Stalkers don't just target celebrities

The potential release from prison of the stalker of entertainer Jerry Lewis undoubtedly will resurrect public interest in celebrity stalking, a crime that sometimes has fatal consequences.

However, one does not have to be a celebrity to be the target of such action, says a Metro Police detective who investigates domestic stalking incidents.

"Domestic stalking differs from stranger stalking in that the domestic stalker (ex-spouse, ex-live-in lover, etc.) has a more emotional investment with the victim," said Metro Domestic Violence Detail Detective Laura Andersen, who also lectures on stalking to area law enforcement agencies.

"They are both crimes of power and control -- the domestic stalker tries to get the victim back into the web of control, the stranger stalker tries to establish an identity with the celebrity victim."

Andersen, who did not investigate the case where Lewis was stalked, said that a stalker is not necessarily a mentally ill person like the entertainer's nemesis. In fact, she says, many stalkers have no history of mental illness.

"Stalkers fit a wide range of personalities," Andersen said. "They can be white collar workers or blue collar workers, men or women."

Also, she says stalking is not defined as a single incident, but rather "a continuing pattern of harassment."

"The best thing to do is to take steps to avoid all contact (with the stalker)," Andersen said. "Screen phone calls with an answering machine."

Also, Andersen said, a victim should never agree to meet with a stalker -- even in public places -- to negotiate resolving the situation.

That, she says, will only allow the stalker to further manipulate the victim by either not showing up and instead watching the frustrated victim from a safe distance or, worse, give the stalker a clear shot at attacking the victim.

Victims of stalkers also are encouraged to report the crimes to police and follow up those written complaints with calls to detectives.

The cases of two young, attractive actresses attacked by stalkers in the 1980s were the catalysts for the passage of tougher anti-stalking laws nationwide.

In 1982, actress Teresa Saldana was stabbed by a stalker and nearly died.

"Although he is ... behind bars, he has continued to threaten me," Saldana said in a Sept. 23, 1996, statement she issued after passage of the federal anti-stalking bill.

"(Under the new law) If he were to follow me across the country as he did in the past, he will have committed a federal felony. For this, he could face up to 20 years in prison."

On July 18, 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who starred in the television sitcom "My Sister Sam," was killed by a stalker. Robert John Bardo was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During the trial, prosecutors said Bardo found Schaeffer with the help of a private detective. Bardo went to Schaeffer's apartment and spoke briefly with her. He later returned and gunned her down, prosecutors said.

A few years after his conviction, Nevada passed its first anti-stalking law, which carries a maximum of six years in prison.

"The law as it stands is good for the police to make arrests," Andersen said, noting that it may be a little tougher for prosecutors to get convictions to keep stalkers behind bars. "We have to investigate these cases thoroughly or they can go by the wayside."

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