The man accused of gunning down actress Rebecca Schaeffer at her Los Angeles apartment house a year ago Wednesday said he feels guilty about her death but still loves her and wishes she were alive.
The Oregonian published an interview Wednesday with Robert John Bardo, 20. The newspaper said it was Bardo's first comments to reporters since his arrest last year in the slaying of Schaeffer, 21, who was born in Eugene and grew up in Portland.Bardo said his obssession with Schaeffer began in 1986 with a seemingly innocent fan letter. Prosecutors claim it culminated three years later when he traced the promising young actress to her apartment, stalked her and shot her at the front entrance of her building.
The Tucson, Ariz., high school dropout has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and is being held in a Los Angeles jail psychiatric ward. A judge has ordered Bardo to stand trial but repeated motions by defense attorneys have slowed the process.
Bardo was arrested the day after the shooting in Tucson as he ran in and out of traffic on a freeway in a suicide attempt.
Schaeffer's parents, Danna and Benson Schaeffer of Portland, filed a wrongful death suit Tuesday in Los Angeles against Bardo's family, the private detective Bardo paid $250 to track her down and the Tucson gun shop that sold the murder weapon. Among other allegations, the suit said Bardo's parents knew he had threatened to harm Schaeffer but failed to warn her or keep him from carrying out his threat.