TUCSON, Ariz. -- An 'obsessive fan' charged in the slaying of actress Rebecca Schaeffer had hired a private detective to track down her address a month before shooting her outside her apartment, it was revealed Friday.
The suspect, Robert John Bardo, 19, of Tucson, contacted the Anthony Agency, a private investigative company in his hometown, to say 'he was writing to (Schaeffer) and wanted to send her a present,' said William Johnson, an employee of the agency.
'He asked for a mailing address,' Johnson said.
Bardo, who is being held in Tucson in lieu of $1 million bail, had indicated on a form he filled out at the agency that he and Schaeffer knew each other from another state and were friendly, Johnson said.
Such a request is common from 'people trying to locate relatives or friends,' he said.
Detective Dan Andrews of the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Bardo had hired the detective agency and said the suspect had obtained Schaeffer's home address a month before he allegedly shot her Tuesday morning at the door of her Los Angeles apartment complex.
The Anthony Agency was unable to obtain the information sought by Bardo in Arizona and hired a person in California, who Johnson was unable to identify. Johnson said that individual obtained the information by running a check of Schaeffer's driver's license.
Johnson said he did not know why Bardo would need a mailing address for Schaeffer if he had already been corresponding with her. He said another Anthony employee, whom he declined to identify, handled Bardo's request.
While it was unclear exactly how the Anthony Agency obtained Schaeffer's address, a Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Janet Baker in Sacramento, Calif., said the DMV will provide for a fee an address of any registered motorist as long as the person making the request has a license plate number.
The same information can also be obtained from the DMW by providing it with a name and driver's license number or with a name and date of birth.
Baker said there is no way for celebrities to block access to the information on their driver's license. The only exception is made for law enforcement officials.
Schaeffer, a 21-year-old Oregon native, co-starred with Pam Dawber on 'My Sister Sam,' which aired on CBS from 1986 to 1988. She appeared recently in the film 'Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills' and had completed work on a yet-to-be released movie, 'One Point of View,' starring Dyan Cannon.
Authorities said Bardo was obsessed with Schaeffer, had collected videotapes of her work on the television sitcom and had told his sister in a letter, 'If I can't have her, nobody will.'
'The evidence shows that Bardo was an obsessive fan of Miss Schaeffer,' Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Robert Savitt has said.
Bardo sent a stream of 'typical fan letters' to Schaeffer through her agents for the last two years. In a 'very recent' letter, however, Bardo's obsession turned ominous, authorities said.
Bardo was arrested Wednesday for allegedly disrupting traffic while darting through traffic in an apparent suicide attempt on Interstate 10 in downtown Tucson. He was ordered held on the $1 million bond on a fugitive warrant charging him with first-degree murder and is awaiting an Aug. 18 extradition hearing.
A spokesman for Glasband Willen Mortuary in Los Angeles said the actress' body was scheduled to be flown to Oregon late Friday afternoon. Private services for the slain actress are set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Ahavai Sholom Cemetery chapel in Portland. A public memorial service is planned July 29 in Los Angeles.
