Rebecca Schaeffer

In April of that same year, having missed a signing due to filming, she reluctantly went to a girls' shelter to sign autographs. "No one will recognize me", she insisted, "or want my autograph," but as it turned out all of them did. In fact, the girls were so in awe that they invited her to the Renaissance Fair in May; Rebecca accepted. Only two months later, she lay dead on the pavement in front of her new apartment in West Hollywood, having been shot to death by a paranoid schizophrenic fan around her age, Robert John Bardo. He came to her apartment asking for an autograph. She obliged, even though she was busy rehearsing for the most important role of her short career. He later said he felt rejected by her because she didn't spend more time with him at her door.

He returned a few minutes later, pressed the buzzer, and when she again opened the door, he shot her once in the chest. Rebecca screamed out, "Why?" then fell backward in the doorway, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai hospital within minutes. The killer fled to Tucson, AZ, and the next morning was found walking blindly on a major highway, appearing to hope to be hit by a car. He was subsequently arrested, transferred back to Los Angeles, and initially plea-bargained for a life sentence without parole. However, the trial lasted a month because he changed his mind and pleaded an insanity defense. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A then-young assistant district attorney named Marcia Clark, later famous for the O.J. Simpson case, was involved in the prosecution.