‘Obsessive Fan’ Seized in Tucson in Actress’ Slaying

An unemployed fast-food worker described by authorities as an “obsessive fan” of slain actress Rebecca Schaeffer was charged Wednesday with her murder after police here found him darting in front of traffic on a busy freeway a day after the killing.

Authorities said Robert John Bardo, 19, of Tucson, had gotten off a Greyhound bus from Los Angeles and walked onto Interstate 10 in the downtown area in an apparent suicide attempt, at one point hurling himself at an approaching car.

After he was taken into custody on a freeway off-ramp, Bardo allegedly made statements to arresting officers concerning the killing of Schaeffer, who co-starred in the television series “My Sister Sam.”

Schaeffer, 21, who also appeared in the recent film “Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills,” was shot in the chest Tuesday morning by a lone gunman after she opened the front security door to her apartment house on North Sweetzer Avenue in the Fairfax District.

Los Angeles police said it appeared that Bardo had stalked Schaeffer, showing her neighbors a publicity photo of the young actress and asking if they knew exactly where she lived.

“The evidence shows that Bardo was an obsessive fan of Miss Schaeffer,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Savitt.

Savitt filed a felony arrest warrant for Bardo late Wednesday afternoon, charging the youth with one count of murder. Extradition hearings are pending.

Because of his alleged suicide attempt, Bardo was under constant surveillance in a single cell in the Pima County Jail. Arraignment was scheduled here this afternoon.

Last weekend, neighbors in Tucson said, Bardo threatened to shoot guests attending a party after he complained about the noise. The neighbors did not, however, know about any fixation he might have had for the actress.

Los Angeles police said Bardo may have a history of mental problems.

“It has been rumored that he was a mental patient,” said homicide Detective Dan Andrews. “He may have been institutionalized, but we are not sure of that.”

Andrews said Bardo was believed to have been a frequent visitor to Los Angeles, but there was no indication he had had direct contact with the actress before the shooting.

There was some indication, Andrews said, that the suspect called the actress’ publicity agency several times and, at least once, about a year ago, sent a fan letter to her via the agency.

The detective described the letter as “affectionate and rambling.”

A source close to the police investigation said Bardo’s alleged infatuation with Schaeffer appeared to be similar to John W. Hinckley Jr.’s obsession with Academy Award-winning actress Jody Foster. It was Hinckley’s desire to get Foster’s attention, psychiatrists said, that spurred him to attempt to kill former President Ronald Reagan.

“He (Bardo) was stalking her (Schaeffer),” the source said. “He apparently let it be known to somebody that he was going to deal with this woman.”

Bardo, who was known to carry a publicity photo of the actress at times, made statements to Tucson police about Schaeffer after he was detained for obstructing traffic. One of those who participated in the arrest was Tucson Police Chief Peter Ronstadt, the brother of pop singer Linda Ronstadt, who was driving along the freeway when an emergency call came in to headquarters.

Tucson authorities notified the Los Angeles Police Department and sent investigators a photo of Bardo. Witnesses later identified him as the man they saw loitering outside Schaeffer’s apartment for several hours before the shooting, police said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said the evidence that led to charges being filed against Bardo included statements he had made to Tucson police.

At a late afternoon press conference, Andrews said Bardo “made statements that he was involved in this murder. I don’t want to say he confessed, but he implicated himself, for sure.”

Los Angeles police said they received a telephone call at 2 a.m. Wednesday from a woman friend of the suspect in the Knoxville, Tenn., area who said she believed Bardo was “involved in the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer.”

Bardo “also expressed to his friend that he was going to harm Miss Schaeffer,” Andrews said. But the detectives added that it was unclear to investigators why Bardo might want to kill the actress.

The woman told police that Bardo had a video collection of “My Sister Sam” shows and had in his possession an autographed publicity photo of the actress.

It was not known how the gunman learned what street Schaeffer lived on. However, the assailant carried a large envelope and showed the actress’ photograph to passers-by on Tuesday morning, asking if they knew where she lived.

“He stopped me on the street, showed me a picture and asked me if I’d seen her in the neighborhood,” said neighbor Irene Tishkoff. “I just looked at him and said, ‘What?’ and I kept on walking.”

Other neighbors said they heard a gunshot and two screams and then saw a young man fleeing.

A restaurateur who lives across the street said he was standing at the window having coffee and talking on the telephone when he witnessed the shooting.

“He went to the door, waited a minute or two, and she came to the door and he shot her,” said the neighbor, who identified himself only as Francois. “There was no talking, no argument. He just turned around and left dragging his feet. He couldn’t run because he had on sandals.

Gun in Envelope?

“He must have put the gun in the envelope, because I didn’t see it when he turned around,” the neighbor continued. “She just opened the door and he shot her and she fell. It was kind of strange. I was shaken up to see someone be shot in front of me.”

When Bardo was apprehended Wednesday, Tucson police said he was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sandals.

Los Angeles police homicide investigators Frank Boland and Paul Coulter flew to Tucson on Wednesday night to interview Bardo. But evidence already accumulated was sufficient, prosecutors in Los Angeles said, to immediately file a felony arrest warrant charging Bardo with one count of murder.

“There is other evidence he is a fan, other than that found on him at the time of his arrest and other than what he said,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter A. Bonzanich said.

Bonzanich said that special circumstances that could lead to the death penalty against Bardo had not been filed at this time.

“However, if such evidence is developed in the future, we certainly will allege (this) if appropriate. . . . It’s a fast-breaking case so it will take us a while for the police to contact all the witnesses.”

Unemployed at the Time

Bardo was unemployed and living at home at the time of his arrest. He had previously worked at several fast-food outlets in the Tucson area.

Gloria White, an assistant manager at a Jack-in-the-Box on North Campbell Avenue in Tucson, said Bardo worked there earlier this year, but never mentioned any interest in Hollywood actresses.

“We really didn’t talk that much,” White said.

But she added that Bardo could not take the pressure of working at the grill and that she had to send him home a couple of times.

Late Wednesday, Tucson police conducted a search of the house where Bardo lives with his parents. The house is located in a middle-class neighborhood of red-brick, one-story houses called Midvale Park in southwest Tucson.

The suspect’s father, Phillip Bardo, expressed shock at the arrest, but declined to discuss the case with a reporter or talk about his son’s whereabouts in recent days. He said he was waiting to talk with police.

The younger Bardo had recently passed an equivalency test to get his high school diploma, according to his father, and was hoping to land a better job.

His neighbors painted a picture of a troubled family and a potentially violent youth.

Ida Ortega said she was attending a coming-out party for a teen-age girl last Saturday night when Robert Bardo came across the street, stood at the edge of the driveway and complained about the noise. People at the party were playing Mexican music on guitars.

“He got really abusive and told us to shut up,” Ortega recalled. He later returned and again told guests to quiet down and an argument ensued.

At one point, she said, Bardo told them: “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to get my gun and blow you Mexicans away.”

The next morning, she said, someone saw Bardo and asked him what his problem was the night before. Bardo reportedly replied, “I was just in a bad mood.”

Others neighbors said they were afraid of the Bardo family, noting that police had been called to the house in the past for family disputes.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Schaeffer’s parents arrived from their home in Portland, Ore., and met with police at the Wilshire Division station.

Benson Schaeffer, a psychologist, comforted his wife, Dana, a writer, who was weeping behind sunglasses as she entered the station.

The actress left home at age 16 to pursue a modeling career in New York. After moderate success, she moved to Los Angeles in 1986, when she was selected for a lead role in the CBS sitcom “My Sister Sam,” which starred Pam Dawber.

Friends who had been in recent contact with the actress said she had never mentioned that anyone was harassing or stalking her.

Barbara Lusch, a 31-year-old actress from Burbank who described herself as Schaeffer’s best friend, said she talked to her just over an hour before the shooting.

“I think I was the last person she talked to,” Lusch said. “We talked about the day (ahead). We were going to go out that night to see Richard Marx at the Roxy.”

George Ramos reported from Tucson and Robert Welkos from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Charisse Jones in Portland, Ore., and Paul Feldman, David Ferrell, John H. Lee and Darrell Dawsey in Los Angeles also contributed to this story.