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Man Confesses to Sadistic Murder of His Fiancée — After Jury Acquits Him
The disturbing and cruel murder of Brenda Sue Schaefer
After two tumultuous relationships, all Brenda Sue Schaefer wanted was a good, kind man to settle down with and make a family with. When Melvin Ignatow proposed to her with a 2.3-carat diamond engagement ring on Valentine’s Day 1987, the 36-year-old nursing assistant thought she was finally going to have the storybook romance she had always dreamed of.
The couple met on a blind date a year earlier and although the 50-year-old divorced father of three wasn’t Brenda’s usual type, the pair got along well and she felt he was a great listener. It also didn’t hurt that Melvin was a successful businessman who traveled the world and made an above-average income while doing it; he swept Brenda off her feet with outings on his 32-foot speedboat and romantic drives in his corvette.
But it turned out that Brenda didn’t really know the man she had agreed to marry. Melvin wasn’t who he portrayed himself to be, and things quickly turned dark.
Brenda lived with her parents, John and Essie, in Louisville, Kentucky. They reported her missing on September 25, 1988, after she failed to return home. Her 86' Buick Regal was found abandoned on the side of the highway hours later…
