- Justine Vanderschoot vanished in September 2003 after dinner with family and boyfriend, Danny Bezemer
- Danny and his friend Brandon Fernandez were eventually exposed, with Brandon confessing that Danny had strangled Justine and the pair buried her alive
- Both men pleaded guilty to murder in 2005 and were sentenced to life with the possibility of parole
‘Justine, we love you… Please call and let us know you’re okay,’ Lynette Vanderschoot said in her plea on TV.
It was September 2003 and Lynette’s daughter, Justine, 17, was missing.
She’d vanished hours after enjoying dinner with family and her boyfriend, Daniel, at her home.
Justine and Danny Bezemer, then 18, were high school sweethearts.
Danny quickly became a fixture at the Vanderschoot house, securing his first proper job at a car dealership with the help of Justine’s dad Don.
Justine had dreams of pursuing a career in fashion and beauty.
But then she disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night.
Her car was also missing from the driveway, but she’d left behind her wallet.
With calls to their daughter going unanswered, the Vanderschoots sprang into action – sharing missing person posters, wearing T-shirts printed with her photo, and issuing appeals.
Danny, who’d gone home after dinner, was distraught too as he appeared on the local news.
‘Two-and-a-half years of my life have been devoted to that girl.
And now that part of my life is gone,’ he said sombrely, holding a photo of Justine.
But despite his apparent anguish, suspicions around Danny were growing.
Friends said Danny was controlling and jealous.
He monitored Justine’s calls and was convinced she was cheating on him.
It was true that Justine was ready to spread her wings, but she’d been worried about ending things with Danny.
‘I don’t know if I break up with him… if he’ll ever really let me go,’ she once told Lindsey Morris, the girlfriend of Danny’s housemate Brandon Fernandez.
Brandon was a thorn in Justine’s side too.
She thought the 21-year-old was a bad apple, and she’d previously urged Danny to ditch him.
They’d lost touch for a while, but reconnected in late 2002.
In the days before her disappearance, Justine was at a turning point – and Brandon’s girlfriend was too.
They both agreed they were going to ditch their blokes and start anew.
But Justine’s wish would never come true.
Shortly after she vanished on September 1, 2003, her car was found not far from her family home.
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Then, on September 17, the FBI brought Brandon in for questioning.
He said he and Danny had been home alone together when Justine went missing.
But police had more information than they were letting on.
Brandon’s cousin Clayton Cole had tipped them off that he and a friend had been at Danny and Brandon’s place that night, and had seen the duo go out.
They also had a secret recording of a call between Brandon and Clayton, during which he told his cousin to lie to the police.
Back in the interview room, the police told Brandon what they knew.
Then they asked him a question that would unmask a murderer.
‘Have you ever seen anyone die?’
Brandon went white, admitting Justine was dead.
He said that a jealous Danny had planned the killing, but that he had been unwittingly entangled in the crime, after agreeing to meet up with Danny and Justine around midnight.
He claimed Danny instructed him to drive the trio to a remote location, where Brandon parked the car and walked off, giving the couple space to talk.
When Brandon heard a scream, he claimed he hurried back to find Danny had strangled Justine in a jealous rage.
‘He looked at me, he just was psycho.
His eyes were just bulging out and he was laughing…’ Brandon told police.
He said he and Danny removed Justine’s clothes and put her in a grave they dug that night.
After more than four hours of questioning, Brandon took detectives to the crime scene.
There, they found Justine’s body buried beneath an old mattress in a clearing among trees.
She’d breathed in a black tarry substance and ingested dirt before she died, proof she’d been buried alive.
It was a horrible end for the bright vivacious teen…
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Brandon Fernandez and Danny Bezemer were arrested and charged with Justine’s murder.
But while Danny admitted he had started to strangle Justine he said he’d stopped when she told him she loved him.
He claimed Brandon encouraged him to finish the job.
Danny also admitted to pouring methanol over Justine’s body, but claimed that Brandon had poured the liquid down her throat.
To this day, police believe the truth lies somewhere in between.
But one chilling detail is known – the grave where Justine’s body was buried was pre-dug before her death over several days.
In 2005, Daniel Bezemer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of 25 years to life.
Brandon Fernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received 15 years to life.
The pain for Justine’s family continued.
They’ve been back to court numerous times as both killers sought parole, and Fernandez attempted to get out of his murder conviction.
His petition for resentencing was denied in August 2024, but the decision was later reversed by a different court and a new hearing is pending.
For now, Justine’s family is determined to stop others enduring the same pain, raising awareness of teen dating violence, and educating students at high schools in California where they live.
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