Obsessive October is flying by, and today we’re talking about the superstars of the stalking world: celebrity stalkers. Being in the public makes celebrities ripe for obsessed fans, and the power of the Internet makes it that much easier for the savvy stalker.

The list of celebrities who have been stalked over the years is long: Madonna, Mila Kunis, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, Shawn Johnson, Britney Spears–the list goes on. There are a few, however, that stand out as the creepiest of all.

John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley Jr. pulled double stalking duty, going after both Jodie Foster and Ronald Reagan. In 1980, when Jodie Foster enrolled at Yale University, John Hinckley followed. He left love notes and poems, including a poem that detailed his plans to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.

Over the past seven months I’ve left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. […] the reason I’m going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you. –John Hinckley, JR.

On the same day he left Jodie the cryptic note, Hinckley went to Washington, D.C. and shot President Reagan, who survived. His press secretary, James Brady, was paralyzed by the bullet that struck him.

Hinckley was charged with 13 accounts of attempted murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity–a rare feat despite what popular television shows depict. He was diagnosed with narcissistic and schizoid personality disorders, dysthymia and borderline passive-aggressive features. He remains hospitalized.

Anthony Gary Silvestri

Anthony Gary Silvestri spent months stalking television reporter Kathryn Dettman in Waco, Texas. In January 1998, he broke into Dettman’s home and attacked her with a knife, stabbing her more than a dozen times.

Dettman had been living her last days in the small Texas town and was preparing to move to a much larger station in Dallas.

“It was an extremely violent attack. She had 15-16 stab wounds.” –Temple Police Sgt. Keith Reed.

Dettman’s friends admitted she knew the 21-year-old had been stalking her. She’d said he was sweet and flattering, and he’d been spotted outside her apartment more than once. Kathryn didn’t consider him a threat.

“Most station managers don’t even give the news anchors all their mail or their email,” says Dietz. “Very few stations have adequate screening of who gets on the premises or do the things for their talent that can help protect them.”
–Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz

Anthony Silvestri received 40 years in prison.

Robert John Bardo

Robert John Bardo cut his stalking teeth on child peace activist Samantha Smith. When she died in a plane crash in 1985, Bardo found Rebecca Schaeffer.

In the late 80s, Rebecca Schaeffer was on her way to making it big in Hollywood, staring in My Sister Sam and several movies. With virtually no stalking laws in place at the time, Bardo got Shaeffer’s home address from a detective agency, who’d obtained the information from the California DMV. He tracked her down at home and confronted her for the sex scene in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, accusing her of losing her innocence. He told her he was a big fan, and she asked him to leave. Shortly after, he returned and shot her. Rebecca died on the scene.

As a result of the shady way Bardo found Rebecca’s address and her ultimate murder, the US government passed the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act which prohibits state Departments of Motor Vehicles from releasing the home addresses of state residents.

A two-hundred-mile labyrinth of dark storm drains serves as a refuge for the delusional stalker who will go to any lengths to possess fragile, emotionally isolated Emilie Davis. To survive, Emilie will have to confront the secrets of her past she has kept locked away from everyone, including herself.

That’s the query hook for my novel, INTO THE DARK. Protagonist Emilie Davis has a stalker who seems to know her deepest secrets, and he’ll stop at nothing to make her his. The inciting incident is a staged bank robbery where her stalker–nicknamed the Taker–attempts to kidnap Emilie and hide her away in the treacherous Las Vegas storm drains.

For me, the scariest part about stalking is the subterfuge–the idea that some creep could be watching from the shadows, chronicling our lives and biding his time. And it happens a lot more than most people realize. In 2009, the Department of Justice reported that 14 out of every 1000 people aged eighteen or older reported being victims of stalking. Source: MSI Detective Services.

Stalking as defined by the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center:

A repetitive pattern of unwanted, harassing or threatening behavior committed by one person against another. Acts include: telephone harassment, being followed, receiving unwanted gifts, and other similar forms of intrusive behavior. All states and the Federal Government have passed anti-stalking legislation. Definitions of stalking found in state anti-stalking statutes vary in their language, although most define stalking as “the willful, malicious, and repeated following and harassing of another person that threatens his or her safety.

Men have stalkers too–more than you might think. The same D.O.J report stated males were as likely to report being stalked as females, and that 43% of offenders were female.

Despite the statistics, stalking wasn’t always defined as a crime.

The tragic 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer changed everything.

At just twenty-one, Rebecca Schaeffer was the co-star of the sitcom My Sister Sam, a show that was quickly growing in popularity. She’d been receiving fan letters from nineteen-year-old Robert Bardo for months, and as she responded personally to each of her fans, Schaeffer answered Bardo. She wrote that his letter was “the most beautiful” she’d received, and drew a peace sign, a heart, and then signed the letter: “with love from Rebecca.”

On the day he received her response, Bardo wrote in his diary that he would like to become famous to impress Schaeffer.

In June 1987, Bardo went to the Burbank Studio gates with a teddy bear and a bouquet of roses for Schaeffer. He was denied entrance. A month later, he returned with a knife, but was denied again. He then wrote in his diary: “I don’t lose. Period.”

At home in Tucson, Bardo watched the actresses’s new film Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, where she had a bed scene with a male actor. Bardo was furious. His innocent flower had become “one more of the bitches of Hollywood.” As he contemplated Schaeffer’s punishment, Bardo drew a diagram of her body, marking the spots where he planned to shoot her. He asked his older brother to buy him a gun.

For the next two years, Bardo swarmed Schaeffer with love letters, built a shrine for her in his room, and collected videos of her tv shows and appearances. He sent a letter to his sister in Tennessee and said that if he couldn’t have Rebecca, no one would. In the summer of 1989, he took a bus from Tucson to Hollywood, determined to track Schaeffer down.

Once he arrived, he called her agent’s office to find out where she lived. After they denied him the information, he took to the streets, flashing her picture and asking people if they knew her address. Eventually, he paid a private detective $250 to find her, although at the time, anyone could go into a California DMV and fill out a form stating who they were, what person they want information on and why, and how they plan to use the info. For a $1, the information was given on the spot.

On July 18, 1989, carrying a copy of The Catcher In The Rye, Bardo rang Schaffer’s doorbell. The intercom was broken, so she went to the building’s front door. When she saw Bardo, she ignored his attention, and he left. An hour later, he returned. Schaeffer came to the door and opened it.

Bardo would later give the following account of the incident: “She had this kid voice… sounded like a little brat or something… said I was wasting her time! … Wasting her time! No matter what, I thought that was a very callous thing to say to a fan, you know… I grabbed the door… guns still in the bag… I grab it by the trigger… I come around, and kapow, and she’s like screaming… aaahhh… screaming… why, aaahhh … and it’s like, oh God…”

A neighbor heard the shots and screams. He found Schaeffer’s body, wearing a black robe, lying in the building’s foyer. She had no pulse. Witnesses saw a young man in a yellow shirt jog away and disappear into an alley.

Rebecca Schaeffer was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Bardo was arrested in Tucson a day later. He was running around in traffic on Interstate 10, and motorists said it looked like he was trying to get hit. He confessed immediately and was convicted by prosecutor Marcia Clark. Bardo was sentenced to life without parole.

Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder was instrumental in Governor George Deukmejian signing a law prohibiting the DMV from releasing addresses. It was the first of its kind and would help convict Jonathan Norman to twenty-five years in prison for threats against Steven Spielberg.

Within five years of Schaeffer’s death, all fifty states and Canada had adopted anti-stalking laws.

Celebrities aren’t the only victims of stalking, but Schaeffer’s death catapulted the experience into the national spotlight and gave victims the ability to fight back in court.

Robert Bardo remains in prison.

Have you or a family member/friend ever been the victim of stalking, whether in person or via the Internet?