The Dateline episode “The Music Box” investigates the 1992 kidnapping, rape and murder of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert. The middle school teacher’s assistant of Agawam, Massachusetts was working at a card and gift shop when she was assaulted and abducted. Ziegert went missing for four days before her body was found in the woods just four miles away.
Ziegert’s murder went unsolved for more than 25 years. As Agawam Detective Lt. Robert D. Campbell said of the murderer, one year after the slaying, “This is someone who has blended right back into society. It’s like a chameleon.”
In 2017, investigators were provided with incriminating evidence against suspect Gary Schara. His girlfriend had given the police a written confession (which was left with a last will and testament and a letter of apology to the Ziegert family). Schara’s DNA matched the crime scene.
After Ziegert’s murder, Schara worked at local restaurants including The Hofbrauhaus in West Springfield (less than 5 miles away from Agawam). When Schara was arrested in 2017, the owner of the German restaurant said: “In my wildest dreams I never would have guessed.” He described Schara: “This guy is like Ted Bundy. He was a good-looking kid, reasonably good personality.”
In September 2019, Schara pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Schara’s lawyer read the letter he addressed to the Ziegert family, which said, “I hate what happened, I despised myself” and that he had “regretted” the murder “every day since.”
Schara will spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole. Dateline airs Fridays at 9 pm on NBC.[BONUS: Stream any NBC show watch LIVE on any device with NBC UNIVERSAL app available here. Download is FREE.]
