The Tragic Murder of Brenda Schaefer

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Even though Mel Ignatow admitted to the sexual torture and murder of Brenda Schaefer, he never served a day in prison for it. But his accomplice, Mary Ann Shore, who turned him in and told the truth? She served time for her role in Brenda’s murder. This is a case of getting away with murder and how Mel Ignatow became the most hated man in Louisville.

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Gateway to the South

Today’s case takes place in Kentucky, in the southern United States. Our last trip to Kentucky was in December 2019, episode 24 of season 1 (read / listen), when we covered the case of Christian “Kit” Martin, the military pilot who allegedly assaulted a step-child and then murdered three of his neighbors to cover up evidence of it. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2021 for those murders, but maintains his innocence and is appealing. 


This time we’re heading to Kentucky’s largest city: Louisville, Jefferson County. This region of Kentucky borders the state of Indiana and the Ohio River, and it’s famous for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. If you’re a fan of ghost stories, you’re also familiar with Louisville’s Waverly Hills Sanatorium, the tuberculosis hospital turned haunted history attraction. You’ll recognize many of Louisville’s famous citizens too: Jennifer Lawrence, Mohammed Ali, Hunter S Thompson, DW Griffith, and Diane Sawyer, among many others.

Breaking up

In the summer of 1988, 36-year-old Brenda Sue Schaefer began the process of leaving her boyfriend of two years, 50-year-old Melvin Henry Ignatow. Mel was controlling, sexually abusive, and pressuring Brenda to marry him. “All Mel thinks about is sex and himself. It’s like he wants to own me, body and soul,” she would tell her best friend. 

Perhaps sensing Brenda’s increasing distance, Mel began complaining to his on-again, off-again girlfriend, 38-year-old Mary Ann Shore, that he wasn’t sexually satisfied with Brenda. He devised a solution: a “sex therapy class” that he would administer to Brenda with Mary Ann’s help. 

In August, Mel and Mary Ann dig a four-foot deep hole in the woods behind Mary Ann’s rented home. This was for Brenda, Mel confirmed, but she wouldn’t be hurt. Mary Ann believed they “were just going to scare her.” 

In September, Brenda also reconnects with an old flame: ex-boyfriend Jim Rush. Brenda had struggled with Jim’s excessive drinking, and Jim had his complaints too. But now the two were talking and going on dates again, with Jim offering whatever help Brenda may need to break away from Mel Ignatow.

Setting the trap

On Wednesday, September 21, Brenda tells Jim that her break up with Mel was final, but that she had to return some jewelry he had gifted her, including an engagement ring, that weekend. It was supposed to be the last time she would ever see Mel. In addition to Jim, several of Brenda’s friends, family, and colleagues knew about her plans. 

On Friday, September 23, Brenda confides to her brother Tom’s longtime girlfriend, Linda Love, that she thinks Mel followed her home from work and that she was “afraid for her life.” That same day, Mel dropped off a bag for his “sex therapy class” at Mary Ann Shore’s home. It contained precut lengths of clothesline rope, neatly taped at the ends, KY jelly, chloroform, a wooden fraternity paddle, and other materials he planned to use on Brenda’s body. 

On Saturday, September 24, Brenda drove to the home Mel shared with his mother to drop off her jewelry. Mel convinces Brenda to get some food at the nearby Gold Star chili restaurant, and at 4:00 pm, she drives them there in her Buick. 

Mel tells Brenda he has a friend who wants to see her jewelry, maybe to appraise or purchase it. Why not stop there on the way back home? Brenda agrees once more. The friend turns out to be Mary Ann Shore, and they arrive at her house at 6:00 pm. 

After Brenda enters, Mary Ann deadbolts the door. Mel tells Brenda, “you’re here for a sex therapy class.” She immediately protests, trying to get away. Mel overpowers her, promising “as soon as you do this, you can go home.” 

Plans becoming reality

Mel ordered Brenda to carefully remove her jewelry, then her clothing, piece-by-piece, as he took pictures. Mel referred to a yellow legal pad in his hand – a checklist of all the things he would make Brenda do, and all the things he would do to her, down to the specific poses he wanted to photograph her in. 

Once she was completely nude, Mel made Brenda lay face down on Mary Ann’s glass-topped coffee table, her knees on the floor. He tied her hands to the table legs with rope. As he sodomized and molested Brenda, Mel instructed Mary Ann to take more photographs.

After this assault, Mel let Brenda use the bathroom. Mary Ann said Brenda cried but wasn’t speaking anymore – no more questions or protests. 

Next, Mel led Brenda to Mary Ann’s bedroom and forced her to perform oral sex. Then, Mel made Brenda lie on her back while he tied her arms to the railings on either side of the queen-sized bed. He pulled her legs apart, up, and over her head, also tying them to the bed rails. Mel raped Brenda again, with Mary Ann photographing the assault. 

Then, Mel untied Brenda, turned her onto her stomach, and beat her with his wooden fraternity paddle. Brenda screamed, causing Mary Ann to leave the room. 

After two hours of torture, Mel had checked everything off his list. He poured chloroform onto a handkerchief and held it against Brenda’s face until she passed out and eventually suffocated.

Mel assured Mary Ann that Brenda “didn’t suffer. She went to sleep just like you’d be going to sleep.” In court, Mel would tell the Schaefer family that Brenda had died “peacefully.” 

Crafting a cover up

Next, Mel bent Brenda’s body into a tight fetal position, binding it with rope and putting it into four black garbage bags. While he was working, Mary Ann held Brenda’s body to keep it from rolling. Mel taped up the bags, condensing Brenda’s body into a package about the size of a suitcase, and set it on Mary Ann’s kitchen counter while he grabbed a flashlight and shovel. 

Mary Ann helped Mel carry Brenda’s body out to her pre-dug grave “because he told me to and I was afraid. I didn’t want to be in there too.” Mel buried Brenda with another bag containing her clothing, but kept her purse and jewelry. Mel and Mary Ann threw away the clothes they had been wearing in a neighbor’s trash can. 

Mel gathered the materials he brought into a bag and used a steak knife to cut a tire on Brenda’s car, pushing a nail into the hole. Mel drove Brenda’s car while Mary Ann followed, stopping at a spot along Interstate 64 about nine miles away. Mel got out of Brenda’s car, moved the nail in the tire to let the air out, then got into Mary Ann’s car with her. She dropped Mel off at his place around 11:30 pm.

At 12:00 am, Mel drove his Corvette to a nearby Skyline Chili restaurant, ate a meal, and watched a football game. He returned home at about 1:30 am. 

Missing

In the early morning hours of Sunday, September 24, Essie Schaefer is increasingly worried that her daughter, Brenda, still hadn’t returned home. At 3:30 am, her worry compels her to pick up the phone and call Mel Ignatow, the man Brenda was going to see that night. 

Mel tells Essie that Brenda left his house around 11:30 pm. Essie knows Brenda was breaking up with Mel, and now she’s worried she created more problems for her daughter. At 4:00 am, Mel calls Essie back, asking if she’d heard from Brenda. Essie lies, telling him that she had forgotten Brenda was at her sister-in-law Sandy’s house. Mel seems surprised, hangs up, and calls Sandy, who says Brenda isn’t there. At 4:17 am, Mell calls 911 to report Brenda as a missing person. 

At 6:08 am, police notice a disabled vehicle along the westbound lane of Interstate 64, about a one-mile walk from Brenda Schaefer’s home. It was Brenda’s 1984 Buick Regal, right where Mel Ignatow had abandoned it almost seven hours earlier. It had a flat right rear tire and evidence of vandalism. 

Brenda was just 5’3” and adjusted her seat all the way to the front of the car so that she could reach the pedals. Now, the driver’s seat was pushed almost all the way back, as if someone much taller had been sitting in or driving it. Mel Ignatow was 6’5”.

Mounting suspicions

Friends and family converged at the Schaefer home that Sunday offering their support. The Schaefers were a traditional German Catholic, blue-collar family who had lived in the St Matthews area of Louisville for over 150 years. Brenda was born to Essie and John Schaefer on April 25, 1952, the second girl in a family of five children. She was the good girl of her friend group, some would say “overprotected.”

Brenda married her first serious boyfriend, Charles “Pete” Van Pelt, getting engaged when they were still seniors in high school. They divorced in 1976 after only four years due to Pete’s financial irresponsibility and, given her religious upbringing, it was a difficult decision for Brenda and her family. She justified moving back in with her parents by agreeing to care for her mother, who was suffering from lupus.

Brenda was still living at home when her best friend introduced her to Mel Ignatow, a friend of her boyfriend’s. Mel, 48, and Brenda, 34, began dating in September 1986, shortly after Brenda’s breakup with Jim Rush. Mel proposed three months into the relationship, but Brenda didn’t accept. On Valentine’s Day 1987, Brenda finally accepted Mel’s ring but wouldn’t set a date for the wedding. Mel’s financial stability and the way he doted on Brenda appealed to her, but to outsiders, that seemed to be all she liked about him. 

Mel also showed up at the Schaefers’ home that Sunday after Brenda disappeared, but his presence only heightened her family’s suspicions. They knew that Brenda broke up with Mel and went to his home to return her jewelry. Mel was the last one to see her alive, and he was acting like they had a normal date night before she disappeared.

Brenda confided to Linda Love, her brother Tom’s longtime girlfriend, about Mel’s exotic sexual demands, how he would badger her to experiment with anal sex, bondage, and group sex. Linda knew that Mel constantly told Brenda to “relax” and tried to “loosen her up” with drugs. “I can get this pill in you somehow if I want to,” Mel would threaten. In one incident, Brenda even woke up to Mel covering her mouth with a chloroform-soaked cloth.

Now, Mel was weeping dramatically and insisting that Brenda had already died. With their suspicions mounting toward certainty of Mel’s guilt, Tom and Linda snuck out of the family gathering to talk to the police. 

First impressions

When police interviewed Mel at his home the next day, he referred to prepared notes before responding to questions. Mel gave the impression that he and Brenda were still a loving couple. He told police that Brenda drove them to Gold Star Chili around 4:00 pm, and then listed almost a dozen places he claims they went – stores where they didn’t make a purchase, or outdoor spots where they stayed in the car due to the rain – before returning at about 11:30 pm. 

Mel suggested they look at Jim Rush instead, Brenda’s most recent ex with substance abuse problems, who might have killed her in a fit of jealousy. Or perhaps Pete Van Pelt, Brenda’s first husband, who Brenda told Mel had been stalking her. 

Mel Ignatow quickly became investigators’ number one suspect, and they feared Brenda Schaefer was already dead. As they continued to interview Brenda’s inner circle, ruling out other suspects like Jim and Pete, that hunch only grew stronger. 

Assets and liabilities

Brenda had worked as a nursing assistant to Dr. William Spalding for 12 years, and Dr. Spalding was convinced that Mel had killed Brenda as soon as he heard about her disappearance. He and Brenda’s colleagues witnessed Mel’s controlling, manipulative behavior firsthand. Dr. Spalding even told police that he was considering scaring Mel into confessing – he wouldn’t actually hurt Mel, he promised, just frighten him enough to talk. The police advised Dr. Spalding to let them do their jobs. 

Brenda’s closest friends said she avoided conflict by being submissive, and Mel, a relentless and manipulative salesman, knew exactly how to wear her down. Whenever Brenda tried to end the relationship or create boundaries, Mel would guilt trip or threaten her in response. Brenda was also extremely self-critical and insecure about her appearance, which only made her more vulnerable to a man like Mel. 

Weeks after her disappearance, Brenda’s mother, Essie, is still sleeping on the living room couch in case Brenda walks in the front door. Police believe Mel knows more than he’s sharing, and Brenda’s brother Tom agrees to meet with Mel while wearing a wire. It turns into three meetings over the course of five weeks, but it doesn’t help. Mel mostly vents to Tom about how much he’s suffering and why the police are wasting their time investigating him. 

At the last meeting, Mel presents Tom with a list of 42 items – he recorded all of Brenda’s assets and their appraised values. Later, Mel would say he was trying to assist the family in settling Brenda’s estate, but for Tom it is strange, suspicious, and upsetting. Mel even asks that, if they’re ever found, he would like the gifts he gave to Brenda returned to him. After this, Tom told police he couldn’t go through with the meetings anymore.

Digging up dirt

Police dig deeper into Mel Ignatow’s background, looking for leads. He was born March 26, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of three children born to David and Virginia Ignatow. The family moved a lot, and Mel’s teenage years were interrupted by his father’s bankruptcy filings. Mel’s schoolmates described him as shy, nerdy, and a follower. Mel attended the University of Louisville for a time, but never declared a major. He bragged to the few friends he had that he paid his way through college by selling pornography but got out when his partner was shot. 

In reality, Mel left college when he met Sharon Kippen, and they married in 1960. The couple would have three children, Donna, Patty, and Michael, and live together for 13 years. Mel was sexually, emotionally, and psychologically abusive to Sharon almost constantly. He belittled Sharon in front of others, kept her out of important decisions, and tightly restricted her spending. When she argued with Mel, got home late, or requested extra money for necessities, Mel punished her by forcing her to submit to anal sex. 

When their divorce was finalized in 1973, it was clear that Sharon was willing to do absolutely anything to be free of Mel. In the divorce settlement, Mel got their home, car, and full custody of all three children. 

‘Sammie Sunshine’

At 35 and recently divorced, Mel landed a high-paying job as a traveling salesman, and that’s where he met a 23-year-old secretary named Mary Ann Shore. Mary Ann was born in 1950 to a blue-collar family and, like Breanda Schaefer, was raised Catholic. As an adult, Mary Ann bounced from job to job and was perpetually broke. Her coworkers described her as unreliable and manipulative, someone who always cut corners and stole from work. 

Within a year, Mel and Mary Ann started dating. Mel told his friends that he was using Mary Ann, who he nicknamed “Sammie Sunshine,” for sex. Mary Ann became Mel’s live-in babysitter when he went away on business trips. In 1984, Mary Ann ended the relationship, saying she finally realized that Mel would never marry her. She admitted to stalking Mel after their breakup, though, telling friends that their sexual relationship never ended. 

Police are sure Mary Ann knows something about Brenda’s death and keep the pressure on her for weeks. In February 1989, Mary Ann agrees to a polygraph test and fails. 

Grand jury testimony

In March 1989, Mel Ignatow receives a letter threatening to kill him if he doesn’t confess to Brenda Schaefer’s murder. Police quickly uncover that the letter’s sender is Brenda’s boss, Dr. Spalding, and Mel files charges. 

Ignatow v. Spalding goes to trial in August 1989, and Dr. Spalding defends himself by illustrating why Mel is the only logical suspect. Mel testifies, insisting that he and Brenda had a good relationship and denying killing her or having anything to do with her disappearance. Dr. Spalding is found guilty of making terroristic threats and fined $300, but the public is sympathetic and now more convinced of Mel’s guilt than ever. 

Noticing how confident Mel is on the stand, investigators offer him an opportunity to testify in front of a grand jury. He sees it as a chance to control the narrative, clear his name, and finally get the police off his back. 

On October 16, 1989, Mel testified to a federal grand jury for four hours. He never cracked, but he did admit to restarting his relationship with Mary Ann Shore after Brenda’s disappearance. Mel also admitted to using chloroform on himself when he “got stuffed up” with allergies, saying Brenda used it too. Occasionally they used it on each other, he said, when they were “feeling playful.” 

Mary Ann testified before the same grand jury on January 3, 1990. When asked if she had ever met Brenda Schaefer, Mary Ann replied “only once.” Later, when asked what Brenda looked like, Mary Ann replied with a question, “which time?” The attorney paused, then responded, “The last time you saw her.” Mary Ann froze, realizing her mistake, and ran out of the courtroom.

The little devil

After her experience with the grand jury, Mary Ann agrees to tell police where Brenda’s body is buried if they will cut her a deal. She tells them everything, but also tells them, “I’m afraid of Mel.” She describes how Mel would use bondage and anal sex “to straighten me up…if I did something like this, then we would stay together.” Mel also beat Mary Ann with his wooden fraternity paddle when she was tied to the bed, just like he did to Brenda. 

Investigators know that Mary Ann has a motive to kill Brenda, and they need more evidence. Mary Ann agrees to having a wired conversation with Mel and leading police to Brenda’s burial site. In exchange, Mary Ann would only be charged with evidence tampering and face a maximum five years in prison. “Sometimes it takes the little devil to get to the big devil,” the district attorney would later say. 

Mary Ann has a 13-minute recorded conversation with Mel, but the quality is poor, and the words “Brenda,” “body,” or anything else incriminating are never spoken. Mel does say at one point, “that place we dug is not shallow,” but his defense would successfully argue that he might have said “got,” not “dug.” 

That night, police begin digging for Brenda’s body. As the hours dragged on into the following day, January 10, 1990, police arrest Mel Ignatow, confident they will uncover a body. He’s charged with murder, sodomy, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, obstruction of justice, perjury, and given a $500,000 bond. At Mel’s home, police find the wooden fraternity paddle, a 35mm camera, and a collection of newspaper articles about Brenda’s case. 

When Brenda’s body was finally unearthed, there was no sign of her jewelry, purse, or the photos Mary Ann said were taken during the assault. Brenda’s body was packaged exactly how Mary Ann said it would be, but the condition of her body after 16 months in cool, soggy ground prevented the collection of any physical evidence or a cause of death determination. 

On January 23, police completed an even more exhaustive search of Mel’s home and personal property, this time specifically seeking the photos or undeveloped film from the night of Brenda’s assault. Once again, they left empty handed. 

Delayed trial

It would be almost two years before Mel Ignatow went to trial for Brenda Schaefer’s murder. In that time, both of Brenda’s parents and Mel’s mother passed away. Judge Martin Johnstone presided over countless pretrial motions and legal bickering between Prosecutor Ernie Jasmin and Defense Attorney Charlie Ricketts. The trial finally began on December 3, 1991 in Kenton County, where it had been moved to avoid juror bias from extensive media coverage in Louisville.

There was no physical evidence implicating Mel in Brenda’s murder, but there was no physical evidence exonerating him, either. His attorney made a convincing argument of investigators having tunnel vision, only testing evidence against Mel but not other suspects. Further helping Mel’s defense was the fact that Judge Johnstone did not allow much of the sexual violence Brenda reported to her friends and family into evidence because it was hearsay. 

The prosecution’s key witness was Mary Ann Shore, but she had a tough, detached, disrespectful demeanor that made it seem like she couldn’t care less about the horrible things that happened to Brenda. Many of Mel’s defense witnesses characterized her as “jealous” and “obsessive,” the kind of person who was strong enough to kill and twisted enough to do it for love.

The defense’s four-hour long closing argument walked through a list of 51 reasonable doubts and named Mary Ann as Brenda’s murderer. Brenda was buried behind Mary Ann’s property, and Mary Ann led police to her body. It was less than a week before the Christmas holiday, and Defense Attorney Ricketts told the jury, “Don’t be sitting in the church at midnight on Christmas Eve wondering if you’ve done the wrong thing, failed to be responsible.” Prosecuting Attorney Jasmin took just one hour for his closing argument, stating plainly that the prosecution had presented the only evidence in the case and the defense hadn’t refuted it. 

The jury deliberated for just two hours on December 21, eager to get home to their families and holiday activities. There are rumors of racism and bullying in the deliberation room, and later nine of the twelve jurors would say that they thought Mel was guilty but didn’t feel the prosecution proved their case. The jury ultimately voted to acquit Mel on all charges, and he was released from prison on December 23, 1991. Judge Johnstone sent a letter of apology to the Schaefer family. 

Authorities began the process of charging Mel with perjury for lying to the grand jury, the least that could be done now. Mel began the process of selling his house, Corvette, boat, and other assets to pay his mounting legal fees. 

Mary Ann was sentenced to five years, the maximum, for her evidence tampering charge. She made a public apology and waived her first parole hearing, but was released within three years on good behavior. She died in 2004 of health problems, at the age of 54. 

Double jeopardy

On October 1, 1992, when the new owners of Mel Ignatow’s home were in the process of replacing carpet, they found a 4” x 10” heating duct hidden under the old carpet, against a wall by a door in the corner of the room. Inside the hole, they found a plastic bag containing jewelry and three canisters of undeveloped film. Over 100 35mm photographs cataloged Brenda Schaeffer’s torture exactly as Mary Ann Shore had described it. The jewelry was Brenda’s. 

Mel was arrested and agreed to plead guilty to three federal perjury charges, publicly admit to the murder, and serve a minimum of eight years. Double jeopardy laws prevented Mel from being charged again with what he did to Brenda and serving time for it. Mel apologized to the Schaefer family, asking for forgiveness and blaming the crime on a temporary separation from God.

Judge Martin Johnstone left trial work after the “draining, heart-wrenching experience” of this case, saying that “the system was a colossal failure. The man got away with murder and there was nothing anybody could do about it.” 

Mel’s only son and youngest child Michael, who supported Mel throughout his trial, felt “betrayed.” He believes “Brenda’s family was cheated” and that his father should have received the death penalty.

Aftermath of evil

Despite making a plea agreement, Mel still filed a motion to reduce his sentence, stating that he saved “the trouble and expense of preparing for a trial” by pleading guilty. The motion was denied, and Mel was scheduled for release on October 31, 1997. 

But on October 23, 1997, Mel was charged with first degree perjury related to his testimony in Dr. William Spalding’s trial – Mel had testified that he didn’t kill Brenda. He unsuccessfully appealed this too. Mel was sent back to prison and released on December 1, 2006.

On September 1, 2008, Mel was found dead in the apartment where he lived alone. He had fallen when his walker crumbled, crashing into his glass coffee table and cutting an artery. A blood trail indicated that Mel moved around his apartment before leaning against a wall and bleeding to death at the age of 70, never calling for help. 

Mel’s son Michael thinks his father might have welcomed his death, saying, “he will go down as one of the most hated men in Louisville.” 

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