through the woodland in the direction towards the highway approximately forty-five minutes earlier, and that her friend was already at the police station. Initial arrest Trotter was driven to the station, where she and Wells recounted their ordeal to Crowder. Both girls stated they had managed to escape from their bindings by gingerly writhing against their restraints and loosening their gags with their teeth as they maintained their balance upon the exposed tree roots; each stated the process of freeing themselves had taken considerable time, and that they had been acutely aware that, had they slipped, they would have hanged. Both girls provided a detailed description of their assailant and his vehicle, before formally identifying Schaefer as the individual responsible for their ordeal. Although Schaefer repeated his insistence that he had simply overreacted in his efforts to demonstrate the dangers of hitchhiking to the two young women, his story was not believed; he was dismissed from the force and placed under arrest, with Crowder instructing his officers to file charges of false imprisonment and aggravated assault against him. Bail Approximately two weeks after his arrest, Schaefer posted a $15,000 bail, thus meaning he remained at liberty prior to his scheduled November 1972 trial. He returned to the house he and his second wife rented in Stuart; his wife and in-laws noted no change in his demeanor—believing his claim to have simply been "trying to teach [the hitchhikers] a lesson". As Schaefer awaited trial, he obtained menial employment at Kwik Chek. Murders Place and Jessup On September 27, 1972, Schaefer abducted two teenage friends named Susan Carol Place (17) and Georgia Marie Jessup (16). The two had encountered Schaefer while all three attended an adult education center in Fort Lauderdale. Schaefer introduced himself to the girls as "Jerry Shepherd", claiming to hail from Colorado and stating that he intended to return there following a trip to Mexico; he likely feigned interest in Jessup's fascination with the concept of reincarnation and ESP in addition to Place's love of music in order to ingratiate himself with both girls and gain their trust. On the afternoon of their disappearance, Place's mother, Lucille, arrived home to find her daughter "straightening her room" as Jessup sat upon a chair in the bedroom; both introduced Lucille to a man in his 20s whom they referred to as "Jerry". Place initially informed her mother that she, Jessup and