Karma is the Glass on the Table (Brenda Sue Schaefer - Part 1)

Brenda Sue Schaefer

Born April 25, 1952 in Louisville, KY to parents John William Schaefer and Mary Essie Downs Schaefer
3 brothers – one older who was a police officer and died in early ‘70s on duty
Described as a private person
Worked as a secretary and assistant to a dentist in Louisville
Described as a pretty, petite brunette
Her boss, Dr. William Spalding, said she was smart and punctual, going so far as to call her “my best employee ever”
Regarded as “rock-solidly reliable”
At home she took care of her mother who had lupus
Struggled with self confidence, motivation, and direction

High School Sweethearts?

She was raised in a strict Catholic household
In high school she dated Pete Van Pelt
He was infatuated with her and she depended on him for self confidence
He was very possessive and controlled the money and pretty much everything else
Right after she graduated, he proposed and they got married
They struggled with intimacy in their marriage because of “Catholic guilt”*
He also made bad money choices on a low income and had problems drinking and smoking which Brenda struggled with
They tried therapy but it didn’t seem to help
They ended up getting divorced which was hard on their family (remember catholic)
She moved back home, then got her own place briefly before moving back home again
She got into another relationship that lasted 8 years but while the relationship seemed great, he was a drunk so she couldn’t bring herself to commit to him
She also couldn’t bring herself to break up with him so he eventually ended it
A good friend of hers, Joyce, had been through a similar situation after marrying young and they bonded over this and both took an interest in older men who were financially stable
Joyce found a good relationship around the time Brenda’s second relationship ended (Sep. ‘86) and she and her boyfriend Bob decided to set Brenda up on a blind double date to cheer her up

Melvin Henry (Mel) Ignatow

Born March 26, 1938 (14 yr dif.) in Delaware County, PA to parents David and Virginia Ignatow
He was in his late 40s when he was set up with Brenda
A traveling salesman
Divorced and had 3 kids
He was very vain and to make up for his aging looks, he liked to boast about his travels, former import-export business and his possessions
- Expensive watches, a corvette, 36 ft boat*
Not long after their blind date, Mel was already pursuing marriage with Brenda
She was hesitant but appreciated the attention and financial security he would give her so she agreed and they got engaged

Not So Happily Ever After

He became increasingly protective and possessive
The Schaefer family didn’t like him as they saw him as narcissistic and controlling
He traveled to Asia a lot for work and would schedule out what times they would call each other
- If she was even 1 minute late he would yell at her
He would call her 2 or 3 times a day while she was at work to complain or berate her for being too social
Brenda confided in Joyce that he had intense sexual fantasies

She never fully consented to these things but he did convince her to take “sex tablets”
After taking them she would wake up naked with no recollection of what had happened
She began to worry about her safety but found it difficult to walk away

The Break Up

On September 21, 1988, Brenda called a friend and said that she had broken up with him
She was supposed to see him the following week to give things back

Brenda Goes Missing

On September 25, Brenda was reported missing
- By her brother and his girlfriend after not returning from meeting up with Ignatow to return some jewelry he had given her (her parents had been up worried all night and the family had gone out to look for her in the morning with no luck)
- Ignatow had also called to report her missing early that morning (4:17am) – jewelry?*
Also on September 25, Brenda’s car was found abandoned along the side of the highway
- The car’s right tire was flat
- Had been broken into
- The radio was missing
- Small amounts of blood scattered on the back street
- A handprint on the tailpipe

The Investigation Begins

Jim Wesley of the Jefferson County Police Dept. was made the lead investigator
When he arrived at the Schaeffer home, everyone there was upset with Ignatow being “the most hysterical of them all”

Ignatow’s Version

Brenda had agreed to go on one final date with him for closure and to return the jewelry
He picked her up around 3 but not in his corvette because of some tire problems
- He was driving it the next morning though
They had driven around aimlessly for a while before going to a shopping center around 6:30
The went to Captain’s Quarters* at 9 before he dropped her off at home at 11:30
After that he went to Skyline Chili

Detective Wesley checked into the Skyline Chili visit and it ended up checking out
He noted that from the getgo Ignatow had a lot of red flags
- He came out of the house eager to talk to police before they had even knocked on the door
- He was firing off questions obviously trying to figure out what police knew
- He would call Detective Wesley by his first name and act like they were buds
Everyone, including the general public, were pretty much in agreement that he was responsible but we all know it’s never that simple

Mary Ann Shore

Born March 23, 1950 in Louisville, KY to parents Charles and Mary Shore
She had dated Ignatow before his relationship with Brenda
She said she broke up with him in ‘84 due to his lack of interest in marriage
He viewed her as an object as “an item of sex” and had no actual feelings for her
Detective Wesley talked to her during the investigation but she wasn’t much help

The Dam Opens

A grand jury was held in October of ‘89*
In January of ‘90, Mary Ann Shore and her lawyer reached out to the prosecution because she was ready to talk
They knew if she was going to tell them a story she was going to have to prove it by doing something like taking them to the body because she had a reputation for being a liar
She told them that not only had Ignatow killed Brenda but that the murder was premeditated and he had raped and sodomized her
Shore claimed that she thought Ignatow only wanted to scare Brenda and didn’t know that he was actually going to kill her

He gave her a list of supplies with all the things he needed to torture Brenda
At one point she said that all of this was to give Brenda “sex therapy” because he was unsatisfied
He dug a hole in advance (August)
He “scream tested the house” having Shore scream as loud as she could while he stood outside (her house)
He had tied Brenda to the glass top coffee table
She took pictures of Ignatow with Brenda throughout the torture and murder
He invited her to participate in the sexual acts but she said she felt uncomfortable
After he had killed her, she helped him fold her body up, tie it together, put her in a garbage bag, and place her in the hole
She told them where to look for the body and agreed to talk to him and try to get him to implicate himself while wearing a wire