On September 24, 1988, 36-year-old Brenda Schaefer was abducted, raped, and killed in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The crime had been carried out by her 50-year-old ex-fiancé Mel Ignatow and his 38-year-old girlfriend Mary Ann Shore, with the latter cooperating with authorities in exchange for a lesser charge by implicating Ignatow as the main perpetrator.
Ignatow was acquitted of Schaefer's murder in 1991, after a jury found Shore's testimony unconvincing. Less than a year later, Ignatow admitted to killing Schaefer after physical evidence was found at his home. Under the legal principle of double jeopardy, he could not be tried a second time for the murder. However, Ignatow was convicted and sentenced to a combined 17 years in prison, of which he served nearly 10 years, for several instances of perjury in his grand jury testimony for the case, in which he had repeatedly and falsely proclaimed his innocence.
Background
Brenda Schaefer Brenda Sue Schaefer was born on April 25, 1952, in Louisville's St. Joseph neighborhood, as the youngest of six children to Essie (née Downs) and John Schaefer. She grew up in nearby St. Matthews, with her family operating a summer camp out of a log cabin near Harrods Creek. In 1971, shortly before her graduation from Waggener High School, Schaefer became engaged to her highschool sweetheart Charles "Pete" Van Pelt. The wedding was called off on May 2, 1971, when Schaefer's older brother Jack, a police officer, was gunned down in Smoketown after intervening in an attack on his patrol partner Wilbur Hayes. The two attackers, brothers Michael and Narvel Tinsley, were arrested four days later and sentenced to death that same year. Schaefer and Van Pelt subsequently married in December 1971 and moved to Clarksville, Indiana.
Schaefer worked as a sales clerk and attended training to become a nurse's aide while Van Pelt continued his job as a police dispatcher. According to Van Pelt, Schaefer was extremely shy and "terrified" of having physical intimacy beyond kissing and cuddling. The couple divorced on March 23, 1976, after around four years of marriage, due to arguments over Van Pelt's low income and spending habits. In early 1978, Schaefer entered a stable relationship with Jim Rush, a Louisville-area dentist. The couple remained together for eight years, during which Rush suggested that Schaefer had hypoactive sexual desire disorder, but eventually agreed to separate in August 1986, citing Schaefer's emotional issues and Rush's functional alcoholism. Schaefer maintained good relationships with both Van Pelt and Rush. Schaefer worked as a trained X-ray technician for William Spalding, a friend of Jim Rush, at the time of her death.
In the months leading up to Schaefer's death, her family was negatively affected by other events. Schaefer's teenage niece Jennifer Hayes was killed in a traffic collision on August 17, 1988, and on September 16, Michael and Narvel Tinsley were released on parole for the murders of Jack Schaefer and Wilbur Hayes.
Mel Ignatow Melvin Henry Ignatow was born on March 26, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the second of three children to Virginia (née Gerdelmann) and David Ignatow. Ignatow was baptized in accordance with his mother's Catholic faith, but raised Orthodox Jewish, his father's religion. The family moved to Louisville during World War II, where Ignatow's parents ran several successive businesses, mostly grocery stores, each of which failed financially and led to the family filing bankruptcy. During Ignatow's teenage years, the family briefly relocated to Washington, Indiana, for nine months to run another grocery store that ultimately closed down. Upon returning to Louisville, Ignatow attended Atherton High School and joined the Young Men's Hebrew Association. Ignatow briefly enrolled at the University of Louisville, but dropped out without picking an academic major and instead worked for his father as a jeweler, finding employment at Medco Jewelry Company and later at Rosalco as a buyer, with a yearly income of between $50,000 to $80,000.
Ignatow married Sharon Kippen on May 27, 1960, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The couple had three children before divorcing on March 18, 1973. Kippen later stated that Ignatow was emotionally abusive, left the family several times for "time on his own" and spent most of the family's income on buying luxury items only he could use, including a Corvette and two Pontiac Grand Prix cars. During their thirteen-year marriage, Ignatow became known for his "hedonistic tendencies", showing off his wealth, joining singles clubs, and openly having extramarital affairs. During the divorce proceedings, Ignatow was allowed to retain their house, all household items and savings, as well as custody of their children.
Afterwards, Ignatow entered a brief relationship with Mary Ann Shore, a co-worker at his workplace, largely based on Ignatow's claim he could make her thinner through "sexercise", but he eventually broke up with her. Despite this, they maintained a sexual relationship, with Shore acting as a babysitter to Ignatow's children while he was away on weeks-long trips to China, Taiwan, and Japan as part of his job as a traveling salesman. According to friends, Ignatow was known as a con artist who greatly exaggerated his wealth and made far-fetched claims such as working for the CIA.
Relationship Only a few days after Schaefer's break-up with Jim Rush, she was introduced to Ignatow by a friend during a double date. Ignatow was noted as being significantly older and less physically attractive than Schaefer, but she had been drawn to him due to his willingness to listen to her and financial stability he offered. Their relationship was nevertheless described as "frigid" by Ignatow, with the pair only meeting on weekends. In spite of this, Ignatow proposed to Schaefer in December 1986, but was turned down. She accepted a second proposal on February 14, 1987, five months after their first meeting.
After becoming engaged, Ignatow exerted increasing control over the relationship, demanding that Schaefer, who was devoutly Catholic, participate in anal intercourse, group sex, and bondage. While at work, Ignatow expected Schaefer to be available via phone at specific times, screaming at her if she ever deviated from this. At home, Ignatow was easily enraged whenever Schaefer failed to abide by his meticulous rules, such as tearing toilet paper incorrectly or turning off water faucets without putting them in an even position, causing Schaefer to sleep primarily at her mother's house. In December 1987, Ignatow became more irritable after he was fired from his job at Rosalco and had to live off his pension of $48,000 (). Throughout early to mid 1988, Schaefer's demeanor became more nervous and her performance at work worsened. She confided Ignatow's abuse to family and friends, telling them that he forced Schaefer to take "sex tablets", which resulted in her losing consciousness and awakening nude. Schaefer recalled a specific incident during a motel stay in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where she had once awoken to find Ignatow leaning down at her with a chlorofom-soaked rag, which he claimed was to "help her sleep". In the weeks preceding her murder, Schaefer began being less compliant with Ignatow's demands after a friend recommended her the self-help book Women Who Love Too Much. At the same time, Ignatow continued to meet Shore for sex, though telling her that he and Shore were no longer dating. Shore developed a dislike for Schaefer over being "dumped", with Ignatow continuing to speak more favorably of Schaefer's appearance and sexual performance compared to Shore whenever they were together.
Murder
Preparation Ignatow knew that Schaefer was planning to break off their relationship over his abuse. He asked his former girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore, to help him plan and carry out the murder. They spent several weeks making extensive preparations. Shore testified they had "scream tested" her house and dug a grave in the woods behind it. Schaefer told Ignatow about the break-up two days before her murder. Shore claimed that Ignatow framed the later murder as a "sex therapy" meeting to help mend the relationship between Schaefer and Ignatow, and that the grave was only meant to be a scare tactic. For the act, Ignatow prepared gloves, duct tape, rope, several plastic bags, a bottle of chloroform, a wooden fraternity paddle, a camera, extra roll film, an electric vibrator, and lubricant jelly.
On September 22, 1988, a day after the break-up, Ignatow called Schaefer's workplace. A colleague answered the call and after overhearing Ignatow becoming increasingly hostile, Schaefer took the receiver and said "I told you to never call me again". Despite this, the pair agreed to meet up again for a final time so Schaefer could return several gifts of jewelry and a fur coat to Ignatow. Schaefer told family of her sister-in-law of this meeting and said that Ignatow may have followed her home after the call. The same day, she had made plans to give the former relationship with her ex-husband Jim Rush a second chance, with a date in planning for the day after she met with Ignatow.
Day of the crime During the afternoon of September 24, Schaefer picked up Ignatow in her car from his home. After she gave back the gifts, Ignatow and Schaefer had a meal at a Gold Star Chili restaurant, where he told Schaefer that he knew someone who would buy the jewelry. The two drove to Shore's house in Poplar Level, arriving at around 6:00 p.m. Sitting on a couch together, Ignatow explained his "sex therapy" idea, arguing that "she [Schaefer] needed to have this because she was just very cold-natured and he needed that sex". Schaefer tried to leave but Ignatow physically kept her seated, all the while checking off steps on a written list. Eventually, Ignatow forced Schaefer against a wall and told her to undress while Shore took photographs. Schaefer was then blindfolded, gagged, and tied a table in the living room, where Ignatow sodomized Schaefer for over two hours, with Shore continuing to take pictures at Ignatow's command.
During the night, Schaefer was relocated to Shore's bedroom, where she was tied to the frame of the bed. Schaefer was orally raped by Ignatow, who instructed Shore to beat Schaefer and digitally penetrate Schaefer's rectum. When Ignatow began striking Schaefer with a paddle, Shore relented and left the room. Eventually, Ignatow held a rag with chloroform over Schaefer's face until she stopped breathing. To ensure her death, Ignatow strangled her with a rope, which he left tied around her neck.
Afterwards, Ignatow told Shore that Schaefer had died. Shore looked into the bedroom to find Schaefer's body still tied up. With Shore's aid, Ignatow wrapped Schaefe's body in garbage bags and buried her in the prepared hole in the woods behind Shore's house. Ignatow loaded the vibrator and camera, as well as any leftover tape and rope into the trunk of Shore's vehicle before puncturing a tire on Schaefer's car. With Shore following behind him, Ignatow drove Schaefer's car across Interstate 64, where he left it offroads near Breckenridge Lane.
Investigation