How the murder of a starcom star of the 1980s led to new revolutionary laws
Rebecca Schaeffer was killed by an obsessed fan who would track her for years.
The 1989 Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer shaken Hollywood and the nation. A rising star, the 21 -year -old woman had become known for her rupture role Pam Dawber ( Mork and Mindy ) in the sitcom My sister Sam , which was broadcast from 1986 to 1988. Following the end of the sitcom, Schaeffer had moved to a booming film career and was in the running for the head A pretty woman and had a meeting with the director Francis Ford Coppola Planned when she lost her life in an act of insane violence. In addition to drawing new attention to the threats encountered by the famous, his death also led to new revolutionary legislation that would protect celebrities and ordinary people from dangerously obsessed. Continue to read to find out more.
Read this then: The disappearance of this growing Hollywood star is still not resolved 73 years later .
A fan tracked him down for more than two years.
In 1986, Robert John Bardo, then a high school student in Arizona, has become obsessed with Schaeffer After seeing it in a television promo for My sister Sam , according to ABC News. The teenager tried to contact the actor for more than two years, sending her long fan letters, many of whom were intercepted by the managers of the young actor so that she does not feel frightened. In June 1987, he appeared at Warner Bros. Studio where My sister Sam Filmed, insist to meet the actor and present a teddy bear in the plush which he had brought. As indicated by the Los Angeles Times , after being repressed once, he returned - This time with a knife . A security guard brought him back to his office, told him that a meeting would not occur and bring him back to his motel, telling him that it was time to return to Arizona.
He was able to know where she lived.
It would not be the end of the obsession, however. In psychiatric interviews After his arrest (via UPI), Bardo described walking in the streets of Hollywood hills in search of residences that corresponded to the description that Schaeffer had given in a Seventeen maintenance. Without success, he finally hired a private investigator who was able to find Schaeffer's address by paying four dollars to search for it at the Ministry of Engine Vehicles. Bardo later said that he was inspired by reading the way another obsessed fan, the man found guilty of the almost deadly stabbing of Furious bull Actor Theresa Saldana in 1982 had obtained the address of his victim using a private investigator.
Schaeffer was killed at his door in 1989.
In June 1989, Bardo would have been furious after seeing Schaeffer lying in his bed with a man in a brief scene from the film Class scenes fight in Beverly Hills . According to John Douglas book Obsession , he then continued his sick punishment with focus. "In Arizona, you had to have twenty -one to buy a firearm, so Bardo had a older brother to buy one for him," wrote Douglas. "He wanted to make sure that his attempt was not a failure, so he obtained hollow point cartridges, designed to develop while they penetrate."
On the morning of July 18, 1989, after having traveled nearly 500 miles, he arrived at the door of his Hollywood house thanks to the address he had obtained from the investigator. Schaeffer, who awaited the delivery of mail from Part III of the godfather Script for a hearing, responded to the door. The killer told him that he was his biggest fan and left after she apologized. However, after having breakfast in a nearby restaurant, He soon returned . When she opened the door this time, Bardo took out her weapon and pulled her in the chest. Although Schaeffer was urgently transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she was unfortunately declared dead shortly after her arrival. She was 21 years old.
Bardo was found guilty of murder in 1991 and sentenced to life prison. Now 52, he serves His sentence in California .
Schaeffer's death sparked a series of anti-stalking laws and privacy legislation.
Before Schaeffer's death, there were no anti-stalking laws in the United States. His murder sent shock waves through Hollywood, noted the national conscience of harassment and the extremes for which he could go and helped galvanize a movement to protect famous and regular people from stalkers. The Los Angeles police department quickly went to Create a unit dedicated to hunting cases . Inspired by the death of Schaeffer as well as those of four other young women who had been killed despite the limited orders, California exceeded its First anti-stalking law in 1990 , giving the police greater freedom to intervene in cases of hunt. The law was revised in 1994 as California penal code 646.9 , which makes illegal to follow, harass or threaten someone in order to cause them emotional distress. Over the next three years, 30 additional states would follow suit , and today there are anti-stalking laws in each state. In 1994, the Driver's privacy law , which prevents the DMV from freeing private addresses, has been promulgated and the congress promulgated the First federal harassment law in 1996. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
