mel ignatow went out in the street in front of maryann shore s house and she stayed in the house and screamed and the scream could be heard out in the street. [ indistinct talking on radio ] [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash by even faster. autodrive brakes on the cadillac srx activate after rain is detected to help improve braking performance. we don t just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. we don t want anything to slow us down so it s surprising that most women aren t getting enough calcium. with over 25 flavors, yoplait original gives you 50% of the daily value of calcium in every cup.
does she have the motive to lie? here again is chris hansen. maryann shore s story of the torture and murder of brenda schaefer horrified all those who heard it. commonwealth of kentucky versus maryann shore. in return for her testimony against ignatow, prosecutors agreed to charge her only with tampering with evidence in her role in helping to bury the body. she was later sentenced to five years in prison. ignatow was in jail, too, awaiting trial. he turned to religion, claiming to be a born-again christian. he was also going broke, paying his legal bills. he sold his house and his boat. accused murderer mel ignatow. all of the publicity made holding the trial in louisville impossible. it was moved north to kenton county. just before christmas 1991, more than three years after brenda
pictures. that he took brenda s jewelry and buried her. why are you getting so upset? and then there was the most damning evidence of all, that tape. i don t give a [ bleep ]. i told you to dig eight feet down the whole length of the property, okay? don t get rattled. but ignatow s attorney came back strong, chipping away at the prosecution s case. it just isn t credible. first, he pointed out the state had no physical evidence. there were no fingerprints, semen or blood samples to tie ignatow to the murder. too much time had passed before brenda s body was found. they took lots of things from his house, but what they didn t take was any evidence that had anything to do with this crime. as for the motive, ignatow s attorney argued the prosecution s star witness might herself, in fact, be the killer. she was strong enough to do it, and she was mean enough to do it! he easily portrayed maryann shore as a jilted lover, vengeful enough to commit murder
and accuse ignatow of the crime. if i can t have mel ignatow, says maryann shore, nobody s going to have mel ignatow. he ll go to hell first! the way she was dressed didn t help. brenda s brothers were horrified by shore s very short skirt. she was a sight to behold. she looked like a tramp. this was the prosecution s star witness? this was the witness to the crime. and then there was that tape, the one ignatow s attorney had hoped the jury would never hear. he fought to keep that tape out. for years, for two years to keep it out. jurors did hear it. but there was one word on the tape that prosecutors had disregarded, a word the defense argued changed the entire meaning of the tape. the word was safe and it seemed to come out of nowhere. that one area right by where that safe is does not have any trees by it.
was his accomplice. they interrogate her, but she doesn t crack. are their suspicions right? here s chris hansen. police are convinced mel ignatow killed his fiancee, brenda schaefer. but they can t quite make their case. maryann shore, mel ignatow s ex-girlfriend, has withstood their barrage. and now they re out of options. for the schaefer family, the wait is excruciating, especially for her mother. every time a car came down the street, she would run to the front door, just knowing it was brenda coming home, just knowing that it was her, and then the car would go on past. five months turned into a year. brenda s mother never loses hope. every night she sleeps on the couch to be close by when brenda comes home. the entire family feels paralyzed. the depression, the total silence in the house. enter scott cox, 13 months