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In Memoriam: A Eulogy for Professor Walter J. Petry Jr.

Professor Emeritus Walter J. Petry Jr. died on August 13, 2024, at the age of 92. The first Black professor to join the faculty of Fairfield University, Professor Petry taught history in the College of Arts and Sciences for 48 years, from 1957 to 2005. He served as inaugural director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program and received the Martin Luther King Jr. Vision Award in 2003.

Donations in memory of Professor Petry’s many contributions to the University community may be made to the Fairfield Bellarmine Fund.

By Lee Penyak ’84, PhD

Photo: Professor Walter Petry teaches class on "Modernization in the West."

Walter J. Petry Jr., professor of history at Fairfield University from 1957 to 2004, died on August 13, 2024, at the age of 92. He was the only child of Walter J. Petry Sr. and Lois Petry (née Gairy). His father moved from New Iberia, Louisiana, to New York City in 1921. His mother’s parents, originally from the Caribbean islands of Grenada and St. Kitts (now both tiny independent nations), settled in New York in the late 19th century. Walter Petry Sr. worked for several years in the U.S. Postal Service, was one of the founders of the Catholic Layman’s Union of New York, and, in 1989, received from Cardinal John O’Connor the prestigious Pierre Toussaint Medallion – awarded to a member of New York City’s Black community for demonstrating an active commitment to freedom, human rights, and spiritual values. Lois Gairy graduated from Hunter College in 1930 with a major in Latin and Greek, and eventually taught English, earth science, and mathematics to junior high students in the New York City Public Schools system for many decades. To a significant extent, Professor Petry followed in his parents’ footsteps by combining their commitment to education and social justice into an extraordinary academic career at Fairfield University that spanned nearly 50 years.

Born on June 30, 1932, Walter Jr. and his parents first lived on the top floor of a brownstone with extended family on East 130th Street in Harlem. Among his earliest recollections and frustrations was working on his basic Lionel train set which needed to be equipped with a transformer to allow the AC locomotive engine to run on the DC current then dominant on Manhattan’s East Side. In 1943, his parents bought an 1890 brownstone on 418 West 160th St. in Washington Heights which had a magnificent view of the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan’s oldest (1765) surviving residence. Walter lived with his parents, maternal grandfather, and aunt (his mother’s sister, Aunt Dorie) and was proud to call 418 home for the rest of his life. When reminiscing about his dwindling childhood in the Heights, he mentioned being walked by his mother to school, taking the five-cent subway ride by himself once he turned 13, and the historic 25-inch snowstorm on December 26, 1947, that allowed him to sleigh ride from the bottom of his stoop to Edgecomb Avenue. Walter spent parts of every summer until he was 16 years old at the Catskills home of his beloved godmother Harriet Baltimore. Daily hikes instilled in him a deep appreciation for nature and advocacy for the protection of the environment.

The Petrys were members of the Church of St. Joseph of the Holy Family on West 125th Street and Convent Avenue, and traveled there by subway for Sunday Mass. Now known as a Catholic church with mostly Black parishioners, the parish was originally established for German Catholics and had become predominantly Irish by the 1940s. St. Joseph’s parochial school accepted Walter as a student in 1938 (he had been denied entrance at other parochial schools in upper Manhattan and the Bronx based on race) and he studied there until graduating from eighth grade in 1945. He recalled being one of about six Black students in the graduating class of 30. He was a member of the small student choir that sang daily Mass before school, and he kept his books of Gregorian chants as prized mementos.

Before graduating from grammar school, Walter took a competitive exam and earned admission and a scholarship to attend Manhattan Prep in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, about four miles north of his home on the Number 1 IRT Subway. This school (closed in 1971), run by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic religious teaching congregation, emphasized the liberal arts and a commitment to Christian ethos as envisioned by its founder St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719). Walter always exaggerated saying he spent more time tackling the challenging readings he was assigned in high school than he did as an undergraduate student. He admired his intimidating and demanding teacher of physics, Brother Alphonsus, and the equally difficult and engaging teacher of English and history, Charles Winans, who also served as moderator of the school’s forensic team, where he pushed Walter to become an effective debater. Walter ran cross country in the Van Courtland Park flats and woods and the half mile as a member of the indoor track team.

Walter made the seamless transfer from the Prep to Manhattan College by walking across campus in September 1949. Beginning that year, Manhattan implemented an experimental four-year core curriculum for students in its liberal arts school focusing on literature, history, philosophy, and fine arts during the ancient world (year one), the medieval period (year two), early-modern Europe (year three), and the 20th century (year four), with additional coursework dedicated to a student’s major — mathematics, in Walter’s case. Manhattan’s faculty quickly recognized the dearth of important coursework in the hard and social sciences and promptly initiated curricular changes for all subsequent students of the liberal arts. The 35 members of Walter’s cohort of 1953, however, stuck to the original four-year plan. Despite flaws in its design, Walter eventually considered that unique pedagogical approach critical to his intellectual and professional formation. He particularly enjoyed the history courses taught by Brother Gabriel, PhD, and Dr. Morrison Swift, and credited them with helping him decide to pursue an advanced degree in history.

The Korean War (June 1950 – July 1953) corresponded to Petry’s undergraduate years at Manhattan College; he and his fellow students had received deferrals before graduating. Once he graduated in May 1953, he was promptly inducted into the U.S. Army and served stateside until June 1955, first being sent to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey and then completing basic training at Camp (now Fort) Gordon in northwest Georgia. His most vivid memories of Camp Gordon were the never-ending mounds of mud in which he trained and his difficulty completing the number of pull-ups required to pass. Notwithstanding these challenges, he enjoyed getting into the best physical shape of his life and meeting young Americans from all over the country. After basic training, he was sent to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where Petry and other privates were assigned KP duty, usually washing mess trays if they arrived early and garbage cans if they arrived on time. He made it a point to arrive early. After being promoted to corporal, he worked exclusively as a clerk in the medical service corps. Walter and other members of his unit took advantage of San Antonio’s proximity to Mexico to travel by bus to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, where they spent a few days eating delicious “foreign” food, exploring neighborhoods, and trying to converse in Spanish with the local population. This would be his first foray outside the U.S. and seems fitting since he would later become deeply interested in Latin American history.

Walter completed his military service in June 1955 and that fall began the master’s program in European History at Columbia University. There, he especially enjoyed classes taught by Jacques Barzun and Garrett Mattingly. Barzun’s publications and the courses he taught focused on European ideas and cultures and emphasized the themes of power, ideology, class, and race, synthesized in his From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present. Mattingly had recently published Catherine of Aragonand Renaissance Diplomacy and was finishing his brilliant manuscript, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

In 1957, with his master’s degree in hand, Walter contacted several universities within commuting distance from Manhattan, including Fairfield, which had only been in operation for fifteen years and which Walter had never heard of prior to applying. He was delighted to be asked to join its faculty and commenced his nearly five-decades' routine of commuting to Fairfield via the New Haven Line every Monday morning, walking from the train station to Canisius Hall, up and down Bellarmine Road daily to his rented room near the University, and then back to the train station each Friday evening for the return trip to the city. (He never learned to drive and bragged to others — who frequently shuttled him to and from important engagements — that, as a New Yorker, he had no need for a driver’s license or a car.) As a new history teacher at Fairfield, Walter taught four sections of basic Western Civilization each semester. Upper-level European history classes at the time had usually been taught by Francis A. Small, S.J., but when he was tasked with directing the library and moving the main collection from Xavier Hall to Canisius Hall (where it remained until 1968), Walter was given the opportunity to teach courses on the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism. Fairfield’s history department was decidedly Euro and Americentric during Walter’s first two decades; changing times and student prompting slowly convinced the department to diversify its offerings. In the late 1970s, James Murphy, S.J., chair, asked Walter to consider a reduced courseload to take classes in Latin American history at Yale University with a view toward teaching the same at Fairfield. Walter accepted the challenge and traveled to Yale every Monday for a year to study under renowned Brazilian historian Emilia Viotti da Costa, famous for her work on slavery and abolition. Henceforth at Fairfield, Walter became most known as its Latin American historian. Until his retirement in 2005, he regularly taught courses on Latin America’s colonial and modern periods and frequently served as faculty historian on seminars offered by the Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, which he periodically directed. As professor emeritus with expertise on church and politics in Nicaragua, he was frequently invited as a guest speaker in classes where he continued to entrance students by his lively performances.

Petry was a demanding, inquisitive, intimidating, animated, and unforgettable teacher. Forever fascinated with ethnicity and family origin, he frequently referred to students solely by their surname. One needed to arrive to class prepared since Petry did not suffer fools lightly. His lengthy and challenging readings for class — mostly primary sources — forced students to analyze on their own and think independently. It wasn’t uncommon for students to spend an entire class examining two or three sentences from a single document.

Read it again,” he would bellow, after a student made a feeble attempt at analysis. “Okay, you’re getting there, but what’s the author really saying?” His follow-up questions might include: Does the author have an agenda? What school of thought does he belong to? Who is the intended audience? What’s the author conveniently leaving out? What would his detractors say? One’s head hurt from thinking so much after a Petry class. He received Fairfield’s Distinguished Faculty Award in 1983 a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004.

Petry also made his presence felt outside the classroom. Students from the ’60s and early ’70s will particularly remember his role in seminars, protests, and sit-ins against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He helped lead the (unsuccessful) charge against the granting of an honorary degree to Secretary of State Alexander Haig in 1981. At university events he frequently brought attention to repressive military dictatorships and structural violence in Latin America and to U.S. interventionism and revolutionary regime change in that region. Fairfield student newspaper articles from the 1950s to the 2000s regularly mention him and include letters to the editor written by and about him.

Petry was an inveterate traveler. Summer vacations found him visiting the British Isles, western Europe including Spain after Franco died in 1975, and many Latin American countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. He made his first trip to Nicaragua in July 1981 to observe the second anniversary of the Sandinista triumph and visited the country annually from 1983 to 1992. He methodically collected and preserved materials of the Sandinista revolutionary project for analysis by future scholars. These documents, journals, newspapers, propaganda, posters, and photos now form part of the “Walter J. Petry Collection—Nicaragua: The Sandinista Years (1979-1990)” at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library. He donated some 400 books from his personal collection to the library’s main collection.

Petry was co-editor of two Orbis Books on religion in Latin America. The first book, Religion in Latin America: A Documentary History (2006), won 1st Place in the category of “Reference Work” by the Catholic Press Association. The second book, Religion and Society in Latin America: Interpretive Essays from Conquest to Present (2009), contains his provocative co-authored chapter titled, “The Right to Appropriate, The Duty to Evangelize,” which analyzed the core set of assumptions that 16th-century Iberians brought with them to the New World. His final publication, “Roman Catholicism in Latin America,” appeared in Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions (2019) and includes valuable sections on church-state relations during the long 19th century and the emergence of a reinvigorated church since the middle of the 20th century. Petry examined topics he cared about: the human tragedy of captured and enslaved Africans, the misery and desperation of the poor, the recalcitrance and belligerence of elites, and defenders of human rights such as António de Vieira S.J. (1608-1697), Hélder Pessoa Câmara (1909-1999), and Samuel Ruiz (1924-2011). His complex prose sometimes made emotional appeals. For example, when writing about Gustavo Gutiérrez O.P. (b. 1928), the “father” of Liberation Theology, he provided the following contextual analysis and questions: “What does the Christian minister (of any denomination, time, or place) mean when he/she proclaims, ‘God loves you?’ Are not the implications of that apparently simple message that each person is worth something, has dignity, can free him or herself from base instincts, is capable of achievement, even transcendence, and is certainly capable of freeing him/herself from the snare of ‘sin,’ that is, self-indulgence, selfishness, and isolation? But is not this also true of one’s neighbor, and of all ‘neighbors,’ i.e., the entire human community?” (2006, p. 272).

Walter forged strong personal and professional relationships with former students and colleagues who could count on him for advice and wonderful tours of Manhattan. He enjoyed sharing meals and traveling with them, and appreciated the innumerable times friends chauffeured him to and from events. He spent his retirement years in much the same way he tried to spend his weekends while still teaching at Fairfield. The perfect day would have included a thorough reading of The New York Times, listening to classical music, such as cantatas by Bach (whom he considered music’s greatest genius), harpsichord compositions by Rameau, chamber music by Schubert, and nearly anything by Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven, then going to an independent movie theater to see an alternative or foreign movie he boasted could only be seen by New Yorkers, followed by a late lunch or early dinner at an Indian restaurant on East 6th Street (“take your pick, they’re all good,” he’d say), and topping off the day by seeing an opera by Mozart at The Met where he had a subscription for a seat in First Row, Balcony.

To honor Walter’s many contributions to the University community, please consider donating in his memory to the Fairfield Bellarmine Fund on the university’s website at Fairfield.edu/bellarmine-give.

#Fairfield University #Professor Walter J. Petry #Lee Penyak ’84

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gruesometruecrimestories · 2 months

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Gerard John Schaefer Jr.

Other Names:

The Killer Cop, The Hangman, The Butcher of Blind Creek, “Jerry Shepard”

Background and Childhood

Gerard John Shaefer Jr. was born March 26, 1946 in Neenah Wisconsin. He was the first of three children to parents Gerard John Schafer Sr. and Doris Maris Schafer. His father was a traveling salesman and his mother was a housewife. With a father who travels often, the family moved around alot. From Nashville, Tennessee, later in Atlanta, Georgia, then Fort Lauderdale, Florida where they permanently resided in 1960. His childhood was described as troubled and turbulent, due to the many relocations. Additionally, his father was an alcoholic, and was verbally abusive to his mother and siblings. He resented his father for many things, the main one was for not being around and for showing favoritism towards sister.

Adolescence

It is said that Gerard preferred outdoor activities and had developed an interest in nature. As a teen, he grew interested in collecting guns, hunting, and fishing. He would occasionally hunt or fish with his father when he was home. He was a classic loner in high school. Classmates recall him as not belonging to any cliques. His family and peers described him as an “outdoorsman” who wanted to become a forest ranger.

When he was a teen he developed erotic fantasies of hurting women whom he deemed worthy of contempt. These fantasies evolved into his developing a fondness for sadomasochism, bandage, and deriving pleasure from pain inflicted on himself. Sadomasochism is the derivation of pleasure from acts of inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. Those who practice sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. Shaefer would even occasionally wear women’s underwear until he achieved orgasm via autoerotic asphyxia. Autoerotic asphyxia is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal. His sadomasochistic rituals included tying himself to a tree in rural locations and with time these fantasies increased in frequency and intensity. In his mid teen years he became a peeping tom and developed a habit for cross dressing. When looking at his highschool career he did date females. Female classmates viewed him with caution.. Barbara Krolock, a fellow student, claimed “he was always on the outside looking in…I remember that I always had to tuck my shirt under my legs because Gerard Jr. would practically stand on his hands to look up a girl's skirt.”

Teacher considered him a promising student. All records showed that he was a decent student who was a part of the varsity football team and was known as a great golfer. He graduated high school in June of 1964. In his college years he enrolled as a social studies major at Broward Community College before switching his major to teaching. He transferred from community college to Florida Atlantic University with a scholarship and began to study with aspirations to a bachelor in arts in education.

Adult Life

In December 1968 he married his fiance Martha “Marti” Louise Fogg. They met in college, they briefly toured together, and eventually rented a property together. Their relationship soon ended due to his demands for sex and he spent a lot of his time out hunting. Martha cited his cruelty as the reason for separation. The couple soon divorced May 2, 1970. After this hard time, shortly after the divorce, he began a short term relationship with a physically disabled woman he met in a mental facility. Besides these short relationships, Shaefer Jr. began his internship as a high school teacher. He taught primarily geography but was fired in November of 1969 for refusing to accept advice from superiors and for continuously attempting to impose his own moral and/or political opinions. 4 months later he started at another high school where the contemporary progress reports showed he performed poorly with very limited knowledge on the subject, soon later his internship was withdrawn.

After being fired from teaching he Gerard Jr vacationed in Europe and North Africa before returning to Florida. When he returned he worked as a security guard while figuring out his next career path. In September 1970 he applied for Wilton Manors Police Department. He failed to disclose the fact he was fired twice from student teaching and falsely claimed to acquire 2 years experience as a research assistant in college. His previous work history was not verified and was inducted into the Broward County Police Department. Gerard graduated as patrolman at the end of the year at only 25 years old. Before starting his career as a police officer he met 19 year old Teresa Dean. They became engaged and married in 1971. This marriage was more pleasant than with Martha. Teresa said that he was frequently demanding sex and shared his passion for fishing.

His tenure with the police station lasted only 6 months. He did earn commendation from superiors on one occasion relating to his conduct on a drug house, but overall his performance was considered poor he was dismissed from the position when superiors discovered his habit for stopping cars driven by female motorists who committed only minor traffic infractions. He would enter license plates to obtain further info about personal details about them before contacting them to request data. Before being dismissed he was already searching for a better paying job, so in June 1972, he became deputy of the Martin County Sheriff's Department. He forged a letter of recommendation from Wilton Manors endorsing his application and the general background check just proved that he had no criminal record.

Crimes

The nature of his crimes included murder and mutilation of teen girls and young women. The motives of these crimes were sexual sadism. Sexual sadism is a paraphilia that involves deriving sexual pleasure from causing physical or psychological suffering to another person. This suffering can include humiliation, fear, or other forms of mental harm. Crimes that he was convicted for began from September 27, 1972 to January 11, 1973. Although this is true, there are many other alleged crimes that he is suspected of that started in 1966.

Gerard John Schaefer Jr. is suspected of killing 26 or more people. He was noted to murder these women in the same ways. He favored the practice of blinding restrained women to trees with a hangman’s noose around their neck before their torture and murder.

From these women and girls he would take souvenirs. These included teeth, jewelry, or significant items the girls had with them. A gold jewelry box Gerard had consisted of jewelry, passports, and clothing belonging to several teens and young women. A gold locket, drivers licenses, teeth, and a suede purse were some of the things discovered. Inside a locked bedroom at the Fort Lauderdale residence of Gerard Jr’s mother, the police found 300 pages of lurid stories occasionally accompanied by crude illustrations. Gerard Jr had both penned and typed over the course of several years while committing crimes. These stories detailed the kidnapping humiliation, rape, and execution by hanging of a number of teenage girls and young women. He referred to these women as “whores”, “sluts”,and “harlots", including 2 names “Belinda” and “Carmen” and an unidentified woman whom Gerard Jr graphically describes hanging at an unknown location close to powerline road.

Also found at the Fort Lauderdale residence were 11 guns, bags filled with life and spent cartridges, 13 hunting knives, sections of rope, and scores of softcore pornographic magazines. Gerard Jr. had been modified to depict nude, urinating women bound with ropes, hanging from trees of other makeshift gallows, or bearing bullet wounds. Other images found were with 37 black and white polaroid photographs depicting women being hung and/or mutilated, typically within melaleuca thickets suspected to be in an undergrowth area in Davie, Florida. However, the focus of these images was insufficient to permit identification of the subjects. Several other images depicted Gerard Jr dressed in female garments simulating his hanging from a tree with facial matter smeared across his buttocks. There was also a letter dated 20 July 1971 from an individual in Brunswick East, Victoria, Australia whom Gerard Jr had become acquainted with as the traveled to Morocco in the summer of 1970, contained scores of polaroid images this individual had taken of a “village in the Sahara” the 2 had encountered following what his companion termed a “wog massacre” of both Europeans and Arabs. Several of these images depicted women who had been extensively disembowelled and otherwise mutilated with knives and axes.

Alleged Victims and Timeline

Nancy Elaine Leicmer and Pamela Ann Nater - October 2, 1966

Nancy Elaine Leicmer, 21, and Pamela Ann Nater, 20, were last seen alive hiking in the Alexander Springs Wilderness recreation area of the Ocala National Forest. The authorities initially believed that they had drowned while swimming, but this was ultimately disproved because Gerard later confessed to their murders.

Leigh Farrell Hainline - September 8, 1969

Leigh Farrell Hainline Bonadies, age 24, was a newlywed waitress who had known Gerard since they were teenagers. Leigh was later known to have left a note to her husband of 2 weeks claiming that she intended to drive to Miami, but would return home that evening. Gerard later claimed to a private investigator that Leigh had phoned him on the day of her disappearance and asked for a ride to the Miami international airport, but had never called him back. Leigh’s skull was found in April 1978. Her skull had 3 bullet holes and it was discovered at a construction site in Palm Beach County.

Carmen Marie Hallock - December 18, 1969

Carmen Marie Hallock was 22. She disappeared after informing her sister she had an appointment with a male teacher from Broward Community College who may be able to provide her with “a government job”. Carmen was last seen wearing a black chiffon dress and in one of the stories Gerard is known to have written prior to his arrest recounted the hanging and mutilation of a girl with auburn hair “wearing a black chiffon dress”. Carmen’s teeth, only 2, and a gold shamrock pin belonging to her were found at Gerard’s home

Peggy Rahn and Wendy Stevenson - December 29, 1969

Peggy Rahn, 9, and Wendy Stevenson, age 8, were last seen by relatives at Pompano Beach walking toward a parking lot to purchase ice cream cones. Penny and Wendy's bodies have never been found. Many years after his conviction, Gerard had sent a letter to his girlfriend and he confessed to killing Peggy and Wendy. There are many investigators that dispute the authenticity of the confession. There was one individual last known to have seen Peggy and Wendy. They described the situations as the girls still were in their bathing suits and in the company of a man whose physical description contrasts with Garard’s.

Mared Ellen Malarik and Karen Lynn Ferrell - January 18, 1970

Mared Ellen Malarik, 19, and Karen Lynn Ferrell, age 18 were the next suspected victims. Mared and Karen were West Virginia University Students and last seen alive leaving a theater in Morgantown, West Virginia. Mared and Karen’s decapitated bodies were discovered on April 16, 1970. An inmate with an extensive history of providing false confessions confessed to their murder in 1976, and the validity of his confession was disputed. The evidence actually links Gerard to their murders and it is circumstantial. Gerard was formally cleared as a suspect in 1982.

Belinda Hutchens - January 4, 1972

Age 22, Belinda Hutchens, was a married cocktail waitress with a 10 month old daughter. She worked as a high class call girl. Belinda is known to have briefly dated Gerard shortly after his application to serve with the Broward County Police Department. Belinda was last seen entering a blue datsun parked outside her home. The police later recovered an address look identified as belonging to Belinda and containing the name “Jerry Shepherd” from Gerard’s home.

Debora Sue Lowe - February 29, 1972

Debora Sue Lowe, age 13, was last seen walking to Rickards Middle School. Her school books were later discovered in the trash bin about a block from her home, although her body has never been found. Debora’s family strongly believed Gerard, who had worked with her father and previously visited the Debora household, was involved in her disappearance.

Bonnie Taylor - March 19, 1972

Bonnie Taylor, 20, was a Wilton Manors resident whom Gerard is known to have stopped for a speeding violation shortly before her disappearance. There was no further information on this case.

Leonard Joseph Masar - August 11, 1972

Leonard Joseph Masar was a 46 year old coffee shop proprietor last seen alive at a Riviera Beach, Florida bar. Leonard's handless body was discovered buried on Hutchinson Island on 3 January 1973, close to where Gerard had bound and threatened Nancy and Paula. No direct evidence exists to indicate Gerard’s culpability in the murder, or the murder of any male. However, Gerard is known to have referenced Leonard’s murder in correspondence following his murder conviction.

Elizabeth Renee Wilt - August 31, 1972

Elizabeth Renee Wilt, age 22, was another alleged victim. She was a native of Fellyetteville, Arkansas, who had traveled to Florida to attend the 1972 Republican National convention. Elizabeth's last contact was with her step mother; it was a letter dated 30 August, postmarked Miami Beach, in which she indicated her imminent return to Arkansas. Elizabeth’s body has never been found.

Mary Alice Briscolina and Elsie Lina Farmer - October 26, 1972

14 year old Mary Alice Briscolina and Elsie Lina Farmer, age 13, disappeared while hitchhiking to a restaurant. Mary and Elisie decapitated bodies were found by construction workers. They were buried 600 feet 180 m apart on 17 January 1973 and 15 February 1973. A distinctive gold chain and Madonna medal belonging to Mary were later found in Gerard Jewelry box.

Suzanne Gale Poole - December 23, 1972

Suzanne Gale Poole, age 15, was a Fort Lauderdale teenager reported missing by her family shortly before Christmas 1972. Suzanne’s partial skeletal remains were discovered on June 16, 1972 and her additional remains were identified in May 2022 via genetic genealogy. The circumstance of Suzanne's disappearance and murder led authorities to believe she may have been a victim of Gerard. He had been temporarily freed from court 1 day before the estimated date of Suzanne's disappearance.

Collette Marie Goodenough and Barbara Ann Wilcox - January 11, 1973

Collette Marie Goodenough and Barbara Ann Wilcox were 19 years old. Collette and Barara disappeared while hitchhiking from Sioux City to Florida, just days before Gerard before serving his jail sentence for the abduction of Nancy and Paula. Personal property identified as belonging to both girls were later found when searching Garard’s home. Collette and Barbara's bodies were discovered along a canal bank in St.Lucie County in January 1977. Collette and Barbara were identified via dental records on January 8, 1978. The upper portion of Collette’s Skull was never found.

Arrest and Capture

April 7, 1973 was when there was an arrest on Shaefer. He was arrested because he attempted to kidnap and murder Nancy Trotter and Paula Sue Wells. On the afternoon of the 21 of July 1972, Gerard Jr encountered 2 teenage hitchhikers named Nancy Ellen Trotter, 18, and Paula Sue Wells, 17, while on official police duty. Gerard Jr drove Nancy and Paula to their intended destination, although Gerard Jr cautioned Nancy and Paula about the dangers of hitchhiking upon learning neither Nancy and Paula were not from Florida. Nancy and Paula intended to travel to Jensen Beach the following day, Gerard Jr proposed to drive them to the location. Nancy and Paula accepted Gerard Jr's offer, and agreed to meet Gerard Jr at a bandstand on East Ocean Boulevard at 9:15am.

The following morning, Gerard Jr arrived at the bandstand at the prearranged time. On this occasion, Gerard Jr was not wearing his uniform and driving his own vehicle. Gerard Jr convinced Nancy and Paula he was still on duty, having been switching to plain clothes, he claimed he was conducting undercover duties and thus driving an unmarked vehicle. After Nancy and Paula entered the vehicle, Gerard Jr drifted from their intended route on the pretext of showing Nancy and Paula an ‘ old Spanish fort’ near Hutchinson Island. While en route, Gerard Jr again briefly lectured Nancy and Paula against accepting lifts from random strangers and the dangers of being ‘sold into white slavery’ before stopping the vehicle close to a run down shed deep inside a remote forest. This is where Gerard Jr handcuffed and gagged Nancy and Paula. Gerard Jr then took 1 victim to a large tree close to the Indian River, tying the victim's legs to the trunk just below her knees before binding a noose around her neck. Gerard Jr affixed to the branch in such a manner as to force her to stand upon the exposed roots to counter the pressure from the noose. Gerard Jr then took the other victim to another tree a short distance away where she too was bound in a similar manner in which she was forced to stand upon narrow exposed tree roots as a markshift, sloping plinth to counter the pressure from the noose around her neck. Nancy and Paula were informed they were to be roped and murdered.

At that moment, Gerard Jr received an urgent radio dispatch informing him to immediately report to the police station. Gerard Jr left Nancy and Paula bound and standing upon their plinths, vowing that he would soon return and exclaiming to 1 of his captives, ‘ I gotta go’. Both Nancy and Paula were warned not to ‘ try to run away’, ‘course I'm not going to be very far down the road’, with Gerard Jr claiming he was to confer with the individual Gerard Jr intended to sell them to.

When Gerard Jr returned to the Forest approximately 2 hours later, Geard Jr discovered that Nancy and Paula had escaped, Gerard Jr immediately returned home to call his station, where Gerard Jr informed Sheriff Robert Crowde, “I’ve done something very foolish, you’ll be mad at me”. Gerard Jr then proceeded to explain that he had decided to teach Nancy and Paula ‘a lesson” on the risks of hitchhiking but “overdid the job”. Gerard Jr. then proceeded to explain he had abandoned the 2 in the general swampland area of Hutchinson Island, not far from the Indian River. Crowder and Lieutenant Melvin Waldron immediately proceeded to Florida State Road AIA, where close by the highway they discovered a desperate, partially gagged teenage girl with her hands pinned behind her back. As the officers slowed to a halt they observed the distraught girl clamber from the riverbank with sections of her jeans and blouse shredded, attempting to gesticulate for their attention. Upon removing the gag from the girl’s mouth, the officers heard her identify herself as “Nancy”, sputtering her friend was somewhere in the forest. To Nancy’s relief, she was informed that a truck driver had discovered Paula staggering through the woodland in the direction towards the highway approximately 45 minutes earlier, and that Paula was already at the police station.

Trial and Conviction

Investigators had gathered enough physical and circumstantial evidence to link Gerard to 9 murders and unsolved disappearances between 1969 and 1973. He was brought to trial September 17, 1973, was tried by Judge Trowbridge, and this was in St. Lucie County. Gerard was defended by Schwartz and Bruce Colton. For the murder of Susan and Georgia the Supreme Court of Florida had declared capital punishment unconstitutional in the state.

Prosecutors sought life imprisonment; the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and frequently conveyed distant and aloof demeanor throughout the official proceedings. He would stare coldly at the prosecution witnesses when they were testifying or he would turn to smile at the members of the press when a witness testified for his counsel. Many testified against Shaefer during the trial. First, was the individuals who discovered the dismembered bodies of Susan and Georgia. Next was the Lieutenant recounting the findings at this crime scene after arresting Shaefer. Susan’s mom and dad testified as well as Georgia’s mom, dad and sister. The most powerful was when Nancy and Paula testified against him. At the end of the trial he was charged with and sentenced to 2 concurrent terms of life imprisonment. The judge also asked him if there was anything to say prior to sentencing he proclaimed his innocence and asked to be sent to psychiatric hospital as opposed to prison. So starting on October 3, 1973 Gerard was institutionalized, but continued to serve his life imprisonment after he sought treatment.

Shaefer’s Death

Gerard John Schaefer was murdered in prison. December 3, 1995 he was stabbed to death on the floor of his cell. He had been stabbed over 40 times to the face, head, neck, and body. His neck was slashed, right eye was destroyed and he had several rib fractures. 32 year old Vincent Faustino Rivera, a fellow inmate, had killed Gerard. It was claimed that it was due to an argument over who received the last cup of hot water.

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#true crime research #Youtube

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sporadiceagleheart · 4 months

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This edit says for birthdays and deaths of May 19th 20th and 21st and Jesus is our only holy God just like our father God who healed and lifted them up to be our Angels

Star Hobson, Peggy Cass, Andrea Helton, Emmett Goins, Gavin Lane Morris, Evelyn Ward, Robert White Creeley, Alexander Dale Oen, Biggie Smalls, Philip II, Aurelia Cotta, Alexander Pope, Elizabeth Fry, Mary Anning, Henry VI Of England, Albert David Hedison Jr., Albert Hay Malotte, Sir Michael Elias Balcon, Anthony Arnatt Bushell, Albrecht Dürer, Eleonore Maria Josefa of Austria, Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché, LUCIEN BONAPARTE (PRINCE OF CANINO), 1775-1840, MINISTER, Dabney Herndon Maury, Reverdy Johnson, JOHN F. LOUDON, Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, Brigadier-General Mosby Monroe Parsons, George Lafayette Beal, William Peter Sprague, Elizabeth Storrs Mead, Newton Martin Curtis, Louis Renault, Joseph Parry, Charles Albert Gobat, Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois, Henri Julien Félix Rousseau, Giuseppe Mercalli, Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium (21 May 1864 – 23 August 1945) was a Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.Stéphanie of Belgium, Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren, Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, Princess Sophie Helene Cecilie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro, May Frances Aufderheide Kaufman, John Peale Bishop, Baroness Suzanne Lilar, Raymond William Stacy Burr, Marcel Lajos Breuer, Manly Wade Wellman, Harold Robbins, Andrei Sakharov, Doris Mae Akers, Justine Kay Kendall McCarthy, Alice Elizabeth Drummond, Malcolm Fraser, Hernando de Soto, Archibald Primrose, Jane Addams, Sammy Davis Sr., Rajiv Gandhi, William Russell Hardie, John Emery, James Stewart, John Gielgud, Otto Waldis, Ion Dumitrescu, Peter Copley, George Leslie Goebel, Edith Marilyn Fellows, Elizabeth May "Betty" Driver, Alfred Moore, and so many more names I probably can't add but I got names on my paper list of Angels

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esmecarmona · 2 years

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What you call a lack of compassion and restraint, I call building a legacy.

#ftwd #ftwd spoilers #howard ftwd #john dorie sr #ftwdedit #tvedit #twdedit #.gif #q

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alyssaforevermore · 2 years

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I would definitely watch a spin-off set before the outbreak with John Sr. hunting Teddy and eventually planting the evidence. I’m a sucker for crime dramas.

#show: fear the walking dead #ftwd spoilers #ftwd; s07e03 #john dorie sr #alyssa watches ~ fear the walking dead

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yourdeepestfathoms · 2 years

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An Honest Review of Mourning Cloak

this review has spoilers so don’t click Read More if you haven’t watched the episode yet!

Mourning Cloak was a disappointing dumpster fire of an episode that deserves to rot in the deepest, darkest circle of Dante's inferno.

It’s such an insult to Charlie as a character, reducing her to nothing but a puppy-eyed, lovesick, boy crazy little bitch who was willing to leave behind her entire fucking family for the ugliest motherfucker on the planet. Seriously, what’s with this dude’s jaw line?? He looks like he’s made out of melting candle wax for god’s sake.

Ali is a terrible character and every single moment he was on screen, the devil on my shoulder kept hoping for him to just fuck off already.

And then the angel on my right came in and agreed.

The first kiss (more like a make out session) was needlessly long and way too heated, like one of the kissers wasn't a literal seventh grader. I felt uncomfortable watching it. It made my skin crawl, especially considering that Ali was played by a nineteen-year-old and Alexa was only FIFTEEN. That’s not okay!

Like, holy fucking shit AMC, are you that stupid to not realize that you shouldn’t make an underage child kiss an adult?? Everything about that scene is so wrong!

I kept repeatedly pausing the video to close my eyes tight or put my head in my hands every time something romantic happened between Ali and Charlie. I gagged, I snapped, I cringed, I shuddered in disgust. It’s so agonizingly hard to watch because 1) the age gap between the actors and 2) it’s so painfully forced. They barely know each other, probably less than twenty-four hours. I bet Ali doesn’t even know her favorite color, but SURE. They can be together!

Like. I get it. Ali is the first teenager she’s seen since Dakota in a long time. Before that, Charlie has been the ONLY child character to show up consistently, aside from a few very minor ones that are more like toddlers and that band of orphans that disappeared at the end of season five and never showed back up again.

BUT ALSO. Has AMC never interacted with a fucking child before??? Do they think all twelve-year-old girls think about is kissing a boy?????

Her father figure is suffering from memory loss that is most likely caused by dementia, her older sister figure has been missing for MONTHS, the rest of her found family is scattered across the state and she has no way to know if they’re alright, THEY ARE LITERALLY IN NUCLEAR FALLOUT—I do not think a romance with THE ENEMY is going to be her top priority in this situation.

Here’s a better idea that they could have gone with: Ali is like an older brother to Charlie. Charlie wants to indulge in that relationship because she’s a little girl who has lost her real family and desires love and affection. However, she’s hesitant because Ali reminds her of Nick. Nick was also like an older brother to her, and she ended up taking his life. Now she’s afraid that the cycle will repeat.

It has no creepy forced romance AND brings back up Charlie’s very unique trauma that hasn’t been mentioned since SEASON FUCKING FOUR.

Also girly has literally never interacted with a teenage boy IN HER LIFE. You don’t think she’d be the slightest bit wary around one??

Oh, but my mistake, I forgot all girls are innately drawn to tall, handsome boys with messy hair and weapons because we’re all programmed with the sole need to breed with every penis-having individual we even get a whiff of. That’s my bad.

There was also implications of Charlie and Ali running away together, EVEN THOUGH THEY BARELY FUCKING KNEW EACH OTHER.

Additionally, the show attempts to age Charlie up to 13, even though she isn't 13 yet during the episode, she's still 12.

But that doesn't make any sense because she was literally 12 when season 7 began, SO HOW FUCKING LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE THE BOMBS WENT OFF.

They ALSO altered her age on her wiki page. It now says she was 11 when she first appeared in season 4, even though it said she was 10 for the past 4 years. But here they are, frantically changing her age just so they can justify forcing a little girl into a gross ass romance plot that aids the story in no way.

But speaking of the wiki! Her decisions throughout the episode aren't like her AT ALL. Let’s just go to her overview for reference.

The first sentence reads, “Charlie is a quiet and introverted young orphan, and rarely engages with people who are not close to her.”

So there's one thing the episode gets wrong about her because it's not like Charlie to just fucking start liking some dude right off the bat.

But most importantly, it says this: “She largely depends on her parental figures, to whom she displays extreme loyalty to the point of killing those who would hurt them.”

TO WHOM SHE DISPLAYS EXTREME LOYALTY.

She would never in a million fucking years abandon her family—the people that have been raising her for the past THREE YEARS—for a boy for barely knows. She would NEVER leave behind Alicia of all people. Did AMC just forget that little relationship they had?? I mean, we already didn’t get to see Charlie reunite with June, who is essentially her mom, so what other relationships will they ruin for her?

AND THEN! And then they went and gave her fucking RADIATION POISONING. Where there is an extremely low chance of survival. Even lower with their lack of modern medicine.

But the thing is…they don’t even make it believable. They only symptom she shows are the rashes which appeared alarmingly fast. Like, a quick Google search would have given them a myriad of symptoms that would have been cool to see, including, but not limited to: nausea and vomiting, headache, fever, dizziness and disorientation, weakness and fatigue, hair loss, bloody vomit.

The hair loss and bloody vomit could have been really cool to see. Like, maybe instead of fainting like she did, she could have doubled over and thrown up blood instead.

Mourning Cloak but instead of Charlie and Ali kissing, Charlie projectile vomits blood all over Ali. God, that would have made the episode so much better and more bearable.

But nah, she just got some rashes. It honestly just looks like she rolled around in some poison ivy and everyone is overreacting.

There are very few things this episode did good.

I liked that Charlie finally got her own title card at the beginning. The butterflies were a neat detail and I liked that you could see the bowling alley in the background.

I liked the way Charlie threw the bowling ball the first time. Very much like a kid who never played bowling before.

I liked that June was noticeably upset and tearing up when she said that Charlie was dying. After all, June lost her own daughter to disease (granted, pneumonia is nowhere near as horrible as radiation poisoning) and Charlie has basically become her new child, so I enjoyed that they let her actually react to the upcoming demise of the kid she’s been helping raise for the past few years. It’s the least they could do.

I liked that Ali actually died. I’m sure nobody was upset when that happened.

I liked that June got to be a protective mama bear. “You lay one hand on her, I will kill you myself” and “Charlie stays with me, under my care” were both very good lines. Also the way that June went up to Charlie and held her hands out for her when Charlie came out of that one butterfly room crying because Ali died made my heart flutter.

I liked the emotions from Charlie when Ali died. The way she staggers unsteadily out of that butterfly room and trips over her own words is extremely well done, especially with the stammering part. Her flashes of rage when she realized Howard killed Ali and then the sobbing despair were also really good to watch, as well as her eyes-squeezed-shut, teeth-bared expressions. Alexa truly is an amazing actress and I will never stop commending her for her performances as Charlie.

Uhh… I liked the butterflies?? The symbolism behind them is pretty cool and it seems to be fitting enough.

Okay, that’s it. The rest is all garbage. A complete waste of not only my time, bur the actors as well. This episode doesn’t even have any replay ability (at least for me) because more than half of the runtime is spent developing the creepy romance instead of doing soemthing actually useful. Charlie FINALLY got an episode to herself since Ner Tamid and THIS is what they do with it.

I just can’t fathom it. I’ve been giving AMC the benefit of the doubt for a really long time, but I’m at the end of my rope, as I’m sure several other fans are, too. I wouldn’t even be mad if it weren’t for Ali having to be there. If Charlie got radiation poisoning somehow WITHOUT the romance, I would have just been upset because she was dying. Fans shouldn’t be seething with rage as I am now.

I don’t know if Charlie going to die. Honestly, for me, it’s 50/50. But because we don’t really see her anywhere else in the trailers aside from the shots of this episode, I don’t have high hopes. Especially because June said Charlie was to stay with her under her care and then Charlie is just never shown with her???

Still, I’m praying that she doesn’t die yet. She has so much potential with Madison coming back. I want to see her deal with her trauma more. I want to see more of her in general. She’s an incredible character and can be fleshed out so much if the show writers actually gave her a chance.

Overall, Mourning Cloak is a huge disappointment. If I wanted to get super angry and pump my body full of adrenaline fueled by burning hot rage to commit unspeakable acts, I would watch this episode.

Fuck you, AMC. Charlie deserves better.

#i am foaming at the mouth and need to be put down for having rabies #what the fuck were they thinking #ftwd #fear the walking dead #charlie ftwd #june dorie #john dorie sr

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