Rebecca Schaeffer's apartment

This is Rebecca Schaeffer's former apartment.

It is located at 120 North Sweetzer Avenue in Los Angeles, California.

Schaeffer lived in a second-floor apartment at the property.

On July 18, 1989, a stalker named Robert John Bardo showed up at her doorstep and fatally shot her in the front hallway.

Background

Schaeffer was a former teen model and actress who portrayed Patti Russell in the CBS sitcom My Sister Sam. She also appeared in the 1989 black comedy film "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills."

Bardo was an emotionally disturbed teenager who became obsessed with Schaeffer and other female celebrities, including Madonna, Tiffany Darwish, Debbie Gibson, and child peace activist Samantha Smith.

One of his former teachers described him as a "ticking time bomb."

His fixation with Schaeffer intensified after she responded to one of his fan letters with an autographed publicity photo that had a heart drawn on it.

Bardo traveled to the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank to meet her. The first time, he brought flowers and a teddy bear. On the second occasion, he tried to enter with a knife.

When security turned him away both times, he returned to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona, and diverted his attention to various pop singers.

Stalking

Two years later, Bardo saw Schaeffer's character, Zandra Lipkin, lying in bed with an actor in the movie "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills."

Enraged by what he interpreted as a "loss of innocence," he immediately set out to track down her address.

At first, he tried contacting her agent's office. However, they refused to provide any information.

Eventually, Bardo paid a private detective agency in Tucson to find Schaeffer's address. On the request form, he falsely claimed that he knew Schaeffer and wanted to send her a gift.

Bardo was inspired to contact a private detective agency after he read about a similar stalking case involving actress Theresa Saldana.

In 1982, a Scottish drifter named Arthur Richard Jackson hired a private detective to find Saldana.

Once he received her address, he repeatedly stabbed her outside her West Hollywood residence.

Saldana survived the attack after a passerby intervened and incapacitated Jackson.

Murder

Bardo's private detective was able to obtain Schaeffer's address via the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

After receiving the address, Bardo obtained a gun from his older brother, traveled to Los Angeles, and rang the doorbell at 120 North Sweetzer Avenue.

Schaeffer, who was expecting someone to deliver a script for the upcoming movie The Godfather Part III (1990), went downstairs and answered the door because her intercom wasn't working.

When she answered, Bardo told her he was a fan and showed her the signed photograph she had sent him two years earlier.

Schaeffer was disturbed that a stranger had somehow tracked down her address and shown up at her apartment. Consequently, she asked him to leave.

Initially, Bardo complied and walked to Jan's Restaurant, which was situated at 8424 Beverly Boulevard.

While eating onion rings and cheesecake, he decided to return to Sweetzer Avenue and ring the doorbell again.

This time, the actress answered with a cold expression and accused him of wasting her time.

Incensed by her reaction, Bardo pushed open the door, pulled out his handgun, and opened fire.

Bardo shot Schaeffer in her hallway at point-blank range. During later interviews, Bardo claimed she screamed, slumped to the floor, and asked, "Why?"

Following the shooting, he fled the scene and disappeared into a nearby alley.

Neighbors heard the screams and found the 21-year-old unconscious in the hallway.

She was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but was pronounced dead 30 minutes after arrival.

The cause of death was determined to be a penetrating gunshot wound to the chest.

Arrest

Following the shooting, Bardo returned to Tucson.

Eight days later, he was arrested after the police received reports that a man was running into traffic on Interstate 10.

Bardo immediately confessed to Schaeffer's murder after he was taken into custody.

By that stage, the Los Angeles Police Department had already identified him as a suspect, as his sister had tipped them off about his unhealthy obsession with the actress.

Bardo stood trial for the murder after he was extradited to California. His defense team argued he suffered from schizophrenia and that his illness had caused him to shoot the actress.

However, Superior Court Judge Dino Fulgoni disagreed with the assessment and found him guilty of first-degree murder.

In October 1991, Bardo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Schaeffer's murder led to the introduction of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), which prevents DMVs from disclosing personal information.