Gary Schara admits to 1992 murder of Lisa Ziegert, sentenced to life in prison

Oct. 1, 2019 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

Lisa Ziegert was murdered in 1992 after she was abducted from a card shop in Agawam. Gary Schara was arrested for the murder more than two decades later and recently pleaded guilty to killing the young girl.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

AGAWAM – More than 20 years after her tragic death, the murderer of Agawam school teacher, Lisa Ziegert, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Lisa was abducted from her night job at a card shop in Agawam on the night of April 15, 1992, and four days later on April 19, her body was found in a wooded area not far from where she was taken. While her death was ruled a homicide, her murder remained unsolved for more than 25 years with no suspects or leads.

However, according to Hampden County District Attorney Communications Director, Jim Leydon, investigators went back to the list of more than 300 persons of interest that had been developed throughout the years. From there, District Attorney Anthony Gulluni petitioned the Hampden County Superior Court to get DNA from a list of suspects that had never given a DNA sample before.

Among those who had never given a sample was 50-year-old Gary Schara of West Springfield. Leydon said when Massachusetts state troopers went to Schara’s home on Sept. 13, 2017, Schara was not home. The next day, Schara’s girlfriend went to the Westfield State Police Barracks notifying troopers that Schara had left several notes for her in which he admitted to Lisa’s murder and apologized to the Ziegert family for taking their daughter and sibling. From there, Schara was arrested and indicted by a Hampden County Superior Grand Jury on Dec. 8, 2017 for first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape.

Initially Schara had entered a plea of not-guilty, but on Sept. 25, 2019 in court, he changed his plea to guilty. He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the charge of murder in first degree pursuant to the theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty for Lisa’s murder. The charges of kidnapping and rape, however, according to Leydon, were “subject to nolle prosequi motions” because Schara’s arrest took place long after the statutes of limitations.

Prior to Schara’s sentencing, Lisa’s mother, brother, and sister gave public statements in court testifying to the impact her murder had on their lives. Lisa’s mother, Diane, who was the first to speak also provided a book of photos for the judge to look at and spoke about how their “lives changed forever and will never be the same.”

“At each wedding there was a bouquet for her, we brought them for her at the cemetery. I hated that she couldn’t be there, and her life was taken from her,” she said. “Every happy occasion has a tinge of sadness. She is gone. I’ll never hold her, talk with her, laugh with her, or share important occasions with her.”

She said she thought Schara never being able to get parole was “very fair when you consider that in this case, Gary Schara has already had his parole. He walked free for 25-years.”

Diane also read a letter from Lisa’s father, George, which read in part, “Today Lisa got the justice she deserved. Emotional closure will never be achieved, every family function will always be one short, every get together with friends will be one short.”

Lisa’s brother, David, and her sister, Lynn, also spoke, saying their they had been robbed of time and momentous life occasions with their sister. “Lisa is not the only victim,” David said.

Schara’s layer read from the letter he had addressed to the Ziegert family prior to his arrest in 2017. In the letter he said, “I hate what happened, I despised myself” and that he had “regretted” Lisa’s murder “every day since.”

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