Mel Ignatow, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, is infamous as the man who got away with the murder of his girlfriend, Brenda Sue Schaeffer, on September 23, 1988, with the help of his ex-girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore. He was tried in 1991 but acquitted after DNA evidence from his blood and semen decomposed. He was taken to trial for perjury after fresh evidence appeared, but couldn’t be retried owing to double jeopardy, so he confessed to killing her.
Ignatow received an 8-year sentence for perjury charges. Following his release, he was given a second 9-year term for lying about Schaeffer’s boss, who threatened to kill him if he didn’t reveal what had transpired.
20 years after killing Schaeffer, Mel Ignatow was found dead in his apartment in September 2008. He died at the age of 70.
How Mel Ignatow Killed His Girlfriend Brenda Sue Schaeffer
Mel Ignatow and Brenda Sue Schaeffer dated for two years. Schaeffer complained he was abusive hence she wanted to break up with him. Reports say Mel asked his former girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore to help him kill Brenda.
On September 23, 1988, Ignatow and Schaeffer met while the latter was returning his jewelry which was in her possession. He then forced her to Shore’s house and locked her. He later forced her to strip and photographed her in different positions. He also raped, sodomized, and beat her before he killed her with chloroform.
Mel and Shore buried Sue behind Shore’s house and then took her jewelry and the film.
Following Brenda’s death, the police suspected Ignatow but had no evidence against him. However, during an interrogation, Ignatow mentioned Shore’s name while trying to clear his name. When the police brought in Shore, she confessed to helping plan him and also led the investigators to the gravesite.
Although the autopsy revealed Brenda Sue was abused, no DNA evidence was found from the blood and semen because it was already a year and it had decomposed.
Mel Ignatow was brought to trial for his crimes in 1991 but Shore, who was a star witness laughed during her testimony and that undermined her credibility in the presence of the jury. The defense even argued that Shore killed Brenda out of jealousy and without the consent of Ignatow.
He confessed to killing Brenda Sue Schaeffer
Barely six months after Ignatow was acquitted, a carpet layer working in his old house found a plastic bag containing the jewelry Schaeffer had gone to return before she disappeared.
In light of this, the police researched the house and discovered three rolls of undeveloped film in a heating duct, After the film was developed, it showed Ignatoe torturing and raping Schaeffer however, his face was not in the pictures but his body hair patterns and moles matched.
With that, he was brought to trial for perjury in his grand jury testimony. It was during the trial that Ignatow confessed to killing Brenda. He did that knowing that he could not be retried for murder due to double jeopardy.
He was sentenced to eight years for perjury but he ended up serving five years in prison. After his release, the state later prosecuted him on perjury charges in a case against Brenda Sue’s employer. He was sentenced to nine years for that perjury charge.
Mel Ignatow was released from prison in December 2006.
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Mel Ignatow was found dead in 2008
On September 1, 2008, Ignatow was found dead in his home. Reports say he died due to an accidental fall that might have caused a laceration to either his head or arm which made him bleed to death. His neighbor also added that he might have cut his head while trying to go to the kitchen. His lifeless body was found in his room, where there was a blood trail.
Another neighbor added that Mel Ignatow was alone and always struggled for help before he died. The neighbor also said that he used to hear Mel asking Jesus to come and get him due to the pain he was going through. His son revealed he might go down in history as one of the most hated men in Louisville.
