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Rebecca Schaefer’s Background

Rebecca Schaefer was born on November 6th, 1967, in Eugene, Oregon. She was the only child of Jewish parents, Danna and Dr. Benson Schaefer. She wanted to be a rabbi, but as she got older, she developed an interest in modeling. In her junior year of high school, she started appearing in department catalogs and local television commercials.

In 1984, she moved to New York to further her modeling career. While in New York, she took advantage of a few acting opportunities, including a 6-month role on the soap opera, One Life to Live. She continued to pursue modeling work, but at 5 feet 7 inches tall, she was considered too short for high fashion. She soon moved to Japan, but there weren’t many opportunities.

She eventually came back to New York and focused on acting, while modeling occasionally and working as a waitress. She got a small role in a Woody Allen movie, but most of her scene was cut from the final edit.

Later, she appeared on the cover of Seventeen magazine. TV producers who were casting for the sitcom My Sister Sam saw her on that cover and brought her in for an audition. She won the part of Patricia Russell and moved to Los Angeles for the show.

The sitcom began in 1986 with good ratings, but it was canceled after 32 episodes because people stopped watching. After the show ended, Schaeffer had small roles in a few low-budget films and made-for-TV movies.

Robert John Bardo’s Background

During her role on My Sister Sam, she caught the eye of a disturbed 16-year-old fan named Robert John Bardo. The youngest of seven children, Bardo was born on January 2nd, 1970, into a dysfunctional military family.

His father had problems with alcohol, the family moved frequently, and Bardo was allegedly mentally and physically abused by at least one of his older siblings. As a teen, he was put into foster care after threatening to end his life. Despite being a straight-A student, he would write his teachers threatening letters and was considered a ticking time bomb.

He later dropped out of high school and worked as a janitor at Jack In The Box.

At a young age, he became obsessed with 13-year-old child peace activist Samantha Smith. At the age of 13, he traveled to Maine by bus to meet Smith, but he was turned away by police. In 1985, Smith died in a plane crash, and Bardo turned his attention to Schaefer after seeing her on TV.

He would later say, “She came into my life in the right moment. She was brilliant, pretty, outrageous, her innocence impressed me. She turned into a goddess for me, an idol. Since then, I turned an atheist, I only adored her.”

He wrote her a bunch of letters. She responded to one of them, saying it was “the most beautiful” letter she had ever received. She signed off with a heart and a peace sign.

The obsessed teen later went to Los Angeles in 1987 with a teddy bear and a letter. He tried to get on the set of My Sister Sam to meet Schaefer, but he was turned away by security. He came back a month later, armed with a knife, but was once again turned away. After going back home, he kept his distance for a few years.

Bardo’s Obsession Leads To Murder

In 1989, he watched her movie Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. In that movie, Schaefer had a scene where she was in bed with a man. That enraged Bardo and made him jealous. In his eyes, she lost her innocence.

The 19-year-old traveled to Los Angeles with a gun his brother bought for him. He paid a private investigator $250 to get her address. The investigator then paid $4 to obtain her information from the Department of Motor Vehicles and handed it over to Bardo.

The obsessed young man went to Schaffer’s neighborhood and asked around to make sure she really lived there. Once he was confident the address was legit, he rang the doorbell. Since her intercom was broken and she was expecting a script to be delivered, she answered the door.

He showed her a letter and the autograph she sent him, and after a brief conversation, she asked him not to come back. He left for an hour to get something to eat before going back to her home and ringing the bell a second time.

According to Bardo, when she opened the door, “She had this kid voice…sounded like a little brat or something…said I was wasting her time! …Wasting her time! No matter what, I thought that was a very callous thing to say to a fan, you know…I grabbed the door…guns still in the bag…I grab it by the trigger…I come around, and kapow, and she’s like screaming… aaahhh…screaming…why, aaahhh … and it’s like, oh God…”

Bardo quickly disappeared into an alley while people who heard Schaffer screaming went to her aid. The young actress was rushed to the hospital and later died.

Bardo went back home to Tucson, Arizona. He was arrested when people reported a man running through traffic on Interstate 10. After being taken into custody, he confessed to the murder of the young star. He was extradited to Los Angeles and successfully prosecuted for capital murder. He received life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Aftermath

During an interview a year after his crime, he stated, “I was a fan of hers and I may have carried it too far. But a lot of things have appeared in the press to make me out to be a monster. If I had one wish where if it was to ever come true it would be for Rebecca Schaeffer to be alive today.”

The stalking and untimely death of Schaffer would lead to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, which prevents the DMV from releasing people’s personal information.