Before they killed the 17-year-old, the young guys had already dug the hole in the California woods where they planned to bury her.
Daniel Bezemer, 18, was jealous of his girlfriend, Justine Vanderschoot, 17, and he and his best buddy, Brandon Fernandez, 21, planned to kill her, according to Placer County prosecutors.
On Labor Day 2003, the high school couple left Justine’s home after a family meal and met Fernandez.
Then, Bezemer strangled Justine and placed her body in Fernandez’s car. They drove to the woods, stripped Justine naked, poured what authorities believe was methanol on her, and buried her, according to Deputy District Attorney Timothy Weerts.
Bezemer and Fernandez later told police that Justine had made noises and moved in the grave, according to Weerts.
“She had dirt in her esophagus and lungs,” her mother, Lynnette Vanderschoot, said during a parole hearing in 2017. “So she was gasping for air when they buried her.”
A pathologist later stated that the evidence supported her being buried alive, though it is also possible that she breathed in dirt before burial.
At first, Justine and Bezemer’s relationship appeared to be typical of high school romances: he would come over during her hours to eat supper with her family.
However, prosecutors claim there was a deep-seated jealousy that ran like a frigid current through their young relationship. Prosecutors claim that after Daniel Bezemer “turned jealous,” their relationship became “defined” by his “jealousy and control.”
At 11 p.m. on Labor Day, Placer County Sheriff’s investigators, followed by a chaplain, knocked on the Vanderschoots’ door.
“Your daughter’s not coming home,” the parents recall them saying.
Prosecutors say Bezemer and Fernandez eventually admitted to killing Justine.
Bezemer was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 and sentenced to 25 to life in prison. Bezemer, now 40, received a parole consultation in August 2020, followed by a hearing nearly two years later, according to his records. The Valley State jail inmate’s request was denied in both 2022 and 2023, and another hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 2028.
Fernandez received a 15-year to life sentence after being found guilty of second-degree murder. Fernandez, 42, was initially eligible for parole in 2017 and again in 2022, according to his jail records. He was refused both times and has a possible third parole suitability hearing scheduled for July 2027.
Fernandez has also petitioned the court for resentencing in an attempt to be released from San Quentin State Prison early, citing a California statute that entered into effect in 2019 that reduces a murder accomplice’s legal obligation.
“We ask, what kind of message are we sending to our young women – that someone can plan, scheme and execute a horrific murder against a teenage girl and be eligible for legal relief?” Justine’s family issued a statement after his appeal was denied, labeling the reform bill “misguided.”
In denying his petition earlier this year, the Placer County Superior Court judge noted that for decades, both men fabricated events related to Justine’s meticulously planned murder: Bezemer had helped dig Justine’s grave in advance, knew its location, and soon after changed the tires on the vehicle used to drive her to her burial.
Recently, Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire stated that Justine’s family had “turned their pain into purpose” when they collaborated with prosecutors to write state legislation that was adopted by the governor last year to provide teen dating violence education in California public schools.
“By teaching our youth healthy boundaries and the early signs of teen dating violence, we hope to prevent future victims and aggressors,” according to Gire.