theOakland Park Police and were largely believed to
be runaways, Lucille gave investigators theplate number that she had taken down,
in addition to a physical description ofthe man that the girls had left her
home with. That registration was tracedto an entirely separate model of vehicle.

(27:57):
It was not the nineteen sixty DATSand belonging to a Saint Petersburg resident who
did not resemble Jerry Shepherd. Andwho also had a solid alibi for the
date of the girl's disappearance. Theonly Jerry Shepherd registered as living in Fort
Lauderdale was also eliminated from police inquiries, and by early nineteen seventy three,

(28:18):
the teenager's disappearance had become a coldcase. In March of nineteen seventy three,
Lucille Place discovered a letter written byJerry Shepherd in air quotes in her
daughter's bedroom. She decided to driveto the return address on the letter three
three three Martin Avenue in Stuart,Florida, Stuart, Florida for Stuart,

(28:40):
Florida, only to learn from thebuilding manager that Jerry Shepherd had registered at
the property under his real name,Yeah asshole Shaeffer, and that he was
recently sent to jail for the abductionand attempted hanging of two girls. And
what a horrendous sink feeling that musthave been for her to realize that her

(29:03):
daughter left the house with a manwho had just been sentenced to prison time
for the abduction and attempted hanging oftwo girls. As Lucille and her husband
Ira drove around the county, sherealized that the investigators had likely incorrectly noted
Schaeffer's license plate number as being registeredin Penellas County, which is where Saint

(29:25):
Petersburg is, as opposed to MartinCounty, given the fact that most license
plates she saw Martin County began withthe numbers forty two and not four like
in Penellas County, and investigators hadpreviously informed her that the location of the
plate that she had provided belonged toPenellas County. So somewhere wires got crossed.

(29:48):
I don't think that's how license plateswork anymore, you know, counties
don't begin with a certain number,but I guess back then they did that,
And upon relaying this new information topolice, Lucille discovered the plate she
had noted actually belonged to a bluegreen DATS and registered to one Gerard Schaeffer,
who resided at three three three MartinAvenue. When questioned, Schaeffer denied

(30:10):
ever having encountered the girls, youknow, either either one of them or
her parents, although Lucille positively identifieda Wilton Manners personnel photograph of Schaeffer as
the man who was calling himself JerrySheppard and who her daughter left with that
day, despite Shaffer's adamant denial ofhaving any involvement. The case began unraveling

(30:32):
on April first, nineteen seventy three, when skeletal remains were found on Hutchinson
Island by three men collecting aluminum cans. They they discovered the extensively decomposed remains
of two individuals scattered in and arounda hole dug near some trees in Oakhammock
Park in Port Saint Lucy, Florida. The location of the grave was about

(30:56):
two hundred and twelve feet or sixtyfive meters from the nearest dirt road,
and the grave itself was very shallow. It was about three inches deep and
two feet wide, very very small. There were deep scratch marks that were
easily seen on the base of thetree that was running immediately along the grave
site, close to where sections ofa torso had been bound to the base

(31:18):
of the tree trunk. One victimwore the remnants of blue jeans with a
roadrunner emblem, and the other wascompletely nude. There was a pile of
clothing belonging to the decedents, andit was discovered in nearby undergrowth. Sections
of both bodies had evidently been disinterredand scattered about by the wildlife. I

(31:41):
mean it's Florida and the wilderness,and the location of the bodies was approximately
six miles from where Trotter and Wellshad been captive prior to their escape the
previous summer. Both victims had beenbound and killed, with their spine cords
severed at the lumbar and cervical sectionand several bones completely severed with a knife

(32:06):
or a machete. Their bodies hadbeen decapitated after death, and their jawbones
had sustained numerous fractures. One setof remains, later identified as Susan Place,
had also sustained a gunshot wound toher lower jaw or mandible, consistent
with a twenty two caliber pistol.Sections of bark from a banyan tree approximately

(32:28):
nine feet from the grave indicated oneor both victims had been suspended from this
tree long enough to leave welt marksin the bark prior to their deaths.
Also, the initials g J hadbeen carved into a tree trunk, the
roots of which bore several deep knife, machete or axe marks containing torn sections

(32:51):
of clothing fibers belonging to the victims. The bodies were taken to the Dade
County Medical Examiner's Department, where doctorRichard Suvin formally identified the victims via their
dental records and healed bone fractures asboth Susan Place and Georgia Jessup just four
days after they were found. Shortlythereafter, Schaeffer was informed of the identifications

(33:15):
and he immediately requested the representation ofa public defender. The individual appointed as
his legal representation was Elton Schwartz.The location of these discoveries and of course
the victim's identities, plus the similaritiesin the method of abduction and murders to
place in Jessup to Schaeffer's earlier captivityof Trotter and Wells, I mean,

(33:37):
it's exactly the same. It ledpolice in Broward County and Martin County to
obtain search warrants for Schaeffer's house andvehicle, as well as his mother's home,
after Place's mother formally identified Schaeffer asbeing the man that she had last
seen with her daughter and of courseGeorgia Jessup as well. On April seventh,

(33:58):
police obtained to search warrant for thehome of Schaeffer's mother, where he
had personal items stored in a sparebedroom. It's gonna get horrifying. Inside
a locked bedroom in the Fort Lauderdaleresidence, police found three hundred pages of
lurid stories stewaries, occasionally accompanied bysome very crude illustrations. Schaeffer had both

(34:20):
written and typed these over the courseof several years. These stories detailed the
kidnapping, humiliation, rape, andexecution by hanging of a number of teenage
girls and women whom he routinely referredto as horrors, sluts, and harlots,
including two named Belinda and Carmen,and an unidentified woman whom he geographically

(34:42):
or who he graphically describes as hangingat an unknown location close to Powerline Road.
And we see this so often whenpeople want to dehumanize women, they
call them names. If you rememberthe Christian smart case where Paul Floras and
his father, Reuben Flores, whoPaul is in jail and just yesterday he
had he was put into general populationof the prison for the first time and

(35:07):
had his throat slit. He's stillalive. But I don't wish harm on
anyone but Paul Flores. I wishnothing but the worst for him. But
you know, he and his fatherboth referred to Kristen Smart as a slut
and a whore. And for whatreason? Because she told you to your
son know that she wouldn't have sexwith him, and he fucking killed her.
Yeah, okay, Yeah, she'sa slut and whore because she won't

(35:29):
give you what She wouldn't give youwhat you wanted. Several of these narratives
indicated that Schaeffer had forced his victimsto drink alcohol, usually beer or wine,
as they stood on the roots oftrees or whatever he could find with
the noose around their necks, sothat he could watch them urinate prior to
their hanging. He had frequently returnedto the crime scenes weeks or months after

(35:51):
the murders in order to commit actsof necrophilia with buried and dismembered bodies or
to extract teeth from the skulls.His writings also revealed his fascinations with historical
methods of torture and execution, andthe pleasure that he derived from observing acutely
distressed females urinate and or defecate priorto and at the time of their hangings,

(36:16):
and I told you this was rough. I'm having a hard time reading
this. It's making me sick,and it's also making me want to just
annihilate people like this. Also foundat the Fort Lauderdale residents were eleven guns,
bags filled with live and spent cartridges, thirteen hunting knives, sections of
ropes, and scores of softcore pornographicmagazines which he had modified to depict nude

(36:42):
urinating women bound with ropes, hangingfrom trees and other makeshift gallows. And
also some of them were riddled withbullet holes. I just can't feel like
this is insanity. Other images werecovered were thirty seven black and white polaroid
photographs picking women being hung and ormutilated, typically in thickets that were suspected

(37:05):
to be somewhere in Davy, Florida, although the focus of those images were
not sufficient to permit identification of thesubjects. Several other images depicted Schaeffer himself
dressed in female clothing or garments simulatinghis own, hanging from a tree with
fecal matters smeared across his buttocks.I wish he'd just hung himself. You
wanted to die so badly, justhang yourself. Good lord, I just

(37:29):
admit that you hate women and youwanted to kill them. You know,
just admit that. Why do youneed to say I wanted to die,
but instead of dying, I killedother people. You didn't want to die,
A piece of shit, You wantedto kill women. The April sixth
search of Schaeffer's own Martin County residentsyielded less physical evidence, although investigators did
recover two human teeth hidden in aplastic capsule inside the master bedroom, several

(37:53):
knives and firearms inside a utility shed, and an extensively bloodstained white pillow case
which had been washed. Georgia Jessupshe had a distinctive suade purse, and
it was discovered to be in thepossession of Schaeffer's wife. Yeah. She
later told police that her husband hadgiven it to her as a gift near

(38:15):
the time. Yeah, that hekilled Georgia Jessup, but he had attempted
to persuade both her and his brotherin law, Henry Dean, to get
rid of the item after learning ofthe April first discovery of the bodies in
Old Oakhamock Park. Yeah, andhe told them, you know, get
rid of it. Only because thepolice might use it to make up some

(38:37):
kind of evidence against me. Well, it is evidence, it's direct evidence.
Actually, so yeah. Despite Shaffer'sbest efforts, his brother in law
turned in the purse to police.Evidence recovered in the search at his mother's
home also included a stash of women'sjewelry, another hundred plus pages of writing
and sketches depicting mutilation and murder ofwomen, newspaper clippings about two women missing

(39:02):
since nineteen sixty nine, and piecesof ID belonging to vanished hitchhikers Collette good
Enough and Barbara Wilcox, both nineteen. Let's get into that. On January
eleventh, nineteen seventy three, hitchhikersCollette Marie Goodenough and Barbara Ann Wilcox disappeared

(39:23):
while hitchhiking from Sioux City, Iowa, to Florida. Both were last seen
live in Biloxi, Mississippi, onJanuary eighth, a week before Schaeffer was
sent to jail in Martin County.I know, I am screaming, but
that means that while he was outon bail, he traveled out of state
and he killed these women. Goodjob, justice system, Good job.

(39:46):
It was found that Schaeffer had madea long distance phone call from Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, to his Florida residence shortlybefore good Enough and Wilcox's disappearance,
and likely he encountered the two whilereturned to Florida. Their scattered skeletal remains
were discovered close to a large treeand an orange crate, which I'm assuming

(40:07):
he had one of them stand onin January of nineteen seventy seven. Both
victims had been bound together with balingwire, and impressions on the tree branches,
coupled with the actual positioning of theorange crate, indicate that one or
both of the victims had been suspendedfrom the tree as their killer sat or
stood upon the orange crate. Whiletheir skeletal remains were found in early nineteen

(40:30):
seventy seven, no cause of deathcould be determined, just because they were
too badly deteriorated, and no chargeswere filed. As for the newspaper clippings,
one referred to the February nineteen sixtynine disappearance of waitress Carmen Halleck,
seemingly abducted from her own home.Items of her jewelry were found in Schaefer's

(40:52):
hoard, along with a gold filledtooth, which was identified by Carmen Halleck's
dentist as belonging to her, butonce again, no charges were filed for
whatever reason. Hi, hello,I know I'm a retired lawyer, but
I just want to make sure thateveryone knows that there is no statute of

(41:13):
limitation on murder. Good lord,what is the problem, really? Truly?
What's the problem? There was morethan enough probable cause to charge Shaffer
with this woman's murder, but Iguess nobody felt like doing the legwork.
I don't know. Like her toothwas found in his home? How much
more do you want? Really?Where do you think he got that from?

(41:34):
The secondness and woman Lee Bonadies hadbeen a neighbor of Schaffers when she
disappeared in September nineteen sixty nine.He had complained of her taunting him by
undressing with her curtains open in herown home, and a piece of her
jewelry was found among his belongings,but no charges were filed when her skeletal

(41:55):
remains were finally recovered in nineteen seventyeight. And wow, how dare anyone
get undressed? In their own home. How about don't fucking look in her
window, you pervert. She's allowedto do what she wants in her own
home. Don't look good, God, she wouldn't standing out in the street
undressing. I understand if you lookthen, I mean I would look to

(42:16):
anybody would That's not a thing yousee every day. She was in her
own home. You're pervert who wasstanding and looking in her window? More
jewelry? I know you hear megetting very upset because this is just disgusting
and the fact that he can't takeaccountability for anything he's done. He can't
even take accountability for being a peepingtom. He blames it on women over

(42:37):
and over and over. It sickensme and it enrages me, and it
showed you too. Because there arepeople, many people out there like this.
And if you ever have like that, uncomfortable gut feeling about somebody,
trust it. Please do not assumethe best in everyone, because that's what

(42:58):
they want you to do. That'swhat these monsters lurking and hiding want you
to do. They want you tobelieve in the good in people. You
can believe in the good in somepeople, but you should always be a
skeptical especially if you have just agut feeling about somebody I know, you
know that feeling. More Jewelry linkedSHAFFERD. Schaeffer to the disappearance of fourteen

(43:22):
year old Mary Briskolina, who vanishedfrom Broward County with thirteen year old Elsie
Farmer in October of nineteen seventy two. Mary and Elsie vanished while hitchhiking to
a restaurant from a Lauderdale by theSea motel Motel I wish I could talk
Sea Motel. On October twenty six, nineteen seventy two, less than one

(43:44):
month after Place and Jessup were lastseen alive, their bodies were separately recovered
in undergrowth close to Sunrise Boulevard,not far from the city of Plantation early
the following year, both with theirlegs spread apart. Because he's a fucking
pig, Briskelina had been extensively beatenabout the head, with one blow to

(44:07):
her skull proving fatal. Several ofher fingernails had been torn from her body,
indicating a just a ferocious struggle withher killer. She thought for her
life. This child, this poorchild. Farmer had also been bludgeoned to
death. Subsequent questioning of Briskolina's friendsrevealed that she and Farmer frequently visited a

(44:29):
Lauderdale by the Sea apartment rented bythe older sister of Briskolina's boyfriend, and
that individual had these acquaintance or thisacquaintance that was called Gary Shepherd, and
Briskolina apparently knew Gary Shepherd. Thisindividual, whom several witnesses identified as Schaeffer

(44:51):
in a photo lineup, had alsoclaimed to be an ex Wilton Manners police
officer. I mean, come thehell on. Skeletons were found in early
nineteen seventy three, but once again, no cause of death could be determined
and no charges were filed. Andthis is insanity. I feel like I'm
taking crazy pills, like they mall these girls and women murdered and left

(45:19):
out in the wilderness the exact samemo And all of these witnesses come forward
and say, yeah, that's theguy that's calling himself, you know,
Jerry whatever the hell Shepherd whatever he'scalling himself on any given day, they
identify him and always said he worked, he's an ex Wilton Manners cop,
and oh, I have his licenseplate number and oh, the murdered victims,
jewelry and teeth are in this man'shouse. I don't know what else

(45:43):
you want. This is not acircumstantial case at all. It's not circumstantial
evidence when the teeth of a murdervictim are found in your house, It's
not so. The list of suspectedvictims would only grow over time, but
Schaeffer faced charges in only two ofthe murders. He was indicted on May

(46:06):
eighteenth, nineteen seventy three, forthe slayings of Jessup and Place. Schaffer's
trial began on September nineteenth, nineteenseventy three, in Saint Lucy County before
Judge Trowbridge. Since the murders ofSusan Place and Georgia Jessup had been committed
at a time when the Supreme Courtof Florida had declared capital punishment unconstitutional,

(46:28):
prosecutors were forced to seek life imprisonmentfor Schaeffer. The defendant, as I'll
refer to him, pleaded not guiltyto the charges against him and acted like
an asshole in court. He wasdistant and aloof and would often stare coldly
at prosecution witnesses when they testified orhe would turn to smile at members of

(46:49):
the press when a witness testified forhis own counsel m Although Shaffer did testify
the pre trial hearing in which hedenied any culpability in the murders of Place
and Jessup and claimed to be unableto recall his whereabouts on the date of
their abduction and murder, upon theadvice of his defense Counselor, he did
not testify at the trial itself.Yeah, because he's lying. You're not

(47:15):
to testify when your attorney knows you'relying. You're not allowed to openly lie
in court. In his opening statementto the jury, the prosecution outlined its
contention that the physical and circumstantial evidenceto be presented and in addition to various
eyewitness testimony and otherwise, would veryclearly illustrate Shaffer's guilt in the murders of

(47:36):
Place and Jessup, and that thestate expected the jurors to return a verdict
of guilty of murder in the firstdegree as to both counts. Following the
conclusion of the opening statement, thedefense requested permission of the court to reserve
its opening statement until the state hadrested its case this request was granted with

(47:57):
no objection from the prosecution. Thefirst witness to testify on behalf of the
state were the two individuals who haddiscovered the dismembered bodies. And I saw
various numbers. I saw two individualsdiscovered, and I also saw three,
but two of them were there totestify about finding the dismembered bodies of Place
in Jessup in Oakhammock Park. Themen recounted their discoveries, observations, and

(48:22):
of course when they contacted the authorities. Their testimony was followed by that of
Lieutenant Patrick Duval of the Saint LucyCounty Sheriff's Office, who described the crime
scene, the evidence they retrieved,and the grave, the very shallow grave
in which the victims had been looselyburied. Duval also testified that the lack

(48:42):
of erosion of the grave indicated thatthe grave had been dug into at least
twice, and he also identified severalcrime scene photographs. And we know why
this just there's not a word forwhat this man is, but we know
why he dug into those graves.Susan Place's parents also took the stand on

(49:06):
the first day of trial, toformally identify Schaeffer as the man whom they
had seen their daughter and Georgia Jessupin the company of just before their disappearance,
the last person they were seen alivewith, who called himself Jerry.
Despite efforts to discredit their identification,you know, of course, the defense
counsel did that both testified with certaintythat Schaeffer had been the man who visited

(49:30):
their house on the evening of theirdaughter's disappearance, and with whom she and
her friend had left with. GeorgiaJessup's parents and younger sister. Cheryl also
formally identified the distinctive suede purse foundin Schaeffer's wife's possession as belonging to Georgia
Jessup Yikes. Also to testify inthe opening days of the trial was a

(49:53):
clerk from the county courthouse who revealedSchaeffer's vehicle had been registered at his Martin
Avenue address one month prior to themurders, thus proving the license plate that
Susan Place's mother had noted did indeedbelong to Schaffer. Next on the stand
was Lieutenant David Yurchuk, who outlinedthe April nineteen seventy three search of Schaeffer's

(50:17):
mother's home and just the insane amountof evidence they retrieved. Doctor Richard Severn
testified as to the autopsies that hehad conducted upon the victims and also their
formal identification via dental records and distinctivehealed bone fractures. Severn withstood vigorous cross
examination from defense counsel Schwartz as tothe actual caliber of firearm that had inflicted

(50:44):
the gunshot wound to susan Place's mandible, remaining adamant that the bullet used to
shoot her was a twenty two caliberand not a twenty five caliber cartridge.
A Dade County medical examiner named JosephDavis, or doctor Joseph Davis if you're
now also, I'm not trying tojoke. I just messed up his name,
also detailed the restraining of the victimsprior to their deaths, the dismemberment

(51:07):
inflicted upon their bodies, and thenumerous knife marks evident upon the victim's bones.
Just so much evidence, it's insane. Nancy Trotter and Paula Wells also
testified as to their abduction and justbarely narrow escape from Shaffer during the first
week of trial. Good for them, that must have been so so difficult.

(51:30):
Trotter also recounted to the court astatement that Schaeffer made to her after
she had been bound to a tree, that he could dig a hole in
which to bury her in wells andthat nobody would ever find them. Sounds
familiar. Their testimony was followed bya video presentation depicting the girls as they
had been bound at Hutchinson Island.It's disturbing. I saw pictures of it.

(51:54):
I did not watch the footage.It is just the stuff of nightmares.
This footage was admitted into evidence bySchwartz, who was eager to illustrate
to the jury his contention that therehad been no harm done to the girls.
Fuck you, sir. They werekidnapped, told they were going to
be raped and murdered, and theywere hung from trees and abandoned. If

(52:15):
that man had not been called onthe radio, they would be dead and
in a hole. Among the state'sevidence presented before the jury were the actual
tree limbs that the victims had beensuspended from, and which still bore sections
of where upon the tree bark thatof course indicated that both girls had remained
suspended at the murder location for aperiod of time sufficient to create these deep

(52:38):
markings before their deaths. Also introducedinto evidence were the actual tree roots that
Place and Jessup had been forced tobalance themselves on to prevent you slow suffocation
prior to their torture and murder.A microanalyst named Harold Newt testified that the

(52:58):
sections of clothing fiber was discovered inthe route were a precise match to one
of the items of clothing at thecrime scene, and that hint fibers within
the sections of wearing upon the treelimbs had likely come from the rope.
Following the entry into evidence of amanuscript, the manuscript that was penned by
Shaffer in which he detailed how toquote properly execute women, the state announced

(53:27):
that you know, they had presentedtheir case. They were done, and
I'm sure they were happy to bedone. Schwartz immediately called for Shaeffer's acquittal
because you know, he's a defenseattorney, claiming that the state had not
proven its case against his client andthat all evidence presented was circumstantial. How
was that all circumstantial? Okay?The court, of course, ruled against

(53:47):
his motion. Good lord, it'slike, we get it. DNA wasn't
a thing, but if it was, I mean, we can go ahead.
If you want to make this adirect evidence case, Let's go ahead
and re examine all of that evidencenow and put that to bed. Yeah.
So the strategy of the defense wasobviously same, all shit, discredit

(54:07):
previous witnesses testimony regarding Schafer's identification,and to of course contend that one or
both victims had been alive after Septembertwenty seventh, nineteen seventy two. They
were not in to contend that thegrave site had been dug on a date
after Shafer began serving his sentence inMartin County Jail on January fifteenth, nineteen

(54:30):
seventy three. Several of these individuals, including Schaefer's sister and wife, testified
as to his physical characteristics and attirebeing different from those described by places parents.
You don't think he could have hada change of clothing in the car
after killing and burying women or girls. Also to testify on Schaefer's behalf was

(54:53):
a hunting companion named Edward Harris knownot the actor, who stated he always
carried a purse similar to that identifiedby Jessop's parents and sister when the two
went target shooting. Yeah, buther parents and sister identified the exact one
as belonging to Georgia Jessop, Sofuck you, Edward Harris. One of

(55:14):
the final witnesses to testify on behalfof the defense was a representative from the
Fort Pierce City Water Plant who testifiedthat the records that the firm retained of
rainfall in the area close to OakhammockPark between September nineteen seventy two and April
nineteen seventy three. He was justtestifying about the records. Upon cross examination,

(55:36):
this person conceded the records presented relatedclose to the vicinity of the crime
scene, but not the exact vicinityof the crime scene itself, so whatever
toss him out. Following the closingarguments, the jury began their deliberations at
three forty five pm. They deliberatedfor five hours and ten minutes before returning

(55:57):
with two verdicts degree murder, whichJudge Troubridge formally announced at eleven o five
pm. Upon receipt of this verdict, Schaefer proclaimed his innocence. This is
what he said. Oh, I'lljust read it. That's the role of
the dice. I had a gooddefense, but I'm innocent. Yeah.

(56:19):
So closing arguments to determine the sentencethat Schaeffer would receive began on October three,
and the defense argued that he shouldbe involuntarily institutionalized under the Baker Act,
which had been passed in nineteen seventyone. Of course, is conflicted
with the prosecution's argument that they wantedlife imprisonment to be served in the Florida
State In Florida State Prison, thefollowing day, Schaeffer was sentenced to two

(56:44):
concurrent terms of life imprisonment. ThankGod. When asked if he had anything
to say prior to sentencing, Schaeferproclaimed his innocence yet again, before requesting
that he be sent to a psychiatrichospital as opposed to prison. No No,
Susan Placed, his mother, expressed, you know her satisfaction at schaeffer

(57:05):
sentence of life imprisonment as opposed toreceiving the death penalty. She said this
to reporters. At first, Ithought I'd like to see him dead,
but I think people suffer more withconfinement. Death is the easy way.
Out just as long as he's neveron the streets again, I agree with
you. I agree. Contemporary contemporarystatutes indicated the possibility of parole for Shaeffer

(57:27):
after he had served between fourteen andnineteen years imprisonment, although his presumptive parole
release date was revised in May ofnineteen seventy nine to indicate the likelihood of
parole. In twenty sixteen, mShaeffer appealed. He didn't get it.
He appealed his conviction, contending thathe had never been indicted by a grand

(57:47):
jury, and those requested a newtrial. You're stupid. You don't know
how law works. This appeal wasrejected in June nineteen seventy four, and
Shaeffer would ultimately exhaust his appeals,filing roughly twenty in all, but each
were roundly rejected by various state andfederal courts. Thank god, it's like

(58:08):
you guys embarrassed yourselves. You letthis monster walk free way too many times.
You let him around children, waytoo many times. Women, children
who gave him gun and a badge. No fixt your mistakes. Put them
away forever, Never get out.Schaefer was all but forgotten by nineteen ninety,
when a former high school girlfriend,Sondra London, published a collection of

(58:30):
his stories under the title killer Fiction. Fuck You, Sondra London. More
volumes followed, with Schaefer insisting thathis stories were art ugh and that police
and prosecutors described them as thinly veileddescriptions of actual crimes. In private letters
to attorneys and friends and acquaintances,Shaeffer admitted as much himself. Yeah.

(58:54):
He referenced a story title called MurderDemons in a letter Day to April ninth,
nineteen ninety one, which said,what crimes am I supposed to confess?
Farmer Briskelina, What do you thinkmurder Demons is? You want confessions
but don't recognize them when I annointyou with them and we've just gotten started.
That made no fucking sense. You'rea horrible writer. Other correspondents swiftly

(59:17):
raised the body count. Remember whenI said he admitted to killing more women
as you know, he wrote onJanuary twentieth, nineteen ninety one, get
ready for some just gorgeous pros.It's not he can't write. He's stupid.
Fuck him. I've always harped onDistrict Attorney Robert Stone's list of thirty
four. That's thirty four women andgirls in nineteen seventy three. I sat

(59:42):
down and drew up a list ofmy own. As I recall, my
list was just over eighty. Sohe's saying he at this point, he's
saying he killed over eighty women andgirls. And I'm delineating between women and
girls because some of them were notin the age of majority. They were
not over eighteen, they were teenagersand younger. The next day, given

(01:00:05):
more time to reflect, Shaefer continued, I'm not claiming a huge number.
I would say it runs between eightyand one hundred and ten, but over
eight years and three continents. Onewho drowned in her own vomit while watching
me disembowel her girlfriend. I'm notsure that counts. Is a valet kill?
Did the pregnant ones count as twokills? It can get confusing.

(01:00:30):
Nausea just nausea. Years later,Schaeffer's letters came back to haunt him when
he was described in several true crimebooks as a prolific serial killer. I
don't want to give him that credit. He's a little bitch, baby,
piece of shit coward. That's it. His response, was a series of

(01:00:51):
lawsuits filed against various authors for libel, and they were very roundly dismissed by
the courts. In one such case, Judge William Steckler officially branded Schaeffer a
serial killer, finding him undeniably linkedto numerous murders beyond the two for which
he stood convicted to that, Isay, are we going to charge him

(01:01:12):
with those two? I understand thathe's already serving those sentences, but I
mean justice for families? Maybe,he said, he boasts of the private
and public associations he was based onthe reports or he has based on the
reports, that he is a serialkiller of world class proportions, and I
don't like that. No, Stecklerwrote that, and he said that it

(01:01:35):
is only arrogant perversity which propels himtoward this and similarly meritless lawsuits in which
he claims otherwise. Schaeffer's luck finallyran out on December third, nineteen ninety
five. I'm gonna take my timereading this. I'm gonna savor it.
When another inmate barged into his cell, slashed Shaeffer's throat and stabbed him in

(01:02:00):
both of his eyes. And that'swhat they do to pedophiles and rapists in
prison. Prison officials named the killeras inmate Vincent rivera good for you,
serving life plus twenty years for twomurders in Tampa, but no specific motive
has been offered. Well, themotive is he murdered children and raped them.

(01:02:20):
Most likely, it appears that Shaper'sreputation as a rat and a troublemaker
in prison had finally caught up withthem again. I don't ever wish harm
on anyone, but someone like thatwho just has nothing but hate for women
and thinks we're all horrors and slutsand charlatans and bitches and this and that,

(01:02:43):
all these words to just dehumanize usso he can do what he wants,
what he wants to do, regardlessof what he really thinks of women.
M Yeah, I'm happy. Happyhe's gone, and with the threat
of all his nonsense nuisance litigation buried, law enforcement officers finally felt free to

(01:03:06):
share their views on Shaeffer. BillHaggerty, an x FBI agent who studied
Schaefer for Bycamp in the early nineteeneighties, called him one of the sickest
if I had a list of topfive which would include all of the serial
killers I have interviewed throughout the country. He would definitely be in the top
five. For Shirley Jessup, stillmourning her daughter, Schaeffer's murder was simply

(01:03:29):
a case of overdue justice, shesaid, I'd like to send a present
to the guy who killed him.Yeah, I've always believed he was going
to get his I just wish itwould have happened sooner than later. We
have come to the end, Thankeverything, My god. This was just
ridiculously hard to get through and hardto research. I don't think there's a

(01:03:51):
lot to say. We know thisman killed a lot more women and girls
than he was charged for, youknow, or convicted of murdering. We
know that he did. It's veryclear he had all of their jewelry and
some of their teeth and wrote aboutkilling them, name some of them specifically,

(01:04:12):
and his stories and his manifestos andhis writing. If he really killed
eighty women across three continents, wewon't ever know. And he did travel
to other countries. Remember he wentto Europe and he went to Africa,
so he probably did kill women there. I mean, why wouldn't he.
He'd be more likely to get awaywith it. You know, he'd commit

(01:04:34):
the murders out of the country andgo home. He would not get caught
most likely. I mean, whoknows what the real number is. It
is probably pretty high. I don'twant to, you know, I know
he's dead, but you know,from hell from his torture dimension, I
don't want him to hear me likebolstering his numbers. The amount of people

(01:04:58):
that he killed is we don't Idon't know. It should be confirmed.
They should all have justice. Ijust don't feel like anyone felt like putting
in the work, which is insaneto me. Again, it's like you
you found their jewelry, you foundtheir teeth, Like, why are you
not charging him? I understand thatyou would have to retry him and you
might not get a conviction, andit's a waste of the state's time and

(01:05:23):
resources, and that he is orhe was serving two concurrent life sentences.
I mean, I get it,and I don't. The part of me
that's practical understands why they didn't.But the part of me that just wants
this man nailed to the fucking wall, just wanted him to be tried over
and over and over. But thenagain, you know, Habeas Corpus produced

(01:05:45):
the body, he would be presentin the courtroom. He wouldn't be sitting
in a cell. Maybe he wouldn'thave been murdered by the hero that murdered
him. I'm not calling that man, who is also a murderer, a
hero. The only heroic thing thatthat man has probably ever done is is
kill this monster. But I doagree that. You know, when Shirley

(01:06:05):
Jessup said she wanted to send thatman a present, I agree with her.
Again, I'm not a vigilante,but if someone else wants to step
up and do it, I'm notgoing to stop him. I think that's
enough talking about this horrific, horrificperson, bag of shit whatever he is
being tortured in a hell dimension.If I could slip, like, I

(01:06:27):
don't know what kind of currency theyhave in these hell dimensions, but if
I could slip somebody a little bitof that currency to like torture him extra
I would y'all want to, likewhen I find out what that currency is,
if y'all want to help me donateit. Maybe I don't know what
it is, we can figure itout, send it down to the hell
dimension, and you know, paysomebody to torture him, just a little
extra for us, for eternity,you know, in perpetuity, since he

(01:06:50):
likes filing so many appeals, weuse some legal speak. All right,
that's enough. I'm done. Ican't talk about him anymore. We're gonna
do something lighthearted next one. Ican't do another one like this. This
was This was a lot, butI did it mainly because, like again,
people assume that authority figures aren't evil. But I think we've we've seen

(01:07:11):
enough evidence that anybody can be evil. Anybody can hide what they are for
long enough to get into a positionof power and exert that power over unsuspecting
victims. Just be aware, youknow, keep your head on swivel.
That's why a lot of us listento true crime, you know, so

(01:07:32):
we know what to look for,not hopefully not to listen to the just
disgusting details of what murderers do totheir victims, but to learn how to
see them. And that's again,the only reason that I'll ever cover a
serial killer is so we can betterknow how just bought them. I'm gonna
shut up now. Thank you forlistening, thank you for bearing with me

(01:07:55):
on it. I know it wasa whole hell of a lot. If
you like what here, you canhear more episodes on two days and Friday's
released on all podcast platforms. Onsocial media, you can find me at
Autumn's Podcast on Instagram, Autumn's Oddson Facebook, Autumn's attis on Patreon,
Autumn's Odds. Where else am Iat? I don't know. I'm in
a lot of places. I'm onX or Twitter or whatever that psychopath is

(01:08:17):
calling it now at Autumn's odd Pod. I'm on threads. You know,
I'm lying all over the place.I'm kind of a big deal. People
know me, No, they don't. Nobody knows me. Okay. I
appreciate you listening, and remember,if it's creepy and weird, you will
find it here.