page_title: Gerard John Schaefer
section_title: Arrest
hierarchical_section_title: Gerard John Schaefer / Arrest
caption_attribution_description: English: Nancy Trotter (17). Surviving victim of Gerard Schaefer. Martin County police photographer image. July 22, 1972.
context_page_description: Gerard John Schaefer Jr. was an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was imprisoned in 1973 for murders he committed while he was a sheriff's deputy in Martin County, Florida. Schaefer was convicted of two murders, but was suspected of many others. He frequently appealed against his conviction, but privately boasted, both verbally and in writing, of killing more than thirty women and girls. In December 1995, Schaefer was stabbed to death in his prison cell.
context_section_description: On July 21, 1972, Schaefer picked up two teenage girls named Nancy Trotter and Paula Sue Wells, who were hitchhiking while on patrol. The following day, he abducted them, took them to a remote forest and tied them to trees where he threatened to kill them or sell them into prostitution. However, Schaefer was called away on his police radio, leaving the girls tied up. He vowed that he would return.
  Trotter and Wells, who were aged 17 and 18, escaped their bonds and went to the nearest police station, which was actually their kidnapper's own station. When Schaefer returned to the woods and found his victims gone, he called his station and claimed that he had done "something foolish", explaining that he had pretended to kidnap and threaten to kill two hitchhikers in order to scare them into avoiding such an irresponsible method of travel. Schaefer's boss did not believe him and he ordered Schaefer to the station, where he was stripped of his badge and charged with false imprisonment and assault.
  After posting bail, Schaefer was released. Two months later, on September 27, 1972, Schaefer abducted, tortured, and murdered Susan Place, aged 17, and Georgia Jessup, 16, and buried them in Oak Hammock Park in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. In December 1972, Schaefer appeared in court in relation to the July abductions. Due to a plea bargain, he was able to plead guilty to just one charge of aggravated assault, for which he received a sentence of one year.
caption: Nancy Trotter reenacts her binding and restraint by Schaefer for a Martin County police photographer
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