David Caruso - Stalking Under Reported According to NY Times

In today's Sunday New York Times, Elizabeth Olson reports that the first in-depth federal study looking into the prevalence of stalking found that only one in three cases is ever reported to law enforcement. Many states are working to change existing laws making stalking a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor in hopes that more victims will come forward and report the crime. Austria's Minister of Justice Dr. Maria Berger, who has taken a personal interest in the David Caruso stalker case, is also a tireless advocate for stronger anti-stalking laws in her country.

The following are excerpts from "Though Many Are Stalked, Few Report It, Study Finds:"

"Whether they are obsessed fans fixating on celebrities...stalkers...typically invoke spurned love--real or imagined--to defend their actions...'Often stalkers want to make their victims fearful,' said Eugene A. Rugala, a former F.B.I. profiler who advises on workplace threats." David Caruso's stalker Heidemarie Schnitzer sent the above death threat letter to Caruso in care of CBS Studios for the purpose of inducing fear in her prey.

" 'Stalking is treated like domestic violence was 20 or 25 years ago,' said Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime and a former federal prosecutor. 'Law enforcement is often suspicious or cynical, but is now beginning to deal with stalking as a crime.' " Perhaps this accounts for Austria and Mexico's failure to swiftly locate Schnitzer and bring some closure to this matter.

According to one stalking victim Cameron Wallace, whose perpetrator Ryan Clutter is now serving a 13 year sentence, "Mr. Clutter called 'at 1 a.m.and said I had 30 days to get out of the house or he would kill me and my husband,' she recalled. 'That's when I really started getting scared.'...Three years later [Clutter] broke into her house and then, by e-mail sent her a photograph he had taken of her sleeping. When the police searched his apartment, they found a kind of shrine to Ms. Wallace, with stolen articles of her clothing." According to witnesses who wish to remain anonymous, Schnitzer had a "shrine" to David Caruso when she worked for the University of Innsbruck's Medical Center. Her office walls were literally plastered with Caruso photos and memorabilia.

Although stalking is illegal in all 50 states, laws need to be made tougher for perpetrators. "...Incarceration..[is] not enough; stalkers also 'require individualized treatment... They almost never admit something is wrong with them.' " And in the case of Schnitzer, who will undoubtedly go down in history as the first stalker to use the Internet as a means to stalk, libel and destroy David Caruso, anyone who follows this sad story knows all too well how Schnitzer uses hundreds of pseudonyms to deny she's the stalker while at the same time posting her hatred of the actor on any site possible.

The Stalker Chronicles wishes to thank Dr. Maria Berger for her personal interest in seeing that Heidemarie Schnitzer is brought to justice. Dr. Berger along with Innsbruck's Judge Guenther Boehler have both been very responsive when provided with irrefutable evidence of Schnitzer's continuing crimes. As it stands, once Schnitzer is arrested she will be tried for stalking, mailing death threats, failure to appear for two court hearings and fleeing the jurisdiction to avoid prosecution thereof. If convicted, the stalking charges alone carry a three year sentence. Schnitzer will also be looking at additional time for the other offenses as well. Had Schnitzer stayed in Austria and faced the music two years ago, she would have received the help she so desperately needs and probably would have been a free woman today united with her abandoned children. As it stands, she's an international fugitive hiding out in Mexico attempting to avoid capture.

Heidemarie Schnitzer remains at large on Mexico's Baja peninsula wanted on an International Warrant for threatening to murder CSI Miami's David Caruso and for fleeing Austria to avoid prosecution thereof. Schnitzer is armed and considered to be extremely dangerous. Please do not attempt to apprehend this woman. Contact the U.S. Border Patrol at 1-800-232-5378 , the FBI at (310) 477-6565 or Austria's Bundeskriminalamt at +43-(0)1-531 26-0

David Caruso - Hitler's Homeland Can't Locate Heidi Schnitzer

Austria's Bundeskrinimilamt has failed David Caruso and the U.S. FBI. Looking over the facts of this case, maybe it was their plan all along simply to pay lip service in the name of maintaining good diplomatic relations with the United States. Austria's law enforcement officials appear to have washed their hands of the David Caruso stalking matter involving one of their own, Heidi Schnitzer. Today marks three months post trial since Schnitzer fled to avoid prosecution. Schnitzer has become yet another outlaw taking refuge in Tijuana, Mexico.

Sources close to this story now confirm that the FBI sought the assistance of the Austrian government after CBS Studios requested their help after receiving Schnitzer's now famous death threat letter. Austria went through the motions, filed charges, scheduled a hearing, then allowed Schnitzer to escape, asked the FBI to help track her down and ultimately set a trial date only to allow Schnitzer to escape again. The Austrians have refused to release a photo of the woman citing privacy laws enacted to protect the suspect. Their most blatant lapse though came in failing to force Schnitzer to surrender her passport following her capture by the FBI in September 2007. Looking back, this was all probably by design.

Recall too that this is the same government who for 24 years enabled the likes of Josef Fritzl to rape and hold his own daughter hostage in a cellar. The Austrians have held true to this "look the other way" mentality in the David Caruso matter as well. Turning a blind eye and wishing the the case would quietly go away, it appears that the Austrians got exactly what they wanted. Schnitzer is now out of their jurisdiction and some Austrian circles are probably breathing a sigh of relief.

Keeping this story alive has now become the job of Internet bloggers such as Dojo and myself. We are more than happy to accommodate the overworked Austrians so they can focus their attention on taking another 24 years to capture another madman or madwoman.

In the meantime, Schnitzer may be attempting to illegally enter the U.S. to carry out her death threat against David Caruso and his family. Schnitzer wants nothing more than to insure that Caruso follows in the footsteps of his CSI Miami character, Horatio Caine who was shot at the end of Season 6. Is that what it will take for the Austrians to wake up and take notice? Probably.