Gerard John Schaefer
Encyclopedia
Gerard John Schaefer was an American
serial killer
from Florida
. He was imprisoned in 1973 for murder
s he committed as a Martin County, Florida
Sheriff's deputy.
While he was convicted of two murder
s, he was suspected of many others. Schaefer frequently appeal
ed against his conviction, yet privately boasted — both verbally and in writing — of having murdered over 30 women and girls.
until 1960, when he and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida
. Schaefer did not get along well with his father, who he believed favored his sister. In his teens, Schaefer became obsessed with women's panties
and also became a peeping tom
, spying on a neighbor girl named Leigh Hainline. He would later admit to killing animals
in his youth and cross dressing, although at other times he claimed the latter was solely to avoid the draft
into the Vietnam War
(which he did). Schaefer's I.Q. tested at 130, within the very superior range, and he was an autodidact who indulged in many subjects that interested him.
After graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 1964, Schaefer went to college, during which time he got married. In 1969 he became a teacher, but was soon fired for "totally inappropriate behavior," according to the principal. After being turned down from the priesthood, Schaefer turned to law enforcement as a career, graduating as a patrolman at the end of 1971, at the age of 25.
. He abducted them, took them to some remote woods and tied them to trees where he threatened to kill them or sell them into prostitution
. However, when he got a call on his police radio, Schaefer had to go, leaving the girls tied up. He vowed that he would return.
The two girls, who were aged 18 and 17, escaped their bonds and went to the nearest police station, which was actually their kidnapper's own station. When Schaefer returned to the woods and found his victims gone, he called his station and claimed that he had done "something foolish", explaining that he had pretended to kidnap and threaten to kill two hitchhikers in order to scare them into avoiding such an irresponsible method of travel. Schaefer's boss did not believe him and he ordered Schaefer to the station where he stripped him of his badge and charged him with false imprisonment
and assault
.
After posting bail
, Schaefer was released. Two months later, on September 27, 1972, Schaefer abducted, torture
d, and murdered Susan Place, aged 17, and Georgia Jessup, 16, and buried them on Hutchinson Island.
In December that year, Schaefer appeared in court in relation to the abduction of the two girls who had escaped his clutches back in July. Due to a plea bargain
, he was able to plead guilty to just one charge of aggravated assault, for which he received a sentence of one year.
, butchered remains of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup were found. The girls had been tied to a tree at some point and had vanished while hitch-hiking, and these similarities to Schaefer's treatment of the girls who had gotten away led police to obtain a search warrant
for the home he and his wife shared with Schaefer's (now divorce
d) mother.
In Schaefer's bedroom, police found lurid stories he had written that were full of descriptions of the torture, rape
and murder of women, whom Schaefer routinely referred to as "whores" and "sluts". More damningly, the authorities found personal possessions such as jewelry, diaries
— and in one case, teeth — from at least eight young women and girls who had gone missing in recent years. Some of the jewelry was from Leigh Hainline, who had lived next door to Schaefer when they were teenagers; Hainline had vanished in 1969 after telling her husband she was leaving him for a friend from childhood. Also among the items was a purse identified as belonging to Susan Place. Place's mother later identified Schaefer as being the man she last saw with her daughter and Jessup.
Schaefer was charged with the murders of Place and Jessup. In October 1973, he was found guilty and given two life sentences. Authorities soon stated that he was linked to around 30 missing women and girls.
Place and Jessup may not even have been Schaefer's final victims; two 14-year-old girls named Mary Briscolina and Elsie Farmer vanished while hitch hiking on October 23, 1972: just a few weeks after Place and Jessup were killed. Their bodies were later recovered, and jewelry belonging to one of the girls was later found in Schaefer's home.
ed his conviction, claiming at one point that he had been framed. All his appeals were rejected. Schaefer later began filing frivolous lawsuits, trying to sue one true crime
writer for describing him as overweight and separately trying to sue authors Colin Wilson
and Michael Newton and former FBI agent Robert Ressler
for describing him (Schaefer) as a serial killer. All of Schaefer's lawsuits were thrown out of court.
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 did not 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 rumours that he was a 'snitch' who had been informing on other inmates. Sondra London
(see below) claimed Rivera killed Schaefer in an argument over a cup of coffee
.
At the time of Schaefer's death, a Fort Lauderdale homicide detective had been proposing to file charges against Schaefer for three unsolved murders to ensure he never got out of prison.
, Schaefer had dated Sondra London
, who later became a true crime writer. She got in touch with Schaefer following his conviction and in 1989 she published Killer Fiction, short stories
and drawings found in Schaefer's house after his arrest. A follow-up, Beyond Killer Fiction, was later released. Following his death, London released another edition of Killer Fiction, containing the stories and rambling articles by Schaefer that were in the previous two books, together with Schaefer's letters to her where he boasted of killing 34 women and girls and how he was admired by fellow inmate Ted Bundy
. At the same time Schaefer had been writing these boastful claims, he was appealing his conviction and trying to sue anyone who dared to call him a serial killer.
The short stories Schaefer wrote all featured the savage torture and murder of women. They were often written from the killer's perspective, the killer often a rogue cop — just like Schaefer.
In his writings, Schaefer claimed to have started murdering women as early as 1965, when he was 19.
Two schoolgirls, nine-year-old Peggy Rahn and eight-year-old Wendy Stevenson, vanished in December 29 1969 after being seen in the company of a man fitting Schaefer's description. Schaefer denied being involved when he was publicly accused of the crime, but in a letter to London in 1989 he boasted of killing and cannibal
izing the two children.
London and Schaefer had briefly been engaged in 1991, but London broke it off and got engaged (to another serial killer from Florida, Danny Rolling
). Schaefer did not take the rejection well, and began sending her death threats. He tried three times to sue her for "stealing" his work.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He was imprisoned in 1973 for murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s he committed as a Martin County, Florida
Martin County, Florida
Martin County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 126,731. The U.S. Census Bureau 2008 estimate for the county is 138,660. Its county seat is Stuart, Florida.- History :...
Sheriff's deputy.
While he was convicted of two murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s, he was suspected of many others. Schaefer frequently appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed against his conviction, yet privately boasted — both verbally and in writing — of having murdered over 30 women and girls.
Early life
Gerard John Schaefer was raised in Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
until 1960, when he and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Schaefer did not get along well with his father, who he believed favored his sister. In his teens, Schaefer became obsessed with women's panties
Panties
Panties are a form of underwear, usually light and snug-fitting, designed to be worn by women or girls in the area directly below the waist. Typical components include an elastic waistband, a crotch panel to cover the genital area , and a pair of leg openings which, like the waistband, are often...
and also became a peeping tom
Peeping Tom
Peeping Tom is a nickname commonly given to voyeurs, particularly males. It originated with the legend of Lady Godiva, when a man named Tom watched her during her nude ride and was struck blind or dead.It may also refer to:In music...
, spying on a neighbor girl named Leigh Hainline. He would later admit to killing animals
Zoosadism
Zoosadism is a term coined by Ernest Borneman referring to pleasure derived from cruelty to animals. Zoosadism is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are a precursor to sociopathic behavior.-Research:...
in his youth and cross dressing, although at other times he claimed the latter was solely to avoid the draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
(which he did). Schaefer's I.Q. tested at 130, within the very superior range, and he was an autodidact who indulged in many subjects that interested him.
After graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 1964, Schaefer went to college, during which time he got married. In 1969 he became a teacher, but was soon fired for "totally inappropriate behavior," according to the principal. After being turned down from the priesthood, Schaefer turned to law enforcement as a career, graduating as a patrolman at the end of 1971, at the age of 25.
Arrest
On July 21, 1972, Schaefer, while on patrol, picked up two teenage girls who were hitchhikingHitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
. He abducted them, took them to some remote woods and tied them to trees where he threatened to kill them or sell them into prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. However, when he got a call on his police radio, Schaefer had to go, leaving the girls tied up. He vowed that he would return.
The two girls, who were aged 18 and 17, escaped their bonds and went to the nearest police station, which was actually their kidnapper's own station. When Schaefer returned to the woods and found his victims gone, he called his station and claimed that he had done "something foolish", explaining that he had pretended to kidnap and threaten to kill two hitchhikers in order to scare them into avoiding such an irresponsible method of travel. Schaefer's boss did not believe him and he ordered Schaefer to the station where he stripped him of his badge and charged him with false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
and assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
.
After posting bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
, Schaefer was released. Two months later, on September 27, 1972, Schaefer abducted, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d, and murdered Susan Place, aged 17, and Georgia Jessup, 16, and buried them on Hutchinson Island.
In December that year, Schaefer appeared in court in relation to the abduction of the two girls who had escaped his clutches back in July. Due to a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
, he was able to plead guilty to just one charge of aggravated assault, for which he received a sentence of one year.
Murder conviction
In April 1973, over six months since they vanished, the decomposingDecomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
, butchered remains of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup were found. The girls had been tied to a tree at some point and had vanished while hitch-hiking, and these similarities to Schaefer's treatment of the girls who had gotten away led police to obtain a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
for the home he and his wife shared with Schaefer's (now divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d) mother.
In Schaefer's bedroom, police found lurid stories he had written that were full of descriptions of the torture, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and murder of women, whom Schaefer routinely referred to as "whores" and "sluts". More damningly, the authorities found personal possessions such as jewelry, diaries
Diaries
As a proper noun, Diaries, the plural of diary, can refer to:*Diaries: 1971-1976, an 1981 documentary by Ed Pincus*Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years, a 2006 book by Michael Palin...
— and in one case, teeth — from at least eight young women and girls who had gone missing in recent years. Some of the jewelry was from Leigh Hainline, who had lived next door to Schaefer when they were teenagers; Hainline had vanished in 1969 after telling her husband she was leaving him for a friend from childhood. Also among the items was a purse identified as belonging to Susan Place. Place's mother later identified Schaefer as being the man she last saw with her daughter and Jessup.
Schaefer was charged with the murders of Place and Jessup. In October 1973, he was found guilty and given two life sentences. Authorities soon stated that he was linked to around 30 missing women and girls.
Place and Jessup may not even have been Schaefer's final victims; two 14-year-old girls named Mary Briscolina and Elsie Farmer vanished while hitch hiking on October 23, 1972: just a few weeks after Place and Jessup were killed. Their bodies were later recovered, and jewelry belonging to one of the girls was later found in Schaefer's home.
Imprisonment and death
Schaefer appealAppeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed his conviction, claiming at one point that he had been framed. All his appeals were rejected. Schaefer later began filing frivolous lawsuits, trying to sue one true crime
True crime (genre)
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
writer for describing him as overweight and separately trying to sue authors Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson
Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
and Michael Newton and former FBI agent Robert Ressler
Robert Ressler
Robert K. Ressler is a former FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the English term "serial killer"....
for describing him (Schaefer) as a serial killer. All of Schaefer's lawsuits were thrown out of court.
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 did not 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
Ottis Toole
Ottis Elwood Toole was an American serial killer, arsonist and cannibal. Toole was an accomplice of convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas...
had made (and subsequently retracted). Others suggested it was due to Schaefer owing some prisoners money or rumours that he was a 'snitch' who had been informing on other inmates. Sondra London
Sondra London
Sondra London is an American true crime author who has been dubbed "the Queen of Serial Killer Groupies".-Biography:Born in Florida, she dated future serial killer Gerard John Schaefer in high school. She earned a bachelor's degree in literature at New College of Florida...
(see below) claimed Rivera killed Schaefer in an argument over a cup of coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
.
At the time of Schaefer's death, a Fort Lauderdale homicide detective had been proposing to file charges against Schaefer for three unsolved murders to ensure he never got out of prison.
Alleged victiums
Killer Fiction
In high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Schaefer had dated Sondra London
Sondra London
Sondra London is an American true crime author who has been dubbed "the Queen of Serial Killer Groupies".-Biography:Born in Florida, she dated future serial killer Gerard John Schaefer in high school. She earned a bachelor's degree in literature at New College of Florida...
, who later became a true crime writer. She got in touch with Schaefer following his conviction and in 1989 she published Killer Fiction, short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and drawings found in Schaefer's house after his arrest. A follow-up, Beyond Killer Fiction, was later released. Following his death, London released another edition of Killer Fiction, containing the stories and rambling articles by Schaefer that were in the previous two books, together with Schaefer's letters to her where he boasted of killing 34 women and girls and how he was admired by fellow inmate Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
. At the same time Schaefer had been writing these boastful claims, he was appealing his conviction and trying to sue anyone who dared to call him a serial killer.
The short stories Schaefer wrote all featured the savage torture and murder of women. They were often written from the killer's perspective, the killer often a rogue cop — just like Schaefer.
In his writings, Schaefer claimed to have started murdering women as early as 1965, when he was 19.
Two schoolgirls, nine-year-old Peggy Rahn and eight-year-old Wendy Stevenson, vanished in December 29 1969 after being seen in the company of a man fitting Schaefer's description. Schaefer denied being involved when he was publicly accused of the crime, but in a letter to London in 1989 he boasted of killing and cannibal
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
izing the two children.
London and Schaefer had briefly been engaged in 1991, but London broke it off and got engaged (to another serial killer from Florida, Danny Rolling
Danny Rolling
Daniel Harold Rolling , also known as The Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida. Rolling later confessed to raping several of his victims, committing an additional 1989 triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder...
). Schaefer did not take the rejection well, and began sending her death threats. He tried three times to sue her for "stealing" his work.
Further reading
Ressler, Robert K. and Tom Schachtman. Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Hunting Serial Killers for the FBI. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992, pp. 122-127. ISBN 0312078838External links
- Schaefer at the Crime Library, by Michael Newton
- Inmate Population Information Detail - Vincent Faustino Rivera (convicted of killing Schaefer). Florida Department of CorrectionsFlorida Department of CorrectionsThe Florida Department of Corrections, established in 1821, operates state prisons in Florida. It has its headquarters in Tallahassee.The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the United States...
. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.