Page "Robert John Bardo" Paragraph 3

Having previously stalked child peace activist Samantha Smith before her death in a 1985 plane crash, Bardo turned his attention to Schaeffer in 1986.

He attempted to gain access to the set of the CBS TV series My Sister Sam, in which Schaeffer was then starring.

Ultimately, he obtained her home address via a detective agency, who in turn tracked it via California Department of Motor Vehicles records.

He confronted her at her home, angry at her for having starred in a sex scene in the film Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills and thus having " lost her innocence ".

He visited her at her apartment and told her he was a big fan.

She politely signed an autograph.

She went back into her apartment and he left.

About fifteen minutes later, Bardo returned and again rang the bell to her apartment.

Schaeffer, who had been waiting for a film script to be delivered and thought it was the messenger, was somewhat surprised that it was Bardo again.

She told him that she was somewhat busy and politely asked him to leave.

This provoked Bardo, who had come to " rescue her ", into pulling out a gun he had purchased only days before, from a paper bag, pointing it at her chest and shooting Schaeffer.

Per Bardo's testimony to police, Schaeffer, upon being shot, screamed out, " Why?

" and collapsed to the ground.

Schaeffer was pronounced dead upon her arrival, via paramedics, to the hospital.

Bardo was later arrested when he was observed walking aimlessly in traffic.