David Caruso's stalker's stalker says that David Caruso's stalker is about to strike

I'll be honest with you -- I think I may regret posting anything about the whole David Caruso stalker business. It should probably be left up to the FBI, the Austrian Police and the U.S. Border Patrol. But I can't help it. The story is undeniably fascinating, especially to someone like me who followed the whole David Letterman-Margaret Ray business back in the 1990s.

Also, I must say I feel sorry for the poor woman who has apparently become unhinged and issued death threats to Caruso. I hope she gets some help. What she's alleged to have done is an extreme instance of something we all do to some degree whenever we substitute "online community" for our own immediate community, or grow obsessed with a TV show or video game. Obviously, most of us remember to keep at least one foot in the real world, but not always - trust me, I get cards and letters from such folks, though none has dared to go as far as the Austrian woman in question.

Also, the stalker has a stalker. Maybe that's a bit harsh. An Internet vigilante seeking to bring a criminal on the lam to justice? Well, that's her self-description, and when I challenged her, this woman sent me a reply that was sufficiently compelling that I posted it below. Decide for yourself.

First, though, here's what we know. An April story from Austria Today read as follows:

A 41-year-old Austrian woman went on trial in Innsbruck Wednesday accused of stalking ´CSI: Miami´ star David Caruso and allegedly threatening to kill him. Prosecutors allege the woman sent more than 100 letters to Caruso and pursued the American actor for an autograph. After the star refused to provided her one, she wrote letters threatening to kill him and his co-stars. ... She was arrested after a joint investigation by the FBI and Austria´s Federal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Since then, the defendent disappeared, and not even her family knows where she is. ... It is unclear why the woman, whom her attorney has yet to meet, would become a stalker and write someone death threats. She has a family and was successful with her work. A psychiatrist for the court says that she is probably suffering from a personality disorder and it should be investigated as it is possible that she could become dangerous.

The mental-illness angle, of course, brings back memories of "Mrs. Letterman," whose post mortem in the New York Times is one of the saddest stories I've ever read while on this beat.

A couple of days ago, I got an email from a Sara Kanne alerting me to her blog which itself had an alert that Caruso's stalker may be living just south of the border in Tijuana and that she was preparing to strike her prey via an incredibly brazen manuever that was ... well ... worthy of an episode of "CSI: Miami."

After some searching, I discovered that Sara does media blitzes from time to time in an effort to bring some added publicity to her cause. For instance, in July the stalker case was publicized by Defamer and CSI Fanatic. So now, I guess, it was my turn.

I may be enabling a wild-eyed blogger, or I may be helping to catch a predator. I don't really know. But I did send Sara an email asking her why she cared so much about this case. Her reply, in full:

One word, Justice. Conan O'Brien, Dave Letterman, Jodie Foster and other high profile actors have been stalked and threatened over the years. For some reason, probably as a result of the NYPD Blue debacle 15 years ago, Caruso gets stalked and no one seems to care. In Caruso's case though, three people have been threatened with death: Caruso, his grown daughter Greta and Liza, the mother of his two young children.

Schnitzer is sitting south of our border hoping that no one will care enough to publicize it. Last summer when Schnitzer fled the first time, the FBI located her in Mexico and sent her packing back to Austria. That story appeared in the Nov. 2007 National Enquirer and in Austrian publications. It wasn't until this spring though, when the Austrians allowed her to slip their borders once again, that the AP picked it up.

Now 4 months later, not a word has been mentioned. It's almost like the story has disappeared. Schnitzer herself has even bragged on a French website that she's been in Chula Vista and San Diego. My traffic stats show that not to be the case. She also brags frequently about not being caught.

Caruso and his family face a potential tragedy if this woman manages to cross into California and hunt them down. Schnitzer has abandoned a young daughter, a job and her country to stalk David Caruso. Sounds like someone whose threats ought to be taken seriously, wouldn't you agree?

Caruso doesn't deserve this, no one does.