Senator Nancy Schaefer: Did Her Fight Against CPS Child Kidnapping Cause Her Murder?
Health Impact News
by Brian Shilhavy
Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer may have known more about State-sponsored kidnappings than any other politician in the United States, before she was murdered in March of 2010. Her published report, “The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services” was the basis for many lectures and interviews she gave on the topic. She claims the report caused her to lose her Senate seat in the Georgia State Senate.
However, there are causes worth losing over.
This cause was so big however, that there are some who believe she lost more than just her job. They believe she lost her very life.
On March 26, 2010, police from Habersham County Georgia reported that they found Nancy Schaefer and her husband Bruce Schaefer dead in their home. The official report was that it was a murder suicide, and that Bruce Schaefer had killed his wife and then turned his .38-caliber handgun on himself. Their daughter reportedly found them in their bedroom, and investigators say they discovered a suicide note, as well as notes to each of the couple’s five children.
However, many have questioned the “official” police report. Mark Davis of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an article on April 4, 2010 titled:
What really took 2 lives in Schaefer case?
Some excerpts from Mark Davis’ article.
And yet, people talk. They talk about a twosome that was rarely apart. They talk about a woman who achieved renown for her unapologetic stands against abortion and overzealous child protective services.
“You hardly ever saw one without the other,” said Robert “Buster” Smith, whom Bruce often visited when Nancy came to town from their Clarkesville home to get her hair done.
A Toccoa native, Smith saw Bruce Schaefer on the last Tuesday of his life when he stopped by Smith’s furniture store. “He seemed like his old self,” said Smith. “I have a hard time believing it happened like it happened.”
Nancy Schaefer was a former officer of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and the “Baptist Press” also ran a piece on the murder:
Nancy Schaefer, conservative activist, killed.
They also raised the question as to whether the police report was accurate.
At least one friend of the Schaefers has questioned the murder-suicide theory. Garland Favorito, founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), circulated an 11-point, two-page bulletin via the Internet stating it is “more obvious” that the case is a “murder made to look like suicide.”
Favorito cited the Christian faith and pro-life beliefs of the Schaefers, and the fact that Nancy Schaefer had been delving into alleged corruption in family and child services agencies.
I looked up Garland Favorito’s bulletin and found it online. Here is what he wrote:
Although off topic, I felt led to do one more update on the Schaefer family with some new information. I want to particularly thank the progressives and Democrats who responded with encouragement to my previous article by recognizing that the child abuse and trafficking against which Sen. Schaefer fought for the last two years of her life is a non-partisan issue that transcends political party boundaries.
On Wed. Mar 31, over 1000 people flocked to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Toccoa Ga. to pay last respects to former state senator, Nancy Schaefer and husband, Bruce. Pastor Andy Childs focused on the forgiveness of sins and eternal life available to all mankind through Jesus Christ. He felt they would have wanted it that way. Pastor Childs also mentioned that he researched Nancy Schaefer’s efforts in Child Protective Services, which I believe will eventually become her legacy and greatest work.
Many people in line and at the service, who knew Bruce “Bear” Schaefer, were still consumed with doubt that he would do something so uncharacteristic as to kill his wife and himself. More information is gradually coming to light about the couple’s financial troubles that may have led to the tragedy, but several points have fostered doubt:
- The Schaefer’s were receiving death threats that had accelerated;
- There was no indication from Bruce Schaefer of him being under any kind of stress that would cause him to commit such an uncharacteristic act right up to the eve of their death;
- Nancy Schaefer was completing a video exposing the lack of oversight in Georgia’s Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS) as well as Child Protective Services (CPS) nationally;
- I spoke at some length with the video producer, William “Wilky” Fain. Both he and other friends of the family corroborate that Bruce had complained of investment losses, and they had just received a foreclosure notice on the magnificent home they owned. They had put their home up for sale a couple months earlier, but had been unable to sell it or another property in such a down-market.
Still, many of the couple’s friends question whether their financial condition was really severe enough to warrant such an uncharacteristic drastic action. Burning psychological questions remain such as:
- Why would Bruce decide to kill himself and his wife because he received a foreclosure notice on a home that they had already decided to sell two months earlier?
- Why would Bruce consider the couple’s financial situation so severe when their assets still appeared to exceed their secured property debt by several hundred thousand dollars?
- If Bruce was under financial stress, why did he not show any signs of it up to an including the eve of the couple’s death?
- If Bruce was under financial stress why wouldn’t he seek help from any or all of his five grown children who loved him and would have wanted to help?
- Why would Bruce decide to deprive both he and Nancy of seeing the grandchildren who they loved so dearly grow up?
- Why would Bruce knowingly take a drastic action that would devastate the children and grandchildren who loved him so much?
- Why would Bruce, who was so highly supportive of Nancy’s efforts for decades, including her CPS/DFCS work, decide to kill her just at the peak of one of her most important works?
- Why would Bruce commit such an act that was so against his faith and completely out of character for him according to those who know him best?
- Why would Bruce jeopardize any chance of the family collecting life insurance benefits by committing suicide and killing his wife?