Part Three: The Investigation

This is the continuing story of how Rebecca Schaeffer, a beautiful, young and talented 21-year-old actress was shot and killed right outside her door by a crazed, obsessive fan on July 18, 1989.

Although John Bardo confessed to the crime, investigators still needed a motive and what led him to kill the "love of his life."

Authorities arrested Bardo the day after he was seen on a Tucson, AZ highway trying to kill himself as he screamed that he had killed Rebecca Schaeffer. He was held on one-million-dollar bail pending trial.

In a chilling twist, just a stone's throw from the tragic scene of Rebecca Schaeffer's murder, police unearthed a discarded yellow shirt, a gun holster, and a worn copy of "The Catcher in the Rye" – eerie clues in a haunting puzzle.

This is a brief summary of the book: J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" immerses us in the troubled mind of Holden Caulfield, a rebellious teenager cast adrift in New York City after being expelled from yet another prep school. Over a few chaotic days, Holden grapples with the jarring transition to adulthood, railing against the perceived hypocrisy and superficiality of the world around him.

Bardo was 19 and investigators were able to piece together scenes from "The Catcher in the Rye" and how they correlated with his state of mind and possible motive to kill Schaeffer.

A cryptic call from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer added another layer to the chilling narrative. The officer revealed that Bardo's own sister received a bone-chilling confession from her brother on that fateful morning, placing him mere moments from Schaeffer's doorstep.

Shortly before Bardo boarded a Greyhound Bus headed for L.A., he wrote a letter to his older sister in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In the letter, he wrote:

“I have an obsession with the unattainable. I have to eliminate [what] I cannot attain.”

He, however, did not specifically mention Rebecca Schaeffer.

Bardo's defense painted a portrait of a troubled mind, his attorney arguing that mental illness rendered him incapable of such a calculated act. Bardo's brother, Edward, added a poignant detail to the narrative – a past marred by a stint in a psychiatric hospital.

The pieces of a dark puzzle were slowly falling into place, unveiling a disturbing tapestry of obsession, madness, and a life tragically cut short.

Within the confines of a jail cell, a chilling confession unfolded as forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz sat face-to-face with Bardo, the troubled young shooter. "There was something very special about Rebecca," Bardo confided, "and I just couldn't let go of her." A dark obsession that echoed the haunting words of Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer, with whom Bardo found a twisted kinship. Both men, tragically, clutched copies of "The Catcher in the Rye" as they carried out their horrific acts.

Going back to what was in his confession letter, he thought Hollywood was corrupting young Rebecca and he was disappointed that she would succumb to the evils of Hollywood, especially given her love scene in a movie.

Bardo's chilling revelations continued, revealing that U2's haunting song "Exit" became a macabre inspiration for his crime. In a dramatic twist during the trial, Bardo's attorney, Galindo, played the very song that allegedly ignited the young man's murderous intent. As the music filled the courtroom, Bardo was overcome, singing along, tapping his feet, and bobbing his head to the rhythm – a chilling display of the darkness that consumed him.

In a dramatic turn of events, Dr. Park Dietz, the forensic psychiatrist, delivered a chilling testimony. While acknowledging Bardo's lifelong struggle with schizophrenia, Dietz concluded that it did not absolve him of legal responsibility for his actions.

Stay tuned to the conclusion ...