Gerard John Shaefer Jr. was born into an ultimately troubled family on March 25, 1946 in Wisconsin, but he lived most of his youth in Georgia. He was the eldest of three children and was born to a week-old willful mother and an extremely violent and adulterous father. At the age of fourteen, he and his family moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He graduated from high school in 1964 at St. Aquinas High School, after which he attended Broward Community College. He had a brief two-year marriage to Martha Fogg. They divorced in 1970, with Martha accusing him of being extremely cruel. He applied for the priesthood and was rejected because he did not have enough faith. He tried teaching and was fired by a few schools for imposing his own beliefs on his students. Unable to live out any of his “vocations,” he decided to apply to become a police officer. He was turned down by the Broward County Sheriff's Department for failing the psychological test, but was eventually hired by the smaller Whilton Mannor police force in 1970. On April 20, 1972, shortly after receiving a commendation praise, he was fired. Various reasons were given for his dismissal, including that he lacked common sense and used traffic stops to arrest women. He then began working as a deputy sheriff with the Martin County Sheriff's Department in Stuart, Florida. After 28 days on the job, he made the big mistake that finally got him arrested, he let two of his victims escape. On July 22, 1972, Gerard Shaefer picked up two hitchhiking teenage girls, 18-year-old Nancy Trotter and 17-year-old Pamela Wells. According to what he later said, he then tried to “teach them a lesson.” He took them to the swamp and tied them up. He put them on a stand on a milk crate and hung a noose ...... middle of paper ...... Works CitedBlanco, Juan I. "Gerard Schaefer | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. " Gérard Schaefer | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. Murderpedia, na. Internet. December 2, 2013. http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/schaefer-gerard.htm. Mason, Yvonne. Silent cry. [United States]: Lulu.com, 2011. PrintSchaefer, GJ and Sondra London. Killer fiction. Venice, California: Feral House, 1997. Print “Serial Killer - Gerard John Schaefer - Documentary. » YouTube. RabbitInRed. YouTube, March 6, 2013. Web. December 2, 2013. Treadway, Tyler. “Murder of former Martin County Deputy Party in the 1970s remains one of the most gruesome murders in St. Lucie County history. " TCPalm. Scripps Interactive NewspaperGroup, November 28, 2010. Web. November 20, 2013. of/>.