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The national sales event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new Toyota truck. Like a rugged, half-ton Tundra, workhorse by nature, powerhouse by design, the Tundra combines raw capability with premium comfort and advanced tech to fuel your wildest adventures. And with the available i-Force Max Hybrid Powertrain, you can take electrifying horsepower farther
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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. She's just trying to do her job. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that attack on her. That attack when you decide in your mind to go at her with such force and vengeance that that much blood is produced.
Hello and welcome. This is Season 10, Episode 253 of Sword and Scale. A show that continues to reveal that the worst possible monsters are real. ♪
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The national sales event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new Toyota truck. Like a rugged, half-ton Tundra, workhorse by nature, powerhouse by design, the Tundra combines raw capability with premium comfort and advanced tech to fuel your wildest adventures. And with the available i-Force Max Hybrid Powertrain, you can take electrifying horsepower farther,
than ever before or check out the fully redesigned tacoma delivering trail dominating power and captivating style the new tacoma was born to make your off-roading dreams come true and with the new available tech this legendary truck is getting even better and when you buy a toyota truck you buy toyota dependability meaning your truck will hold its value long into the future
So visit your local Toyota dealer and check out amazing national sales event deals when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. If you've ever accepted a moderate or high-paying job, then you've probably had people work for you or under you. While it might not always feel like it, this can be a really powerful position to be in. To a boss or supervisor, having employees is just part of the job.
But to the employees themselves, the supervisor is pretty much the gatekeeper of their livelihoods. An employee's necessities of life are dependent on what their supervisor thinks of them and their work performance. In many cases, the relationship between a boss and employee is, at minimum, tenable.
There is this baked-in understanding that the boss gives an order or direction and the employee follows that direction. There are, of course, many, many exceptions to this, but generally speaking, that is usually how it works, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. Up until the moment of becoming co-workers or colleagues, or whatever you want to call them,
A boss and an employee are usually just strangers that very well might have never associated with each other, had it not been for their chosen place of work, that is. They may have personalities that clash and completely different perspectives on life. They may come from completely different backgrounds, have different cultural ideals. They may even have completely different opinions on how a particular job should be done.
or if a particular job should be done at all. And that is where things can go wrong and the relationship can break down. This is when the employee's livelihood can be put at risk. And when someone's livelihood comes under threat, well, there's no telling how they might respond and what they might do. On the morning of June 14th, 2013,
A young man in Baltimore County, Maryland finished making arrangements to have his car towed from his apartment complex. His car had recently broken down and he needed it taken to a repair shop. After the car was carted off, the young man returned to his apartment, but he wasn't there for long before someone began banging on his front door.
Startled and confused, the man answered the door and saw the apartment complex's cleaning lady. She was in tears, completely hysterical, and it looked like she had just seen a ghost. Baltimore County, 911, what is the address of your emergency? I'm actually at 2 Augusta Ridge Road in Reisterstown, Maryland. I have the cleaning lady who cleans the rental office, main office, came to my door. I have not walked into the rental office, but she said that the girl that's inside...
Just off the northern edge of Maryland's city of Baltimore is the towns of Harvest View, a townhouse-style apartment complex. Often referred to simply as Harvest View, this complex is owned by its parent company, Bizzuto, and it offers potential residents a fairly standard package when it comes to apartment living. Naturally, their website adds a few bells and whistles to exaggerate what they provide.
Spread out and relax in town-home style comfort in our spacious two and three bedroom apartments. Experience the joy of gas cooking in an exceptionally appointed kitchen. You can find room to breathe in open layouts, relax on your private balcony, and cozy up by your living room fireplace. All in the same day. Ah yes, don't we all just love to experience the joy of gas cooking?
Don't get me wrong, Harvest View seems like a perfectly fine place to live. According to most of the online reviews, the apartments are clean, there's lots of space, the grounds are well-maintained, and management is typically helpful and prompt when addressing any issues that the tenants may have. But on June 14, 2013, not all was well at Harvest View.
A crying and hysterical cleaning lady had alerted one of the tenants that she found something horrible in the leasing office. According to the cleaning woman, a bloody body was lying on the floor in the office and they appeared to have been shot. "Was she knocked on your door, the cleaning lady?" "She just knocked on my door. She must have just gotten back. I know she leaves and cleans other places."
Right. Right. Okay, just stay on the line with me. I'll have them on their way, okay? Okay, okay.
As the 911 operator worked to get emergency services dispatched to the scene, she also attempted to get as much information as possible. This wasn't exactly easy because the caller hadn't actually been inside the leasing office.
And they hadn't witnessed anything. Okay, I understand that. Is the female still standing there with you, Mr. Lee? Okay, now ask her, why does she say that? What happened for her to say that? Okay.
The reason the caller didn't just hand the phone over to the cleaning woman was because she was completely hysterical. And, well, she wasn't fluent in English, if that's a surprise to you. So, a kind of telephone game had to be played. So, you walked inside, and he's on the ground?
Okay. Okay. Is there blood there? No, she's in there blood everywhere. Okay, bear with me. And she believes she's been shot, is that correct? Did she see anyone? Did you see anybody? Did you see anybody come and go? The thing is, I was just outside maybe 20 minutes ago.
Which is strange. I didn't see anything. And you didn't hear anything? Well, I had to get my car towed. I've been out here this whole time. Bizarrely, nobody heard any gunshots. And neither the caller nor the cleaning lady saw anyone come and go from the leasing office. If someone fired a gun, surely someone would have heard it. Something wasn't making sense. Ask her. She said it was blood everywhere.
Okay, let me ask her. Is there blood everywhere? There's blood everywhere? A lot of blood? Blood? She said there's something in her back. Okay, so is the bleeding serious? Is she bleeding a lot? She said there's blood over the window and everything. Okay. I'm not walking in there. Okay, that's fine. Ask the cleaning lady, did she see anybody leaving from there or does she know who's responsible for doing this? Did you see anybody leave?
At this point, nobody knew who the supposed victim was. But everyone that lived at Harvest View knew who worked in the leasing office. It was really only one person.
That it could be. About how old is this female? Um, it's the girl I know that works here. I think she's probably about 30. About 30. Okay. Now ask her, is she awake? No, she says she's not. Is she moving or no? Is she moving? No. She's just laying on the floor. Okay.
Is she breathing? I don't know. Is she breathing? Breathing? Is she breathing? I don't know. I don't know. Okay, okay, okay. That's fine. I don't know if there's any kind of cameras in there. I hope they do. Yeah. Wow. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is crazy. I knew this girl, too, because she's the one who signed us up for this place. The person in the rental office? Yeah, her name's Melinda something. I can see her car out here.
29-year-old Melinda Schaefer was born in August 1983. She grew up and spent most of her life in San Diego, California. But at some point in her mid-20s, Melinda decided that she wanted to move to the East Coast. Melinda settled on moving to the Baltimore, Maryland area because some of her extended family also lived there. Not long after Melinda made this move, she landed a job as the assistant property manager at Harvest View.
She also met and married her husband, Mike Schaefer, who was welcomed into Melinda's family with open arms. Michael Maltese says his daughter grew up in California but wanted to live on the East Coast. Her extended family is in Baltimore. Maltese says Melinda just got married. The best guy you could ever imagine, and they just got married a year ago. Around the time that she got married, Melinda was also promoted from assistant property manager to property manager.
This promotion came as no surprise because Melinda was good at her job. Like, really good. Melinda oversaw every aspect of the Harvest View property. This included maintenance, grounds upkeep, dealing with tenant concerns, marketing, and more. She excelled on all fronts. But that wasn't all. Melinda was working on having a private website built just for her tenants and organizing gatherings and events so that the tenants could meet each other.
Melinda wanted Harvest View to be more than just the run-of-the-mill apartment complex. She wanted it to be a community. Unfortunately, she didn't have many hands to help her with much of anything. Aside from the cleaning lady, the only other regular employee at Harvest View was the maintenance supervisor. Anybody else that does that? No, it's just me. Because there's no other office worker? No. From what I understand? No. Okay. It's only the cleaning lady. She only come out three days a week.
For a time, Melinda did have an assistant help her with daily office operations. But that assistant had recently been fired for repeatedly coming into work late, among other reasons. So Melinda was left on her own to run the leasing office, which had an open door policy. During normal working hours, anyone could walk in for any reason at all.
Just like any apartment complex, Harvest View had its fair share of complainers.
Some tenants, no matter what anyone does for them, will always find something to moan about. They're similar to sword and scale listeners in that regard. But even so, unlike me, Melinda was extremely well liked by all of her tenants. She apparently had this way of talking with people that made them feel like their concerns or issues were truly important and she wanted to help.
Melinda wasn't all talk either. She wasn't one of these fake fucks. She always went out of her way to make sure the Harvest View residents were well taken care of. Melinda was personable and friendly, and she genuinely cared about people. According to the maintenance man, there wasn't anyone at Harvest View that would have any reason to hurt her. Has she talked to you about having any problems with anybody? Do you know of any...
On June 14, 2013, at about 11 a.m., police in Baltimore County arrived at the leasing office where Melinda worked.
When they walked inside, they found a chaotic and bloody scene. When police arrived at the scene, we found evidence of an extremely violent confrontation. Police say Schaefer fought for her life. There was blood all over the walls and blinds. The office was in shambles, furniture and files everywhere. And detectives, responding to a call from a cleaning lady, found Schaefer lying face down in her own blood. The police found that Melinda's office was a complete mess.
Her desk was slid across the room, paper documents and broken office equipment were strewn all over the floor, the vertical window blinds were lopsided, and an office chair was tipped over. Clearly, a violent struggle had taken place. The police also found that the office was a gory bloodbath. There was blood spatter and blood smears everywhere, and the apparent source of blood was the dead body.
lying face down on the floor. 29-year-old property manager Melinda Schaefer was found unresponsive in a large pool of her own blood. When medical responders arrived, they pronounced her dead on the scene. Baltimore County homicide detectives were assigned to the case and to them, it was obvious that Melinda had been brutally murdered during a very violent attack.
But what they didn't immediately know was that this was going to be a very difficult case to solve. Due to the communal nature of the crime scene and the fact that many people would frequently walk in and out of the office, the detectives weren't going to be able to rely on DNA or forensic evidence to solve this. They were going to have to use old-fashioned police work to find out who murdered Melinda Schaefer himself.
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On June 14, 2013, the dead body of 29-year-old Melinda Schaefer was found in the leasing office of the Harvest View Apartments in Baltimore County, Maryland. Melinda was the property manager at Harvest View, and shortly after Melinda's body was found, a 911 call was placed. The cleaning lady had told one of the apartment residents that Melinda had been shot, but when police examined the scene, they found that no shots were made.
had been fired. Well, they say Melinda Schaefer was stabbed over and over again in the leasing office of the towns at Harvest View Apartments in Reisterstown. The 29-year-old was the property manager. The leasing office was a wreck with chairs, the desks were strewn everywhere, and there was blood all over the walls and the blinds. The cleaning woman was wrong. Melinda had not been shot. She had been stabbed.
A total of 79 times in her upper body and her head. Her murder was vicious and bloody. The killer or killers had seemingly made a brief attempt to clean up, as there were several areas in the office where blood was smeared with some kind of rag or cloth. Melinda had clearly fought for her life. The leasing office was a disaster.
with documents and office equipment all over the place. The office chair was turned over, the desk was pushed to the other side of the room, the blood-spattered window blinds were lopsided and nearly torn off the window frame. Notably, nothing appeared to be stolen. Melinda had bank cards and a signed check still in her purse. For police, whatever happened in the office that morning, it clearly wasn't a robbery.
After Melinda was pronounced dead, her family was made aware of what happened. This included her father. What kills me the most is that my poor daughter would never hurt a person in her life. And to have something as brutal and senseless as this to her drives me insane. Melinda's parents lived in California, over 3,000 miles from where Melinda was living in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Even so, Melinda communicated with them almost daily. When Melinda's dad was interviewed by the media, his reaction to his daughter's murder appeared to be rage. While Melinda's mom responded with a broken heart and indiscernible sadness. I'll never get over this. Never. It seems like it's getting worse. It's left me feeling still empty in my heart.
Like I said, I don't think I'll ever get over this. As Melinda's family mourned, detectives at the Baltimore County Police Department worked the case
But for several weeks, there appeared to be no new developments at all. Baltimore County Police tell 11 News they are aggressively working on the murder case of 29-year-old Melinda Schaefer. She's the property manager of the Towns at Harvest View Townhome Complex in Reisterstown, who police say died from multiple stab wounds while she was working in the leasing office. Two weeks to the day and no word on who did this or why.
As far as potential suspects were concerned, the detectives started where you might expect, with her husband, of course. According to the maintenance supervisor at Harvest View, Melinda's husband, Mike Schaefer, had visited Melinda at her office on a few occasions before she was killed. Did she ever have personal visitors come there that you know of? Under 90 August all the time. I've seen her husband come to me once or twice. Right.
When Melinda's husband was questioned by detectives, he was especially cooperative and appeared willing to do anything and everything he could to help the police find out who had murdered his wife. He explained that the last time he saw Melinda was on the morning of the murder, just before they both headed off to work, and his last communication with her was a text message. Melinda had told him to have a good day.
When detectives looked into Mike Schaefer's story, they found that he was working around the time of the murder and they couldn't make any timeline fit that placed him at Melinda's office. With the husband pretty much eliminated as a potential suspect, the detectives turned their attention toward the Harvest View tenants and Melinda's co-workers. Maybe someone at Harvest View had an axe to grind. Maybe Melinda, or the company she worked for, made someone...
Very, very angry. Unable to control their own emotions type angry. The process of looking into all of these people took a lot of time, which is why the case appeared to drag. Still, the media and public kept asking questions, and the police department assured them that they were working very hard to
to deliver answers. Police say Melinda was the only one working in the leasing office at the time and sources say this appears to be an isolated incident and that Schaefer was targeted. Our detectives continue to work this case very aggressively. They do have some leads that they've been pursuing over the past two weeks. In researching Melinda's work life, detectives learned that Melinda had
until very recently been working alongside an assistant. But that assistant was let go just two days before Melinda was murdered. — Any ex-employees, anybody got beef with her or the company? — I mean, the only other person that ever worked over there was Vanessa, and she just got fired. — Okay. — 20-year-old Vanessa Coates worked in the Harvest View leasing office for a short time.
She didn't so much work with Melinda as she filled in for her when needed. Harvest View's district management preferred to have the leasing office open and available to tenants and potential residents as often as possible. So on weekends and whenever Melinda needed to be out of the office, Vanessa filled in for her. Unfortunately, Vanessa was either unwilling or unable to live up to the requirements of the job.
Frankly, she kind of sucked at being an assistant property manager. At least, that's what Melinda seemed to think. Melinda and Vanessa ended their work partnership on bad terms.
Perhaps this disgruntled ex-employee was angry enough to attack and murder Melinda. When detectives tracked Vanessa Coates down and questioned her, she admitted that Melinda wasn't her favorite person. But Vanessa also explained that on the morning of the murder, she was sleeping at her boyfriend's house, several towns away from the Harvest View leasing office. Using Vanessa's cell phone records, detectives were able to confirm this.
And just like Melissa's husband, Vanessa Coates was eliminated as a suspect. As far as coworkers went, there were really only two other people left that could be considered potential suspects. The cleaning lady that was hysterically crying when she found Melinda's dead body, or the maintenance supervisor. How long have you been employed by the company there? I've been with Bizzuto for about two years now. Okay.
27-year-old Rashad Williams was hired to work at Harvest View in 2011.
And as the maintenance man, he worked closely with Melinda almost every day. What is it about maintenance men and murder? What do you call her? Melinda. Melinda, okay. Has she been there the whole time you've been there? Yeah, she was the 80-foot man. Okay. She actually had me. I'm sorry? She actually had me. Oh, did she? Yeah. Do you consider her a friend? Yeah, Melinda's cool. Yeah. I mean, it's business at the end of the day. Right. Not going out and hanging out or anything. No, no, that ain't happening. But, uh, I mean...
According to Rashaun, his relationship with Melinda was all business and he had nothing against her. To him, she was just his boss.
And they would usually meet every weekday morning to discuss anything that needed to get done. On the morning of the murder, Melinda was preparing for new tenants to move into Harvestview.
and she tasked the cleaning lady with some touch-up cleaning that needed to be done to their apartment. According to Rashaun, during this typical morning meeting, Melinda talked about the new residents while Rashaun collected everything he needed for the day's work. So after your, you said you pick up your tickets and stuff too, right? Yeah, tickets, keys, my meeting, get to work. So how long did that meeting take today? 20 minutes give or take. Okay.
Rashan claimed that he left the leasing office and delivered keys to the cleaning lady so that she could get into the apartment that needed some touch-ups. He then returned to the leasing office to get the company debit card. After you give her the key, where did you go from there? Back to the office. I had to go get some batteries for the remotes, garage remotes. Okay. So I went and got the card for Melinda for that. What did you get at the office?
Debit card. Oh, is it a property card? Yeah. Like a card in a property name? Yeah, like a property card. And that's how you go buy stuff for the grounds? Yeah. Some of the garage remotes at Harvest View needed their batteries replaced, so Melinda gave Rashawn the company debit card and tasked him with going to the nearby dollar store to buy some fresh batteries, which he did. Got the batteries, came back. Did you return the debit card to her? Yeah. Was anybody there with her? No, by herself.
You stick around and have more conversation with her? Yeah, a little conversation here and there because she had told me to fix the door. The closet door had came off. So I put that, I fixed that real quick. Then we talked about going to Home Depot looking for that lawn for the garages. Rashawn explained that after he returned from the dollar store, Melinda tasked him with going to Home Depot to get supplies for some other garage repairs that needed to be done.
and Rashawn left the office again to do exactly that. But when he returned from Home Depot, he found a swarm of cops around the leasing office. If Rashawn's story was accurate, it meant that he was the last person to have seen Melinda alive. After detectives spoke to Rashawn, they began looking for ways to either verify his story or discredit it.
After a few days, they questioned him again. You guys had your little discussion, and then how do you get the card from her? How's that work? She gave it to me. All right, and then you walked from there to that dollar tree. Watch your batteries. All right. And when you came back out, down, you just walked back to the office? Yeah. So while you're in there, you said you fixed the door with a screwdriver, right? Yeah. Okay. And then you guys...
During this second interview, Rashawn's story was consistent with the first time he told it, but now the detectives had new information that contradicted what he was telling them. So what was the last time that you estimate maybe you saw her alive?
Let me see. I think it's an 8 to 9. I don't know. Maybe a 9.30 give or take. Somewhere 9.30 give or take? Yes. Okay. On the morning of the murder, Melinda's last known contact with anyone was at about 8.50 a.m. when she sent an email to a tenant. About an hour later at 9.50 a.m., a different tenant called the leasing office, but the call went unanswered, as did all the other calls made to the leasing office after that one.
Then, one more hour later at 10.50 a.m., the cleaning lady discovered Melinda's body. The cops believed that Melinda was murdered between the one-hour window of 8.50 a.m. and 9.50 a.m. According to Rashawn,
He left the leasing office to go to Home Depot around 9:30. And then you go to Home Depot? Yep. What route did you take to Home Depot? Highway. Highway? Can you give me the... 795. And where'd you go for 795? 795, 695, get off at Lazy Road and just go straight up from there. Nowhere else you stopped on the way? Mm-hmm. Okay.
The route that Rashawn described would take him about 20 minutes to get from Harvest View to Home Depot, placing him there around 9:50 or 10:00 a.m. So you go there and when you were in there, anything? Nah, I looked around for the lawn, didn't see it. Asked the guy about it. He said he didn't take it down yet. That's it for that. He just came back here. And why didn't you buy it? Well, one, he said he didn't take it down, and two, I forgot to grab the car. Okay. Get the car back from him.
And then you came back here and what time do you think you maybe got here? Maybe 20 minutes later, something like that. 20 minutes later? Yeah. So now we're maybe at like 1030-ish? Give or take. Give or take. Yeah. Rashaan claimed that he didn't buy anything at the Home Depot because the supplies he needed weren't ready and because he forgot to get the Harvest View debit card back from Melinda. If Rashaan's story was true...
It would have put him arriving at Home Depot at around 10 a.m. and returning to Harvest View 30 minutes later at around 10.30 a.m. But there was a problem. The surveillance camera at Home Depot captured Rashawn arriving there at 10.40 a.m. I realize that all these times I'm throwing at you might make things a little hard to follow.
But all you really have to know is that what Rashawn told detectives was inconsistent with the surveillance footage that was shown to them. For police, this inconsistency in Rashawn's story was pretty important. And there was also something else that happened that morning that made Rashawn's story pretty...
Suspect. Yeah, I checked all that. Yeah, but it's dead, so...
As the maintenance supervisor, Rashawn was issued a work cell phone by Harvest View. This way, tenants or Melinda could get in touch with them if there was some kind of repair that needed to be addressed quickly. On the morning of the murder, that cell phone had seemingly vanished. During his first interview with detectives...
Rashawn didn't mention a lost cell phone at all. There was one more important thing about Rashawn that caught detectives' attention.
and it had to do with what rashaun was wearing on the morning of the murder did you have one of those pants no i don't think it was these level it's like these it's like a straight cake you go okay so friday when you went to i don't know i'm trying to think your dollar tree
On the morning that Melinda was killed, Rashawn purchased batteries at the nearby dollar store at around 9.20 a.m.
and the surveillance camera in the store captured him wearing a Harvest View issued black jacket and tan cargo pants. At 10:40 AM, after Melinda had been killed, the surveillance cameras at Home Depot captured Rashaun wearing a black polo shirt and straight white khakis. Yet Rashaun claimed that he never changed his clothes that morning and that he would have had no reason to change them at all.
When asked about his Harvest View jacket, Rashad did admit that he owned one. If you have the jacket, that'd be awesome. I'll check and see if it's in there. All right. If not, I'll just go do another trip or something. All right, can we check your truck after that? Yeah, I'll check it. All right, that's fine. All right, wait. Conveniently, Rashad was never able to find his Harvest View jacket. The second interview with Rashad was conducted three days after Melinda was murdered, after which...
All went quiet for a while. For two more months, detectives continued to work the case and all the DNA testing relating to the crime scene came back inconclusive, of course. Even so, between the inconsistencies in Rashaun's story, the lost cell phone, and his change of clothes, the detectives did have enough evidence to make an arrest.
Good evening, everyone. Our big story tonight, an arrest has been made in the murder of a property manager who was found stabbed to death inside a Reisterstown leasing office. And tonight, a maintenance worker is being held without bond, charged in that brutal attack. Police say the suspect has not confessed, but a change in clothing was enough to charge him. We have asked this defendant to produce the clothing that he was wearing in the Dollar General video. He has been unable to do that.
Police say that Williams could not explain the discrepancy in what the surveillance video shows, and police say at this point they don't have a motive in the case. Just over two months after Melinda Schaefer was murdered, Rashawn Williams was arrested and charged with a crime. While things did look pretty bad for Rashawn, all the evidence against him was circumstantial, and there were no witnesses and no forensic evidence to link him to the murder.
The detectives could prove that Rashaun had the means and opportunity, but if they had any hope of making the murder charge stick, they were going to need one very important thing: a motive. This episode is brought to you by Allianz Travel Insurance. If you're the type of traveler who leaves everything to the last minute, then Annual Travel Insurance was made for you. Buy your plan today and you're covered for every trip you take in the next 365 days.
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On August 20, 2013, in Baltimore County, Maryland, the maintenance supervisor at the Harvest View apartment complex was arrested and charged with brutally murdering his boss, Melinda Schaefer. 27-year-old Rashawn Williams, the man police say is behind the brutal killing of 29-year-old Melinda Maltese Schaefer. The leasing agent was found stabbed to death inside her office in June at the towns of Harvest View.
Before Melinda Schaffer was murdered, she was living in Baltimore County with her husband. They had only been married for about a year before she was brutally stabbed to death. On the morning of June 14, 2013, Melinda's body was discovered in her office by the apartment complex's cleaning lady. When police arrived at the scene, they found the office was wrecked.
Melinda's chair was overturned, her desk was slid across the room and files and office equipment were scattered all over the floor. The police also found blood spatter and blood smears everywhere and they later determined that Melinda had been stabbed 69 times in her upper body and her head. After an exhaustive investigation, Baltimore County Homicide Detectives
determined that the maintenance supervisor, 27-year-old Rashawn Williams, was the killer. And they arrived at that conclusion based on inconsistencies in Rashawn's statements to police.
Williams told investigators he'd left a Dollar General store around 9.20 a.m. He went to the leasing center from 9.30 to 9.45, the time frame in which detectives believe Schaefer was killed. Williams is then seen on a surveillance tape at a Home Depot at 10.33 a.m. But security cameras here at the Dollar General show Williams wearing a completely different outfit than he was wearing at the Home Depot just an hour later.
Before Rashawn was arrested, he had been questioned by police about Melinda's murder on two separate occasions. Once on the day of the murder, and again three days later. Two months later, he was charged, arrested, and brought in for a third and final interview. So why are you bringing me up here again? Because you're getting charged with the murder. Based on what? The probable cause that we submitted an application to the commissioner.
So that's how it works. We write down, we write up the warrant, some of the information that we have, submit to the commissioner, get signed off on, the warrant gets issued, and then the guys come down and arrest us. What problem cause you got here? I mean, come on, man. It don't make no sense. This third interview with Rashawn ended up being mostly a jousting match between him and one of the detectives. While the detective was trying to get Rashawn to confess, Rashawn was trying to find out exactly what cops had on him.
I'm giving you the information, but you ain't giving me no information. I gave you the information. What was that? What did you tell me? I was on vacation for two days. Yeah, buddy. That's rock solid. Take that to the bank. Yeah, you get it right. Yeah, that's cool. Throughout this interview, Rashawn tried to play cool and collected. He also did this really annoying thing where he feigned exhaustion and yawned over and over again.
As if to say that being charged with first-degree murder was a little boring, and not much more than a small inconvenience for this fine gentleman. I didn't know her, never got the chance to know her.
Mm-hmm. Would like to. From what I hear, she's a nice lady. I know I had nothing to do with it. That's why I chose it. Despite Rashawn's performance, the detectives were entirely confident that he was the killer. But the one thing they didn't know was if Rashawn had planned to murder or if it happened on a moment of unexpected rage. That piece that we're looking for, as to whether the person planned it out or whether the person snapped it.
Rashawn wasn't willing to provide insight into his final thought process on the day of the murder.
So, detectives began questioning Rashawn about the inconsistencies in his original statements to police. At one point in that morning, did you change your clothes? You don't know? Do you remember changing your clothes? No, I honestly don't. Well, one of the times that we talked to you, you said you didn't change your clothes. Oh, you told me I did. In the following days. I said I changed my clothes. You said I changed my clothes. Well, I mean, I know you changed your clothes.
Okay. I'm just asking when. I don't know. Again, detectives knew that Rashawn changed his clothes on the day of the murder. The dollar store surveillance camera captured him wearing a black jacket and tan cargo pants. About 90 minutes later, the Home Depot surveillance camera captured him wearing a black polo shirt and straight white khakis. Who wears white khakis, by the way? I can tell you that it happened between...
Dollar General and Home Depot. So why are you asking me, man? Because there's a bit of a window in there. So if you can shed some light on when you changed them and where you changed them. I just said I don't remember changing them. That tells me I can't ask the question, right? Yeah, but that's redundant. You ask the same question over and over and over again. Same exact one. Bought some clothes. I just told you I don't remember. Because it's important. I just said I don't remember.
Rashawn maintained that he had no memory of changing his clothes that morning, and he also seemed unable to understand why this was important to the case. Either that, or he was just pretending that he couldn't understand. You knew I changed my clothes. So far as you say, so far as you say, you knew I changed my clothes. Well, you see why that can be a bit of an issue in our eyes, right? So is that your probable cause? It's a piece of probable cause. I ain't gonna lie to you.
So you can lock me up and change my clothes? It's a piece of it. You're crazy. But when you change your clothes in the time frame, and in that time frame is also when the person gets killed, it goes towards that probable cause. And then when we talk to you a couple days after the murder and ask you about changing your clothes, you say you would have no reason to change your clothes. So when you take those two things coupled with the fact that you changed your clothes, it's a bit of a red flag for us.
Something else that the detectives focused on was Rashawn's work cell phone, which went missing on the morning of the murder. When Rashawn was first questioned, he never mentioned anything about the phone to detectives. Did it?
Any reason you didn't tell us that it was missing? Didn't know. Didn't know what? I didn't notice it was missing. You called Patrick at two-something to tell him it was missing, and I talked to you starting at three. What are you saying? I'm saying that you called Patrick at two-something to let him know that the cell phone was missing, but you didn't tell us that it was missing. You didn't tell the police department it was missing. But then just a minute ago, you said that's because you didn't realize it was missing yet. Clearly you did because you called Patrick and told him.
You don't even make any more sense, man. Look at what you're saying. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. On the contrary, what the detective was saying made a lot of sense. There is no doubt that Rashawn knew his work phone was missing because he called the company to tell them about it. And he made this call, get this, he made this call while sitting in the police interrogation room
as he was waiting to be questioned for the first time. You just can't fix dumb. Hey Patrick. Hey, hey, it's Rashawn. How you feeling? You alright? What I was calling you about is that I didn't have the work phone, so if any calls was coming through, I wouldn't be getting, grabbing any of the calls. I think I might have left it in the office. I'm not sure. I was looking for it, but I couldn't, I didn't see it.
For detectives, there was only one reason why Rashawn would have changed his clothes and ditched his work phone. Because they were covered in Melinda's blood. You gotta get rid of them. They got blood on them. That's why I had Home Depot with different pants on them.
That makes sense. You can say it doesn't make sense, but that makes sense. All those contents of your pockets, missing. Still missing to this day. With the pants. All because Melinda was so brutally murdered that there was blood everywhere and on your pants and you had to get rid of them. You had to. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that attack on her. That attack when you decide in your mind to go at her with such force and vengeance that
that that much blood is produced that ends up on your pants. Regarding the missing phone, the police were able to obtain two notable phone records that occurred shortly after the murder. At 10:28 a.m., the phone received a missed call and at 10:32 a.m., the phone used a cell tower to download some kind of automatic software update. These two events placed the phone, and likely Rashawn,
near a shopping plaza, about 10 miles north of the Harvest View Apartments, just a few minutes away from the Home Depot. The detectives believed that Rashawn dumped the phone and his bloody clothes into a dumpster around this time and around this area. None of these items were ever recovered. Again, the detectives had a decent case against Rashawn, but all their evidence was circumstantial.
A lot of circumstantial cases up there in Baltimore. Doesn't mean the murder didn't happen. Rashawn had lied to the police several times. He had the means and opportunity to commit the murder. But if a prosecutor was going to convince 12 people in a jury box that Rashawn was guilty, they were going to need a motive. Find out what that piece is. What piece? What caused this whole thing to happen, that catalyst. What made it snap? What went off?
I'm sorry? Witch hunt? Nah, we're just finding the person who did this.
During this interview, Rashawn doesn't so much as deny the accusations against him as much as he claims that the cops have nothing on him, which in itself is interesting. I don't know about you, but if I was charged with a murder I didn't commit, I wouldn't be telling the cops they don't have enough evidence. I'd clearly be telling them I didn't do it. That's not what was happening in this particular circumstance, though.
Nonetheless, Rashaun was either confident that he would not be convicted of this crime, or he was pretending to be confident. And he wasn't about to share his motive. But that was okay because detectives had figured it out. And they had evidence to back it up. You know, I could talk to Vanessa if you talked to her before. She gave us a little background on... Oh, the deletion check. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Deletion check. Yeah.
That's one of the ones we went and talked to and she told us about Belinda and her work habits and that she's tough and holding people accountable for stuff. That's what she posted. Not the easiest thing, easiest to work for sometimes. Everybody's got their own styles, you know what I mean? That's what she posted you. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely how some people look at it. Some people look at it that that's what she's supposed to do. That's her job as a boss is to hold people accountable. Vanessa seemed to think that it was maybe a little over the top and she had a little bit of an issue with her and
So I guess that's probably part of the reason they left her being fired. Melinda Schaefer was extremely good at her job, and she always went above and beyond what the job asked of her. She sincerely cared about her tenants and making Harvest View a great place to live. Naturally, any other employee at Harvest View that didn't share that attitude and that goal was going to clash with Melinda. And that's why her former assistant, Vanessa Coates, was fired.
Unsurprisingly, it turned out that Rashawn was having a similar issue. As detectives investigated this case and began looking into Melinda's work life,
they found an interesting text exchange on her cell phone between her and Rashawn. Rashawn had asked Melinda, quote, Are y'all getting rid of me over this? End quote. This text related to a repair issue on the property that Rashawn was supposed to have resolved, but never did. As a result, Melinda ended up needing to hire and pay a third-party repairman, which kind of, you know, defeats the fucking point.
On top of that, Rashawn was already on thin ice because he'd recently gotten into trouble for lying and covering for Vanessa Coates when she came into work late. This lie landed Rashawn on work probation for 30 days, and he was told that if there were any more infractions, he would be fired, no matter how minor or major the infraction was. Do you think you're in good graces with Bazuto the entire time?
The detectives knew that Melinda was either about to fire Rashawn or was seriously considering it.
because she told a regional manager about Rashaun's crappy work performance on more than a few occasions. There was also a ledger on her desk that documented his screw-ups. The detectives also discovered that Melinda had edited a personnel action form on her computer the night before she was killed. This form is basically a "pack up your shit, you're fired" notice that is given to an employee when they are let go.
Of course, for someone to commit murder just because they are about to be fired is pretty extreme. But Rashan had more to lose than just his job. Rashan wasn't the only maintenance supervisor at Harvest View. He was also a tenant. And because of his employment, his rent was reduced considerably. Rashan lived with his wife, his eight-year-old daughter, and his two-year-old son.
The roof he was keeping over their heads was dependent on his Harvest View employment. The employment he seemed to take for granted. Yeah, but because of this whole thing, you've been suspended. I mean, basically, if you get fired from there, you lose a job, possibly lose your place to live where your family can live, you and your wife and your two kids. So if you just find out that Vanessa got laid off,
Now next thing you know, you think that it's coming at you. You're the next one in line because you know that they don't think that you're doing a good job. There you go stretching again. I'm not stretching anything. I know why Vanessa got fired and I know that you were under a microscope. If Melinda comes at you with something about needing to get your stuff together, and that one little nagging piece of her causes you to snap, she's just trying to do her job. She's just trying to hold you accountable for doing yours. I don't understand. I had nothing to do with it, man. Nothing. You're not doing your job.
You're on the verge of being fired and she's holding you accountable. So she comes at you and she tells you, hey, you gotta get your stuff together. Then you go after her. Crazy. Somehow that turns into this brutal attack. On the morning of Melinda's murder, Rashawn returned to the leasing office after buying batteries at the nearby dollar store. We don't know and we'll probably never know what conversation he and Melinda had when he got back.
But detectives believe that Melinda either warned Rashaun that he was going to be fired or Rashaun saw the personnel action form on Melinda's desk and put two and two together. Either way, this caused Rashaun to snap and violently attack Melinda like an animal. There was an intense struggle between them. Melinda fought for her life.
But Rashawn got the best of her and stabbed her 69 times in the upper body and head with a knife. After Melinda was dead, Rashawn attempted to clean up the scene but there was too much blood and he had to know that the cleaning lady would be returning to the office at any minute. Rashawn fled the office through the back door taking his work phone and the murder weapon with him which he later threw away at a nearby shopping plaza dumpster.
along with his bloody work jacket and bloody work pants. Again, none of these items were ever recovered. Detectives believe that after Rashawn disposed of the evidence, he went to Home Depot, and the real reason why he didn't buy anything was because he was only there to establish an alibi, only there to get his mug on cam. You asked me if I found the person? Yeah, I found the person. You killed her. We're not sure that you killed her. So you think...
I'm sorry that you think it's funny. I'm not saying it's funny. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying y'all whole situation is funny. We don't think any of it's funny. I'm not saying the situation is funny. I mean, it's not funny. It's not funny what happened. I'm not saying that's funny. But I'm saying what y'all presenting is like, come on, man. Be for real. Like, y'all really going to lock me up for that?
You never said not one logical thing. None of this has been logical to you? Not enough to go out and just charge somebody. Like I explained to you, we got it. We ain't got nothing, man. We got some bullshit about some missing keys and some missing phones. That's the fuck. I can't believe you even got it charged the other day. Rashawn may have been overconfident, but he wasn't entirely wrong.
The evidence against him strongly suggested that he was guilty, but it was also circumstantial. The detectives worked hard to solve the crime, but they didn't have anything rock solid like DNA, fingerprints, or a murder weapon. A prosecutor was going to have to try to convince 12 American jurors
of Rashawn's guilt, while defense attorneys challenged all of the circumstantial evidence, trying to poke holes in anything they possibly could, as they do. In April 2015, two years after Melinda was killed, Rashawn's murder case went to trial. The trial lasted for five days and several members of Melinda's family were in attendance.
including her father. She cared about everybody. This is what earns me up. I don't want to see this guy on the face of this earth anymore, if you want to know the honest-to-God truth. I want this guy to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and I hope to God and I pray that he goes away for the rest of his life. For five agonizing days, Melinda's family watched and listened as the prosecution laid out their case against Rashawn Williams.
which included describing Melinda's final horrific moments alive in the painful, brutal way.
that she was killed. My daughter was stabbed 69 times, and when they talk about that, it crushed us. The prosecution's theory was Williams snapped when it appeared Schaefer was about to fire him. Documents detailing Williams' poor work performance and a termination form were found on her desk in the leasing office. Police say Williams also couldn't explain why surveillance video at two stores that morning showed him in two different outfits right before and right after Schaefer's death.
In the end, the evidence wasn't enough to convict Rashawn of first-degree murder, and the jury returned a not guilty verdict. However, they also returned another verdict. Apparently, after hearing all of the evidence, the jury was convinced that Rashawn had committed the crime, but they believed that it wasn't planned. As a result, Rashawn was found guilty of second-degree murder.
For that, Melinda's family was grateful. I want to thank, first of all, the jury for their verdict. And today in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Williams was sentenced to 30 years in prison, ending a tough case for Schaefer's family, who came from California to listen to in court. He hasn't said yet exactly why. One day, maybe he will. Maybe one day he'll reach out and say to me why.
As of March 2023, Rashawn Williams has not explained why he did what he did. But it's not difficult to make an educated guess. Melinda Schaefer was a young woman just doing her job. And it was a job that she did so well. She excelled at that job. She expected people around her to excel at their own jobs as well. Imagine that.
Imagine expecting people to do their fucking job. Imagine what a world it would be. Rashawn's shitty work performance clashed with Melinda's exceptional work ethic. And Rashawn found himself on the chopping block. His livelihood was threatened and as an employee and a resident of Harvest View, he had a lot to lose. And when he saw it all slipping away, he didn't work harder to try to keep it.
He didn't do any self-reflection and realize how it was kind of his fault to begin with. Rashawn didn't consider that maybe he was the reason for all the bad things that were happening to him because it couldn't be that. It couldn't be personal responsibility. That can't be it. Instead, he blamed Melinda, the white girl at the leasing office. And in a fit of blind rage, he brutally stabbed her to death. That's
Reality, you can like it or not, doesn't change it from being reality. Sadly, this is another one of those cases where evil has seemingly won. A young wife and beloved daughter lost her life in what was truly a senseless murder. At least, thanks to some good police work, Melinda and her family got a little bit of justice, a little bit of peace.
and maintenance man for Sean Williams got 30 years to think about the lives that he destroyed. That's going to do it. And as we look forward to Thanksgiving here, I'm very thankful for all of you. So have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay safe. ♪♪♪
Hey Mike, last Thanksgiving was my first Thanksgiving by myself. I just went through a divorce over, I guess, kind of the woke crap that's going on.
But you talked about how we should all be safe and loved as we should be. And we all want that. But then you said that we're all a part of this big family. And that meant a lot to me at the time. It still means a lot to me now. So I just want to say thank you for all you do. I know it takes a lot of hard work and you've got a lot of pressure and a lot of haters on you. But thank you. Bye. ♪♪♪
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