All language subtitles for [English] How One Fans Obsession Ended Rebecca Schaeffers Life [DownSub.com]

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Fame. It can transform a small town

dreamer into a superstar.

Some people make it and others die

trying. Their dreams interrupted. One

small town girl from the Pacific

Northwest just might have what it takes.

>> The second she walked through the door,

my heart stopped. I just knew that here

was somebody who really had it.

>> She has to leave home to chase her

dreams.

>> Portland wasn't really a place for a

performer to launch a national career.

>> What attracts young aspiring actors and

actresses to Los Angeles? It's the

glamour. It's the glitz.

>> But behind that glitz lurks danger. When

I got the call the next day, it was I

was pretty much in denial.

>> I didn't believe it.

>> An ambush by a madman.

>> There's a common theme with a lot of

these people. They're troubled people.

They have empty souls.

>> He wanted to be remembered and he was

willing to achieve it in any way that he

could. For aspiring stars like Rebecca

Schaefer, sometimes the pursuit of fame

kills.

In Hollywood,

the only things brighter than the

spotlights at a movie premiere are the

stars in the eyes of the pretty young

actresses hoping to be famous. Very few

have what it takes to make it.

One who does is 21-year-old Rebecca

Schaefer. She's a small town girl from

Oregon.

>> Rebecca was from the most amazing

family. When you think about the ideal

parents, that would be Benson and Dana.

So loving, so wonderful, and this was

their only child. She had a very normal

childhood. Rebecca Schaefer had some

special thing. Her smile was to die for.

Her big brown eyes were absolutely

glorious, but she had a spirit to her.

She had a sweetness to her. She had

these dimples. She just had this sweet

girl next door vibe.

>> The girl next door brimming with

potential and big Hollywood plans.

>> Everybody wants fame. Everybody wants to

be recognized. You know, that's just a

it's a dream.

By 1989, she's inching closer to that

improbable dream.

>> What they saw in Hollywood was that

special energy about her, that

effervescence that just jumped off the

screen.

>> As an actress, she's ready to break out.

>> Something big was potentially about to

happen. Francis Ford Copala wanted to

talk to her about a role in Godfather 3.

She's thinking this could be my big

break. Francis Ford Copala, Godfather 3.

>> She wasn't going to a casting director.

She was actually meeting with Francis

Ford Copa himself and she was very

excited about that.

>> She's waiting for a courier to drop off

a copy of the Godfather 3 script so she

can prepare.

She has no idea danger is lurking

outside.

at 10:15 a.m.

Maybe it's the courier with the script,

but maybe it's not.

One thing's for sure, after today,

everything will be different.

As a kid in Oregon, fame was not the

first thing on Rebecca's mind.

>> There was an innocence about growing up

in Oregon during that time. It was a

safe place. We could ride our bikes. We

could go from one house to another. We

trusted our teachers. We trusted our

parents. We trusted strangers. She's the

only daughter of a psychologist dad and

a writer mom.

>> Rebecca really captured an innocence. I

just think of her as being very

classically beautiful and very beautiful

person inside and outside.

>> Believe it or not, Rebecca initially had

plans to become a rabbi.

A very noble profession, no doubt, but

she was constantly told about her

beauty. She heard it all the time. Who

could deny it? So she decided at a very

early age that she was going to see

where she could take that.

>> She decides to get herself an agent.

>> I owned an agency in Portland, Oregon,

and we had models as well as actors. But

there are so few people that have it.

And I've been asked to describe what it

is. And it's not something you can

describe. It's something that you just

see when they walk into a room and they

fill the room. like Rebecca, you know, I

mean, the second she walked through the

door, my heart stopped. I just fell in

love with her. She filled the room with

her effervescence and her just her

energy and she was so adorable. I just

knew that here was somebody who really

had it.

She started out as a teen model and she

was just so beautiful and freshfaced.

She did commercials around town.

>> I saw Rebecca on a couple of goes for

print work. We were both primarily

running into each other for catalog work

for statewide chain stores.

She was humble, sweet,

very wellliked by everybody. She wasn't

a showoff in any way. She she was just

very quiet, um, sincere.

>> The modeling is a stepping stone to her

real dream, acting. She's cast as

background on Quarterback Princess, a TV

movie shooting in Portland, starring

Helen Hunt, who exploded to fame on Mad

About You.

>> It was just an extra role and you would,

you know, it wasn't much. It didn't pay

hardly anything, but she was so excited

to to have that because you always think

this is my break. Somebody's going to

see me.

>> But fame can be very fickle and nobody

really sees her. If she wants to make it

big, she'll have to leave Oregon.

>> When I think of Portland in the 80s, I

think of it as being a little homespun.

It wasn't really a place for a performer

to launch a national career.

>> We had an opportunity to send her to New

York to go to the Fame School. Rebecca's

parents, Dan and Benson, Rebecca and I,

we went out to dinner to discuss the

potential for her to move to New York. I

was nervous because she was young. You

know, she was 16 and New York's a big

city and Rebecca was a very trusting

young lady who was just very open with

people and I worried about her.

>> But her parents know she can handle the

challenge. And for Rebecca, it's a

chance to follow the dream of a

lifetime.

>> To move to a place like New York City

would take very strong and supportive

and loving parents. So, I give her

parents a lot of credit for letting

their only child

make that move.

>> In the Big Apple, she's aruck.

>> New York City, from an Oregonian's

perspective,

is like a foreign country. It's it's

big. It's booming. It's it's it's a 180

from where Rebecca and I were from.

Rebecca had a lot of courage and a lot

of drive.

And I think Rebecca was very dedicated

to what she wanted to do.

>> To stretch her cash, she moves into an

apartment with other aspiring actresses.

>> Six roommates in a two-bedroom

apartment. You eat cheap.

>> You you you live as cheaply as you can.

you cut corners where you can because

nobody's got a lot of money. If you're

not willing to make that sacrifice and

if you just expect it to happen

overnight or that you know you deserve

it, it ain't going to happen.

>> Do you want to be on Broadway?

>> Yes, actually. Yeah.

>> Rebecca was a person who looked at life

glass half full.

>> So, while there were struggles, I think

she anticipated those struggles. I don't

think she for a minute thought it was

all going to happen overnight. that this

was a process.

>> She starts to book modeling gigs for

magazines like 17.

>> She'd been in Portland magazines, but a

coveted magazine

like 17. That was pretty big. That was

pretty big stuff there. As a teenager,

17 magazine was everything. And that was

our Vogue.

It was amazing. I was so proud of

Rebecca. Small town girl, you know,

makes it big. She loves the thrill the

early steps to fame can bring. But her

modeling career hits a ceiling.

>> She was very tiny and wasn't tall enough

or leggy enough to be a fashion model or

a runway model. But there was something

about her. I go, "She's so watchable

that this is somebody who could have a

career in film and television." And I

sat her down one day and I said,

"Rebecca, have you ever thought about

acting?" And her eyes lit up and she

says, "I think I'd really like that."

While finishing high school, she begins

taking classes and going on auditions.

>> Once you're bit by the acting bug, it's

fatal.

>> There's just no coming out of that, you

know? It's just it's a dream that you're

going to chase.

>> She catches a piece of that dream when

she lands a small role on the soap

Guiding Light. Then a longer running

spot on One Life to Live.

>> It's a big deal. Suddenly she's in

everybody's living room.

>> It was very unusual for her to start so

quickly and to get as much as she did

because actors struggle sometimes for

years before anything happens.

>> Early success does not guarantee

constant work.

>> Rebecca was doing really good, but then

things kind of dry up and New York is a

very expensive place to live. So even

doing a little bit of work here and

there doesn't really cover the all the

bills and so things were getting very

very tight.

>> And when you're not doing so well, New

York can become awfully frosty.

>> We don't have money. I don't have money.

I haven't had any gigs recently. We're

going to get kicked out.

>> You have to remember the realities of

everyone scrambling to get to the top.

They'll kick you with their left foot

and kick you with their right to get

over the top of you. It can be brutal.

>> I'm sure there were times of loneliness.

I'm sure that there were times of fear,

the not knowing, and also feeling so far

away from home.

>> It was probably the lowest point in her

career.

Then she lands a big audition for a new

sitcom starring Pam Dober, who had just

been in the hit series Mort and Mindy

with Robin Williams.

>> Welcome.

>> Hi.

>> So, you're going to be auditioning the

role of

>> She had this opportunity to audition for

my sister Sam

>> and she was practically broke then.

>> Hi, I'm Rebecca Schaefer and I'm going

to be reading the part for Patty. But

even at her lowest point, Rebecca was

still always a positive person.

>> Hey Sam, thanks for letting me

>> Rebecca reads for the role.

>> We're going to have a blast.

>> But then it's wait and wait. Will she

get the gig?

>> There's lots of talent and sometimes it

just comes down to a look. Sometimes

it's not even the right talent, but it's

the right look. Is this the look that I

want? There's just no really uh rhyme or

reason to some things in the business at

times. It's just the way it happens. And

then there is being in the right place

at the right time.

>> If she gets the part, it'll mean a very

big break and another move this time to

LA.

>> You want to be rich and famous? Where do

you go? Los Angeles. It's Hollywood.

It's the Sunset Strip. It's the movie

studios. It's the beaches. It's the

weather. It's the glamour.

>> But that glamour comes with a price.

>> The dark side of fame is that when

you're up there and everybody knows who

you are, that takes away your privacy

and it makes you vulnerable to the

unstable individuals who might become

obsessed with you.

Oregon native Rebecca Schaefer has

dreams bigger than the Pacific Northwest

and moves to New York seeking fame. Yet,

the big time comes with risks no one can

predict.

>> Everyone thinks fame is so glorious.

Fame makes life so easy. It really isn't

that way. There's a lot of pressure that

comes with fame. There's a lot of

pressure that comes with everyone's

microscope on your life. But Rebecca's

ready for it. She's gotten roles on

several soaps.

>> I kind of call it soap rubbers on the

job training. It's a a great place to

get started. You work hard, long hours,

you work fast, and you learn the

business. And it can be a very lucrative

business as well. You look at Susan

Luchi, she's done very, very well. Meg

Ryan started in soap operas. You know, a

lot of people started in soaps.

>> Yet, she's hoping for more than daytime

TV. After an audition for the new sitcom

My Sister Sam, she nervously awaits

word.

>> Though she's not sitting by the phone,

she can't afford one.

>> Then the incredible news.

>> I got the part. I GOT THE PART.

>> OH MY GOD. I got the part.

>> She actually had gotten the role. It was

huge. It was so exciting. My dream is

your dream.

>> Television superstar Pam Dober, who just

wrapped Morin Mindy with Robin Williams,

invites Rebecca to move in with her and

her famous actor husband Mark Harmon in

LA. Getting to stay with television

royalty is a great start.

>> Mark Harmon and Pam Dober were really,

really good to her. She was going to be

playing Pam Dober's little sister and

they brought Rebecca into their home

and she lived with Pam and Mark. One of

the things it would accomplish was

cementing that relationship between Pam

and Rebecca.

They recognized that this was a very

young girl who was not raised in

Southern California, who was raised

really in the Northwest and had a brief

time in New York. And so they were very

protective of her. They really took care

of her.

>> As she gets to work, the Oregon girl

experiences the real LA. For people who

make that trek from the small town to

Hollywood,

what the upand cominging entertainment

person finds out is that there's a lot

of lying, that there's a lot of using,

and that there's a lot of manipulation,

and the disillusionment can be hard to

handle.

And while she embraced her success, she

never lost her Oregon roots, she still

was able to maintain that beautiful

innocence. And people related to that.

>> Her talent and attitude get her cast in

films, too, which is her ultimate dream.

>> She did the Woody Allen movie radio days

and had an opportunity to really get her

feet wet there.

She did um Class Struggles in Beverly

Hills where she played somebody totally

out of character for her.

She played Jacqueline Betett's daughter

uh who was a spoiled little rich girl

who didn't have any boundaries and uh

was a total opposite of who Rebecca was.

>> It's a much more sophisticated role than

the one on the sitcom.

Rebecca's career is starting to mature.

She even has a few sexy scenes in the

picture.

Eventually, she moves out of Pam Dober

and Mark Harmon's house and into her own

place, an apartment in the quiet section

of LA called Fairfax.

>> She felt it was time to get her own

place and they went apartment shopping

with her to try to find a a place that

would be safe. And then they moved her

into her first apartment. Mark built her

desk and they, you know, they they just

got her all set up and remained very

close.

>> She hopes her next step toward major

fame is a role in the final film of

Francis Ford Copala's Academy

Awardwinning blockbuster trilogy

Godfather 3. A role in this film would

put her career into the stratosphere.

She would be working alongside legends

like Al Pacino.

>> That would have been pivotal for her.

That was going to be her big break to

hit it to superstardom.

>> This was an absolutely stellar

opportunity for young Rebecca Schaefer

to get seen by Francis Ford Copala and

have a role in the iconic franchise The

Godfather. Imagine the excitement she

must have felt.

She was waiting anxiously for that

script to arrive.

>> At 10:15 a.m., a neighbor hears someone

at the locked security door buzzing to a

nearby apartment.

Then an interior door open and close and

footsteps heading toward the front.

>> The next thing she knows, the neighbor

hears a major blast.

It was so profound it shakes the walls.

Her cat jumps in the air, lands back on

the floor. This neighbor is thinking,

"What in the world has just happened?"

>> A screenwriter who lives across the

street hears the commotion. He sees

someone on the ground and a man in a

yellow shirt running off.

Neighbors call 911. Passers by rush to

help. Some recognize her. It's Rebecca

Schaefer. She's been shot in the chest.

>> She's still alive and manages to say one

word.

>> Why?

>> Ambulances arrive. Within minutes,

paramedics try desperately to

resuscitate her. They put her in the

ambulance. They bring her to Cedar Cyani

Hospital.

>> While doctors try to revive her,

police get to work. At the front door,

no sign of forced entry.

>> There was no evidence that anybody broke

into the building.

>> While technicians start looking for

Prince outside, detectives check

Rebecca's apartment. There's no sign of

disarray.

>> There was no evidence of any kind of

altercation. It was completely quiet.

>> Like someone hit the pause button in the

young actress's life with no clues to

indicate who.

Detectives canvas the building.

>> It's a very quaint little village

community.

You've got lots and lots of people in

the entertainment industry. Your next

door neighbor could be a singer. The guy

across the street could be a writer.

>> They learn about the neighbor who heard

the buzzer, but she didn't see anything.

Detectives speak to several people who

were on the street that morning. They

say a white male in a yellow shirt had

been trying to confirm Rebecca lived in

the neighborhood. He had a Manila

envelope with him.

>> Inside this envelope was an 8x10

photograph of Rebecca Schaefer and he

was inquiring as to where she lived. He

was asking neighbors. He was asking cab

drivers. He was hellbent on finding

Rebecca Schaefer's home.

>> No one can ID him. Across the street,

police also talked to the screenwriter

who saw a guy in a yellow shirt. He

didn't get a good look at the man's

face.

Rebecca opened the door for him.

>> It's very sensible to assume that

perhaps Rebecca knew the person when she

opened the door.

>> Hi.

Then detectives learn a detail that

complicates that theory.

>> She heard the buzzer in her apartment,

but the intercom didn't work.

So, while she could hear the buzzer, she

couldn't press the button and say, "Who

is it?" If she hears the buzzer and

she's waiting for a script, she's coming

downstairs to open that door.

While actress Rebecca Schaefer is not

yet a household name, her career is on a

steady ascent. From smalltown modeling

in Portland to soaps in New York to

prime time TV and film in Hollywood,

>> I got the part.

>> One thing seemed to lead to another. The

soap opera led to the TV show. The TV

show led to opportunity in film. She was

capturing it. But then on the day she's

supposed to audition for Francis Ford

Copala for a role in his upcoming film

Godfather 3, she's gunned down in front

of her apartment. LAPD forensics

technicians find no physical evidence at

the crime scene that might help identify

the shooter.

And unfortunately, the building has no

security cameras to capture footage of

the gunman or any car he might have

driven.

At Cedar Sinai Medical Center, er

doctors do their best to revive her, but

they pronounce Rebecca Schaefer dead

from a single shot to the chest.

Crime scene texts found no ejected shell

casings, so the gun was likely a

revolver.

The bullet that struck the young actress

down was from a 357 handgun, a

hollowpoint cartridge. Hollow points are

designed to expand upon entering a body,

to do more damage.

Anyone using them has one goal, to kill

instantly.

He knew what he was going to do. He was

planning on obtaining his prey, and that

was what his mission was. And he wasn't

going to stop. Homicide detectives have

to make that most difficult call,

notifying Rebecca's family.

News of the actress's death spreads

quickly.

>> Agent in New York called me to say,

"Net, I'm so sorry." And uh uh and I go,

"What are you talking about?" And they

go, "Rebecca's dead." And I go, "No,

she's not." And they says, "No, Nette,

she's dead." And he said, "No, she's

not." It was I was pretty much in

denial. It was I didn't believe it.

>> And I remember receiving a phone call

from Rebecca's best friend, who is also

a very close friend of mine to this day.

And

I remember hearing it from her first and

um turning on the TV

and just being in shock. It's almost a

an impossible moment to hear that

somebody that you grew up with, somebody

who was so beautiful and so kind and so

innocent, um that their life was taken

that way.

>> Everything came to a dead stop. I I was

trying to get my head around it because

we didn't have any details then. We

didn't know what happened. Just that she

had been murdered.

I was devastated. It it was she was like

my she was my baby. It you know she was

it was like taking a child from me. It

was it was that devastated. And then I

thought of her parents you know and and

Denim Benson um you know it was just it

was

never experienced anything like that.

Every news station in LA makes it the

lead. Other outlets across the country

quickly pick up on the horrible tale of

a talented young rising star gunned

down.

Police hope the publicity will bring new

leads.

But they can't wait and continue their

investigation.

Early suspects in any murder are those

in the victim's inner circle.

>> When you're dealing with a young woman,

obviously the first thought is domestic

violence or a boyfriend uh out to get

you for whatever reason or some sort of

a fight that escalates into something

more nefarious.

>> Yeah.

>> Police learn Rebecca had a boyfriend.

She had a relationship with a young man

named Brad Silverling, who was an

aspiring director. At the time, he

didn't have any big success, but he went

on to have great success with projects

like Lemony Snickett and Casper.

>> They were adorable couple. They were so

cute together. I mean, she cared about

him a lot.

>> He adored Rebecca Schaefer. He worshiped

her. He wanted to marry her.

But Rebecca wasn't so sure.

>> It all happened a little fast, a little

too soon for her. She cared deeply for

him. I just don't think she was ready to

be married and just wanted to kind of

slow things down just a little bit.

>> The very first place that police look

loved ones. So, obviously, the first

person they're going to look at is Brad

Silverling.

>> Detectives need to find him and

determine where he was that morning.

They also ask insiders if Rebecca had

any trouble with anyone in the business.

>> Agent person and they're sitting here

threatening me, telling me that if I

didn't sign their contract, I wouldn't

be allowed to work anymore. Is this

true?

>> There was an occasion where she got very

intimidated by uh one of the agents in

Hollywood who kind of threatened her if

she didn't sign with them. They would

kick her off the show. They would get

her replaced. And she believed it. And I

remember her calling me in tears. I was

furious that somebody would take

advantage of her that way because she

was the sweetest person there was.

>> But no one can imagine the agent killing

her over it. Police find no record of

domestic dispute calls at the apartment

and she's never reported any threats of

harassment.

>> She was the nicest person on the planet.

There wasn't any kind of neighbor that

she was feuding with. Here's all police

had to go on.

A man between 5'7 and 6t tall, brown

hair, a long sleeve yellow shirt, denim

jeans.

>> He was asking passers by about Rebecca.

Then he walked up and shot her. The fact

that he was in neighborhoods showing

photographs trying to determine where

she lived speaks to how obsessed he was,

how pathologically obsessed he was with

Rebecca Schaefer. And the amount of

energy that that would take suggests

just how consumed he was. It occupied

every cell of his being. A madman

determined to kill face to face.

Rebecca Schaefer was shot right in the

chest at close range.

That suggests a ton of anger and rage

that he would be willing to do such a

violent crime up so close and personal.

>> Most murdered women are killed by their

spouse or lover. So, detectives track

down and question Rebecca's boyfriend.

>> When police interviewed Brad Silverling,

what they got from him was an absolute

sincere love and affection for Rebecca

Schaefer. He told them that he loved

her, that he wanted to marry her.

>> He has a solid alibi. He is completely

innocent and heartbroken at the loss of

his love. It seems no one in her inner

circle was involved. The thing about

Rebecca, she always maintained that girl

next door, grounded sort of attitude,

very loving, very friendly. You couldn't

find a single person who disliked

Rebecca Schaefer.

>> Investigators have one theory left.

>> Her boyfriend was a loving guy with an

alibi. No problem there. If I'm a crack

detective and I know she has no enemies

and I find out from neighbors that there

is a suspicious man walking in the early

morning hours in this neighborhood

carrying a manila envelope with an 8

by10 of Rebecca Schaefer. I'm pretty

sure that I've got an obsessed fan on my

hands.

Rebecca Schaefer works hard to try to

achieve her dream of being a Hollywood

star. Just as she's on the verge of

making it to the big time,

a shadowy killer shoots her and vanishes

without a trace.

Investigators believe the shooter might

be an obsessed fan. She had so many fans

who wrote to her from all over.

>> She was right there on the brink to

major stardom. I mean, she was very

beloved by many people. She had a huge

fan base.

>> She tried to write back, but it got

overwhelming.

And some of the letters were a little

unsettling.

love letters, marriage proposals,

sometimes vague threats.

It means the list of suspects is huge.

She also had fans trying to sneak onto

set. One visited with gifts for her,

telling security he knew her.

>> I'm an old friend of hers. Sorry, no ID.

I can't let you in. Thankfully, Warner

Brothers soundstage security turned him

away.

>> There's a price to celebrity. I mean,

there really is. There's there's pros

and there's cons. There's goods and

there's bads.

>> Rebecca tried not to let it scare her.

>> She wasn't a fearful person. She wasn't

somebody who lived in fear,

>> but it can be scary.

The difference between a fan and a

stalker is that the fan will simply be

super interested in what the celebrity

is doing.

You know, may want to be part of a fan

club, ask for some photographs, and

that's pretty much it. The crossover

from fan to dangerously obsessed stalker

is when they start to believe they

actually have a relationship with the

celebrity.

They may come to believe that they have

a special destiny with this person and

that they're entitled to pursue and that

they're driven to do so.

I've covered enough celebrity stalking

cases to know that there's a common

theme with a lot of these people.

They're troubled people. They have empty

souls and they're looking somehow to

latch on to something that gives them

personal meaning. And who better to do

that through but a celebrity whose name

is in lights and they can sort of

vicariously live through that fame and

fortune.

>> But who is he and where he's going to

have evidence of his obsession in his

lifespace? And when stalkers have the

videos and the photographs, it's so they

can watch them, look at them, and

fantasize. And it's part of their

obsessive nature to retain these items

and replay them over and over again as

they imagine themselves connected and

attached to the victim and in worst case

scenarios put together um situations in

which they are doing harm to their

victim.

LAPD detectives note an eerie

resemblance to an attack on another

actress, Teresa Sana, just a few years

earlier. After seeing Teresa and Raging

Bull, a man named Arthur Jackson paid a

private detective to get her mother's

phone number for him. Jackson called her

mother, posing as Martin Scorsesi's

assistant to get Teresa's address,

then showed up at her home with a 5 and

1/2 in knife.

He stabbed her 10 times, bending the

blade with the force.

Jackson was stopped, captured, and

jailed. Incredibly, Teresa survived.

Had

Hollywood history repeated itself in a

deadly way with Rebecca?

Somehow, a madman with evil intentions

walked up to a star in broad daylight,

killed her, then utterly banished.

Investigators have no viable leads.

There were no warnings from anyone that

anyone had been stalking her. They

really were starting from ground zero

with nothing.

>> Then the morning after the murder, LAPD

detectives get a call that starts to

crack the case wide open.

A woman in Tennessee says she's seen the

news and thinks she knows who the gunman

is.

>> I think it's my brother, Robert Bardo.

She says Bardau is 19 years old and

lives in Tucson, Arizona.

She explains Bardau called her the

morning of the shooting

>> and he said to her, "Guess what? I'm a

block and a half from Rebecca Schaefer's

home." Now, she also tells police that

who was obsessed with Rebecca Schaefer

and had been so for a couple of years.

He has a vast collection of videootapes

and photos, all of Rebecca.

He's written her dozens of letters over

the years. Rebecca answered the first

letter, but not the others. LAPD

investigators called their counterparts

500 m to the east in Arizona. But before

Tucson PD can find Bardau, he finds

them.

>> Dispatch is getting floods of calls from

people. There's a crazy guy running in

and out of traffic on a major freeway in

Tucson, Arizona.

It was puzzling. It almost seemed like

this particular person wanted to die.

I was driving into work and overheard on

my police radio that there was a person

that they thought might be a mental

patient or or somebody on drugs who was

running around in freeway traffic. And I

realized that the location that they

were giving was about 15 or 20 seconds

away from where I was. And sure enough,

I looked up there and I saw him just

going over the edge of the freeway down

toward one of the a or the exit ramps. I

got out and just called to him and said,

"Dave." you know, I told him who I was

and waved my badge at him. He stopped.

He didn't try to run away. He So, I

said, you know, I just want to make sure

you're okay. And he he was pretty much

incoherent at that point. He was he was

not making very much sense.

>> Then the man says something odd.

>> He was making references about the fact

that he knew that he had done wrong and

that he didn't end he didn't he didn't

mean for it to be that way. He didn't

mean to hurt anybody. And I said, "What

do you mean?" And he said, "Well, I I

didn't I didn't go there to shoot her.

>> I I didn't go there to shoot her."

>> Could this be the man who gunned down

the actress

>> after the ambush murder of actress

Rebecca Schaefer. Los Angeles detectives

get a tip. Tucson resident Robert Bardau

might be the shooter.

>> I think it's my brother, Robert Bardo.

Tucson Police Chief Peter Ronstead

responds to a call about a man acting

strange by a highway.

>> I I didn't go there to shoot her.

>> Ronstad wonders if this is Robert Bardau

and if he's referring to Rebecca

Schaefer.

>> And that rang the bell because that's

what they were talking about on the

news.

There were some shocking observations by

Bardau's neighbors of him running into a

wall head first and swinging from the

eaves into windows. This reflects his

self-destructive nature. It suggests

problems with his impulse control and

his propensity for violence because he

lacks regard even for his own well-being

and safety.

>> He had some issues with mental health.

He was committed for mental health

treatment for a period of time.

>> Tucson police take him into custody and

confirm it's Robert Bardau.

Searching his bedroom, they find photos,

videos, and letters all about Rebecca

Schaefer.

Robert Bardau is extradited to

California. He never confesses outright

and pleads not guilty when charged with

murder. Slowly, investigators pieced

together an obsession that built to

dangerous levels over time.

>> He wrote a flurry of fan letters to

Rebecca. He showed up on the studio lot

for the taping of my sister Sam and

tried to get on the lot.

>> Do you see ID?

>> No, no, no. I'm here to see Rebecca.

>> There was nothing that led anybody to

believe that he was going to be any kind

of a physical threat. Slightly

obsessive, yes, but nothing that made

them say, "Oh my goodness, we need to

alert police."

>> Turns out Rebecca responded to one of

Bardau's early letters.

>> She just was very kind and caring and so

I did worry about that that she might be

a little too trusting at times and

people can take advantage of that.

>> When he sent more and more,

she decided not to write back again.

The type of personality that commits

this kind of murder is one that has

narcissism

as its foundation.

Somebody that believes that they have

been offended,

has a thin skin, a brittle ego.

Investigators learned Bardau told a

friend how angry he got when he saw her

sexy turn in scenes from the class

struggle in Beverly Hills. In Bardau's

mind, in his narcissistic mind, he's got

this idealized, grandiose relationship

that he's fantasized that he's having

with Rebecca Schaefer. And when she

shifted into a different

presentation of her acting self from

wholesome to something a bit more

risque, he couldn't tolerate it. He was

outraged,

enraged, and he was going to destroy her

for that.

>> Detectives learned Bardau used a private

detective to get Rebecca's address.

>> Robert John Bardau paid a private

investigator $250

to get information from the Department

of Motor Vehicles. It was that simple.

So, he says, "Hey, this is an old friend

of mine I know around the studios. Can

you help me find Rebecca Schaefer's

address? I want to get in touch with

her." He then hopped on a bus to Los

Angeles with his gun, Rebecca's photo

and a copy of The Catcher in the Rye.

>> Catcher in the Ry was the same book

found in the hands of killer Mark David

Chapman just after he murdered the great

beetle John Lennon.

>> The lead prosecutor is Marsha Clark, who

later gained fame as the lead in the OJ

Simpson case.

>> Do you know this girl? Do you know where

she lives? At trial, Clark argues that

Bardau walked from the bus stop to

Rebecca's neighborhood, then spent

several hours wandering around trying to

confirm her address. So, Bardau went to

a lot of trouble to prepare for his

ultimate plan of taking her life.

Stalkers who are most dangerous have

this degree of investment of energy for

their pursuit. And when a person puts

their mind to it like this, they are

incredibly dangerous.

>> Finally, he approached her building.

She hears the buzzer, but the intercom

is not working, so she has to come and

actually answer the door. But she was

expecting the script for Godfather 3

delivered via courier.

>> Hi. Hi.

Rebecca.

>> Yes,

>> he's a fan. He wants an autograph. He

wants to talk. She's a kind person. She

doesn't necessarily rebuff him. She

talks to him for a while, but then asks

him to leave. Remember, the times were

slightly different then. In this day and

age, I would think that most people

would immediately pick up their

smartphones and call someone. Hey,

there's a guy running around the

neighborhood with a picture of a

well-known actress. In 1989, I don't

think that would necessarily have been

an alarm. He went to a restaurant and

got something to eat.

>> This reflects just how detached he is

about what he's about to do. A normal

person would be too anxious to have an

appetite before something like this.

Eating before a horrific event like this

speaks to how comfortable he was with

what he was about to do.

>> Never in her wildest dreams does she

imagine this guy's going to make a

return to her home. The buzzer buzzes

again. This time she's saying, "Ah, it's

certainly this time must be my script

for Godfather 3."

But Robert Bardau had made a decision.

>> Investigators search nearby rooftops and

eventually find the bloodied yellow

shirt, an empty gun holster, and the

copy of The Catcher in the Rye.

He must have discarded them as he fled.

The murder weapon is never found.

He jumped on a bus back to Tucson and

was out of LA within hours of the

killing.

>> Robert Bardau did not have a jury. He

waved his right to a jury. It's very

unusual tactic, but he did it. What

happened was he was sentenced to life

without parole.

It was so painful to see Rebecca's

parents in the courtroom

and to know that they were there because

of their daughter

and their loss and how um

tragic that must have been for them. As

a result of this case, a new federal law

was passed that prohibits state DMVs

from disclosing home addresses. And

California passed its first

antisstalking laws to help protect

celebrities and ordinary citizens alike.

>> So, it was a turning point and a sad one

in a way that her death had to be the

single pivotal moment to change the law.

But I'm glad that it did something in a

positive way.

>> Rebecca's boyfriend at the time, Brad

Silverling, goes on to direct many

feature films, including one very

personal film.

>> He took Rebecca's death very hard. Um,

it was very difficult for him. One of

the things he did was he wrote a movie

called um, Moonlight Mile. and it was

kind of his catharsis. It was about a

family whose daughter is murdered. It

was a really lovely lovely movie and I

think that was his way of kind of

dealing with the with what his feelings

were. I was always struck at how crazy

Bardau was. He had a look in his eye and

that it was sickening to me like he

almost had a pride that he took her

life. I hate the fact that he gets any

sort of notoriety because of my friend.

>> Bardau wrote in his diary how important

fame was to him. He wanted to be

remembered. He wanted to be recognized.

And he was willing to achieve it in any

way that he could. And ultimately he

knew that if he took her life, he would

forever be remembered as the assassin

who killed Rebecca Schaefer. This is

what I call fame without achievement.

It's a cheaters's way to be remembered.

And it speaks to his narcissistic

yearnings, his narcissistic needs.

>> I don't know if justice has really been

served because Rebecca's not here. My

friend is gone.

It's not fair.

She'd have been big booby star. She

would have reached superstardom. I could

go down and I could walk on her star on

Hollywood Walk of Fame. It would be

there.

Um, she was she was she was just

destined for stardom, just not this way.

She was so innocent. She wasn't jaded.

There are a lot of not so nice people in

Hollywood. She was a lovely person. She

did not deserve to die. She had so much

ahead of her.