Gary Schara was arrested on September 16, 2017 after authorities received a warrant for his arrest. He was located by investigators at a medical facility in the State of Connecticut.
He was subsequently returned to Massachusetts and arraigned in Westfield District Court on charges Murder, Aggravated Rape, and Aggravated Kidnapping.
Once indicted and arraigned, Schara’s case will proceed in the Hampden Superior Court.
For the last 25 years, a joint investigation into the disappearance and murder of Lisa has been conducted by the Agawam Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office, Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory, and FBI.
On April 15, 1992, twenty-four year old Lisa Ziegert, who taught at a local middle school, was abducted during the early evening hours while working at her second job at a card shop in Agawam.
She was reported missing to police the next morning, on April 16, 1992, by the store’s day clerk who arrived to find the store open, with its lights on, and Lisa’s car parked where it had been sighted the previous evening.
The money in the store’s register and Lisa’s personal property, including her purse and school materials, were recovered from the card shop by police and appeared undisturbed.
The arraignment is set for Hampden Superior Court Thursday.