On July 21, 1972, a man named Gerald John Schaefer picked up two teenage girls who were hitch-hiking. Schaefer told 17-year-old Pamela Wells and 18-year-old Nancy Trotter that hitchhiking was illegal in Martin County. It wasn’t, but they were young, so they believed him. What this stranger had planned for these two young teens would, thankfully, not happen. The story these two girls would tell officers would lead to a trail of victims and from an unlikely suspect. Join Jen and Cam on this Our True Crime Podcast episode entitled ‘To Protect and Serve...and Murder.’ This episode is sponsored by Iconic Protein Drinks available at drinkiconic.com or on Amazon. Use code ourtruecrime for a 25% discount on your order. We are also sponsored by Elemis, the #1 luxury British skincare brand. Visit https://www.elemis.com/us/ourtruecrime to get your discount on a product you will love. Our listener discretion is courtesy of our friend Edward from @octoberpodVHSOur Executive Producer and composer of our theme music, the great Nico Vettese @wetalkofdreamsSources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjV7NDAUW7shttps://www.amazon.com/Hangman-Life-Crimes-Gerard-Schaefer/dp/1987902165https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_John_Schaeferhttps://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Gerard_Schaeferhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19780512&id=T1RNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qfoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6167,3669114&hl=enhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axY-2QEDlIQhttps://alookintotheworldofserialkillersandothermurders.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/gerard-john-schaefer-a-kiiller-cop-doing-doubles/https://books.google.com/books?id=7K4amzFbIrYC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=St.+Thomas+Aquinas+High+School+Gerard+Schaefer&source=bl&ots=xYZXzXo-11&sig=IrrVelIDattEMG4MVndcjeeU5nw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi11_j5yuPbAhWTAHwKHaoSBKI4ChDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=St.%20Thomas%20Aquinas%20High%20School%20Gerard%20Schaefer&f=falsehttps://books.google.com/books?id=fmfxBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA137#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttps://web.archive.org/web/20100710153845/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ruth.buddell/schaefer.htm