Friday, April 17, 2009

David Caruso Stalker Threatened Killing Spree 15 Years Ago


David Caruso is probably breathing a heavy sigh of relief following Tuesday's guilty verdict and sentencing of Heidemarie Schnitzer, the mentally unbalanced Austrian woman who threatened to murder him, his daughter and Liza Marquez. Details from the trial transcript have been emerging ever since with the most shocking being Schnitzer's a repeat offender. In the 1990s, Caruso's intrepid stalker threatened an ex-boyfriend following the break-up of their relationship. Charges were filed and Schnitzer was tried and convicted. We do not know the disposition of that case but it seems certain whatever punishment was handed down failed to rehabilitate the recalcitrant Schnitzer.

Today, The Austrian Times is confirming these reports adding chilling details after speaking with prosecutors involved with Tuesday's trial. Not only does Schnitzer sport a record with a prior conviction for making threats, she told her attorney at the time that she was capable of a "killing spree". During Schnitzer's prior legal entanglements she underwent a psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with "multiple personality disorder", the same conclusion Dr. Karin Treichl reached after evaluating Schnitzer in 2007. Dr. Treichl's assessment further stated that Schnitzer had the potential for turning deadly at a moment's notice.

This recent news is quite unsettling in many respects. Schnitzer obviously didn't respond to any psychiatric care in the past if there was any and if she had, perhaps the David Caruso stalking debacle might have been averted altogether. As The Stalker Chronicles has stated before, Schnitzer does not appear to be an individual who will respond to rehabilitation efforts. Whether she's released in a year or three years, we fear she will resume where she left off. Sadly, Schnitzer is looking more and more like a copy-cat Margaret Mary Ray, the woman who stalked CBS' David Letterman for ten years and ultimately committed suicide.

1 comment:

Sara said...

Our dear friend from down under, Lindy, e-mailed the following comment and asked us to post it.

FROM LINDY:

Thanks Sara, I am not surprised to hear that at all. You don't suddenly develop a narcissistic antisocial PD in your 40's. If there had've been family involved, I am sure they would have testified to a long history of dysfunction behaviour in response to any perceived rejection.

Schnitzer's Death Threat

Schnitzer's Death Threat
Actual Letter Sent to Caruso