Show full transcript 1:09 was just a puddle of blood this is a horrific way that he died you're not 1:14 to blame for any of this yeah that's a horrible incident that has happened to you 1:18 in your family. 1:19 Did you have any suspects? 1:21 It's always nearest and dearest. 1:23 Ben had quite the crumble history. 1:25 I'm really nervous by talking to you guys. 1:28 There was DNA there that brought our attention to Leo. 1:33 I'd be a f***ing frame. 1:35 Somehow I'd be a frame. 1:37 A story broke that totally stunned me. 1:40 There was a very big secret that your dad had. 1:43 Yes, he never talked to me about it. 1:45 As they say, follow the money. 1:47 Everything kind of started lining up. 1:49 It's like all the bells went off. 1:53 That is it. 1:56 Talk about karma. 1:58 A story of secrets. Suspects had them. 2:01 Loved ones had them. 2:02 And the victim, he had a whopper. 2:05 I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. 2:17 Here is Blaine Alexander with The Death of Dr. Schwartz. 2:21 It took love and dreams and lots of money to create the sprawling home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. 2:35 A place to celebrate, to relax, think about the future. 2:40 I would imagine with your dad obviously having a house on the water. 2:43 Was water special to him? He loved water? 2:44 Yes, yeah. This was sort of his dream of a retirement home. 2:50 That is until one night when his father's wife came home from a dinner party 2:55 and everything changed. 2:58 It was May 28th, 2014. 3:01 Farbets, please, can I help you? 3:03 Hi, my name's Rebecca Schwarz. 3:05 Somebody, I just walked into my house 3:07 and somebody robbed my house. 3:11 Her bedroom was a mess, drawers pulled out, 3:14 watchboxes all over the floor. 3:16 My husband's watches are gone, my drawer is gone, 3:19 our cash is gone. 3:21 Okay, can you go back outside for me? 3:23 Yes, sir. 3:24 Okay, I'm gonna stay on the phone with you. Okay, when were you in the house last I left about 830 this morning, okay? 3:32 and 3:33 My husband was still in that green paper, but I haven't slept with him today. He's the position 3:38 So I don't I don't know where he is actually one of the hospitals. I assume. Okay. What color is your house? 3:43 Do you know what the outside? 3:46 Yeah, I will tell you this it's probably the biggest house in carpet 3:50 She wasn't kidding. The home was nearly 8,000 square feet, with a tennis court, a pool, and its own dock. 3:59 I cannot believe this. 4:00 Yeah, that's unfortunate. 4:02 This is crazy. 4:03 As the dispatch gave more and more information, it piqued my curiosity. 4:09 Sergeant Scott Brocky arrived a few minutes later. One look at the big house told him it would take more manpower to check all four stories. 4:18 So he called in the canine units. 4:21 I explained to them what we had. 4:22 And they said, yeah, no problem. 4:24 We'll go in. 4:25 But in less than a minute? 4:27 He had called to me both verbally and on the radio 4:30 to come inside. 4:31 He had one down. 4:32 What does that mean? 4:33 Well, unfortunately, it meant that they had 4:35 a deceased person inside the house. 4:39 Brock, you found the body at the bottom of a short flight 4:41 of stairs that led to the garage. 4:44 And that's where the victim's body was discovered. 4:47 was on the floor there. 4:49 It was pretty graphic. 4:50 Could you tell what had happened? 4:52 Well, on its face, 4:53 it didn't appear that this was an accident. 4:56 And it was one of the few times 4:58 that I actually felt like this is... 5:01 this is a little spooky. 5:03 There was something that just hit me that day, 5:05 the size of the house, 5:06 once we found the victim. 5:08 I'm like, this is really going off the rails here. 5:10 This is... 5:11 So far from what you expected. 5:13 Right. 5:13 And just like that, 5:15 the case had morphed from burglary to homicide. 5:19 Or maybe it was both. 5:21 More police arrived, including Detective John Diebel, 5:25 who headed straight for the victim. 5:26 As you looked at him, could you tell what had happened? 5:30 I could see that he had had a laceration across his neck, 5:35 a rather large one. 5:36 In fact, the victim was cut multiple times. 5:40 I'm noticing that there's laceration 5:42 on top of his head, small ones. 5:45 I looked at the back of his neck, 5:47 and I could see where he clearly had been shot 5:49 with a small caliber round. 5:52 You see a cut on his neck, cut on his head, 5:56 and gunshot? 5:57 Yeah. 5:58 There was a lot done to this man. 6:01 Did this look like something that had just happened? 6:04 No. 6:04 You could tell by the condition of the blood 6:06 that it was starting to dry. 6:07 Some of it had already dried. 6:09 So he had been there for most of the day. 6:11 The investigators found the victim's ID. 6:15 Rebecca's husband, Dr. Steven Schwartz, 6:17 wasn't working at some hospital. 6:20 He was the man lying dead at the bottom of those stairs. 6:24 Now they had to break the news to Rebecca. 6:27 And she had initially thought, 6:28 okay, this is a burglary and I just can't reach my husband. 6:31 Now she's being told he's dead inside. 6:33 Right. She put her face in her hands and just started to sob. 6:39 The next day at the police station, Rebecca was still distraught. 6:44 90% of the time, 90% of the time he leaves before me. 6:49 I've always, I mean, I'm usually the last one out. 6:53 He likes to get a tub on the hospital. 6:56 Then I'm out having dinner. 6:59 That makes me feel like a terrible wife. 7:01 I don't even know where my husband is. 7:03 That's not true. 7:05 You're not deploying for any of this situation. 7:07 This is a horrible incident that has happened to you and your family." 7:11 And at the autopsy, the medical examiner recovered portions of two 22-caliber slugs. 7:18 Armed with that information, the detective started to develop a theory about the final 7:23 moments of Stephen Schwartz's life. 7:26 So this is not the actual staircase where the crime happened or the same house, but 7:30 it gives us an idea of what happened that day. 7:32 Yes, yes. 7:33 Okay. 7:34 So walk me through what you believe happened. 7:35 I believe he was at the top of the stairs. 7:38 When he was shot in the back of the neck, 7:41 which would have caused him to fall down the stairs. 7:43 He had broken his vertebrae, so he was paralyzed from the waist 7:46 down. 7:47 He couldn't move. 7:48 That's when he was shot in the head, 7:50 but it was more of a surface wound. 7:53 He was still alive. 7:54 Yes, he was still alive. 7:56 Diba believes the doctor was awake and helpless 7:59 as the killer finished him off with that cut to the neck. 8:03 That would have accounted for all the blood 8:04 We could see. 8:06 It was a lot to take in, a cruel killing, a grieving widow. 8:11 You think you can find your dentist? 8:13 I don't think we can, yeah. 8:14 And as detectives would soon learn, 8:17 a case and a family with plenty of secrets. 8:21 The crime scene looked staged to make it look 8:23 like a burglary gone bad. 8:25 After he was murdered, a story broke in the papers 8:29 that totally stunned me. 8:31 I would have never, ever in my life 8:33 I thought I'd run into somebody 8:34 that could be this devastating to the family. 8:52 As forensic teams combed through the palatial home 8:55 of Rebecca and Stephen Schwartz, Dr. Schwartz's son, 8:58 Carter was half a world away. 9:00 He was heading back home from a trip to Asia, 9:03 well, sneaking back. 9:05 His father didn't know about the trip. 9:07 He was always pushing me to study more and travel less. 9:11 So I didn't tell him I was going. 9:13 Typical dad. 9:15 Carter is Stephen's son from a previous relationship. 9:18 He was 24 and had just applied to medical school, 9:22 ready to follow in his dad's footsteps. 9:25 He says his father was thrilled. 9:27 My dad said he would not only pay for med school, 9:30 would pay for every living expense, everything. 9:31 It would have been the happiest check he ever wrote in his life. 9:34 Carter was nervous as he awaited the acceptance letter, 9:38 but his dad never had a doubt. 9:40 And he's like, yeah, they're going to get your letter, 9:42 just call me when it happens. 9:44 He was in Taiwan when he got the good news. 9:47 And I got the acceptance, and I tried to call him. 9:49 He didn't answer. 9:50 So I catch the flight at the connecting airport. 9:53 He was Tokyo. 9:54 I tried to call him again. 9:55 No answer. 9:57 He finally arrived in the U.S. 9:59 and that's when his world fell apart. 10:02 And I remember landing, turning my phone on, 10:04 and my mother calling me, 10:05 bawling that my father had been shot. 10:08 Carter was stunned. 10:10 Stephen Schwartz was a good father 10:12 father and a great physician. For people who never had a chance to meet your dad, how would 10:18 you describe him? 10:19 I couldn't really have asked for a better father or a better mentor seeing how kind and 10:24 generous he was with his patients and how patient he was with nurses and just kind to 10:29 everybody he came into contact with. 10:32 Stephen Schwartz was an aphrologist, a kidney doctor with a thriving practice. He was 10:37 74 and had three kids, Carter and two other children, a son and a daughter, from a previous 10:43 marriage. 10:45 Tell me about your dad and his interests. 10:46 What did he love to do other than, of course, practicing medicine? 10:49 I mean, that was truly his love was medicine. 10:52 You know, he was very much into baseball. 10:54 He loved the Rays and always wanted to go to those games. 10:57 The Tampa Bay Rays. 10:59 He had season tickets. 11:00 You would have loved Dr. Schwartz. 11:03 Absolutely loved him. 11:04 Helen Como ran his dialysis center for years. 11:08 He had a good sense of humor, a big heart, very caring. 11:13 For example, if there was a patient or a family that was struggling financially, 11:19 he would help them out and he would always take his time with them, 11:24 not just from a physical standpoint, 11:26 but just to see how they're doing, what's going on. 11:30 But Dr. Schwartz also had a little bit of an edge. 11:33 He just had a way of making jokes about things and not only to me but with others 11:41 and one of his favorite expressions was what do you have for brains police 11:47 learned Steven met Rebecca in the late 90s she was divorced with two sons they 11:52 started dating and it wouldn't be long before Rebecca was working at the 11:56 clinic and then running it all together 14 years after they met they got 12:01 married. Family friends told detectives Rebecca catered to Stevens every need and it all seemed 12:09 to work. He had a helpmate at home and at the office. Not every couple can work together. It 12:16 sounds like they both just kind of found a lane where they excelled and were able to do that in 12:21 the practice. Yeah, for sure. You know, Dr. Schwartz wanted to concentrate on taking care 12:25 of his patients. Becky was financially motivated and she was all about you know 12:31 kind of making making decisions. Eventually this man Kyle Smithy took over 12:37 the clinic's day-to-day operations but Rebecca still helped out. What was her 12:41 working relationship life with Rebecca? We got along well we spent a good amount 12:46 of time together outside of the clinic as well. She would often invite Kyle to 12:51 to join her for drinks and dinner. 12:53 Just one of those fun people to be around 12:55 and so engaging and just kind of, 12:57 she had this real unique ability when talking to you 13:01 to really make you feel like seen and heard 13:04 and just an energy about her 13:06 that she wanted to, quite frankly, be around. 13:09 She was 20 years younger than her husband, 13:12 but Carter says his father had his own 13:14 kind of youthful energy. 13:16 He remembers reading a story about his dad 13:18 after he was gone. 13:19 The one that I think would have brought him joy was the article that said a 50-year-old 13:24 man was found dead. 13:25 I kind of laugh now thinking my 74-year-old father would have been loved, loved being described 13:30 as the 50-year-old man. 13:33 As detectives learned more about Stephen Schwartz, they had a hard time finding anyone 13:38 who had it out for him. 13:40 Dr. Schwartz couldn't find one person to say a bad word about him. 13:44 Just nothing but good things. 13:46 A good doctor cared about his patients, half the time he wouldn't even charge people. 13:51 A kindly doctor killed in the worst possible way. 13:55 Maybe his wife would help solve the mystery. 14:05 This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios' Whalefall, only in theaters October 14:11 16th. 14:12 Based on the acclaimed book by Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Krause, it tells the tale 14:17 of a diver fighting for his life after being swallowed by a whale. 14:21 Experience the ultimate survival story that's unlike any movie you've ever seen before. 14:26 Don't miss Whale Fall, only in theaters October 16th. 14:29 Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that the new customers who bundle and 14:34 save with Progressive save hundreds. 14:37 Because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on those iced 14:41 lattes you love. 14:42 Switch your home and auto to Progressive and see if you could save and keep sipping away. 14:47 Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, 14:52 Affiliates, and other insurers. Not available in all states. 14:56 This is the story of the one. As a shipping manager, he's running the dock, stocking supplies, 15:01 and making sure every order goes out on time. 15:04 And Granger helps him stay prepared. 15:06 From shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools, he counts on Granger to keep products moving 15:12 and trucks rolling, so his operation runs smoothly, no matter the shift. 15:17 Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. 15:34 The day after the murder, the crime scene offered investigators a wealth of information. 15:39 Stephen's exact time of death was difficult to pinpoint, but his clothes suggested 15:44 he was killed that morning. 15:46 He was dressed in a suit, 15:49 had a kind of a light yellow shirt on, but no tie. 15:53 Sounds like he looked like somebody who was going to work. 15:56 He was going to work. 15:58 While investigators continued to search 16:00 every inch of that house, 16:03 detectives were trying to find out what Rebecca knew. 16:07 No, I'm not. 16:08 Okay. 16:10 The questions I have for a couple of them 16:12 may be seem a little unnecessary or even invasive. 16:15 She talked about the good times with her late husband. 16:18 How long have you guys been married? 16:20 I actually got married in 2010, 16:22 but we've been together since 1996. 16:24 It took me a while. 16:27 And mentioned a past failed marriage. 16:29 I got birth. 16:30 We were married ten years, 16:31 and when that didn't work out, 16:33 it was kind of like, wow, you know. 16:35 But then Schwartz is awesome. 16:38 He's 20 years older than me, 16:40 but he kind of grounds me a best bud. 16:47 She was, for the most part, calm as she answered questions about her whereabouts that day. 16:58 Rebecca repeated what she said on her 911 call that when she left the house around 8.30, 17:04 Steven was still in bed, reading the paper. 17:07 She added he was scheduled to start his hospital rounds later that morning. 17:11 Her day started with errands. 17:14 I stopped at Publix. 17:17 She said she also went to the cleaners and the gas station before heading to work. 17:22 And she was able to provide receipts from every place where she went. 17:26 I probably left around six-ish. 17:29 After work, Rebecca hosted a birthday party for their good friend and handyman, 17:35 a guy named Leo Straw Guy. 17:36 I stopped at Total Wine and got birthday gifts, you know, for Leah. 17:44 She said she didn't really worry when her husband was a no-show at the party. 17:48 Did you just assume he got busy, got tied up? 17:50 If he's able to, he'll call me right then. 17:54 If he's with a patient or whatever the thing is, you know, if he's busy, you know, 18:00 on the phone, whatever it is, he kind of forgets about me and doesn't call me back. 18:06 And I mean it happens more times probably than not. 18:10 She seemed to be looking forward to the future and a long vacation they were planning. 18:16 We had a life planned out of what we were doing with the 6-month cruise around the world. 18:21 To make it a retire, I was like, keep saying, you know, you gotta retire. 18:28 We got it. 18:28 We got the stuff we gotta do. 18:30 The doctor certainly could have retired between his booming practice and 18:35 dozens of rental homes he owned. Stephen Schwartz was worth millions. So it was no 18:41 surprise he had an elaborate security system. Back at the house that was one 18:47 of the first things investigators noticed. Of course you can see the 18:50 surveillance cameras on all corners of the house. And you notice that 18:54 immediately? Absolutely. You're thinking optimistically like okay we should 18:59 a video that should help us kind of bring this to a close pretty quickly. 19:03 So you all start to search the house, looking for the footage. 19:07 What do you find? 19:08 Well, the DVR was missing. 19:12 The DVR that connected to the security system. 19:15 So no video at all. 19:18 A setback certainly, but also a clue because that video recording equipment was hidden 19:24 away in a small closet above the garage. 19:27 what does that tell you it's an inside job someone within the family known to the 19:33 family it's meant to the house before knew where that monitor knew where the DVR 19:37 was and knew their dogs Rebecca said they'd been closed inside the bedroom all 19:44 day the same bedroom where the burglary happened the supposed burglars went 19:49 into the room where the two very large dogs were and had no issues with these 19:53 dogs. One of them was a Brazilian mast of over 100 pounds. 19:57 I mean, these are not friendly dogs to people who don't know 20:00 them. And when Detective Dible looked around the bedroom, he 20:04 thought something else was off. There was several drawers in 20:09 the bedroom that are pulled out, but it didn't look like 20:12 anything had been gone through any stores. And the drawers 20:15 were pulled out evenly. And then the boxes, there's some 20:18 joy boxes, watch boxes laying in the floor of the master closet, and it just looked like 20:25 someone just dropped them. 20:26 The crime scene looked staged to make it look like a burglary gone bad. 20:31 The police told Rebecca their theory that the killer wasn't a stranger, but someone 20:36 who knew the family and the house quite well. 20:40 I'm saying someone that you know that that dog knows came in the house today. 20:45 They came in for a reason to possibly take some stuff and then something else happened. 20:51 You know what I'm saying? That's what we're trying to find out here today. 20:55 You think you can find your dentist? 20:57 I don't think we can, yeah. 20:59 Investigators were looking for someone close to the family and someone who had spent a lot 21:05 of time at the house. It sounds like his fingerprints are literally all over the crime scene. 21:09 right. 21:23 Detectives were just a few days into the murder investigation of Dr. Stephen Schwartz when 21:28 they caught their first big break, a match on some of the fingerprints they'd found 21:33 at the crime scene. 21:35 They belonged to Rebecca's oldest son, 33-year-old Eric Nichols, whose prints were on file because 21:41 he had previously been arrested for driving with a suspended license. 21:46 Eric lived near Portage, Wisconsin, owned a Verizon store there. 21:49 He was married with a baby on the way. 21:52 His fingerprints come back to the areas that were processed by the crime scene technicians. 21:58 Including a door to the garage close to Stephen Schwartz's body. 22:02 The door appeared to have been forced open. 22:05 His prints were there. 22:07 His prints were upstairs in the monitor where the DVR was. 22:12 And also his prints were on some of the jewelry boxes in the master bedroom. 22:17 So the forensic evidence comes back. 22:18 and points right at him as being the number one suspect now. 22:24 So I get a team of detectives, and we go up to Wisconsin to interview Eric. 22:30 We watched him through the store, we did this unannounced. 22:32 So I just need to, we're talking to all the family members. 22:36 Oh yeah, it's a murder case, I understand. 22:39 I'll fully cooperate with DNA or whatever. 22:42 When was the last time you wrote the house? 22:43 I flew home from my grandfather's birthday party. 22:47 I flew down April 6th, and then I drove back on, like, the 8th. 22:54 So I'm sure I was at the house at some point in time between those days. 22:58 That was almost two months before the murder. 23:01 And Eric said he hadn't been to Florida since. 23:05 Did you confront him and say, 23:06 Sir, we have your fingerprints all over this crime scene? 23:08 I did ask him, would you find fingerprints in the monitor room? 23:13 And he goes, yeah, you might, because I'd been up there before. 23:15 So my friends could be there could they be on the door? 23:18 Well, I did take out the trash back in April. My my fingerprints could be there 23:23 I said what about on your mom's story box? No, absolutely not my friends. We should not be there 23:29 So I'm thinking well. Yeah, well they are they are so we were gonna maybe do a second interview, but we started 23:36 Doing our background. He had gone to the doctors with his wife. She was pregnant at the time and we were able to give him an alibi 23:44 through the doctor and through video that showed his coming and goings at the 23:49 Verizon store, both the day before and the day of the homicide. So he was 23:54 absolutely in Wisconsin. He was in Wisconsin. Does that kind of take the wind out of 23:58 your investigative sales? It does. It does. But you just keep plugging away, 24:03 just following up on leads. Over the course of those kind of first few days 24:07 after the doctor's murder, ballpark, how many people would you say that you 24:12 interviewed. We talked to I don't had to be at least 50 people co-workers you know 24:18 other family members neighbors. And they talked to Rebecca's other son 28-year-old 24:24 Ben Nichols who lived in Florida near his mom and stepdad. Who would want to hurt 24:28 this guy? Nobody man. Nobody. He didn't have any enemies. I mean he wouldn't hurt 24:33 anybody you know what I mean he's a good doctor he's a good man good husband. 24:37 Then worked on some of the Schwartz's properties and had a landscaping business. 24:42 But Detective Diebel had learned something else about him. 24:46 He had actually broken into a previous residence of Dr. Schwartz. 24:52 About five years before the murder, he stole his mother's jewelry and Stephen's watches, 24:58 then pawned them. 24:59 You orchestrated some kind of a burglary at your mom's house? 25:02 Yeah, I was all f***ed up on pills, man. 25:04 So he had actually broken to the house to steal items to support his drug habit 25:10 But not in the last couple years. He seemed to be doing better. He kind of straighten himself out. Straighten himself out 25:17 Yeah, did you get any time for that or probation or did they do drug court? Oh, yeah, man 25:22 I went to a drug program. I was on probation and it seemed Steven had always embraced him 25:28 I've been in a lot of trouble and the guys never raised his voice at me one time 25:31 I've never heard him raise his voice to my mom. 25:35 I've never heard him raise his voice, period." 25:37 Ben said, on the morning of the murder, 25:39 he was laying flooring in another county. 25:42 So you were telling me that you left your house 25:45 at approximately, you said between 7.30 and 8.30 a.m.? 25:49 Yeah. 25:50 Okay. 25:51 And you were in Pasco County at your wife's- 25:57 My brother's house, yeah. 25:59 In the afternoon, he worked on his landscaping business. 26:02 He was pretty forthright in the information that he gave. 26:05 He also had a receipt of where he rented some lawn equipment for the day. 26:10 They spoke to people who worked with him and confirmed his story. 26:14 And at the crime scene, his prints were nowhere to be found. 26:18 Did you ever rule him out completely? 26:19 No. 26:20 No. 26:20 There's always ways around. 26:22 Because we can never tell when a doctor actually died. 26:26 So he was still on your radar. 26:28 Police learned a lot about Ben and Eric and how close they were to their mom, Rebecca. 26:34 I knew Eric and Ben much better than I knew Carter, because they were in the clinic more often. 26:39 When we would go and, you know, have happy hour or something like that, 26:42 Eric and Becky were very close, very close. 26:46 But Ben's problems often put him on the outs. 26:49 We'd go through these kind of phases where he was sort of ostracized 26:58 But if Rebecca was conflicted about her youngest son, the same could not be said about another 27:04 man in her life, a kind of surrogate son. 27:08 You became close with the shorts pretty quickly. 27:25 Police were convinced the killer was someone close to Stephen and Rebecca. 27:29 Rebecca. They had looked at Rebecca's two sons and they soon learned about another man 27:34 who was close to her and knew the family and the house well. 27:39 Leo Straw Guy. How did Leo come to be on your radar in the sense of someone to talk to? 27:45 Well he had been in the house several times. He worked with them. So he was well known 27:52 to both Rebecca and Dr. Swartz. 27:55 The handyman. 27:56 He didn't like to be called ever, yeah. 27:57 What did he like to be called? 27:59 Well, because we referred to him as handyman and he would tell me I'm not a handyman. 28:04 He does construction. 28:05 The house that Dr. Swartz and Rebecca lived in, he had helped remodel. 28:11 And they had like 30 other properties that he would maintain and remodel and take care 28:17 of. 28:19 It had been a long journey from Leo's home country of Albania to Tarpon Springs, 28:24 Florida. 28:25 How did you come to live in Florida? 28:27 Well, I left my country when I was a little kid. 28:31 I was 14 years old when I left. 28:34 I went to Greece, then I went all over Europe, 28:38 a little bit in Canada. 28:39 Then in the beginning of 2000, I was in Detroit. 28:43 He lived there with his cousin. 28:45 One cold winter day, 28:47 he decided he was ready to see a warmer part of America. 28:51 I tell him, man, I just bought a convertible car. 28:55 or let's drive to Florida. 28:57 And soon as I reached that bridge in Tampa Bay, 29:02 I told my cousin, listen, I'm gonna live in Florida. 29:05 I'm never, never going back to Michigan. 29:08 Leo started working on jobs at first, 29:11 then remodeling houses. 29:13 And eventually, Rebecca Schwartz hired him 29:15 to help maintain their many rental homes. 29:18 Tell me your first impressions of Rebecca. 29:20 What did you first think of her when you met her? 29:22 She's a great lady, very wild. 29:26 Wild? 29:27 Yeah, very wild. 29:28 Like, okay, let's do this now. 29:31 We'll buy 30 houses in one week. 29:34 So very spontaneous. 29:35 Yeah, let's do this. 29:36 Let's grow the business. 29:38 Rebecca was also generous. 29:40 She bought Leo and his wife a house and a truck. 29:44 She even started calling me son, 29:46 or like I would go to every occasion party, 29:49 or you know, they had. 29:51 So you all you became close with the Schwartz's pretty quickly. Yeah, very very close 29:57 Whatever the label handyman contractor surrogate son 30:01 Have a seat right there 30:02 About two weeks after the murder detective Diebel asked Leo to come in for a chat. How long have you known? 30:10 the Swartz 30:11 Only four years or so four years 30:14 All right, maybe a little more, but close four years. I think how'd you get to know them? 30:20 through a classroom of mine. 30:23 Leo said he wanted to help police any way he could. 30:26 He was very friendly, very cooperative, 30:29 wouldn't hold anything back. 30:31 Who do you think is involved? 30:34 Who do you think did it? 30:37 It's really hard. 30:39 I mean, to be honest, we all scratched in our head. 30:44 Like the detectives, Leo thought it had to be someone close to Dr. Schwartz. 30:49 Somebody who knows me knows them. I know there's somebody who knows us probably shake my head every day 30:57 And whoever did this needs to be arrested and being put in jail for a rest or a life. Wouldn't you say so? 31:03 Oh, oh my god arrested and death penalty right away. Yeah 31:09 It's it's a I mean not and come off 31:13 Yeah, it was done for money get the money. I think don't very 31:18 down doing this and Leo said he would never harm the doctor or he really 31:24 liked you like he liked you respect you because you were a worker oh my god 31:27 he loves me that I was he took care of my everything my family I mean 31:36 basically this he supported my family and opinion you know yeah he was a very 31:42 getting and kind guy every time I saw him sit down and Leo sit down 31:47 because I have a problem with my knee, and then all the time he grabs my knee and fix it. 31:54 They asked Leo the same question they'd asked everyone. 31:57 Where was he on the day of the murder? At home, Leo said, then at a work site. 32:03 And what time did you get there that day? Maybe nine, close to nine, nine something maybe. 32:10 And so he said that he was working on a household right and was nowhere near the 32:15 short time. 32:16 And that night, he was the birthday boy at that party Rebecca hosted for him. 32:21 He turned 37. 32:23 They got a little birthday cake. 32:25 They brought some gifts. 32:27 Just your basic birthday dinner. 32:29 Yeah, just simple. 32:32 Police were able to verify his story. 32:35 Leo answered their questions and gave a DNA sample. 32:38 As you talked to him, did he seem to wonder why he was there? 32:42 No. 32:42 Well, he just knows that we're doing our job talking to everybody involved. 32:48 Investigators were hitting a wall. 32:50 Months went by with few answers. 32:54 Then new information came out. 32:57 It would change everything they thought they knew about the doctor. 33:01 What he did, it was horrific. 33:05 Was Dr. Schwartz's murder payback for something that happened decades before? 33:10 An extraordinary holiday starts at Paragold, the destination for luxury home. 33:20 Elevate the season with unique heirloom quality decor and gifts, 33:25 hosting essentials and more from design's best brands. 33:29 Their largest ever selection has something for every celebration and style. 33:33 Shop in-store and online at Paragold.com. 33:37 Paragold Luxury lives here. 33:40 When it comes to affordable convenient graduate education, Southern New Hampshire University 33:46 delivers, offering career-focused master's programs, online courses with no-set class 33:52 times, and some of the lowest online tuition rates in the US. 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James Cecil knew him well. In your 93 years, Mr. Cecil, you've seen a 36:17 lot of things. I've seen a whole lot. But what happened to Dr. Cook? Will you ever 36:22 forget that? Oh no, I'll never forget it. It's just been sort of part of my 36:27 life. He went to Baylor. Susan Nutting is Dr. Cook's niece. This is his 36:33 dental class. Yes. Oh my goodness. He's right here. Uncle Doc right there. Susan says her 36:40 uncle was a generous man and known to carry a lot of cash. If someone needed 36:46 some money he'd give it to him but he'd pull out this is money. He would 36:51 pull it out and anyone who was standing around could see it's a lot of money 36:55 He's got there mm-hmm 36:58 Someone had their eyes on that money. It was November 21st 1961 37:04 In the middle of the day a 21 year old college student walked into the doctor's office 37:09 He was carrying a 25 caliber Beretta 37:14 And that's when Uncle Doc turned around and he saw this gun on him and he told him put that thing away and go home 37:21 Cook told him, said, I'm not giving you my money. 37:24 He pushed him back and said, turn around. 37:27 He said, no, I'm not turning around. 37:29 And my uncle evidently told him, he said, 37:32 no, I want to be facing you when you shoot me. 37:36 And they got in the scuffle and the gun went off 37:38 and it hit him. 37:39 The blood was coming out of his head. 37:43 Uncle Doc fell. 37:45 The shooter pushed him under his desk. 37:48 And then he took his real phone and left out the back door. 37:53 Dr. Cook was dead, robbed of $400. 37:58 Who killed Dr. Cook? 38:00 What was his name? 38:00 Stephen Schwartz. 38:02 We found out it was a man named Stephen Schwartz. 38:06 Stephen Schwartz, the man who became a beloved doctor, 38:12 who also gave money to those in need, was a murderer. 38:15 While he did confess, it was never clear why he needed the money. 38:20 He's sentenced to life in prison. 38:24 But a decade later, 1971, he's released on parole. 38:29 What did you think? 38:30 Well, how could this be? 38:32 How could he already be out? 38:35 Who came up with this idea, you know? 38:38 For reasons unknown, the governor of New Mexico granted Stephen Schwartz a full pardon. 38:44 He moved to Italy, earned his medical degree, then came back to the U.S. to start his practice. 38:51 Helen Como had always wondered about that career path. 38:55 I would read the degrees that were on his office wall, and I was kind of curious as to why 39:03 he became a doctor so late in life. 39:07 He even kept his own son in the dark. 39:10 There was a very big secret that your dad had. 39:13 Yes, and now your face with learning this. I am I remember the phone call my mother told me about it 39:19 And it's gonna come out and you're gonna find out 39:20 You know he did what he did. He never talked to me about it. This is your dad 39:26 Loving generous loving you, but on the other hand 39:30 He's a murderer 39:32 How do you wrap your mind around those two things as a son? 39:38 It's difficult and something that I wish 39:40 Kim and I could have talked about, 39:43 but I don't think it was in his nature. 39:45 When news of Dr. Schwartz's murder 39:47 made its way back to Susan Nutting, 39:50 she didn't know how to feel about the fact 39:52 that her uncle's killer met the same fate. 39:55 Talk about karma. 39:58 I hope he had become a good person. 40:01 So I don't wanna say I'm glad he was murdered. 40:07 I don't wanna say that. 40:08 I don't feel that, but still you look at that. Yeah, and you feel that that's karma. Yeah 40:15 They say what goes around comes around sometimes 40:20 Now police wanted to know was dr. Schwartz's murder an act of revenge for a decades-old crime 40:27 As soon as I heard that it's like all the bells went off. It was like that is it 40:34 So the secret was out. The late Stephen Schwartz was himself a convicted killer 40:52 and people just had to wonder. There had been something floated that oh this is 40:58 this is connected to his New Mexico thing from when he was a young man. As soon 41:03 as I heard that it's like all the bells went off it was like that is it. It was 41:10 It was rather shocking because they know that he committed a murder did not seem to 41:16 be in his character. 41:18 You know, with your investigative hat on, you hear this, that he committed a murder 41:23 years ago. 41:24 Are you thinking maybe this is in some way connected? 41:28 Maybe it's someone coming back to secret retribution. 41:31 Right. 41:32 I pretty much ruled that out by the way, what it had been like 50 years ago. 41:37 So it had been a long time ago. 41:39 So his character now was unapproached, you know, it was impeccable. 41:44 Almost like this was a completely different man. 41:46 He definitely somebody turned her life around. 41:49 Once investigators were sure there was no connection to that decades old crime, the 41:55 search for a killer continued. 41:57 They interviewed dozens of people and were eventually able to clear Rebecca's son, 42:02 Ben. 42:03 And fortunately, they had taken DNA from everyone they could think of. 42:07 fortunate because a lab tech spotted something in a crime scene photo that 42:13 seemed at first kind of innocuous well he noticed that the the doctor's shirt he 42:20 was wearing that was crumpled around the chest area as if someone had grabbed it 42:27 because let's do some touch DNA and see what we come up with they also swabbed 42:35 cash. 42:37 Almost a year after the murder, those DNA results came back. 42:41 They got a match. 42:43 It wasn't perfect, but it was awfully close to one person. 42:47 That person was Leo's straw guy. 42:51 His touch DNA was on the shirt and on that right pocket. 42:57 They arrested Leo, and he swore. 42:59 insisted he was innocent. 43:01 I've been f***ing framed. 43:03 Somehow I've been framed. 43:05 I don't know how. 43:06 You guys supposed to figure it out. 43:08 Well, we believe we did figure it out. 43:11 We found your DNA on part of the crime scene 43:16 that you had to be there 43:18 and touch that area 43:20 and have been involved with this doctor's death. 43:23 There's no freaking way. 43:25 It's my DNA and his body. 43:27 There is no way in hell, my DNA will be in his body." 43:31 This went on for an hour and a half. 43:33 They took a break, and when they came back, Leo had a new story to tell. 43:39 And the star of that story was his dear friend, Rebecca. 43:43 She came to my house that day early in the morning. 43:46 Leo said it was the day of the murder. 43:48 What time do you remember? 43:50 Well, I don't know, it was 6.30, 7, I don't know, it was very early. 43:55 She said, uh, I need you to do me favor. 43:59 She said, I need you to do me a favor. 44:01 Yes. 44:02 She said, uh, I didn't ask for me to enter Steven 44:04 and I left my bag over there. 44:07 I need you to go to pick up my bag, please. 44:10 Leo said he did as he was asked, 44:12 but when he got to the house, 44:13 he found Dr. Schwartz lying in a pool of blood. 44:18 When I see his face, I saw blood 44:19 and grabbed and shake him, okay? 44:22 I saw more blood than he did. 44:24 Why didn't you grab on to? 44:27 To see if he's okay. 44:28 I mean, there's a scratch. 44:30 His doctor's voice. 44:32 He wasn't my doctor for years and years and years. 44:34 And he was the best man I know. 44:37 He was the best man I know. 44:39 He didn't go touch anything else on his first 44:42 and go into any of his pockets, right? 44:45 No, no, hell no, I wouldn't go in his pockets. 44:49 Leo said he saw a leather bag on the kitchen counter. 44:52 Open it up, see some jewelry boxes in the end, and a knife. 44:58 Knife? 44:59 Yeah, it was a knife in there. 45:01 At that time, did you think Rebecca was involved in something? 45:04 Of course. 45:05 Why'd you think that? 45:05 Because she sent me purposely. 45:08 She sent me right there. 45:09 He said he grabbed the bag and sped back to Rebecca. 45:13 I just pulled in and started screaming right away, cussing out, 45:17 why did you do this, why you put me through this, 45:19 What the hell did you do? Why did you kill Dr. Schwartz? 45:24 What is she saying? Is she just looking at you? 45:27 At first, saying nothing, and then she started like, 45:30 you know why I did it, you know, and started screaming. 45:33 She said, you know why I did it? 45:35 Yeah, you know why I did it. 45:37 Leo said he didn't call the police because he was afraid of being deported. 45:42 Plus, Rebecca owed him tens of thousands of dollars 45:45 from an investment they'd made together. 45:47 And she said, if you say a word, you're never going to see house money or nothing. 45:52 I'm thinking also immigration told me any involvement with the police. 45:57 We're going to deport you right away. 45:59 The biggest mistake of my life is not calling the police that day. 46:05 Did you go to any other parts of the house? 46:06 No, I didn't know. Not one step. 46:10 Leo said his day got even worse, ending at that birthday party that night, hosted by Rebecca. 46:16 Martha, you were sitting there at that dinner and you knew that person that you loved that 46:22 had given you and your family an opportunity was lying dead at the bottom of stairs and 46:30 you still pushed through that celebration. 46:33 How did you sit through that? 46:35 It was... 46:35 How could you... 46:36 Yeah, it was painful, it was really painful. 46:39 How was she acting that night? 46:41 She was tipsy, she was loose, like always. 46:45 Did she seem stressed? 46:46 Upset? 46:47 Not at all. 46:49 And this is the last time I ever saw her again. 46:52 During your interrogation, police 46:53 asked you if you had any knowledge of the murder, 46:56 if you had been there. 46:57 And you swore on your mother's life 46:59 you weren't at the house. 47:00 You swore on your child's life that you knew nothing 47:02 about it. 47:03 And that was not true. 47:05 That was a lie. 47:06 Well, I know that. 47:08 Are you telling me the truth right now? 47:09 I am. 47:10 I am telling the truth. 47:12 Now I have no reason to lie about it. 47:14 You didn't force me to give this interview nobody forced me. I want to ask you directly Leo 47:20 Did you kill dr. Stephen Schwartz? 47:25 actually 47:27 No, did you have anything to do with trying to cover up his murder? No, the only thing like I said grab that bag and 47:36 Didn't call the police. That was the only thing I had to do with that murder 47:41 Police still didn't think Leo was telling them everything 47:45 Maybe Rebecca had shot her husband, but they believed he was involved that he had staged the burglary because Rebecca had threatened to cut him off financially 47:56 Wasn't worried about the doctor he supposedly loved and cared for he was worried about getting his money 48:00 And you think that was his motivation. That's his motivation for the actual committing the murder 48:04 I think he went there thinking that the doctor was already dead, but when he got there the doctor did see him 48:10 Now he's got to cover his tracks 48:13 He can't let the doctor live 48:16 Deeble also thought Leo was the one who delivered that fatal slash to the doctor's neck. 48:21 They charged him with first-degree murder. 48:24 After they were done with Leo, police let his wife come into the room. 48:28 Okay, you need to know that right now, I know you didn't kill him, I know you did 48:34 not kill him, that I know, but I know you did not kill him, did you, did they 48:41 made you clean up. Did she had something on you? Tell me the truth. Honey, tell me. Honey, 48:50 tell me. Did she made you clean up or something? Then you need to tell me her truth. We need to 48:56 make sure it's supposed to presence. She, of course, is Rebecca. And as it turned out, 49:04 since the very beginning, Rebecca had been at the top of nearly everyone's suspect list. 49:10 I think that she's the one with means, motive, and opportunity to have done this. 49:18 There's a freedom in South Dakota. 49:21 One that reminds you how travel is supposed to make you feel. 49:24 No crowds, no rush, no pressure. 49:27 Just the freedom to explore on your own terms. 49:31 South Dakota has a way of surprising you. 49:33 Five million acres of forest, mountain lakes, national monuments, and prairies. 49:39 Get your hiking boots dirty in the Black Hills. 49:41 chase a clear sky full of stars in the badlands, or cast a line into the Missouri River. 49:48 Craving arts and culture? 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For Carter Schwartz, it's impossible to look at this stunning 52:33 house and feel anything but sadness. 52:36 You know, obviously knowing what happened there makes it difficult to come back. 52:41 On the Ancload River in front of his dad's old home, Carter talked about his father's 52:45 murder, and the man accused of killing him, Leo Straw Guy. 52:50 You said that you believe that police partially got it right. 52:54 In that he was involved somewhat, I'm not saying he was without blame in any of this, 53:00 But certainly the lion's share of blame and the actual act itself of taking my father's 53:06 life. 53:06 I don't think rest only our shoulders. 53:09 Carter believes someone else either killed his dad, orchestrated the murder, or both. 53:16 That person, he says, was his stepmother, Rebecca. 53:21 I think that she's the one with means motive and opportunity to have done this. 53:25 In Carter's mind, it came down to one reason, money. 53:30 Rebecca knew she would inherit every dime of her husband's millions. 53:35 She got so greedy and so sure of herself that she was taking just immense sums of money. 53:42 And I think my father had finally gotten wise to it. 53:45 I think that he was finally fed up with being played for the fool. 53:51 He says Rebecca was secretly spending a fortune on her two sons, Ben and Eric, paying for their 53:58 lavish weddings and buying them homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. 54:03 She was telling my father, oh, they got a mortgage. 54:05 They got all this. 54:06 They got this. 54:07 And I remember my father's comment was they couldn't have a mortgage. 54:10 They don't have two nickels to rub together. 54:12 So about a year before his dad's death, Carter and his wife did their own investigation. 54:18 We had gone to the online property appraiser, which is all public record, and we typed in 54:25 the addresses. 54:26 And sure enough, they were in her children's name with no mortgage and free and clear titles. 54:31 And we showed my dad that. 54:34 You've got literal receipts showing him this. 54:36 Yes. 54:37 And then that's when he says, I have business to take care of at home. 54:41 Never told me what he did about it. 54:43 Never told me anything. 54:44 Carter pleaded with his dad to get a financial expert and figure out what was going on. 54:50 He refused to hire a forensic accountant. 54:52 He said, I'm not throwing good money after bad. 54:54 So he said, why waste the time trying to chase it down? 54:57 Right. 54:57 And at this point, it's very clear. 54:58 He knows something is going on. 55:00 I told him, I said, dad, you're going to leave. 55:03 He didn't give me an answer one way or another. 55:05 So you told him, you got to divorce this woman? 55:07 Yeah. 55:08 Detective Diebel discovered that along with buying her son's homes 55:12 and paying for their weddings, 55:14 Rebecca had given her sons hundreds of thousands of dollars 55:17 more to start their own businesses. 55:20 There was a lot of moving of money around of the doctors, 55:24 not the Carter to the Rebecca's two sons. 55:29 When you say moving money, what do you mean? 55:31 Kind of under the radar without the doctor's knowledge. 55:34 She funded a Verizon cell phone shop 55:38 in Portage, Wisconsin for her first son. 55:40 a brewery for Ben, and some other businesses that had failed. 55:47 It was a stark contrast to how Carter says Rebecca treated him over the years. 55:53 Between the two of you, there was never loving stepmother vibes. 56:00 After his father's murder, Carter says Rebecca cut him off financially, 56:05 like when he asked for some help to pay for med school. 56:08 I had gotten the acceptance letter to med school the day he died and you have whatever 56:12 was 10 days, two weeks, something to go down and give him a check to hold your spot, $15. 56:16 I sent her a text and I said, hey, I need a deposit. 56:20 Can you help me? 56:21 And the reply back was, you need to get a job. 56:24 I don't know what we're doing. 56:25 So she refused to give you the money. 56:27 Refused to give me $15 to hold my spot at med school. 56:30 This is terrible, but she'd always refer to Carter as the bastard and she'd come 56:35 in and say... 56:35 The bastard. 56:37 There was a time when Kyle Smithy liked Rebecca Schwartz, but as the years went by, his opinion 56:43 changed as he watched her verbally attack Steven's son and then Steven himself in the 56:49 worst possible way. 56:51 One of her kind of go-to lines was always, I could just kill him. 56:55 I could just kill him and just the look on her face of just how frustrated and she 56:59 just like would physically, you know, kind of alter and just so angry. 57:05 What was she mad about? 57:06 It could be anything from, you know, having handed out money to patients to, you know, 57:13 having written a small check to Carter. 57:17 That's why on the very night the doctor was murdered, Kyle believed Rebecca was involved. 57:23 I call and she answers and she sounds tired. 57:28 I said, Becky, what's going on? 57:32 And she says, well, they can't confirm it's him. 57:35 They won't let me in the house, but we know it's him. 57:39 Kyle had an immediate sinking feeling. 57:42 She finally did it. 57:44 She finally did it. 57:45 Yeah. 57:46 You felt that she was the one who had killed him. 57:49 Yeah, just, you know, everything kind of started lining up. 57:52 Helen Como also wasn't surprised. 57:55 She thought at times, Rebecca could be evil. 57:59 When I heard that he was murdered, nobody else came to mind. 58:04 I didn't even so much as think, gosh, did a burglar break in? 58:11 Nothing else came to mind other than Becky. 58:15 It's something Detective Diebel heard over and over again. 58:19 Just confirmed my suspicions all the more. 58:22 or she's involved in this murder, she murdered him. 58:26 But suspicions are not evidence. 58:29 Tried everything that I could, 58:30 had more witnesses come forward, 58:32 but nothing that was enough was a lot of hearsay, 58:36 nothing that I could bring it forward 58:38 to the state attorney for prosecution. 58:40 The biggest issue was Leo. 58:42 Even though he had implicated Rebecca, 58:44 police didn't think he would be a strong witness. 58:48 He's not credible, he's not a credible witness 58:49 because he lied so much. 58:50 Carter and his family were convinced Rebecca was getting away with murder. 58:55 So they took the only step they felt they could 58:58 and filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against her. 59:02 Have you ever worked on a case quite like this? 59:05 This one takes the cake. 59:08 In 2015, the year after the murder, Will Florin and Tommy Robig agreed to represent the family. 59:14 Police had investigated this and said there's not enough to bring criminal charges against her. 59:21 What made you think that you could win in a court of law? 59:25 We worked hard on the case. We worked the details of the case. 59:28 I think we came to the conclusion she murdered him and we could prove it. 59:32 How does she, in your telling, become someone who kills her husband? 59:37 Breed, selfishness, narcissism. That's how. 59:41 They would spend years building a case against Rebecca. 59:46 Meanwhile, she had built a new life with new friends and a new profession. 59:53 What kind of doctor did she tell you she was? 59:55 Nephrologist. 60:08 While Leo's strong eye sat in jail, 60:11 Rebecca Schwartz had already left Florida for a fresh start in Lodi, Wisconsin. 60:18 A small town flanked by farms and picturesque fields. 60:22 A great choice if you need to just get away. 60:26 Maybe that's what Rebecca was thinking when she moved there a few months after the murder. 60:31 What was her personality like? 60:33 She seemed very bubbly and she seemed genuine and concerned, you know, thoughtful. 60:39 Sue Maschik first met Rebecca at her son's home. 60:43 She said, well, I had to get out of Florida. 60:45 She said, after my husband was murdered, all the docs were asking me to cover their 60:50 shifts at the hospital and I just couldn't take it anymore. Rebecca told her and others 60:56 she was a doctor had been for decades. So she says this and you know nothing about her nothing 61:02 about her background. No and I believed what I was being told you know that's what she said. 61:07 What kind of doctor did she tell you she was? Nephrologist. A kidney doctor just like Steven. 61:14 She wasn't of course but Sue believed her and was impressed. It wasn't long before 61:19 Rebecca became close to her entire family, including her son and daughter-in-law. 61:24 You're around your son, his family, for a while. 61:27 Did you think that she was getting too close, too fast, to your son and his family? 61:31 Yes, I did after a while, yes. 61:34 All her fears came to a head one day at her grandson's football game. 61:38 She spotted Rebecca and her son, Aaron, alone. 61:42 I turned around to say something, and she was consoling him, holding his hand and looking 61:48 up at him and just it was something that I knew was kind of over the top you see them together 61:54 at the game you're thinking that's not right your mama's radar was going off about rebecca 61:59 right did that just make it sound even louder oh yes for sure and this mama's intuition 62:06 was spot on 10 months later erin told his mom he was divorcing his wife and it wasn't long before 62:14 or Aaron revealed he was in love with Rebecca. 62:18 Rebecca's 15 years older than Aaron. 62:21 As a mom, how did that age gap hit you? 62:24 Oh, I didn't think it would be a good thing by any means. 62:28 Then came 2018, two years later, 62:32 the couple invited Aaron's parents 62:33 to a Cinco de Mayo party, supposedly. 62:37 They came walking out and she had a very fancy 62:39 full dress on and he had like a tux suit on. 62:43 I thought, wait a minute, this is not a Cinco de Mayo, you know, and they got married. 62:49 A new tag. 62:51 Here are the happy newlyweds. 62:54 That's perfect. 62:56 And the surprises kept coming. 63:00 The family initially thought Rebecca had only been married once before to Dr. Schwartz. 63:06 Aaron later told his mom, he found out Rebecca had actually had three previous husbands. 63:13 She said, well, I was just so embarrassed, I didn't want to have to tell you that. 63:18 Life was good for the couple. 63:20 With the help of Rebecca's money, they lived in a beautiful home on Lake Wisconsin, bought 63:25 a small plane, and went on exotic vacations. 63:29 Like a trip the entire family, including Sue, took to Alaska. 63:33 First class, of course. 63:35 We're in the air, and they're announcing that they need a nurse or a doctor for they 63:40 please come back to coach. 63:42 There was a medical emergency. 63:43 A medical emergency, and I looked over at her, and she just kept sitting there, you know. 63:48 After about the third time that I'm looking over at her, she gets up and goes to the 63:52 bat, and she's treating somebody back there. 63:56 Treating someone? 63:57 Treating someone. 63:58 The passenger was fine. 64:00 It wasn't a medical emergency after all. 64:03 Eventually, though, the truth caught up with Rebecca. 64:06 I had a friend who was considering going into dialysis because he was in kidney failure. 64:14 So Sue asked Rebecca to give that friend medical advice. 64:18 And after about five minutes, I discovered I knew more about kidneys than she did. 64:23 It became apparent very quickly that she did not have a medical degree or a specialty 64:27 in kidneys. 64:28 Her son is the one that finally let that out of the bag. 64:31 He said, mom's no doctor, you know, and I thought, oh, really? 64:34 Even after learning the truth, Erin stayed with her. 64:38 That is, until the letter was delivered. 64:42 How did you hear about the letter? 64:45 All my neighbors, people were coming and telling us, 64:49 I'm just curious, how did they even describe the letter? 64:52 Frightening, the one says, 64:53 I don't know if I should read it or burn it. 64:55 She said, I don't want to do this thing. 64:57 About five years into their marriage, the couple's relationship blew up. Rebecca caught Aaron 65:03 cheating. That's when she wrote a blistering two-page letter, seemingly to everyone. 65:10 She went to the neighbors and taped it onto their garage doors and such, all the neighbors in 65:15 their neighborhood. Included in the packet, her petition for divorce, graphic sexual details, 65:21 and a picture of her husband's alleged lover. 65:25 Plus plenty of unkind words like these. 65:29 I will always wonder why I wasn't good enough. 65:32 And Erin chose a white trash, ugly 50 year old 65:35 who looks like she had been rode hard 65:37 and put away wet for 35 years 65:39 with teeth out of Jurassic Park 65:41 that has literally nothing over me. 65:46 The letter landed in mailboxes all over town. 65:49 We counted here at least 60 some people 65:52 that she sent that letter to. 65:54 What did you think when you read that? 65:56 I thought she's flipping crazy. 66:00 Aaron told us Rebecca closed him out 66:02 of their joint bank accounts, 66:04 transferred ownership of their multiple homes to her sons, 66:07 and then locked him out. 66:09 He's now living with his mother. 66:11 I want people to know that 66:14 there are people like her in this world. 66:17 I would have never, ever in my life 66:18 thought I'd run into somebody 66:20 that could be this devastating to the family. 66:24 It wasn't long after those divorce papers were filed that the phone rang at Florin and 66:29 Robig. 66:30 You get a phone call completely out of the blue. 66:38 Rebecca's husband said he was ready to turn the tables on his soon-to-be ex-wife and 66:44 he was willing to testify against her at trial. 66:47 But before that could happen, Rebecca would find herself in the hot seat. 66:52 If you've been waiting for the right time to tackle your weight loss goals, this is it. 67:02 Hers now offers access to an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including 67:06 the wagovie pill and the wagovie pen. 67:08 With wagovies at Hers, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet 67:12 and exercise. 67:13 It helps regulate appetite, eat less, and keep weight off. 67:15 And as the first-ever GLP-1 pill for weight loss, there are no needles needed. 67:19 Everything is 100% online, a licensed provider determines if treatment is right for you and 67:23 if prescribed medication is delivered to your door. 67:25 No insurance necessary. 67:27 You'll also get 24-7 care team messaging, in-app lifestyle and nutrition support, and 67:31 a personalized treatment plan with unlimited dosage changes as needed. 67:35 HRS offers affordable GLP-1 options to fit your needs and budget if eligible. 67:39 Ready to reach your goals? 67:40 Visit for HRS.com slash Dateline to get personalized, affordable care that gets you. 67:45 That's F-O-R-H-E-R-S dot com slash Dateline. 67:48 Weight loss by hers is not available in all 50 states. 67:50 Wagovia is the registered trademark of Nova Nordus KS. 67:53 To get started and learn more, including important safety information, 67:55 Wagovia clinical study information, and restrictions, visit forhers.com. 67:58 With the seasons changing, now is the perfect time to get ahead of the cold and flu season. 68:04 But staying prepared shouldn't be overpaying for your prescriptions. 68:07 And that's where GoodRx comes in. 68:09 GoodRx makes it easy to take control of your health and your budget 68:13 with savings and preventative cold and flu medications and your everyday prescriptions. 68:18 GoodRx is free, super easy to use. 68:21 You just search for your medication on their website or app, 68:24 compare prices, and bring the free coupon 68:26 to show your pharmacist. 68:28 Check GoodRx to save at over 70,000 local pharmacies nationwide 68:33 or get prescriptions delivered right to your front door. 68:36 Remember, GoodRx is not insurance, 68:38 but it works whether you have insurance or not, 68:40 and it could beat your insurance copay price. 68:44 So save time and money in your prescriptions this season. 68:46 check out GoodRx at GoodRx.com slash Dateline. 68:50 That's GoodRx.com slash Dateline. 68:53 In A Talent for Murder, Oscar winner Helen Mirren stars as the notorious Patricia Heismith, 68:59 author of The Talented Mr. Ripley. 69:01 Older now and living a solitary life in the Swiss Elbs. 69:04 She's visited by Ridgway, a literary agent who's determined to convince her to write one more Ripley novel. 69:11 Heismith refuses the offer. 69:13 unless Ridgeway can dream up the perfect murder along with her. 69:18 Watch A Talent for Murder in theaters October 23rd. 69:32 Long before Rebecca's cushy new life with her younger husband went up in flames in Wisconsin, 69:38 something was happening in Florida. 69:41 Attorneys Will Florin and Tommy Robig had been building a case against her. 69:46 A legal battle that would take years. 69:48 Their goal? Clawback every dollar of the doctor's vast wealth that Rebecca now 69:54 controlled. What was his net worth after he died? 69:58 North of $30 million. 70:00 It's a very strong estate. 70:02 He had a very successful dialysis clinic that he sold for a lot of money. 70:10 Millions and millions of dollars. They own, you know, 40 or so rental properties. 70:15 Madam Corrie Porter, if you could please wear it at the moment. 70:19 Because this was a civil case, Rebecca had to sit for a deposition. 70:23 Can you tell us your name, please? 70:25 Rebecca Schwartz. 70:26 So in 2016, for the first time, she faced the Schwartz family attorneys. 70:31 You were present, were you not, in the home at the time of Dr. Schwartz's murder 70:38 and took part in the murder of Dr. Schwartz. 70:41 Did you not, Fogg? 70:43 I reassert my rights under Article 1, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution. 70:48 Only she didn't answer any of their questions. 70:52 Well, I got about 75 pleas against self-incrimination as a reason for not answering a question. 71:00 She just took the fifth. 71:01 Over and over and over again. 71:03 Even so, it gave Florin the chance to ask Rebecca this. 71:07 You have been convicted of a felony, have you not? 71:14 I re-assert my rights under Article 1, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution. 71:18 Rebecca was a convicted felon. 71:21 In the early 90s, she went to work for mothers against drunk driving up in North Florida. 71:27 And the reason is because she lost a two-year-old son to a drunk driver. 71:32 After becoming president of that local mad chapter, Rebecca embezzled more than $7,000 71:39 from the charity. 71:41 She was arrested, pled guilty, was put on probation for four counts of stealing from 71:48 mothers against drunk driving. 71:50 What type of person steals money from mothers against drunk driving? 71:54 Exactly. 71:56 Someone without conscience that doesn't care, that's narcissistic and wants whatever 72:01 whatever they want at all costs. 72:04 As they prepared for trial, 72:06 attorney Sean Cummings spent many hours 72:08 trying to track down Rebecca's fortune. 72:11 Money the firm believed she was hiding. 72:14 We always suspected that she was moving the assets 72:16 to keep us off the trail. 72:19 She created a number of limited liability companies 72:22 or LLCs. 72:23 Normally, one way to protect assets from lawsuits. 72:27 This begins video number one 72:28 in the deposition of Rebecca A. Schwartz. 72:31 By 2024, seven years after her last deposition, the attorneys got a judge's order compelling 72:37 her to testify. 72:39 It allowed us to force Rebecca Schwartz to provide testimony about her finances. 72:46 This time, she couldn't claim the fifth. 72:48 Please raise your right hand. 72:50 Under oath, Rebecca painted a surprising financial picture. 72:54 What do you estimate your current total net worth to be? 72:59 Well, let's see, about $10,000. 73:07 $10,000. 73:09 She later added she also had some furniture and a car worth an additional $15,000. 73:14 When she told me her assets were $10,000, I mean, I just knew it wasn't true. 73:20 I knew that she had millions in property and boats and condos and businesses. 73:27 Rebekah testified she transferred almost everything she owned into trusts that were now controlled 73:33 by her two sons, Ben and Eric. 73:36 She said they gave her an allowance to live. 73:47 Her sons were also brought in for depositions. 73:50 This begins video number one in the deposition of Benjamin Nichols. 73:56 But when asked about the different LLCs under his control, Ben often gave the same answer. 74:02 He didn't know much about them. 74:05 You know, I trust you guys, lawyers and stuff like that. 74:08 So if you guys put something in front of me, I just sign it. 74:10 So I don't know exactly what it is that I'm signing or why I'm signing. 74:13 But there was one LLC Ben did seem more familiar with. 74:18 It was titled GFYCS and AM who came up with that name for that LLC 74:25 My wife and I okay, and we need the two of you came up with it. Did you discuss what GFYCS and AM stands for? 74:35 Yeah, do you want me to say it on record? I do 74:38 No, I'm not going to 74:40 Does it stand for go yourself Carter Schwartz and Aaron mashing yes, it does 74:46 Yes. 74:47 Go F yourself. 74:48 Carter Schwartz. 74:50 And Aaron Maschik, which is the soon-to-be ex-husband, wonders never cease. 74:54 And at this point, there's nothing that would be surprising of this family. 74:59 Just the name of that LLC. 75:01 There are some pieces that this just seems so beyond belief to you. 75:06 I think there's a level of invincibility and hubris that just exceeds any rational 75:15 explanation and why would you call that company build yourself Carter Schwartz 75:20 and Aaron Maschik for obvious reasons I need you to explain to me what the 75:25 reason is well I'm in this mess because of Aaron Maschik and Carter Schwartz 75:30 he's also behind it all right and when you say you're in this mess what do you 75:34 mean I'm sitting here talking to you in a deposition and Rebecca's other son 75:39 Eric said he also didn't know much about the assets under his control you 75:44 Do you have any documentation or lists or anything that you keep so that you know what 75:51 assets that you own or don't own? 75:54 No. 75:55 Let me ask you this way. 75:56 If you died tomorrow and your wife needed to figure out which property was left to 76:01 her and your children, how would she do it? 76:04 Don't know. 76:06 Does that worry you? 76:07 It does now. 76:08 I think the purpose of taking assets out of your own name and moving in someone 76:13 else is it would make it more difficult in her mind, at least for us to try to get those assets 76:17 back and put them where they belong, which was with Dr. Schwartz's children. While Rebecca's 76:23 sons supported their mother, her daughter-in-law would be a very different story. Would it be 76:29 a fair statement then that you've come to the conclusion that your mother-in-law, Becky, 76:32 is evil? Yes. So as all this is happening, I mean, you're digesting this live in this 76:40 deposition roll. What are you thinking? 76:42 There's my star witness. 76:58 Only one person was ever criminally charged in 77:00 Stephen Schwartz's murder. Leo Straw Guy. Six 77:04 years after his arrest, prosecutors offered him a 77:07 deal. He pleaded guilty to accessory after the 77:11 fact. 77:12 They've seen all the evidence and they've seen 77:14 everything. They knew I was not the guy who 77:19 killed Dr. Schwartz. 77:21 In 2022, he was released from prison and deported back to his homeland of Albania. 77:27 Did you ever think that you would end up here in Albania because of what happened in Florida? 77:33 Yeah, I knew I would come back. I knew I would come back one day. 77:37 Leo started a new life, but the old grudges still linger. 77:42 How would you describe Rebecca Schwartz today? 77:45 Evil. Evil. I'll take her life in a heartbeat. 77:49 beat, and I won't regret it. 77:52 You say that. 77:53 You admit that. 77:54 She took everything I had. 77:55 If you were face-to-face with her today. 77:57 I'll take her life in the heartbeat, I'll say it anywhere. 78:01 I'm not afraid. 78:03 She destroyed me. 78:05 Whether or not Leo's threat is believable, he's not allowed to return to the US until 78:10 2032. 78:14 Back in Florida, the wrongful death civil lawsuit against Rebecca began in February 78:20 For me and for our family, this isn't about money, this is about justice, and unfortunately, 78:26 the civil trial was the avenue available to us, despite what we may want. 78:31 The trial started off with a win for the defense. 78:34 The judge ruled jurors wouldn't hear that Rebecca stole money from mothers against drunk driving. 78:40 Roham Kinsari is her attorney. 78:43 We did have to litigate that issue at length, but we were successful in keeping it out. 78:47 The plaintiffs knew they faced other challenges. 78:51 What do you need to prove to the jury to win this civil case? 78:55 Well, obviously we need to prove that she caused the death of Dr. Steven Schwartz. 79:00 Prove she participated or killed him herself. 79:04 If they won, they could seek monetary damages, potentially stripping Rebecca of everything 79:09 she owned. 79:11 If you are the murderer, you cannot profit by that behavior. 79:14 The plaintiff's theory? Rebecca killed her husband because he was about to end their marriage 79:20 and cut her off from his money. 79:22 Dr. Schwartz had made it known that he was going to divorce her and had that happened, 79:28 she would be destitute. 79:31 One of the witnesses called to testify was a neighbor of the Schwartz's. 79:36 April Cox told jurors about an argument she witnessed a few weeks before the murder. 79:41 This is the audio from her deposition. 79:44 Dr. Schwartz was in the living area 79:47 and he either received a phone call or email 79:49 or something that disturbed him 79:51 and she went to speak with him 79:53 and then she came into the kitchen 79:54 and she goes, please don't tell Dr. Schwartz 79:57 that I bought Eric a business in Wisconsin. 80:02 Rebecca had given her son Eric money 80:04 to open that Verizon store. 80:06 The plaintiffs argued it may have been 80:08 the final straw for her husband. 80:10 Don't tell him about the Verizon store and so conversations must be happening obviously 80:17 behind the scenes where he is unhappy and this is escalating and it's a drumbeat and 80:22 it's coming and then it ends at the bottom of those stairs. 80:26 And while the murder weapons, a knife and gun, were never found, Kyle Smithy's deposition 80:31 was played in court and he testified about Rebecca bragging about knowing how to shoot. 80:37 Did she own a gun? 80:40 She told me repeatedly that she owned a gun. 80:43 Did you ever see her gun? 80:45 I never saw her gun. 80:47 She'd specifically referenced that it was a Saturday night special. 80:52 A Saturday night special or a small caliber gun, 80:55 like the one used to kill Dr. Schwartz. 80:59 We know she had a .22 because she's shown it to people. 81:03 She carried it. 81:05 She bragged about having it. 81:06 They also showed jurors Leo's deposition taken while he was in jail. 81:12 He stuck to his story that Rebecca had set him up. 81:28 Then came bombshell testimony from Rebecca's fourth husband, Aaron Maschik. 81:33 After Rebecca filed for divorce and sent that letter around, he offered to testify 81:38 by for the plaintiffs. 81:40 One of the statements that she made to me was... 81:42 During his deposition, which juror saw, 81:45 he admitted that he and Rebecca purposely moved assets 81:48 to protect them in case she lost this lawsuit. 81:52 What was the purpose behind setting up those LLCs? 81:57 Rebecca wanted to hide any assets from the civil case. 82:03 Has Rebecca Maschik, firmly known as Schwartz, 82:06 made any statement to you ever regarding her potential involvement in the death 82:13 of Dr. Schwartz and having gotten away with her involvement in that. Yes. And what 82:20 did she say to you in that regard? She said a couple of different things. I've 82:25 gotten away with this before. I can get away with it again. That was, I believe, 82:31 been a reference to the murder of her prior husband. 82:36 He also said that might have been a reference to moving assets to keep them from him. 82:42 But perhaps the most surprising testimony came from Rebecca's daughter-in-law, Dana 82:48 Nichols, Ben's wife at the time. 82:50 When Dana testified at the trial in the courtroom that day, it was electric. 82:57 Her testimony was similar to what she said in this deposition. 83:00 She and Ben worked for Rebecca and lived in a house she bought for them. 83:05 But Dana said her mother-in-law could be vindictive. 83:08 Like the time Dana invited the wrong person to her own baby shower. 83:13 She got mad at my baby shower because I invited my other mother-in-law, Ben's stepmom. 83:22 And she doesn't like her and so she fired us and threatened to take away our house and
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