Justine Vanderschoot: The Murder, the Killers, and Justine’s Law

Justine Vanderschoot was a 17-year-old from the Applegate area of Placer County, California, who was murdered on Labor Day 2003 by her 18-year-old boyfriend, Daniel Bezemer, and his 21-year-old roommate, Brandon Fernandez. Forensic evidence indicated she was buried alive in a shallow grave the two men had dug days in advance in the wooded hills above Applegate. Both pleaded guilty in 2005, both remain in California prisons, and both have been denied parole at every hearing. The case also inspired a 2023 California law on teen dating violence prevention.

What Happened on Labor Day 2003

On the night of September 1, 2003, Justine left her family’s home after dinner with Bezemer and met up with Fernandez. The two men had spent days beforehand digging a grave in a remote wooded area near Applegate. They drove her to the site, and Bezemer strangled her. During a later FBI interview, Fernandez said he heard Justine take what he called a “really screwed up breath” after the strangulation, indicating she was still alive.¹

The two men stripped her, placed her in the grave, and poured a liquid over her body. Bezemer told investigators it was drain cleaner; the autopsy identified the substance as methanol.² They then covered the grave with dirt and an old mattress. A pathologist later found dirt in Justine’s lungs, esophagus, and stomach, and both men admitted she had moved and made noises while in the grave. The pathological findings were consistent with her being buried alive, and her cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence.”¹

How the Killers Were Caught

Bezemer reported Justine missing on September 2, pretending he could not find her. Her truck turned up the next day at a park-and-ride lot, but her purse and identification were still at home, and investigators suspected foul play.³

The break came on September 17, when detectives recorded a phone call in which Fernandez urged his cousin Clayton Cole to lie to police about having seen the suspects leave their apartment the night Justine died. FBI Agent Jeff Rinek played the recording back to Fernandez during questioning, and Fernandez confessed to knowing where the body was buried. He led investigators through rugged terrain in the dark to the grave site above Applegate.¹

At the scene, investigators recovered a piece of Justine’s jewelry and a taser. The next day, Bezemer sat through a six-hour interrogation and admitted strangling her, though he called Fernandez the “mastermind.” Prosecutors later established that both men had planned the killing: Fernandez supplied tools from his parents’ home to dig the grave, changed the tires on the vehicle used to transport Justine shortly after the crime, and pieces of a recording device found at his workplace had been used to tap her phone.¹

The Guilty Pleas and Sentences

In 2005, both men entered guilty pleas. Daniel Bezemer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in a deal that took the death penalty off the table and was sentenced to 25 years to life.⁴ Brandon Fernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received 15 years to life.²

Where Bezemer and Fernandez Are Now

Both men remain incarcerated. Bezemer is at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla.⁵ Fernandez is at San Quentin State Prison.⁶

Fernandez first came up for parole on September 1, 2017, and was denied. A public petition opposing his release drew more than 22,000 signatures.⁷ At his second hearing on July 28, 2022, after four hours of testimony that included statements from Justine’s family, the parole board denied him for five years.⁸ His next hearing is tentatively scheduled for July 2027.⁶

Bezemer’s parole history has been more turbulent. His first hearing on August 10, 2022, ended in a three-year denial, but that hearing was later vacated because of a recording-device failure. A replacement hearing on March 23, 2023, ran six hours and produced a five-year denial.⁹ That should have pushed his next hearing to 2028. Instead, California regulations let him file a handwritten petition requesting an advanced hearing, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation granted it, moving the date up by roughly two and a half years to December 18, 2025.¹⁰ The board denied him again, this time for three years, citing the brutality and premeditation of the crime, the harm to the family, and concerns about his insight and institutional behavior. Under California law, he may petition for another advanced hearing as early as December 2026.¹¹

Fernandez’s Failed Resentencing Bid

California’s Senate Bill 1437, passed in 2018, allows some people convicted of murder to petition for resentencing if they did not personally kill the victim or act with intent to kill. Fernandez filed such a petition, seeking to have his conviction overturned or reduced to accessory after the fact. The Placer County Superior Court initially denied it, but a statewide ruling in December 2023 required a new evidentiary hearing.³

At the hearing in May 2024, Bezemer testified that he and Fernandez were “two pillars” in the murder plot. Prosecutors pointed to Fernandez’s role in digging the grave beforehand, changing the vehicle’s tires immediately after the killing, and lying to investigators. On August 1, 2024, Judge Michael W. Jones denied the motion, ruling that the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Fernandez knew about and participated in the murder plan, acted with intent to kill, and showed a “reckless indifference to human life.” The judge also noted that Fernandez’s ability to navigate rugged terrain in the dark to lead investigators to the body demonstrated his direct involvement in the burial.¹²¹³

Justine’s Law and the Family’s Ongoing Advocacy

In 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1071, known as Justine’s Law. Authored by Assemblyman Joshua Hoover and sponsored by the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, the law was inspired by the Vanderschoot family’s story and requires the development of a statewide teen dating violence prevention resource portal for participating local school districts.¹⁴

Justine’s family has been a persistent public presence at every stage of the post-conviction process. Her mother, Lynette Vanderschoot, has said repeated parole hearings force the family to “relive the nightmare.”¹⁰ After the December 2025 denial, her father, Don Vanderschoot, said the family feels “like an afterthought in a system that was supposed to protect victims” and that “no family should be repeatedly pulled back into their trauma because prior parole decisions were ignored.”¹¹

District Attorney Morgan Gire’s office runs a “Justice for Justine” initiative that includes a public petition, instructions for writing to CDCR to oppose parole, and a dedicated victim advocate on the case. Gire has called the murder “callous, calculated, and cruel” and described Bezemer’s conduct as “a frighteningly sophisticated level of deceit and depravity.”¹⁵ After the December 2025 hearing, Gire called the post-conviction system “broken” and outlined reform goals for 2026, including a comprehensive audit of the CDCR, increased oversight of early-release mechanisms, and a ban on administrative regulations that effectively circumvent parole board denial periods. The office has also proposed legislation requiring standardized public explanations of how sentence credits are calculated, stronger victim notification when release dates shift, and a formal mechanism for district attorneys to review early-release decisions in serious cases.¹⁶

1
CBS News. Justine Vanderschoot Murder, California
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People. Justine Vanderschoot Killing
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Placer County. Vanderschoot Case Timeline
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Sacramento Bee. Bezemer Parole Denied
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Gold Mountain CA News. Release Denied, Sentence Upheld for Fernandez
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CBS News Sacramento. Daniel Bezemer Parole Denied
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Placer County. Justine Vanderschoot Forever Remembered
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Placer County. Justine Vanderschoot’s Murderer Brandon Fernandez Denied Parole
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Placer County. Justine Vanderschoot’s Murderer Denied Parole
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CBS News Sacramento. Parole Hearing for Justine Vanderschoot’s Convicted Killer
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KOLO-TV. Convicted Killer Denied Parole 3rd Time in 3 Years
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Placer County. Placer County Judge Denies Release for Justine Vanderschoot’s Murderer
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CBS News Sacramento. Judge Denies Brandon Fernandez Resentencing
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Placer County. Justice for Justine
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Placer County. Justine Vanderschoot’s Murderer Daniel Bezemer Denied Parole
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Placer County. Audit the CDCR