Melvin Henry Ignatow was born on March 26, 1938, in Pennsylvania, U.S. He later moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked in business. In 1986, he began dating Brenda Sue Schaefer, a doctor's assistant. By 1988, Schaefer had confided in friends and family that Ignatow was abusive and that she intended to end the relationship. Ignatow, aware of her intentions, conspired with his former girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore, to murder Schaefer. They meticulously planned the crime, including "scream testing" Shore's house and digging a grave in the woods behind it.

On September 24, 1988, Brenda Sue Schaefer met Ignatow to return some jewelry. Instead, he took her to Shore's house, where he pulled a gun on her, tied her to a glass coffee table, and subjected her to rape and torture. Shore took photographs during the assault. Ignatow then killed Schaefer using chloroform. They buried her body in a shallow grave behind Shore's house.

After Schaefer's disappearance, Ignatow was the primary suspect. However, due to a lack of physical evidence, he was not immediately charged. In 1991, he was tried for her murder, but the jury acquitted him, partly due to misinterpretations of recorded conversations and doubts about Shore's credibility.

Six months after the acquittal, new evidence surfaced when the new owners of Ignatow's former home discovered a hidden vent containing Schaefer's jewelry and undeveloped film showing Ignatow torturing her. Although he couldn't be retried for murder due to double jeopardy laws, Ignatow was charged with perjury for lying under oath during the investigation. He confessed to the murder during his perjury trial and was sentenced to eight years and one month in federal prison.

In 1997, Ignatow faced additional state perjury charges for false testimony in a separate case and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He was released in December 2006. On September 1, 2008, Ignatow was found dead in his apartment, having bled to death after an accidental fall onto a glass coffee table.