Lauderdale on September 11 that year. According to Schaefer, his second marriage was more harmonious than his first. His second wife willingly acquiesced to his frequent demands for sex, and also shared his passion for fishing in locations such as the Florida Keys. Schaefer's tenure with the Wilton Manors police lasted only six months. Although he earned commendation from his superiors on one occasion relating to his conduct during a March 1972 police raid on a drug house, his general performance was considered poor. He was dismissed from his position when his superiors discovered his habit of stopping cars driven by female motorists who had committed minor traffic infractions, then entering their license plate numbers into a database to obtain further personal details about them before contacting them to request dates. Shortly before this dismissal, Schaefer had begun searching for a better-paying law enforcement position elsewhere. He began his service as a deputy with the Martin County sheriff's department on June 23, 1972, having forged a letter of recommendation from Wilton Manors endorsing his application. A standard background check revealed he had no criminal record. Abductions On the afternoon of July 21, 1972, Schaefer encountered two teenage hitchhikers named Nancy Ellen Trotter (18) and Paula Sue Wells (17) while on official police duty; he drove the pair to their intended destination of Stuart, although he cautioned the girls against the perils of hitchhiking. Upon learning neither girl was native to Florida, and that the two intended to travel to Jensen Beach the following day, Schaefer proposed to drive them to the location. The girls accepted his offer, and agreed to meet him at a bandstand on East Ocean Boulevard at 9:15a.m. The following morning, Schaefer arrived at the bandstand at the prearranged time. On this occasion, he was not wearing his uniform and driving his own vehicle, although he convinced Trotter and Wells he was still on duty, having been switched to plain clothed, undercover duties and thus driving an unmarked vehicle. Shortly after the girls entered the vehicle, Shaefer deviated from their intended route on the pretext of showing the girls an "old Spanish fort" near Hutchinson Island. En route, he again briefly lectured the girls against accepting lifts from random strangers and the dangers of being "sold into white slavery" before stopping the vehicle close to a dilapidated shed deep inside a remote forest, where he handcuffed and