Rider and Schafer

Five Days at Memorial

The partnership between Rider and Schafer develops through shared investigation, private grief, and an eventual difference in how they process defeat.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Working Partnership A Working Partnership from "Five Days at Memorial". A Working Partnership Complementary Skills Virginia Rider and Butch Schafer began working together on the hospital deaths.

A Working Partnership from "Five Days at Memorial". A Working Partnership Complementary Skills Virginia Rider and Butch Schafer began working together on the hospital deaths.

A Working Partnership Complementary Skills Virginia Rider and Butch Schafer began working together on the hospital deaths. Rider followed evidence methodically, while Schafer brought decades of prosecutorial experience. A Shared Case They treated the investigation as a joint undertaking rather than a division between investigator and prosecutor. Their conversations and daily work built unusual trust.

A Case That Consumes Them A Case That Consumes Them from "Five Days at Memorial". A Case That Consumes Them Long Days Rider and Schafer spent months reviewing records, interviewing witnesses, and returning to damaged Memorial.

A Case That Consumes Them from "Five Days at Memorial". A Case That Consumes Them Long Days Rider and Schafer spent months reviewing records, interviewing witnesses, and returning to damaged Memorial.

A Case That Consumes Them Long Days Rider and Schafer spent months reviewing records, interviewing witnesses, and returning to damaged Memorial. Their partnership became the place where each could discuss the entire case. Personal Grief Schafer was mourning his daughter while conducting interviews with bereaved families. The work sharpened his empathy but also forced him to guard against allowing grief to dictate the case.

A Warning Against Attachment A Warning Against Attachment from "Five Days at Memorial". A Warning Against Attachment Schafer’s Advice Schafer warned Rider not to become emotionally involved.

A Warning Against Attachment from "Five Days at Memorial". A Warning Against Attachment Schafer’s Advice Schafer warned Rider not to become emotionally involved.

A Warning Against Attachment Schafer’s Advice Schafer warned Rider not to become emotionally involved. He knew that promising cases could fail and that legal outcomes rarely followed a neat moral narrative. Rider’s Conviction Rider continued to believe that a complete investigation could bring truth into public view. The warning became poignant as the case began encountering political and institutional resistance.

The No-Bill The No-Bill from "Five Days at Memorial". The No-Bill Two Responses The grand jury’s refusal to indict devastated Rider.

The No-Bill Two Responses The grand jury’s refusal to indict devastated Rider. Schafer understood her disappointment but adopted a more resigned view of the case’s outcome. Friendship Under Strain Their different reactions did not erase their mutual respect. Rider’s departure from the unit changed a partnership that had become central to both their professional lives.

Work and Loss Work and Loss from "Five Days at Memorial". Work and Loss Rider Leaves Rider pursued other work after losing faith in the investigation’s direction.

Work and Loss from "Five Days at Memorial". Work and Loss Rider Leaves Rider pursued other work after losing faith in the investigation’s direction.

Work and Loss Rider Leaves Rider pursued other work after losing faith in the investigation’s direction. She carried the case into her own thinking about advance directives and patient autonomy. Schafer Remains Schafer accepted that prosecution does not guarantee conviction. He continued to believe the investigation had been conducted honestly and that the victims’ stories mattered even without a trial.

September 2005

Late 2005

October 2005

July 24, 2007

After the grand jury decision