Kathleen Schaefer, a 33-year-old Houston police officer, was killed on August 18, 1982, during an undercover narcotics buy-bust in the 2400 block of West Bay Area Boulevard. Working in plain clothes, she drew her service weapon to protect a fellow undercover officer inside a vehicle. A uniformed officer, not realizing she was a fellow officer, perceived a threat and fired one shot that struck her in the chest. She died of her wounds at 8:10 p.m.

Schaefer had been with the Houston Police Department three years and was active in her church community. She was married to Lieutenant Lyndon Schaefer and was the mother of an 11-year-old daughter, Theresa, and a 10-year-old son, Lyndon. Funeral services were held at Holy Family Catholic Church in Missouri City, followed by burial at Brookside Memorial Park in Houston. The shooting was ruled accidental and no arrests were made.

The case highlights a fatal breakdown in identification and communication during a covert operation. Does anyone have information about that buy-bust or recall how undercover officers were identified in Houston in 1982?