Book Excerpts discussion
Silent Scream A True Crime
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Living in Miami for the past 35 years, I am quite familiar with Ted Bundy, Danny Rolling, and a few others. But, this guy Gerard John Schaefer escapes my memory. It sounds as though it is an interesting read.Thanks for sharing.
Michael Phelps
He was before both Rollings and Bundy. He was Florida's first serial killer. He killed between 9-34 young women. My husband worked the case of the two he was convicted for. He started killing in 1966, Bundy patterned himself after Schaefer.
Fascinating story and an interesting topic for a novel. What made you choose to write this story? Urenna
I am assuming your husband is a Law Enforcement Officer (although he could be an attorney, Forensics Expert, Reporter . . ). It is a good story that will make for a best selling novel. Let us read more, and definitely let us know when the book is available.Thanks and have a great weekend.
Mike
He retired from the State Attorney's office of the 19th Judical Circuit after30 years as the lead investigator and Executive Director. I have a degree in Criminal Justice and am also a Bounty Hunter. All of my books are available and have been for a while you can get them through Amazon.com Lulu.com or my online store at http://thebookattic.ecrater.com
Thank You, Yvonne.I'm in the 11th. Judicial Circuit. I was Chief Investigator for a law firm here in Miami for eight years. My Grandfather and two uncles were Circuit Court judges in Kentucky. I'm the "black sheep" of the family, I became a cop.
Now, sort of retired, I just write books.
Nice meeting you Yvoinne.
Sorry, Yvonne . . that 'i' just jumped in there.
Urenna,My husband is retired from the State Attorney's office here in south Florida. It was one one of the cases he worked. The victims never got a voice. Silent Scream is their voice.
My background is in Criminal Justice, I am also a Bounty Hunter. The serial killer mind is an interesting topic. One that I really got into studying when I was getting my degree in Criminal Justice.
It was only natural that I write the book.
Now the girls will never ever be forgotten again.
Mike,
My Husband's name is Jack Sewell. You might have heard of him.
That name is very familiar, but if I sawe him, I would know in an instant if we had ever met. Jim Viola (founder of Sunshine State Bail Bonds, Inc.) is a good friend of mine. I helped him open and ran his Napoles, Fl office for four years (went to bail bonds school, but have no interest in pursuing it.) It will be another topic for a novel. I love Janet Evanovich's "Stepahnie Plum" series.
I am sure you probably know him. He is known all over the state of Florida
Christy wrote: "Really great style!"Thank you Christy, the book was written the way the crimes were solved and it only seemed right that it should start with his death.
Christy wrote: "That's my favorite kind of start lol"If you are interested in purchashing the book check it out on http://thebookattic.ecrater.com it will come to you signed by me that is my online bookstore
life drained from his body as he lay
in a pool of bright red blood in his blood splattered cell at Starke Prison also known as Raiford, located in Starke, Florida just northeast of Gainesville. He had been stabbed by a fellow prisoner with a homemade knife, called a shank.
Schaefer’s transgression included the fact that he had taken the last cup of hot water from a water fountain. Each inmate was allotted one cup. This was to insure that every inmate had access to the hot water. Schaefer took two. Maybe because he was the one who had been instrumental in getting the fountain installed in the first place he felt he was entitled to extra privileges. However, that appeared not to be the case. His worst transgression was that he made enemies and was not loyal to the code of prison conduct.
Gerard Schaefer had gained notoriety in prison by gaining the confidence of other well-known prisoners at Starke. He had gained the confidence of serial killers Ted Bundy, who killed girls at FSU as well as all across the country from
Washington State to Florida, Danny Rolling who killed girls at the University of
Florida and Otis Toole who had been an accomplice to several serial killings starting out west and moving east. Schaefer would get these men to talk and then use their conversations to try and get leverage with law enforcement.
He wanted out of prison and thought if he was the confidential informant he would win his way out. He was the king pin at Starke, the celebrity who had been accused and convicted of savagely raping, killing and mutilating young women. He was the rogue cop who became skilled in the law by studying in the prison law library.
When Ted Bundy told Schaefer he had heard that Schaefer had killed up 28 young girls Schaefer’s reply was it had been was closer to 34. Bundy’s comment was that Schaefer had him by one. Schaefer more than likely was not happy that his status as a celebrity in his world was changing. Maybe he thought if he could get something on the “new kids” in the block he could regain his reign as king. The only thing it gained him was the loss of his life.
Schaefer’s throat was savagely slashed and both of his eyes stabbed repeatedly. The viciousness of the attack was an act of sheer hatred. It also sent a message. This message was Schaefer and others like him who violated the code would no longer be able to see or talk. His eyes were blinded and his voice was silent. He endured the same silent scream, which his victims had endured. The attack was a statement of not only anger, but also territory.
Schaefer’s life ended as he had ended the lives of so many women and young girls, in a pool of blood, created by a maniac.
Schaefer’s demise came about as he lived, violently. December 3, 1995 was indeed a red-letter day for the man who never admitted to the slayings of at least nine, but as high as 34 females between 1966 and 1972. Even though he was only convicted for two in 1973 he spent the next twenty-two years eluding to the fact that he perpetrated other violent killings. He did it in television interviews; manuscripts he wrote which he sometime said were fiction and letters to people in law enforcement as well as his publisher Sondra London.