When actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered in 1989, it set the wheels in motion for the nation's first anti-stalking laws. Privacy protections across the country were strengthened and stalking was designated a crime for the first time in America. This is the tragic murder of '80s actress Rebecca Schaeffer explained. Rebecca Schaeffer was born on November 6, 1967 in Oregon to Danna and Dr. Benson Schaeffer. Schaffer's mother worked as a writer and teacher at Portland Community College while her father specialized in child psychology. From an early age, she showed a passion for theater and drama. Soon, she was appearing in TV commercials and department store catalogues. However, according to Jewish Journal, Schaeffer hadn't always aspired to be a model and had originally dreamt of becoming a rabbi. Schaeffer moved to New York City and took up work as a waitress. She managed to book a few small roles on soap operas and movies over the course of two years, but nothing seemed to pan out. And then, in 1986, she landed the role of Patti on My Sister Sam, which turned out to be her breakout role. Schaeffer moved to California for the part, and although audiences loved the show, it was unfortunately cancelled halfway through the second season. Born on January 2, 1970, Robert John Bardo was the seventh and youngest child of June and Philip Bardo. Bardo's father had been a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force and had met Bardo's mother while he was based in Japan. The family moved around a great deal during Bardo's childhood until finally settling in Tucson in 1983. As a child, Bardo is said to have experienced severe neglect and abuse from his mother, his father, and his older brothers. Throughout his youth, he is reported to have written letters to his teachers, apparently crying out for help amidst the dire situation with his family at home. At one point, Bardo wrote that he wanted to commit suicide, and that he felt at the end of his rope. Although Bardo ended up receiving a few counseling sessions, nothing else was done. His mental health problems went unaddressed, and he was eventually placed in a foster home. In 1985 Bardo was admitted into a psychiatric hospital. There, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After one month, Bardo's parents removed him from the psychiatric hospital, and soon after he dropped out of high school and got a job as a janitor at a Jack in the Box. Bardo repeatedly displayed erratic behavior, and in the year and a half before Schaeffer's murder, he'd been arrested three times by the police for his antisocial behavior, on charges that included domestic violence. Robert John Bardo first saw Rebecca Schaeffer in a commercial for My Sister Sam and reportedly felt an instant kinship with her. He started sending her letters and gifts. E! reports that Schaeffer initially found the fact that a fan was gifts her way to be endearing. Bardo recorded every episode of My Sister Sam and began to believe that he had a real and legitimate relationship with her. And when Schaeffer responded to one of Bardo's letters, he decided that was a sign that she felt the same way about him as he did about her. He then started visiting Los Angeles himself, trying to meet Schaeffer in person. But once he got to Burbank Studio looking to meet Schaeffer, teddy bear and flowers in hand, Bardo was unable to make it past security. Reel Reviews reports that one month later Bardo tried again, this time armed with a knife, but he was still unable to gain entrance into Burbank Studio. In response, Bardo wrote in his diary, "I don't lose. Period." This wasn't the first time that Bardo had stalked someone. At one point in the 1980s, Bardo had become obsessed with Samantha Smith, a young peace activist, and had attempted to go to Maine looking for her. However, he was arrested on the way and sent home. After Smith tragically died in a plane crash in 1985, Bardo turned his sights onto Debbie Gibson, a pop star, and went to New York in pursuit of her. Bardo's infatuation with Rebecca Schaeffer became deadly after he saw her in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Seeing her in a sex scene with another actor put him into a rage. Clinical police and forensic psychologist Dr. Kris Mohandie describes how these feelings were converted into a plan to murder, with Bardo telling himself, "I'm going to punish you and permanently possess you by taking your life." Originally, Bardo had been obsessed by Schaeffer's innocence and didn't understand the idea that she was playing a character. He said, "She came into my life in the right moment. She was brilliant, pretty, outrageous; her innocence impressed me. She turned into a goddess for me, an idol. Since then, I turned into an atheist, I only adored her." Now, he felt betrayed. In Blind-sided: Homicide where it is least expected, Gregory K. Moffatt writes that Bardo later told a court-appointed psychiatrist, quote, "If she was a whore, God was going to appoint me to punish her." Bardo also wrote a letter to his sister that read, "I have an obsession with the unattainable and I have to eliminate [what] I cannot attain." According to the Saturday Evening Post, it was at this point that Bardo decided to find Schaeffer's home address. On March 15, 1982, actress Theresa Saldana, was attacked by a stalker named Arthur Richard Jackson. He had become obsessed with Saldana after seeing her films, and planned on murdering her in order to reunite with her in heaven. According to The New York Times, Jackson used a private detective to find Saldana's apartment building, where he stabbed her all over her body 10 times with a hunting knife. Saldana managed to survive because a deliveryman who was driving by stopped his truck and fought Jackson off. According to E!, Robert John Bardo read an article about Jackson and Saldana and was inspired to hire a private detective in order to track down Rebecca Schaeffer. "Yeah the Theresa Saldana case, I read about that in People Magazine, and that's where I got the idea to hire the private investigator." He'd initially tried to get her address from Schaeffer's agent on July 17, 1989, but had been refused. So for the price of $300, private investigator Anthony Zinkus got Schaeffer's address from DMV records. After Bardo got Schaeffer's address from the private eye, he went to Schaeffer's apartment on July 18, 1989. Witnesses later recalled, "We saw Bardo on Rebecca's street, showing passersby her photo and asking if they knew her and where she lived." Although people ignored him, Bardo found Schaeffer's building. Since the intercom wasn't working, Schaeffer came down to the front door when Bardo rang the bell. When Schaeffer came to the door, Bardo showed her how she'd responded so kindly to his letters and told her that he was her biggest fan. Schaeffer was polite in turn, but she told Bardo that she was busy at the moment and said "Please take care" as she shook his hand and bid him goodbye. Bardo went to Jan's Restaurant for a meal, and then returned to Schaeffer's apartment one hour later. This time, when Schaeffer came down she said, "You came to my door again. Hurry up, I don't have much time." E! also notes that she was also waiting for the script for The Godfather Part III, since she was scheduled to audition for the role of Mary Corleone, which might explain why she was willing to repeatedly answer the door. During the trial, Bardo stated that he said, "I forgot to give you something." He then shot her twice in the chest. Rebecca Schaeffer's neighbor Richard Goldman heard two gunshots and two screams and came racing to the front door. However, Schaeffer died shortly after being rushed to the hospital. Goldman and other witnesses saw a man in a yellow shirt leaving the scene, but they lost sight of him after he turned into an alley. The following day, police in Tucson, Arizona were informed that there was a man walking in-between cars on the highway yelling, "I killed Rebecca Schaeffer." When asked about this incident later, Bardo said, "I thought I owed it to Rebecca to kill myself after what had happened." Tucson police arrested Bardo and his statements were taken to be a confession to murdering Schaeffer. And Bardo offered little-to-no resistance to the police. According to Associated Press, Bardo appeared to be exhausted and was in an unkempt and filthy condition when he was picked up by the police. He was held on a bail of one million dollars until witnesses confirmed that he was the one they saw at Schaeffer's apartment. Then, Bardo was extradited to California. Robert John Bardo's trial began in late September 1991. During the trial, it was revealed that when he first tried to purchase a gun, he was turned down due to his history of mental illness. All That's Interesting writes that Bardo was undeterred, and asked his brother to purchase it for him instead. Allegedly, the brother made Bardo swear to only use the gun when the two of them were together, and he was able to be supervised. Bardo's sister also testified that on the morning of Rebecca Schaeffer's murder, Bardo had called her to let her know that he was near the actress' home. Bardo's history of mental illness was brought up by his defense attorney Stephen Galindo, but then-deputy district attorney Marcia Clark dismissed this, claiming that, Bardo was obsessed rather than mentally ill. Galindo hoped to use Bardo's history of mental illness to prove that he was incapable of planning the murders and thus only guilty of murder in the second degree. "He was a victim of the mental health system, which was powerless to provide the type of health that he needed." The prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty, so after being found guilty of murder in the first degree, Bardo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of 2021, Bardo continues to serve his life sentence at Avenal State Prison in California. In 1990 California passed the first anti-stalking law in the United States in response to Rebecca Schaeffer's murder. According to California 's Antistalking Statute by Christine B. Gregson, "[Stalking is] repeatedly following or harassing another person and making a credible threat that causes the person to fear bodily harm." Although a first stalking offense might be prosecuted as a felony, it may only be regarded as a misdemeanor if there isn't already a restraining order in place. This is likely due to the fact that Rebecca Schaeffer wasn't the only woman murdered by a stalker that year. According to E!, apparently four other women had been murdered in Orange County alone despite their having restraining orders filed against the men they were afraid of. Soon, the rest of the country created their own anti-stalking laws and in 1996, Congress passed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act of 1996. According to the Law Library the act was supposed to, quote, "close the gaps' between individual state laws and to bolster their deterrent effect." Considering that more than one actress had been assaulted, the Screen Actors Guild also centered their efforts around privacy protections and began lobbying California to strengthen their privacy laws. The Los Angeles Times reports that originally, it only took one to five dollars to get anyone's home address from the DMV as long as you filled out all the paperwork. In 1988 alone, the DMV reportedly received 16 million requests of this type. In response to Schaeffer's murder, information regarding home addresses became heavily restricted, only accessible by entities such as law enforcement and insurance agencies. In 1994, Congress similarly passed the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, which mandated that every state's DMV apply similar protections. This act makes it illegal for state DMVs to give out the personal information of a driver without explicit authorization from the driver. However, The Hollywood Reporter notes that these protections only go so far, and there are numerous ways that stalkers can continue to torment their victims with cyberstalking on the internet being one such way. But, in 2015, cyberstalking was also made a federal crime. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite true crime cases are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.