David Caruso: Meet Your Peers, HeidiHo!

Mark David Chapman, Margaret Ray, Robert John Bardo, Emily Leatherman, Ambrose Kappos, Sarah Bartholomew, John Hinckley, Jr., Heidimarie Schnitzer, Rev. David Ajemian.
 
What do all these people have in common? They are all celebrity stalkers. There are hundreds more. There are thousands of personal stalkers of those not so well known. Usually, they don't make the news until they commit an act of violence against their victim. Murder is not as rare as once thought. Destruction of the victim's personal property, often their identity, even their reputation become vehicles to attract attention. That is their main objective, to gain the attention of the subject of their obsession. Whatever that takes will be attempted. Usually, a celebrity stalker is ignored or perhaps the victim attempts to placate the stalker. These tactics do not work. Jodie Foster had several conversations with John Hinckley, who assured her he wasn't dangerous. A smart man, very charming; she believed him.

Mark David Chapman - Murdered John Lennon.
Margaret Ray - Stole David Letterman's car, entered his property several times, slept on his tennis court, etc.Robert John Bardo - Murdered Rebecca Schaeffer.
Emily Leatherman - Recently convicted and sentenced for prolonged stalking of John Cusack.
Ambrose Kappos - Accused stalker of Sheryl Crow, including personal visits to her parents.
Sarah Bartholomew - Recently convicted stalker of British comedian Robert Walliams.
John Hinckley, Jr. - Shot President Ronald Reagan, Press Secretary James Brady and two security agents. He previously had stalked President Jimmy Carter. All of these occurred while obsessed with Jodie Foster.
Rev. David Ajemian - Pled guilty to stalking Conan O'Brien.
Heidimarie Schnitzer - longtime stalker and writer of death threats to David Caruso.

Each of these had or has been diagnosed as profoundly disturbed; not all have been determined to be dangerous. However, from profoundly disturbed stalker to murderer could simply be one small step over the already precarious edge. All have been charged, convicted and sentenced except Ambrose Kappos. He was acquitted by a jury as being a non-threatening stalker. Had Sherl Crow sought to pursue a civil suit against Kappos, she would undoubtedly have been successful. Had the crime occurred in California instead of New York, Kappos most certainly would have been found guilty.

Due primarily to the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer by Robert John Bardo in 1989, anti-stalking laws in California have been strengthened. In recent years, stalking laws in other states and other countries, including Austria, have toughened.

Each of us knows or has heard of someone who has been stalked and is eventually murdered by their stalker. In recent years, we've seen several of these cases within our state or environs who have incessantly stalked, striking fear into their victim, often to the extreme that the victim cannot sleep, eat, hold a job; live their life. The stalker finally killed the victim, often taking other lives at the same time, including their own.

This is the peer group of one Heidimarie Schnitzer. People who blow her 'antics' off as harmless are in shocking denial, not unlike some law enforcement officials who insist they can do nothing until a violent act is committed or, at least, attempted. Heidi is a danger. To David Caruso, his family, his friends and co-workers. Heidi is also a danger to herself. We pray she is captured before her "harmless antics" become a violent crime.