Trivia

Her stalking/murder shed light on the horrors that celebrities often face with deranged fans turned stalkers. Since her stalker was able to find out so much personal information about her, including her home address from DMV records, laws have been established to protect celebrities' private information.

She was scheduled to audition for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III (1990) the morning she was murdered.

Her murder helped lead to the classification of stalking as a felony in California. The law has since provided recourse for such celebrities as Madonna, Jeri Ryan and David Letterman.

Shot to death in Los Angeles, California at age 21. Her murderer, Robert Bardo, was sentenced to life in prison.

Lived with co-star Pam Dawber and Dawber's actor husband Mark Harmon in Los Angeles after landing the role of Patti Russell on My Sister Sam (1986).

The movie Moonlight Mile (2002), written and directed by Brad Silberling, takes its story from his experiences as her former boyfriend.

Robert Bardo also attempted to meet singers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, but says he was most obsessed with Schaeffer. He once tried to sneak on to the studio lot to give her a stuffed teddy bear.

Episode The Gun (1990) of the TV series MacGyver (1985) was produced in reaction to her murder.

Was dating Brad Silberling at the time of her death.

When asked for the motive of the murder, Robert Bardo stated that he was disillusioned when he saw her appear in a sex scene, thereby destroying his fantasies of her "good girl" image.

The shooting of Rebecca was reported when actress Lynne Marta, who lived in the same apartment complex and on the same floor as her, heard the gunshot and called the police.

As with John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman before him, Robert Bardo, was found to have in his possession a copy of J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" at the time of his arrest.

Robert Bardo obtained her home address simply by paying a $1 fee at the DMV.

Three years before the murder, Robert Bardo began writing letters to Schaeffer.

Her killer Robert Bardo was dressed as a flower delivery man when she was fatally shot once in the heart at the downstairs doorway of her apartment building.

Interred at Ahavai Sholom Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

Daughter of Danna Schaeffer.