#gerard schaefer

[tobybo]

[moonlightmurder]

Ex-cop and serial killer, Gerard Schaefer, during an interview at Chattahoochee, State Mental Hospital, 1973.

[thattruecrimewriter]

A Foolish Mistake

On July 21, 1972, Gerard John Schaefer made the worst mistake of life by picking up two hitchhikers: Pamela Wells (17) and Nancy Trotter (18). The girls trusted Schaefer partly because of his job as a local deputy. Unfortunately, their trust was misplaced. Schaefer agreed to take the teenagers to the beach, but instead Hutchinson Island off State Road AIA. He then tied the two girls on a tree with nooses around their necks. Schaefer told the girls he would return before leaving them in the tree. I’m not completely sure why Schaefer left the girls, instead of simply killing them. I suspect he was motivated by a sadistic desire to create fear and despair. Regardless of Schaefer’s motivation, leaving the girls was a mistake, and it cost him. 

Miraculous, Pamela and Nancy managed to escape. Schaefer attempted to remedy the situation by claiming he was simply trying to scare the teenagers out of hitchhiking in the future. Since not everyone in Martin County was an idiot, Schaefer lost his job and was charged with false imprisonment and two counts of aggravated assault. I wish this was the end of Schaefer’s story but tragically it isn’t. 

A couple of months before his trial, Susan Place (17) and Georgia Jessup (16) disappeared. Tracking the license plate of the man last seen with the girls led the investigators back to Gerald Schaefer. Not long after, the bodies of the girls were found on Hutchinson Island. The same Hutchinson Island where Schaefer had left his last his victims. According to the detectives investigating the case, the two girls had been “tied to a tree and butchered.” 

While searching for evidence in a spare bedroom in Schaefer’s mother’s house, investigators discovered possible trophies from previous victims. The evidence suggested that Schaefer could have been committing murders since 1969. Among the trophies were newspaper clippings, I.D., and jewelry. Despite the possibility that Schaefer was responsible for other murders, he was only charged with the murders of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup. 

Later, he would team up with Sondra London, a former ex-girlfriend, to publish a book called Killer Fiction. The Police would argue that this collection of short stories was simply his way of bragging about real murders, but this cannot be proven. 

Ultimately, Schaefer’s secrets died with him on December 3, 1995. Vincent Rivera, a fellow inmate, murdered him in his cell. Rivera has never explained why he killed Schaefer. It may have been because no one liked him. Apparently, he wasn’t popular in prison. 

[calendarofanxiety]

December 3, 1995 SCHAEFER Gerard John Schaefer Jr was an American murderer and suspected serial killer from Florida. He was imprisoned in 1973 for murders he committed as a Martin County, Florida Sheriff's deputy. While he was convicted of two murders, he was also suspected of many others. Schaefer frequently appealed against his conviction yet privately boasted – both verbally and in writing – of having murdered more than 30 women and girls. Schaefer appealed his conviction claiming at one point that he had been framed, but all his appeals were rejected. Schaefer later began filing frivolous lawsuits trying to sue true crime writer Patrick Kendrick for describing him as "an overweight, doughy, middle aged man who preyed on victims who were psychologically and physiologically weaker than him" and separately trying to sue authors Colin Wilson and Michael Newton and former FBI agent Robert Ressler for describing him as a serial killer. All of Schaefer's lawsuits were thrown out of court except Kendrick's which Schaefer continued until his own murder in prison. He also wrote threatening letters to Kendrick suggesting he had willing minions that would do his bidding and he "would hate to see something happen to your family". On December 3, 1995 Schaefer was found stabbed to death in his cell. He had been killed by fellow inmate Vincent Rivera. Rivera was convicted in 1999 of killing Schaefer and had 53 years and 10 months added to the life-plus-20 years sentence he was serving for double murder. Rivera didn't confess to the crime nor give a motive. Schaefer's sister claimed that his murder was some sort of cover-up related to his attempts to verify the confession to the killing of Adam Walsh that Ottis Toole had made (and subsequently retracted). Others suggested it was due to Schaefer owing some prisoners money or rumors that he was a 'snitch' who had been informing on other inmates. 

[tobybo]

[tobybo]

Today, I got the book I always wanted. I found out last week that it was down the price on Amazon, and I had enough money to buy a physical copy. I'm so happy to have the Killer Fiction book!

[tobybo]

Gerard Schaefer and Sondra London

[wallowingindarkness]