The Death of Dr. Schwartz

Summary

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Dateline NBC: "The Death of Dr. Schwartz"

Date: November 4, 2025
Reporter: Blaine Alexander
Theme: A brutal murder inside a wealthy Florida doctor’s home exposes hidden family secrets, decades-old crimes, and a web of greed—culminating in a complex civil trial with shocking allegations and a massive verdict.

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the 2014 murder of Dr. Stephen Schwartz, a renowned kidney specialist in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The investigation initially seemed to point toward a violent burglary but quickly revealed deep family rifts, shocking criminal histories, and a tangled web of financial intrigue. As the case unfolded, attention zeroed in on two central figures: his wife Rebecca Schwartz and the couple’s trusted handyman, Leo Straga, amidst allegations of betrayal, greed, and long-held secrets. Years of investigation and a high-profile civil trial forced the Schwartz family—and listeners—to grapple with questions of justice, truth, and loyalty.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Discovery of the Murder (03:02–06:36)

• The story begins with Rebecca Schwartz returning from a dinner party on May 28, 2014, calling 911 about a possible burglary.
• Police find Dr. Stephen Schwartz dead at the bottom of a stairwell; the scene is graphic, with evidence of a gunshot and multiple lacerations.
• Detective Dieble theorizes: Dr. Schwartz was shot while at the top of stairs, paralyzed by the wound, then fatally attacked—"He was awake and helpless as the killer finished him off with that cut to the neck." ([07:53])

2. Family’s Shock and Reflection (09:24–13:30)

• Dr. Schwartz is remembered as a beloved father and doctor. Son Carter describes him as “kind and generous... never raise[d] his voice.” ([25:33])
• Insights from clinic staff and family friends: Rebecca, 20 years his junior, managed the office and the couple’s finances; their marriage appeared functional, if imbalanced.

3. Crime Scene Clues: Staged Burglary? (18:55–20:37)

• Police note that the home’s elaborate security system DVR is missing—clearly an inside job.
• Staging: drawers pulled but not ransacked; large dogs in the home apparently unbothered by the perpetrator; the crime seems orchestrated to look like a botched burglary.

4. Suspects: Family Under the Microscope (21:29–27:04)

• Eric Nichols: Rebecca’s son; fingerprints found at the scene but given a solid alibi (proved out-of-state during the murder).
• Ben Nichols: Rebecca’s younger son with a checkered past—including a prior burglary of his mother’s home to fund a drug habit—but he too has an alibi, confirmed by work receipts and colleagues.

5. “Straw Guy” Leo Straga Enters the Frame (27:31–32:38)

• Leo, the family’s Albanian handyman/contractor, is described as a “surrogate son”; very close to Rebecca and Dr. Schwartz.
• He is cooperative with police and provides an alibi, verified by his presence at his birthday party hosted by Rebecca the day of the murder.
• DNA taken from Leo.

6. Decades-Old Murder Secret Comes to Light (35:11–41:32)

• Bombshell Revelation: Seven months after the murder, the press reveals Dr. Schwartz himself had killed a man in 1961 (as a 21-year-old in New Mexico), served a sentence, and was pardoned—then reinvented himself as a respected physician.
• Family and friends stunned; speculation arises about a revenge motive, but police discount the connection due to the time elapsed and Schwartz’s transformed life.

7. The DNA Break and Leo’s Interrogation (41:58–47:14)

• Leo’s DNA is found on the victim’s shirt and pocket.
• Upon confronting police, Leo claims he’s been “framed,” later tells a new story: Rebecca showed up early the morning of the murder, asked him to retrieve a bag from the house, where he found Dr. Schwartz already dead. He admits to touching the body but maintains innocence in the killing.
  • “I’ve been framed. Somehow I’ve been framed. I don’t know how… There is no way in hell my DNA will be in his body.” – Leo Straga ([42:39])
  • “She said, ‘You know why I did it.’” – Leo recalling Rebecca’s alleged confession ([45:17])

8. Suspicion and Allegations Against Rebecca Schwartz (48:42–55:34)

• Multiple people—Carter Schwartz (son), Kyle Smithee (clinic manager), and Dana Nichols (daughter-in-law)—suggest Rebecca had clear motive: greed and looming divorce.
• Rebecca accused of siphoning millions of dollars to her sons from Dr. Schwartz’s estate, unbeknownst to him.
• Characterized by others as manipulative, vindictive, and capable of covering her tracks.
  • “She is the one with means, motive, and opportunity to have done this.” – Carter Schwartz ([50:35])
  • “One of her kind of go to lines was always, ‘I could just kill him.’” – Kyle Smithee ([54:06])

9. Rebecca’s New Life—and Fresh Scandal (57:50–63:31)

• After the murder, Rebecca moves to Wisconsin, creates a new identity (falsely claiming to be a nephrologist), and quickly marries a much younger man.
• Eventually, personal drama (an explosive, widely distributed “divorce letter”) and self-dealing allegations (money hidden in LLCs) further tarnish Rebecca’s image.

10. Civil Trial and Damning Testimonies (65:12–80:27)

• The Schwartz family brings a wrongful death lawsuit; Rebecca, now on her fourth marriage, pleads the fifth repeatedly during depositions.
• Evidence reveals that after Dr. Schwartz’s death, Rebecca shifted millions into her sons’ names, artificially reducing her declared net worth.
• Deposition bombshell: Ben and his wife name an LLC “GFYCS&AM” – “Go F--- Yourself, Carter Schwartz and Aaron Mashek” ([69:36]).
• Dana Nichols (Ben’s wife) testifies Rebecca is “evil” and that she always suspected Rebecca’s involvement from the night of the murder. ([71:42], [80:24])
• Leo, now deported to Albania, pleads guilty to accessory after the fact, maintains Rebecca orchestrated the crime—“Evil. Evil. I’ll take her life in a heartbeat. And I won’t regret it.” – Leo Straga ([72:58])

11. Defensive Strategy and Verdict (80:40–85:45)

• Defense argues: No physical evidence that Rebecca was at the scene; Leo’s DNA only direct forensic link.
• Plaintiffs rely on motive, circumstantial evidence, and a mountain of testimony about character and opportunity.
• Civil jury verdict: Rebecca found liable for her husband’s murder; family awarded almost $200 million.
  • “The court system guarantees you a chance of justice. It doesn’t guarantee you justice. Doesn’t happen all the time. When it happens, it’s glorious.” – Will Florin, plaintiff’s attorney ([85:13])

12. Aftermath & Closure (85:45–87:27)

• Only a fraction of the award will likely be collected, but the family claims justice.
• Civil case conclusion prompts police to close the criminal file, unless new evidence emerges.
• Carter Schwartz: “Finally, the latest development… is a step towards justice. But she is still walking around. She is still free. And I would trade every dime to see true justice served.” ([87:27])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The crime scene looked staged to make it look like a burglary gone bad.” – Detective Dieble ([18:18])
• “There was a very big secret that your dad had.” – Blaine Alexander ([01:34])
• “He was a convicted murderer… Talk about karma.” – Susan Nutting, Dr. Cook’s niece ([39:55])
• “I told my dad, you gotta leave… You gotta divorce this woman.” – Carter Schwartz ([52:20])
• “You need to get a job. I don’t know what we’re doing.” – Rebecca’s text refusing Carter $1,500 for med school ([53:40])
• “I want justice for Dr. Schwartz and Becky to pay for all the wrong and evil things she has done… She doesn’t deserve to be living it up.” – Dana Nichols, during deposition ([80:07])
• “She got so greedy and so sure of herself…” – Carter Schwartz ([50:50])
• “One of her kind of go to lines was, ‘I could just kill him.’” – Kyle Smithee ([54:06])
• “I know so. She’s involved.” – Detective Dieble when asked if Rebecca might be innocent ([87:08])

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Timestamps for Crucial Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |:---|:--------| | 03:02 | Rebecca’s 911 call and discovery of murder | | 07:32 | Detective Dieble reconstructs murder | | 18:55 | Discovery that DVR was missing/staged scene | | 21:29 | Initial forensic evidence points to Eric Nichols | | 27:31 | Introduction of Leo Straga | | 35:11 | Revelation of Dr. Schwartz’s 1961 murder conviction | | 41:58 | DNA breakthrough implicates Leo | | 45:17 | Leo’s claim Rebecca confessed | | 50:35 | Carter: “She is the one with motive and opportunity”| | 54:06 | Kyle: “I could just kill him” | | 65:12 | Civil trial and asset tracing | | 69:36 | Ben reveals meaning of inflammatory LLC name | | 71:42 | Dana Nichols testifies Rebecca is “evil” | | 80:40 | Defense’s arguments | | 85:13 | Civil verdict, $200 million compensation | | 87:27 | Carter on justice and loss |

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Tone & Language

The reporting is direct yet empathetic, interweaving investigative detail with personal testimony and raw emotion. There is a recurring motif of betrayal and disillusionment as decades-old and recent secrets alike come to light—leaving both the family and the audience questioning how far greed and duplicity can truly go.

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Summary Takeaway

"The Death of Dr. Schwartz" is a chilling study in familial betrayal, hidden pasts, and the complexities of seeking justice when the truth is mired in lies, manipulation, and the shadow of old crimes. The civil trial verdict provides the Schwartz family with a measure of closure, but the lingering suspicion—and Rebecca’s continued freedom—suggests that some mysteries forever haunt those left behind.

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Transcript

[A]

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[A]

It done tonight on Dateline. You think you can find your dentist? I don't think we can yet. She just said your father's been shot. A massacre. It was just a puddle of blood. This is a horrific way that he died. You're not to blame for any of this. This is a horrible incident that has happened to you and your family.

[B]

Did you have any suspects?

[A]

It's always nearest and dearest. Ben had quite the criminal history. I'm really nervous about talking to you guys. There was DNA there that brought our attention to Leo. I've been framed. Somehow I've been framed.

[B]

A story broke that totally stunned me. There was a very big secret that your dad had.

[A]

Yes. He never talked to me about it.

[B]

As they say, follow the money.

[A]

Everything kind of started lining up.

[B]

It's like all the bells went off. That is it.

[A]

Talk about karma. A story of secrets. Suspects had them, loved ones had them. And the victim, he had a whopper. I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here is Blaine Alexander. With the death of Dr. Schwartz.

[B]

It took love and dreams and lots of money to create the sprawling home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. A place to celebrate, to relax, think about the future. I would imagine with your dad, obviously, having a house on the water. Was water special to him.

[A]

He loves water. Yeah, it was. This was sort of his dream of a retirement home.

[B]

That is, until one night when his father's wife came home from a dinner party and everything changed. It was May 28, 2014. Hi, my name is Rebecca Schwartz.

[A]

Somebody.

[B]

I just walked into my house and somebody robbed my house. Her bedroom was a mess. Drawers pulled out, watch boxes all over the floor. My husband's watches are gone, my jewelry's gone, our cash is gone.

[A]

Okay. Can you go back outside for me? Yes, sir. Okay.

[B]

I'm gonna stay on the phone with you.

[A]

Okay. When were you in the house last?

[B]

I left about 8:30 this morning.

[A]

Okay. And my husband was still on bed reading paper, but I haven't spoke with him today. He's a physician, so I don't know where he is actually. He's one of the hospitals, I assume. Okay. What color is your house, do you know, with the outside?

[B]

Well, I will tell you this, it's.

[A]

Probably the biggest house in Tarpon.

[B]

She wasn't kidding. The home was nearly 8,000 square feet with a tennis court, a pool and its own dock.

[A]

I cannot believe this. Yeah, that's unfortunate. This is crazy. As the dispatch gave more and more information, it piqued my curiosity.

[B]

Sergeant Scott Brockw arrived a few minutes later. One look at the big house told him it would take more manpower to check all four stories. So he called in the K9 units.

[A]

I explained to them what we had and they said, yeah, no problem, we'll go in.

[B]

But in less than a minute, he.

[A]

Had called to me both verbally and on the radio to come inside. He had one down.

[B]

What does that mean?

[A]

Well, unfortunately, it meant that they had a deceased person inside the house.

[B]

Braque found the body at the bottom of a short flight of stairs that led to the garage.

[A]

And that's where the victim's body was discovered, was on the floor there. It was pretty graphic.

[B]

Could you tell what had happened?

[A]

Well, on its face, it didn't appear that this was an accident. And it was one of the few times that I actually felt like this is. This is a little spooky. There was something that just hit me that day. The size of the house. Once we found the victim, I'm like, this is really going off the rails here.

[B]

This is so far from what you expected, right? And just like that, the case had moved, morphed from burglary to homicide. Or maybe it was both. More police arrived, including Detective John Dieble, who headed straight for the victim. As you looked at him, could you tell what had happened?

[A]

I could see that he had had a laceration across his neck, rather large one, in fact.

[B]

The victim was cut multiple times.

[A]

I'm noticing that there's lacerations on top of his head, small ones. I looked at the back of his neck and I could see where he clearly had been shot with a small caliber round.

[B]

You see a cut on his neck. Cut on his head. And Gunshot?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There was a lot done to this man.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Did this look like something that had just happened?

[A]

No. You could tell by the condition of the blood that it was starting to dry. Some of it had already dried. So he had been there for most of the day.

[B]

The investigators found the victim's ID. Rebecca's husband, husband, Dr. Stephen Schwartz, wasn't working at some hospital. He was the man lying dead at the bottom of those stairs. Now, they had to break the news to Rebecca. And she had initially thought, okay, this is a burglary, and I just can't reach my husband. Now she's being told he's dead inside.

[A]

Right. She put her face in her hands and just started to sob.

[B]

The next day at the police station, Rebecca was still distraught.

[A]

90% of the time. 90% of the time, he leaves before me. I always.

[B]

I mean, I'm usually the last one.

[A]

Out because he likes to get a tumble in the hospital. Then I'm out having dinner. That makes me seem like a terrible wife. I don't even know where my husband is. That's not true. You're not to blame for any of this situation. This is a horrible incident that has happened to you and your family.

[B]

And at the autopsy, the medical examiner recovered portions of two.22 caliber slugs. Armed with that information, the detectives started to develop a theory about the final moments of Stephen Schwartz's life. So this is not the actual staircase where the crime happened or the same house, but it gives us an idea of what happened that day.

[A]

Yes. Yes.

[B]

Okay, so walk me through what, what you believe happened.

[A]

I believe he was at the top of the stairs when he was shot in the back of the neck, which would have caused him to fall down the stairs. He had broken his vertebrae, so he was paralyzed from the waist down. He couldn't move.

[B]

That's when he was shot in the head. But it was more of a surface wound. He was still alive?

[A]

Yes, he was still alive.

[B]

Dieble believes the doctor was awake and helpless as the killer finished him off with that cut to the neck.

[A]

That would have accounted for all the blood that we could see.

[B]

It was a lot to take in. A cruel killing, a grieving widow.

[A]

You think you could find your dentist? I don't think we can. Yeah.

[B]

And as detectives would soon learn, a case and a family with plenty of secrets.

[A]

The crime scene look staged to make it look like a burglary gone bad.

[B]

After he was murdered, a story broke in the papers that totally stunned me.

[A]

I would have never, ever in my.

[B]

Life thought I'd run into somebody that could be this devastating to the family. As forensic teams combed through the palatial home of Rebecca And Stephen Schwartz, Dr. Schwartz's son Carter was half a world away. He was heading back home from a trip to Asia. Well, sneaking back. His father didn't know about the trip.

[A]

He was always pushing me to study more and travel less, so I didn't tell him I was going.

[B]

Typical dad. Carter is Steven's son from a previous relationship. He was 24 and had just applied to medical school, ready to follow in his dad's footsteps. He says his father was thrilled.

[A]

My dad said he would not only pay for med school, would pay for every living expense, everything. It would have been the happiest check he ever wrote in his life.

[B]

Carter was nervous as he awaited the acceptance letter. But his dad never had a doubt.

[A]

And he's like, yeah, they're gonna get you a letter. Just call me when it happens.

[B]

He was in Taiwan when he got.

[A]

The good news and I got the acceptance, and I tried to call him. He didn't answer. So I catch the flight at the connecting airport. I think it was Tokyo. Try to call him again. No answer.

[B]

He finally arrived in the US and that's when his world fell apart.

[A]

And I remember landing, turning my phone on, and my mother calling me, bawling that my father had been shot.

[B]

Carter was stunned. Stephen Schwartz was a good father and a great physician. For people who never had a chance to meet your dad, how would you describe him?

[A]

I couldn't really have asked for a better father or a better mentor, seeing how kind and generous he was with his patients and how patient he was with nurses, and just kind to everybody he came into contact with.

[B]

Stephen Schwartz was a nephrologist, a kidney doctor with a thriving practice. He was 74 and had three kids. Carter and two other children, a son and a daughter from a previous marriage. Tell me about your dad and his interests. What did he love to do other than, of course, practicing medicine?

[A]

I mean, that was truly his love was medicine. You know, he was very much into baseball. He loved the Rays and always wanted to go to those games.

[B]

The Tampa Bay Rays. He had season tickets you would have loved. Dr. Schwartz. Absolutely loved him. Helen Como ran his dialysis center for years. He had a good sense of humor, a big heart, very caring. For example, if there was a patient or a family that was struggling financially, he would help them out, and he would always take his time with them, not just from a physical standpoint, but just to see how they're doing what's going on. But Dr. Schwartz also had a little bit of an edge.

[A]

He just had a way of making.

[B]

Jokes about things and not only to me, but with others.

[A]

And one of his favorite expressions was, what do you have for brains?

[B]

Police learned Stephen met Rebecca in the late 90s. She was divorced with two sons. They started dating and it wouldn't be long before Rebecca was working at the clinic and then running it altogether. Fourteen years after they met, they got married. Family friends told detectives Rebecca catered to Stephen's every need. And it all seemed to work. He had a helpmate at home and at the office. Not every couple can work together. It sounds like they both just kind of found a lane where they excelled and were able to do that in the practice.

[A]

Yeah, for sure, you know. Dr. Schwartz wanted to concentrate on taking care of his patients. Becky was financially motivated and she was all about, you know, kind of making decisions.

[B]

Eventually, this man, Kyle Smithee, took over the clinic's day to day operations. But Rebecca still helped out. What was her working relationship life with Rebecca?

[A]

We got along well. We spent a good amount of time together outside of the clinic as well.

[B]

She would often invite Kyle to join her for drinks and dinner.

[A]

She's one of the most fun people to be around and so engaging and just kind of. She had this real unique ability when talking to you to really make you feel like seen and heard and just an energy about her that she wanted to quite frankly be around.

[B]

She was 20 years younger than her husband. But Carter says his father had his own kind of youthful energy. He remembers reading a story about his dad after he was gone.

[A]

The one that I think would have brought him joy was the article that said a 50 year old man was found dead. I kind of laugh now thinking my 74 year old father would have been loved. Loved being described as the 50 year old man.

[B]

As detectives learned more about Stephen Schwartz, they had a hard time finding anyone who had it out for him.

[A]

Dr. Swartz couldn't find one person to say a bad word about him. Just nothing but good things. Good doctor cared about his patients. Half the time he wouldn't even charge people.

[B]

A kindly doctor killed in the worst possible way. Maybe his wife would help solve the mystery.

[A]

No, I'm not. You're okay. When work gets crazy, I like to stop by the bar after, have a few cold ones. I don't drink at all until 4 o'. Clock. We limit ourselves to one bottle of wine a night. Excessive drinking has a way of sneaking up on us. A few drinks, a few nights a week, it can add up. And suddenly we're at greater risk for long term problems like heart disease, cancer and depression. Reason enough to rethink to Drink [e-mail] NoHE Initiative looking to crack the code on your career? Well, maybe it's time to get your degree. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 programs you can complete online. No set class times means you can do it all on your schedule. And with some of the lowest online tuition rates in the US they make getting your degree affordable too. Get started at snhu. Edu Dateline. That's snhu. Edu Dateline.

[B]

Some stories never make national headlines, but stories from small towns and coastal communities deserve recognition too. You I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark.

[A]

Down East, a true crime podcast that.

[B]

Gives voice to victims through investigative journalism and powerful storytelling.

[A]

Set in my home state of Maine.

[B]

And the greater New England area, it's my goal to dig through the archives to bring the stories of the people at the heart of these cases to light. Listen to Dark down east wherever you get your podcasts. The day after the murder, the crime scene offered investigators a wealth of information. Steven's exact time of death was difficult to pinpoint, but his clothes suggested he was killed that morning.

[A]

He was dressed in a suit, had a kind of a light yellow shirt on, but no tie.

[B]

Sounds like he looked like somebody who was going to work.

[A]

He was going to work.

[B]

While investigators continued to search every inch of that house, detectives were trying to find out what Rebecca knew.

[A]

No, I'm not. You're okay. The questions I have a couple of them maybe seem a little unnecessary or even invasive.

[B]

She talked about the good times with her late husband.

[A]

How long have you guys been married?

[B]

Actually got married in 2010, but we've.

[A]

Been together since 1996.

[B]

Took me a while and mentioned a past failed marriage.

[A]

I got burned. We were married 10 years. And when that didn't work out, it was kind of like, wow, you know, back then. Schwartz is awesome. He's 20 years older than me, but.

[B]

He kind of grounds me. My best bud, you know, that's the.

[A]

Way you referred to me. We're best friends.

[B]

She was, for the most part, calm as she answered questions about her whereabouts that day.

[A]

What I'm trying to do now is just establish everybody routine for the day.

[B]

Rebecca repeated what she said on her 911 call, that when she left the house around 8:30, Stephen was still in bed reading the paper. She added, he was scheduled to start his hospital rounds later that morning. Her day started with errands. I stopped at Publix. She said she also went to the cleaners and the gas station before heading to work.

[A]

And she was able to provide receipts from every place where she went. Poly left around 6ish.

[B]

After work, Rebecca hosted a birthday party for their good friend and handyman, a guy named Leo. Straw guy.

[A]

I stopped at Total wine and got birthday gift, you know, for Leo.

[B]

She said she didn't really worry when her husband was a no show at the party.

[A]

Did you just assume he got busy, Got tied up? If he's able to, he'll call me, right? Then if he's with a patient or whatever.

[B]

The thing is, you know, if he's.

[A]

Busy on the phone, whatever it is, he kind of forgets about me and doesn't call me back. And, I mean, it happens more times probably than not.

[B]

She seemed to be looking forward to the future and a long vacation they were planning.

[A]

I planned out what we were doing with this six month cruise around the world. Making him retire finally.

[B]

Keep saying, no, you gotta retire. We got the stuff we gotta do. The doctor certainly could have retired. Between his booming practice and dozens of rental homes he owned, Stephen Schwartz was worth millions. So it was no surprise he had an elaborate security system back at the house. That was one of the first things investigators noticed.

[A]

Of course, you can see the surveillance cameras on all corners of the house.

[B]

And you notice that immediately?

[A]

Yep, absolutely.

[B]

You're thinking optimistically, like, okay, we should have video. This should help us kind of bring this to a close pretty quickly.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So you all start to search the house, looking for the footage. What do you find?

[A]

Well, the DVR was missing.

[B]

The DVR that connected to the security system. So no video at all. A setback, certainly, but also a clue, because that video recording equipment was hidden away in a small closet above the garage. What does that tell you?

[A]

It's an inside job. Someone within the family, known to the family. It's been to the house before, knew where that monitor, knew where the DVR.

[B]

Was and knew their dogs. Rebecca said they'd been closed inside the bedroom all day. The same bedroom where the burglary happened.

[A]

The supposed burglars went into the room where the two very large dogs were and had no issues with these dogs. One of them was a Brazilian Mastiff, over £100. I mean, these are not friendly dogs to people who don't know them.

[B]

And when Detective Dieble looked around the bedroom, he thought something else was off.

[A]

There was several drawers in the bedroom that were pulled out, but it didn't look like anything had been gone through in these drawers. And the drawers were pulled out evenly. And then the boxes. There's some jewelry boxes, watch boxes laying in the floor of the master closet. And it just looked like someone just dropped them. The crime scene looked staged to make it look like a. Like a burglary gone bad.

[B]

The police told Rebecca their theory that the killer wasn't a stranger, but someone who knew the family and the house quite well.

[A]

I'm saying someone that you know, that that dog knows came in that house today. They came in for a reason, to possibly take some stuff, and then something else happened. You understand what I'm saying? That's. That's what we're trying to find out here today. You think you can find your dentist? I think we can, yeah.

[B]

Investigators were looking for someone close to the family and someone who had spent a lot of time at the house. It sounds like his fingerprints are literally all over the crime scene.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Detectives were just a few days into the murder investigation of Dr. Stephen Schwartz when they caught their first big break. A match on some of the fingerprints they'd found at the crime scene. They belonged to Rebecca's oldest son, 33 year old Eric Nichols, whose prints were on file because he had previously been arrested for driving with a suspended license. Eric lived near Portage, Wisconsin, owned a Verizon store there. He was married with a baby on the way.

[A]

His fingerprints come back to the areas that. That were processed by the crime scene.

[B]

Technicians, including a door to the garage close to Stephen Schwartz's body. The door appeared to have been forced open.

[A]

His prints were there. His prints were upstairs in the monitor where the DVR was. And also his prints were on some of the jewelry boxes in the master bedroom.

[B]

So the forensic evidence comes back and.

[A]

Points right at him as being the number one suspect now. So I get a team of detectives and we go up to Wisconsin to interview Eric. We walked into the store. We did this unannounced. So I just need. We're talking to all the family members. Oh, yeah. It's a murder case. I understand. I'll fully cooperate in your DNA or whatever. When was the last time you rode the house? I flew home to my grandfather's birthday party. I flew down April 6th, and then I drove back on like the 8th. So I'm sure I was at the house at some point in time between those days.

[B]

That was almost two months before the murder. And Eric said he hadn't been to Florida since. Did you confront him and say, sir, we have your fingerprints all over this crime scene.

[A]

I did ask him, would you find fingerprints in the monitor room? And he goes, yeah, you might, because I. I've been up there before, so my prints could be there. Could they be on the door? Well, I did take out the trash back in April. My fingerprints could be there. I said, what about on your mom's jewelry box? No, absolutely not. My prince should not be there. So I'm thinking, well, yeah, well, they are.

[B]

They are.

[A]

So we were going to maybe do a second interview, but we started 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 through the doctor and through video that showed his coming and goings at the Verizon store both the day before and the day of the homicide.

[B]

So he was absolutely in Wisconsin.

[A]

He was in Wisconsin.

[B]

Does that kind of take the wind out of your investigative sails?

[A]

It does, it does. But you just keep plugging away. Just following up on leads over the.

[B]

Course of those kind of first few days after the doctor's murder. Ballpark, how many people would you say that you interviewed?

[A]

We talked to. I don't. Had to be at least 50 people. CO workers, you know, other family members, neighbors.

[B]

And they talked to Rebecca's other son, 28 year old Ben Nichols, who lived in Florida near his mom and stepdad.

[A]

Who would want to hurt this guy? Nobody, man, nobody. He didn't have any enemies, this guy. I mean, he wouldn't hurt anybody. You know what I mean? He's a good doctor.

[B]

He's a good man, good husband. Ben worked on some of the Schwartz's properties and had a landscaping business. But Detective Dieble had learned something else about him.

[A]

He had actually broken into a previous residence, Dr. Swarth, about five years before the murder.

[B]

He stole his mother's jewelry and Steven's watches, then pawned them.

[A]

And you orchestrated some kind of a burglary at your mom's house? Yeah, I was. I was all up on pills, man. So he had actually broke into the house to steal. Steal items to support his drug habit, but not in for the last couple years. He seemed to be doing better.

[B]

He kind of straightened himself out.

[A]

Straightened himself out? Yeah. Did you get any time for that or probation or did your drug court or. Oh, yeah, man. I went to a drug program. I was on probation.

[B]

And it seemed Stephen had always embraced him.

[A]

I've been in a lot of trouble, and the guy has never raised his voice at me. One time I'VE never heard him raise his voice to my mom. I've never heard him raise his voice, period.

[B]

Ben said on the morning of the murder he was laying flooring in another county.

[A]

So you were telling me that you left your house at approximately, you said, between 7:30 and 8:30am yeah. Okay. And you're in Pasco county at your wife's brother's house?

[B]

Yeah, in the afternoon. He worked on his landscaping business.

[A]

He was pretty forthright in the information that he gave. He also had a receipt of where he rented some lawn equipment for the day.

[B]

They spoke to people who worked with him and confirmed. Confirmed his story. And at the crime scene, his prints were nowhere to be found. Did you ever rule him out completely?

[A]

No, no. There's always ways around because we can never tell when a doctor actually died.

[B]

So he was still on your radar.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Police learned a lot about Ben and Eric and how close they were to their mom, Rebecca.

[A]

I knew Eric and Ben much better than I knew Carter because they were in the clinic more often when we would go and, you know, have happy hour or something like that. Eric and Becky were very close, very close.

[B]

But Ben's problems often put him on the outs.

[A]

We'd go through these kind of phases where he was sort of ostracized, and after a period of time, you know, he'd be back around.

[B]

But if Rebecca was conflicted about her youngest son, the same could not be said about another man in her life. A kind of surrogate son. You became close with the Schwartzes pretty quickly?

[A]

Yeah, very, very close.

[B]

Police were convinced the killer was someone close to Stephen and Rebecca. They had looked at Rebecca, Rebecca's two sons, and they soon learned about another man who was close to her and knew the family and the house well. Leo. Straw guy. How did Leo come to be on your radar in the sense of someone to talk to?

[A]

Well, he had been in the house several times. He worked with them, so he was well known to both Rebecca and Dr. Schwartz. The handyman, he didn't like to be called ever. Yeah.

[B]

What did he like to be called?

[A]

Well, he. Because we refer to him as handyman, and he would tell me, I'm not a handyman. He does construction. The house that Dr. Schwartz and Rebecca lived in, he had helped remodel. And they had, like, 30 other properties that he would maintain and remodel and take care of.

[B]

It had been a long journey from Leo's home country of Albania to Tarpon Springs, Florida. How did you come to live in Florida?

[A]

Well, I left my country When I was a little kid, I was 14 years old when I left. I went to Greece. Then I went all over Europe, a little bit in Canada. Then in the beginning of 2000, I was in Detroit.

[B]

He lived there with his cousin. One cold winter day, he decided he was ready to see a warmer part of America.

[A]

I tell him, man, I just bought a convertible car. Let's drive to Florida. And soon as I reached that bridge in Tampa Bay, I told my cousin, listen, I'm gonna live in Florida. I'm never, never going back to Michigan.

[B]

Leo started working odd jobs at first, then remodeling houses, and eventually Rebecca Schwartz hired him to help maintain their many rental homes. Tell me your first impressions of Rebecca. What did you first think of her when you met her?

[A]

She's a great lady. Very wild.

[B]

Wild?

[A]

Yeah, very wild. Like, okay, let's do this now. We'll buy 30 houses in one week.

[B]

So very spontaneous.

[A]

Yeah, let's do this. Let's grow the business.

[B]

Rebecca was also generous. She bought Leo and his wife a house and a truck.

[A]

She started calling me son or, like, I would go to every occasion party or, you know, they had.

[B]

So you all. You became close with the Schwartzes pretty quickly?

[A]

Yeah, very, very close.

[B]

Whatever the label. Handyman, contractor, surrogate son.

[A]

Have a seat right there.

[B]

About two weeks after the murder, Detective Diebull asked Leo to come in for a chat.

[A]

How long have you known the Swartz? Probably four years or so. Four years? All right, maybe a little more, but close. Four years, I think. How'd you get to know them? Through a customer of mine.

[B]

Leo said he wanted to help police any way he could.

[A]

He was very friendly, very cooperative, wouldn't hold anything back. Who do you think is involved? Who do you think did it? It's really hard. I mean, to be honest, we all scratch in our head, like the detectives.

[B]

Leo thought it had to be someone close to Dr. Schwartz.

[A]

Somebody who knows me, who knows them. I know somebody who knows us. Probably shaved my head every day. And whoever did this needs to be arrested and put in jail for the rest of her life. Wouldn't you say so? Oh. Oh, my God. Arrested death penalty right away. Yeah, it should. It should. I mean, not him. Come on. Not him. It was done for money. Get the money. Please don't. Right? Don't do this.

[B]

And Leo said he would never harm the doctor.

[A]

I already really lied to you a lot. He goes. He lied to you, respected you because you were a hard worker. Oh, my God. He loves me. That. That guy was. He Took care of my everything, my family. I mean, basically, they supported my family. Not paying him, you know. Yeah, he was a very giving and kind guy. Every time I saw him. Sit down. Hey, Leo, sit down. Because I have a problem with my knee. And all the time he grabs my knee and fix it.

[B]

They asked Leo the same question they'd asked everyone. Where was he on the day of the murder? At home, Leo said. Then at a work site.

[A]

And what time did you get there that day? Maybe nine. Close to nine. Nine something, maybe. I don't know.

[B]

And so he said that he was working on a house all day and was nowhere near the Schwartz home. And that night, he was the birthday boy at that party Rebecca hosted for him. He turned 37.

[A]

They got a little birthday cake. They brought some gifts.

[B]

Just your basic birthday dinner.

[A]

Yeah, just. It's simple. And now just, you know.

[B]

Police were able to verify his story. Leo answered their questions and gave a DNA sample. As you talked to him, did he seem to wonder why he was there?

[A]

No, no, he just. He goes, no, just know that we're doing our job, talking to everybody.

[B]

And involved investigators were hitting a wall. Months went by with few answers. Then new information came out. It would change everything. They thought they knew about the doctor, what he did. It was horrific. Was Dr. Schwartz's murder payback for something that happened decades before? Every mystery has an answer, but some have way more than one possibility.

[A]

I'm Yvette Gentile.

[B]

And I'm her sister, Racha Pecorero. Every week on our podcast, so Supernatural, we invite you to explore the unknown and to consider the many theories behind each unsolved mystery. We'll guide you as you question the world you think you know. Through investigations into spine chilling hauntings, unexplainable encounters, strange disappearances, and so much more. So if you're ready to be haunted by stories of the unsolved and of the unknown, listen if you dare to. So Supernatural. Every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts, I turned off news altogether.

[A]

I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait.

[B]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[A]

If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America. Hey, guys, Willie Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with one of the funniest people in Hollywood, Judd Apatow. The director of all those hilarious movies.

[B]

And the author of a new book.

[A]

About his life in comedy. You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts.

[B]

Seven months after the murder, Helen Como was reading the newspaper when she saw a jaw dropping headline about her boss, Dr. Schwartz. After he was murdered, a story broke in the papers that totally stunned me.

[A]

Shocking doesn't even begin to describe it.

[B]

The article focused on a different murder 50 years earlier in Hobbs, New Mexico, home to a remarkable sculpture dedicated to people who served in the military. People like Victor Cook, a local dentist who served in the army in World War II. James Cecil knew him well. In your 93 years, Mr. Cecil, you've seen a lot of things.

[A]

I've seen a whole lot.

[B]

But what happened to Dr. Cook, will you ever forget that?

[A]

Oh, no, I'll never forget it. It's. It's just been sort of part of my life. He went to Baylor.

[B]

Susan Nutting is Dr. Cook's niece. This is his dental class.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Oh, my goodness.

[A]

Right here.

[B]

Uncle Doc, right there. Susan says her uncle was a generous man and known to carry a lot of cash.

[A]

If someone needed some money, he'd give it to him.

[B]

But he'd pull out this as money. He would pull it out and anyone who was standing around could see it's a lot of money he's got there. Someone had their eyes on that money. It was November 21, 1961. In the middle of the day, a 21 year old college student walked into the doctor's office. He was carrying a.25 caliber Beretta.

[A]

And that's when Uncle Doc turned around.

[B]

And he said, saw this gun on him. And he told him, put that thing.

[A]

Away and go home. Cook told him, he said, I'm not giving you my money. He pushed him back and said, turn around. He said, no, I'm not turning around.

[B]

And my uncle evidently told him. He said, no, I want to be.

[A]

Facing you when you shoot me. And they got in the scuffle and the gun went off and it hit him. The blood was coming out of his head. Uncle Doc fell. The shooter pushed him under his desk. And then he took his billfold and left out the back door.

[B]

Dr. Cook was dead. Robbed of $400. Who killed Dr. Cook? What was his name?

[A]

Stephen Schwartz. We found out it was a man named Stephen Schwartz.

[B]

Stephen Schwartz, the man who became a beloved doctor who also gave money to those in need, was a murderer. While he did confess, it was never clear why he needed the money. He's sentenced to life in Prison. But a decade later, 1971, he's released on parole. What did you think?

[A]

Well, how could this be? How could he already be out? Who came up with this idea?

[B]

You know, for reasons unknown, the governor of New Mexico granted Stephen Schwartz a full pardon. He moved to Italy, earned his medical degree, then came back to the US to start his practice. Helen Como had always wondered about that career path. I would read the degrees that were on his office wall, and I was kind of curious as to why he became a doctor so late in life. He even kept his own son in the dark. There was a very big secret that your dad had.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And now you're faced with learning this.

[A]

I am. I remember the phone call. My mother told me about it. And it's going to come out and you're going to find out, you know, he did what he did. He never talked to me about it.

[B]

This is your dad loving, generous, loving you. But on the other hand, he's a murderer. How do you wrap your mind around those two things? As a son.

[A]

It'S difficult. It's something that I wish him and I could have talked about, but I don't think it was in his nature.

[B]

When news of Dr. Schwartz's murder made its way back to Susan Nutting, she didn't know how to feel about the fact that her uncle's killer met the same fate.

[A]

Talk about karma. I hope he had become a good person. So I don't want to say I.

[B]

I'm glad he was murdered.

[A]

I don't want to say that I don't feel that.

[B]

But still you look at that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you feel that that's karma.

[A]

Yeah. They say what goes around comes around sometimes.

[B]

Now, police wanted to know, was Dr. Schwartz's murder an act of revenge for a decades old crime? As soon as I heard that, it's like all the bells went off. It was like that. Is it? So the secret was out. The late Stephen Schwartz was himself a convicted killer. And people just had to wonder.

[A]

There had been something floated that, oh, this is connected to his New Mexico thing when he was a young man.

[B]

As soon as I heard that, it's like all the bells went off.

[A]

It was like that is was rather shocking because they know that he committed a murder. Did not seem to be in his character.

[B]

You know, with your investigative hat on, you hear this, that he committed a murder years ago. Are you thinking maybe this is in some way connected? Maybe it's someone coming back to seek retribution.

[A]

Right. I pretty much ruled that out right away. What had been like 50 years ago. So it'd been a long time ago. His character now was unapproached, you know, it was impeccable.

[B]

Almost like this was a completely different man from back then.

[A]

He definitely somebody turned their life around.

[B]

Once investigators were sure there was no connection to that decades old crime, the search for a killer killer continued. They interviewed dozens of people and were eventually able to clear Rebecca's son Ben. Unfortunately, they had taken DNA from everyone they could think of. Fortunate because a lab tech spotted something in a crime scene photo that seemed at first kind of innocuous.

[A]

Well, he noticed that the. The doctor's shirt, he was worn that was crumpled around the chest area as.

[B]

If someone had grabbed it because.

[A]

Let's do some touch DNA and air and see what we come up with.

[B]

They also swabbed his pants pocket where Stephen usually carried a wad of cash. Almost a year after the murder, those DNA results came back. They got a match. It wasn't perfect, but it was awfully close to one person. That person was Leo. Straw guy.

[A]

His touch DNA was on the shirt and on that right pocket. I'm sorry, it's kind of this Leo.

[B]

They arrested Leo and he swore, insisted he was innocent.

[A]

I've been framed. Somehow I've been framed. I don't know how you guys supposed to figure it out. Well, we believe we did figure it out. We found your DNA, okay, on part of the crime scene that you had to be there and touch that area and have been involved with this doctor's death, okay? There's no freaking way. It's my DNA and his body. There is no way in hell my DNA will be in his body.

[B]

This went on for an hour and a half. They took a break and when they came back, Leo had a new story to tell. And the star of that story was his dear friend Rebecca.

[A]

She came to my house that day, early in the morning.

[B]

Leo said it was the day of the murder.

[A]

What time do you remember? Well, I don't know. Was 6:37. I don't know, it was very early. She said, I need you to do me favor.

[B]

She said, I need you to do me a favor.

[A]

Yes, she said, I had an offer me and to Stephen. And I left my bag over there. I need to go to pick up my bag, please.

[B]

Leo said he did as he was asked. But when he got to the house, he found Dr. Schwartz lying in a pool of blood.

[A]

When I see his face, I saw blood and grabbed and shaked him. Okay, I saw more blood. Why did you grab onto him just to see if he's okay. I mean, Jesus Christ, he's the doctor, Schwartz. He wasn't my doctor for years and years and years, and he was the best man I know. He was the best man I know. You didn't go touch anything else on his person, go into any of his pockets or anything? No, no. Hell, no, I wouldn't go into his pockets.

[B]

Leo said he saw a leather bag.

[A]

On the kitchen counter, open it up, see some jewelry boxes in the end, and a knife.

[B]

Knife?

[A]

Yeah. Was a knife in there at that time, did you think Rebecca was involved in something? Of course. Why'd you think that? Because she sent me. Purposely. She sent me right there.

[B]

He said he grabbed the bag and sped back to Rebecca.

[A]

I just pulled in and started screaming right away, cussing out, why did you do this? Why you put me through this? What the hell did you do?

[B]

Why?

[A]

Why did you kill Dr. Schwartz?

[B]

What is she saying? Is she just looking at you at.

[A]

First, saying nothing, and then she started like, you know why I did it, you know, and started screaming.

[B]

She said, you know why I did it?

[A]

Yeah, you know why I did it?

[B]

Leo said he didn't call the police because he was afraid of being deported. Plus, Rebecca owed him tens of thousands of dollars from an investment they'd made together.

[A]

And she said, if you say a word, you're never going to see house money or nothing. I'm thinking. Also, Immigration told me, any involvement with the police, we're going to deport you right away. The biggest mistake all my life is not calling the police. That day, did you go to any.

[B]

Other parts of the house?

[A]

No, I didn't know. Not one step.

[B]

Leo said his day got even worse, ending at that birthday party that night, hosted by Rebecca. You were sitting there at that dinner, and you knew that a person that you loved, that had giving you and your family an opportunity, was lying dead at the bottom of stairs, and you still pushed through that celebration. How did you sit through that?

[A]

It was.

[B]

How could you?

[A]

Yeah, it was painful. It was really painful.

[B]

How was she acting that night?

[A]

She was tips issues, loose like always.

[B]

Did she seem stressed, upset?

[A]

Not at all. And this is the last time I ever saw her again.

[B]

During your interrogation, police asked you if you had any knowledge of the murder, if you had been there. And you swore on your mother's life you weren't at the house. You swore on your child's life that you knew nothing about it, and that was not true. That was a lie.

[A]

Well, I know that.

[B]

Are you telling me the truth right now.

[A]

I am. I am telling the truth now. I have no reason to lie about it. You didn't force me to give this interview. Nobody forced me.

[B]

I want to ask you directly, Leo, did you kill Dr. Stephen Schwartz?

[A]

Actually, no.

[B]

Did you have anything to do with trying to cover up his murder?

[A]

No. The only thing. Like I said, grab that bag. And didn't call the police. That was the only thing I had to do with that murder.

[B]

Police still didn't think Leo was telling them everything. 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.

[A]

Wasn't worried about the doctor he supposedly loved and cared for. He was worried about getting his money.

[B]

And you think that was his motivation? Yes.

[A]

His motivation for the actual committing the murder. I think he went there thinking that the doctor was already dead. But when he got there, the doctor did see him. Now he's got to cover his tracks. He can let the doctor live.

[B]

Dieble also thought Leo was the one who delivered that fatal slash to the doctor's neck. They charged him with first degree murder. After they were done with Leo, police let his wife come into the room.

[A]

Okay, you need. Right now. Right now. I know you didn't kill him. I know you did not kill him. That I know. But I knew. Did you. Did they made you clean up? Did she had something on you? Tell me the truth, honey. Honey, tell me. Did she made you clean up or something? You need to tell me her truth. We need to make sure. If there was two presents.

[B]

She, of course, is Rebecca. And as it turned out, since the very beginning, Rebecca had been at the top of nearly everyone's suspect list.

[A]

I think that she's the one with means, motive, and opportunity to have done this.

[B]

I'm Julio Vaqueiro, anchor of Noticia's Telemundo. You can watch Dateline, the hit true crime series on Telemundo. And now you can listen to Daedeline as a podcast. Stories of love and betrayal, of secrets revealed of the men and women who stand between evil and justice. Every twist and turn can now be heard in Spanish, with new mysteries arriving every week. Just search Dateline en Espanol wherever you.

[A]

Get your podcasts and start listening.

[B]

For Carter Schwartz, it's impossible to look at this stunning house and feel anything but sadness.

[A]

You know, obviously, knowing what happened there makes it difficult to come back.

[B]

On the Anclo river in front of his dad's old home, Carter talked about his father's murder. And the man accused of killing him, Leo Straga, you said that you believe that police partially got it right and.

[A]

That he was involved somewhat. I'm not saying he. He was without blame in any of this, but certainly the lion's share of blame and the actual act itself of taking my father's life, I don't think rests on Leo's shoulders.

[B]

Carter believes someone else either killed his dad, orchestrated the murder, or both. That person, he says, was his stepmother, Rebecca.

[A]

I think that she's the one with means, motive, and opportunity to have done this.

[B]

In Carter's mind, it came down to one reason. Money. Rebecca knew she would inherit every dime of her husband's millions.

[A]

She got so greedy and so sure of herself that she was taking just immense sums of money. And I think my father had finally gotten wise to it. I think that he was finally fed up with being played for the fool.

[B]

He says Rebecca was secretly spending a fortune on her two sons, Ben and Eric, paying for their lavish weddings and buying them homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[A]

She was telling my father, oh, they got a mortgage. They got all this. They got this. And I remember my father's comment was, they couldn't have a mortgage. They don't have two nickels to rub together.

[B]

So about a year before his dad's death, Carter and his wife did their own investigation.

[A]

We had gone to the online property appraiser, which is all public record, and we typed in the addresses, and sure enough, they were in her children's name with no mortgage and free and clear titles. And we showed my dad that.

[B]

You've got literal receipts showing him this?

[A]

Yes. And then that's when he says, I have business to take care of at home. Never told me what he did about it. Never told me anything.

[B]

Carter pleaded with his dad to get a financial expert and figure out what was going on.

[A]

He refused to hire a forensic accountant. He said, I'm not throwing good money after bad.

[B]

So he said, why waste the time trying to chase it down, right?

[A]

And at this point, it's very clear he knows something is going on. I told him, I said, dad, you got to leave. He didn't give me an answer one way or another.

[B]

So you told him, you got to divorce this woman?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Detective dieble discovered that along with buying her sons homes and paying for their weddings, Rebecca had given her sons hundreds of thousands of dollars more to start their own businesses.

[A]

There was a lot of moving of money around of the doctors, not to Carter, to Rebecca's two sons.

[B]

When you Say, moving money. What do you mean?

[A]

Kind of under the radar. Without the doctor's knowledge, she funded a Verizon cell phone shop in Portage, Wisconsin, for her first son, a brewery for Ben, and some other businesses that had failed.

[B]

It was a stark contrast to how Carter says Rebecca treated him over the years. Between the two of you, there was never loving stepmother vibes. After his father's murder, Carter says Rebecca cut him off financially, like when he asked for some help to pay for med school.

[A]

I had gotten the acceptance letter to med school the day he died. And you have whatever it was, 10 days, two weeks, something to go down and give him a check to hold your spa. Fifteen hundred dollars. I sent her a text, and I said, hey, they need a deposit. Can you help me? And the reply back was, you need to get a job. I don't know what we're doing.

[B]

So she refused to give you the money?

[A]

Refused to give me $1,500 to hold my spot at med school. This is terrible. But she'd always refer to Carter as the bastard. And she'd come in as the bastard. The bastard.

[B]

There was a time when Kyle Smithee liked Rebecca Schwartz. But as the years went by, his opinion changed as he watched her verbally attack Steven's son and then Steven himself in the worst possible way.

[A]

One of her kind of go to lines was always, I could just kill him. I could just kill him. And just the look on her face and just how frustrated. And she just, like, would physically, you know, kind of alter and just so angry.

[B]

What was she mad about?

[A]

It could be anything from, you know, having handed out money to patients to, you know, having written a small check to Carter.

[B]

That's why on the very night the doctor was murdered, Kyle believed Rebecca was involved.

[A]

I call and she answers, and she sounds tired. I said, becky, what's. What's going on? And she says, well, they can't confirm it's him. They won't let me in the house. But we know it's him.

[B]

Kyle had an immediate sinking feeling she finally did it. She finally did it?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You felt that she was the one who had killed him?

[A]

Yeah, it just, you know, everything kind of started lining up.

[B]

Helen Como also wasn't surprised. She thought at times, Rebecca could be evil. When I heard that he was murdered, nobody else came to mind.

[A]

I didn't even so much as think.

[B]

Gosh, did a burglar break in? Nothing else came to mind other than Becky. It's something Detective Dieble heard over and over again.

[A]

Just confirmed my suspicions. All the more she. She's involved in this murder. She murdered him.

[B]

But suspicions are not evidence.

[A]

Tried everything that I could. Had more witnesses come forward, but nothing was enough. Was a lot of hearsay, Nothing that I could bring it forth to the state attorney for prosecution.

[B]

The biggest issue was Leo. Even though he had implicated Rebecca, police didn't think he would be a strong witness.

[A]

He's not credible. He's not a credible witness because he lied so much.

[B]

Carter and his family were convinced Rebecca was getting away with murder. So they took the only step they felt they could and filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against her. Have you ever worked on a case quite like this?

[A]

This one takes the cake.

[B]

In 2015, the year after the murder, Will Florin and Tommy Roebig agreed to represent the family. Police had investigated this and said there's not enough to bring criminal charges against her. What made you think that you could win in a court of law?

[A]

We worked hard on the case. We worked the details of the case. I think we came to the conclusion she murdered and that we could prove it.

[B]

How does she, in your telling, become someone who kills her husband?

[A]

Greed, selfishness, narcissism. That's how.

[B]

They would spend years building a case against Rebecca. Meanwhile, she had built a new life with new friends and a new profession. What kind of doctor did she tell you she was? Nephrologist. While Leo Straggai sat in jail, Rebecca Schwartz had already left Florida for a fresh start in Lodi, Wisconsin. A small town flanked by farms and picturesque fields. A great choice if you need to just get away. Maybe that's what Rebecca was thinking when she moved there a few months after the murder. What was her personality like? She seemed very bubbly and she seemed.

[A]

Genuine and concerned, you know, thoughtful.

[B]

Sue Mashek first met Rebecca at her son's home. She said, well, I had to get out of Florida.

[A]

She said, after my husband was murdered.

[B]

All the docs were asking me to cover their shifts at the hospital, and.

[A]

I just couldn't take it anymore.

[B]

Rebecca told her and others she was a doctor, had been for decades. So she says this, and you know nothing about her, nothing about her background? No. And I believed what I was being.

[A]

Told, you know, that's what she said.

[B]

What kind of doctor did she tell you she was?

[A]

Nephrologist.

[B]

A kidney doctor, just like Stephen. She wasn't, of course, but sue believed her and was impressed. It wasn't long before Rebecca became close to her entire family, including her son and daughter in law. You're around your son his family for a while. Did you think that she was getting too close too fast to your son and his family? Yes, I did. After a while, yes, all her fears came to a head. One day at her grandson's football game, she spotted Rebecca and her son Aaron alone. I turned around to say something, and she was consoling him, holding his hand.

[A]

And looking up at him, and just.

[B]

It was something that I knew was kind of over the top. You see them together at the game. You're thinking, that's not right. Your mama's radar was going off about Rebecca, right? Did that just make it sound even louder? Oh, yes, for sure. And this mama's intuition was spot on. Ten months later, Aaron told his mom he was divorcing his wife. And it wasn't long before Aaron revealed he was in love with Rebecca. Rebecca is 15 years older than Aaron. As a mom, how did that age gap hit you? Oh, I didn't think it would be a good thing by any means. Then came 2018. Two years later, the couple invited Aaron's parents to a Cinco de Mayo party. Supposedly, they came walking out, and she had a very fancy full dress on, and he had, like, a tux suit on. I thought, wait a minute.

[A]

This is not a Cinco de Mayo, you know? And they got married. A new tag.

[B]

Here are the happy newlyweds.

[A]

That's perfect. I like it. I love it.

[B]

And the surprises kept coming. The family initially thought Rebecca had only been married once before to Dr. Schwartz. Aaron later told his mom he found out Rebecca had actually had three previous husbands. She said, well, I was just so embarrassed. I didn't want to have to tell you that life was good for the couple. With the help of Rebecca's money, they lived in a beautiful home on Lake Wisconsin, bought a small plane, and went on exotic vacations, like a trip the entire family, including sue, took to Alaska. First class, of course. We're in the air, and they're announcing.

[A]

That they need a nurse or a doctor. Could they please come back to coach?

[B]

There was a medical emergency.

[A]

A medical emergency.

[B]

And I looked over at her, and she just kept sitting there. You know, after about the third time that I'm looking over at her, she.

[A]

Gets up and goes to the back.

[B]

And she's treating somebody back there. Treating someone, treating someone. The passenger was fine. It wasn't a medical emergency after all. Eventually, though, the truth caught up with Rebecca. I had a friend who was considering going into dialysis because he was in kidney failure. So sue asked Rebecca to give that friend medical advice. And after about five minutes, I discovered I knew more about kidneys than she did. It became apparent very quickly that she did not have a medical degree or a specialty in kidneys. Her son is the one that finally.

[A]

Let that out of the bag.

[B]

He said, mom's no doctor, you know. And I thought, oh, really? Even after learning the truth, Aaron stayed with her. That is, until the letter was delivered. How did you hear about the letter? All my neighbors, people were coming and telling us. I'm just curious. How did they even describe the letter? Frightening.

[A]

The one says, I don't know if I should read it or burn it.

[B]

She said, I don't know what to.

[A]

Do with this thing.

[B]

About five years into their marriage, the couple's relationship blew up. Rebecca caught Aaron cheating. That's when she wrote a blistering two page letter, seemingly to everyone. She went to the neighbors and taped it onto their garage doors and such.

[A]

All the neighbors in their neighborhood.

[B]

Included in the packet her petition for divorce, graphic sexual details, and a picture of her husband's alleged lover. Plus plenty of unkind words like, I will always wonder why I wasn't good enough. And Erin chose a white trash, ugly 50 year old who looks like she had been rode hard and put away wet for 35 years with teeth out of Jurassic park that has literally nothing over me. The letter landed in mailboxes all over town. We counted Here at least 60 some people that she sent that letter to. What did you think when you read that?

[A]

I thought, she's flipping crazy.

[B]

Aaron told us Rebecca closed him out of their joint bank accounts, transferred ownership of their multiple homes to her sons, and then locked him out. He's now living with his mother. I want people to know that there are people like her in this world.

[A]

I would have never, ever in my.

[B]

Life thought I'd run into somebody that could be this devastating to the family. It wasn't long after those divorce papers were filed that the phone rang at Florin and Roebig. You get a phone call completely out.

[A]

Of the blue, unexpected. Out of the blue.

[B]

Who was it? Aaron Mashek, Rebecca's husband. Said he was ready to turn the table on his soon to be ex wife and he was willing to testify against her at trial. But before that could happen, Rebecca would find herself in the hot seat. Ms. Schwartz, will you please raise your right hand?

[A]

When the flu is keeping you up at night, don't try to tough it out. Knock out your flu symptoms with nyquil. Intense flu. You got this. It provides powerful relief of your flu symptoms. So you can sleep well through the night. Nyquil Intense flu. The nighttime Sniffling, aching, aching fever. Best sleep with a flu medicine. Use as directed. Keep out of reach of children.

[B]

Long before Rebecca's cushy new life with her younger husband went up in flames in Wisconsin, something was happening in Florida. Attorneys Will Florin and Tommy Roebig had been building a case against her. A legal battle that would take years. Their goal, Claw back every dollar of the doctor's vast wealth that Rebecca now controlled. What was his net worth after he died?

[A]

North of $30 million.

[B]

It's a very strong estate.

[A]

He had a very successful dialysis clinic that he sold for a lot of money. Millions and millions of dollars. They own, you know, 40 or so rental properties.

[B]

Madam Court Reporter, if you could please.

[A]

Swear in the diplomat.

[B]

Because this was a civil case, Rebecca had to sit for a deposition.

[A]

You tell us your name please. Rebecca Schwartz.

[B]

So in 2016, for the first time, she faced the Schwartz family attorneys.

[A]

You were present, were you not in the home at the time of Dr. Schwartz's murder and took part in the murder of Dr. Schwartz? Did you not formed? I reassert my rights under Article 1, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution.

[B]

Only she didn't answer any of their questions.

[A]

Well, I got about 75 pleas against self incrimination as a reason for not answering a question. She just took the fifth over and over and over again.

[B]

Even so, it gave Florin the chance to ask Rebecca this.

[A]

You have been convicted of a felony, have you not? I reassert my rights under Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution.

[B]

Rebecca was a convicted felon.

[A]

In the early 90s, she went to work for Mothers Against Drunk Driving up in North Florida. And the reason is because she lost a two year old son to it to a drunk driver.

[B]

After becoming president of that local MAD chapter, Rebecca embezzled more than $7,000 from the charity.

[A]

She was arrested, pled guilty, was put on probation for four counts of stealing from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

[B]

What type of person steals money from Mothers Against Drunk Driving?

[A]

Exactly. Someone without conscience that doesn't care, that's narcissistic, and wants whatever they want at all costs.

[B]

As they prepared for trial, attorney Sean Cummings spent many hours trying to track down Rebecca Fortune, money the firm believed she was hiding.

[A]

We always suspected that she was moving the assets. To keep us off the trail, she.

[B]

Created a number of limited liability companies or LLCs, normally one way to protect assets from lawsuits.

[A]

This begins video number one in the deposition of Rebecca A. Schwartz.

[B]

By 2024, seven years after her last deposition, the attorney got a judge's order compelling her to testify.

[A]

It allowed us to force Rebecca Schwartz to provide testimony about her finances.

[B]

This time, she couldn't claim the fifth.

[A]

Ms. Schwartz, will you please raise your right hand?

[B]

Under oath, Rebecca painted a surprising financial picture.

[A]

What do you estimate your current total net worth to be? Well, let's see.

[B]

About $10,000. $10,000. She later added, she also had some furniture and a car worth an additional 15,000.

[A]

When she told me her assets were $10,000, I mean, I just knew it wasn't true. I knew that she had millions in property and boats and condos and businesses.

[B]

Rebecca testified she transferred almost everything she owned into trusts that were now controlled by her two sons, Ben and Eric. She said they gave her an allowance to live. They give me $500 a month.

[A]

How do they give you that $500 a month?

[B]

Benjamin hands me $500. Her sons were also brought in for depositions.

[A]

This begins video number one in the deposition of Benjamin Nichols.

[B]

But when asked about the different LLC seas under his control, Ben often gave the same answer. He didn't know much about them.

[A]

You know, I trust you guys, lawyers and stuff like that, so if you guys put something in front of me, I just sign it. So I don't know exactly what it is that I'm signing or why I'm signing. I just.

[B]

But there was one LLC Ben did seem more familiar with. It was titled gfycs, and am who.

[A]

Came up with that name for that llc? My wife and I. Okay, and when the two of you came up with it, did you discuss what G, F, Y, C, S&AM stands for? Yeah. Do you want me to say it on record? I do. No, I'm not going to. Does it stand for GO yourself, Carter Schwartz, and Aaron Mashik? Yes, it does.

[B]

Go F yourself, Carter Schwartz and Aaron.

[A]

Mashek, which is the soon to be ex husband. Wonders never cease. And at this point, there's nothing that would be surprising of this family, just.

[B]

The name of that llc. Are there some pieces of this just seem so beyond belief to you?

[A]

I think there's a level of invincibility and hubris that just exceeds any rational explanation. And why would you call that company Bill yourself? Carter Schwartz and Aaron Mashek. For obvious reasons. I need you to explain to me what the reason is. Well, I'm in this mess because of Aaron Mashek and Carter Schwartz. He's also behind it. All right. And when you say you're in this mess, what do you mean? Well, I'm sitting here talking to you.

[B]

In a deposition, and Rebecca's other son, Eric, said he also didn't know much about the assets under his control.

[A]

Do you have any documentation or lists or anything that you keep so that you know what assets that you own or don't own? No. Let me ask you this way. If you died tomorrow and your wife needed to figure out which property was left to her and your children, how would she do it? Don't know. Does that worry you? It does. Now, I think the purpose of taking assets out of your own name and moving in someone else is. It would make it more difficult in her mind, at least, for us to try to get those assets back and put them where they belong, which was with Dr. Schwartz. Schwartz's children.

[B]

While Rebecca's sons supported their mother, her daughter in law would be a very different story.

[A]

Would it be a fair statement then, that you've come to the conclusion that your mother in law, Becky, is evil? Yes.

[B]

So as all this is happening, I mean, you're digesting this live in this deposition room. What are you thinking?

[A]

There's my star witness.

[B]

Only one person was ever criminally charged in Stephen Schwartz's murder. Leo Straw guy. Six years after his arrest, prosecutors offered him a deal. He pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact.

[A]

They seen all the evidence and they seen everything. They knew I was not the guy who killed Dr. Schwartz.

[B]

In 2022, he was released from prison and deported back to his homeland of Albania. Did you ever think that you would end up here in Albania because of what happened in Florida?

[A]

Yeah. I knew I would come back. I knew I would come back one day.

[B]

Leo started a new life, but the old grudges still linger. How would you describe Rebecca Schwartz today?

[A]

Evil. Evil. I'll take her life in a heartbeat. And I won't regret it.

[B]

You say that you'd admit that.

[A]

She took everything I had if you.

[B]

Were face to face with her today.

[A]

I'll take her life in a heartbeat. I'd say it anywhere. I'm not afraid. She destroyed me.

[B]

Whether or not Leo's threat is believable, he's not allowed to return to the US until 2032. Back in Florida, the wrongful death civil lawsuit against Rebecca began in February 2025.

[A]

For me and for our family, this isn't about money. This is about justice. And unfortunately, the civil trial was the avenue available to us. Despite what we may want, the trial.

[B]

Started off with a win for the defense. The judge ruled jurors wouldn't Hear that? Rebecca stole money from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Roham Konsari is her attorney.

[A]

We did have to litigate that issue at length, but we were successful in keeping it out.

[B]

The plaintiffs knew they faced other challenges. What do you need to prove to the jury to win the civil case?

[A]

Well, obviously, we need to prove that she. She. She caused the death of Dr. Stephen.

[B]

Schwartz, prove she participated or killed him herself. If they won, they could seek monetary damages, potentially stripping Rebecca of everything she owned.

[A]

If you are the murderer, you cannot profit by that behavior.

[B]

The plaintiff's theory. Rebecca killed her husband because he was about to end their marriage and cut her off from his money.

[A]

Dr. Schwartz had made it known that he was going to divorce her, and had that happened, she would be destitute.

[B]

One of the witnesses called to testify was a neighbor of the Schwartz's.

[A]

I was to the left of them.

[B]

April Cox told jurors about an argument she witnessed a few weeks before the murder. This is the audio from her deposition.

[A]

Dr. Schwartz was in the living area, and he either received a phone call or email or something that disturbed him. And she went to speak with him, and then she came into the kitchen and she goes, please don't tell Dr. Schwartz that I bought Eric a business in Wisconsin.

[B]

Rebecca had given her son Eric money to open that Verizon store. The plaintiffs argued it may have been the final straw for her husband.

[A]

Don't tell him about the Verizon store. And so Congress conversations must be happening, obviously behind the scenes where he is unhappy and this is escalating, and it's a drumbeat, and it's coming, and then it ends at the bottom of those stairs.

[B]

And while the murder weapons, a knife and gun were never found, Kyle Smithy's deposition was played in court. And he testified about Rebecca bragging about knowing how to shoot. Did she own a gun?

[A]

She did. Told me repeatedly that she owned a gun.

[B]

Did you ever see her gun?

[A]

I never saw her gun. She specifically referenced that it was a Saturday night special.

[B]

A Saturday night special or a small caliber gun like the one used to kill Dr. Schwartz.

[A]

We know she had a.22 because she's shown it to people. She carried it. She bragged about having it.

[B]

They also showed jurors Leo's deposition taken while he was in jail. He stuck to his story that Rebecca had set him up.

[A]

She came forward in my driveway, and I went to the window, open her window. And she said, I need you to go to my house and get my purse.

[B]

Then came bombshell testimony from Rebecca's fourth husband, Aaron Mashek. After Rebecca filed for divorce. Divorce. And sent that letter around, he offered to testify for the plaintiffs.

[A]

One of the statements that she made.

[B]

To me was during his deposition, which juror saw he admitted that he and Rebecca purposely moved assets to protect them in case she lost this lawsuit.

[A]

What was the purpose behind setting up those LLCs? Rebecca wanted to hide any assets from the civil case. Has Rebecca Mashek, formerly known as Schwartz, made any statement to you ever regarding her potential involvement in the death of Dr. Schwartz and having gotten away with her involvement in that? Yes. And what did she say to you in that regard? She said a couple of different things. I've gotten away with this before. I can get away with it again. That was, I believe, in reference to the murder of her prior husband.

[B]

He also said that might have been a reference to moving assets to keep them from him. But perhaps the most surprising testimony came from Rebecca's daughter in law, Dana Nichols, Ben's wife at the time.

[A]

When Dana testified at the trial in the courtroom that day, it was electric.

[B]

Her testimony was similar to what she said in this deposition. She and Ben worked for Rebecca and lived in a house she bought for them. But Dana said her mother in law could be vindictive. Like the time Dana invited the wrong person to her own baby shower. She got mad at my baby shower because I invited my other mother in.

[A]

Law, Ben's stepmom, and she doesn't like her.

[B]

And so she fired us.

[A]

And threatened to take away our house and our.

[B]

Health insurance when I was eight months pregnant. The couple were later rehired, but Dana said that and other experiences convinced her Rebecca could be ruthless. She had no doubt her mother in law had something to do with the killing.

[A]

When was it that you first suspected that she was involved in the murder of Dr. Schwartz? The night that it happened. Were you able to talk to anybody that night about the concerns? No. Because I was scared. In fact, you've told your friends, at least one of them, that you're afraid of Becky Schwartz because you fear for your daughter, for your daughter's safety. Yes. Yes. What is it about Becky Schwartz that makes a nice young lady like you afraid for the safety of her daughter? Because she only cares about herself and she doesn't care who she will hurt or has hurt to protect herself.

[B]

In her deposition, Dana read an email she sent to a friend and gave similar testimony at trial.

[A]

I want justice for Dr. Schwartz and Becky to pay for all the wrong and evil things she has done.

[B]

She doesn't deserve to be living it.

[A]

Up and enjoying life. Would it be a fair statement then that you've come to the conclusion that your mother in law, Becky, is evil?

[B]

Yes. It's pretty striking.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

From your own family?

[A]

From your own family.

[B]

It was devastating testimony, but the defense was about to reframe the entire case, arguing the real killer had already been caught.

[A]

The only physical evidence that was there showed that leo straga was involved.

[B]

For more than a decade, Rebecca had been dogged by allegations she was responsible for her husband's death, even though she was never criminally charged. Now, as part of a civil suit, her defense insisted she was innocent. Rebecca's attorney, Roham khansari. Where were some of the holes in the plaintiff's case?

[A]

The lack of physical evidence? They had no physical evidence tying my.

[B]

Client to the murder.

[A]

There was no murder weapon that was retrieved.

[B]

What's more, he said someone else had already admitted to playing a role.

[A]

The only physical evidence that was there showed that Leo straga was involved.

[B]

Not only was Leo's DNA found on Dr. Schwartz, his clothing, he also admitted he didn't tell police the truth.

[A]

No, I swear. I swear. I swear. I swear. No, I wasn't involved. He initially lied to law enforcement about being in the house altogether, and then later when they confronted him with it, he was ultimately charged with murder.

[B]

The plaintiffs in this case have said Leo had no motive, that he was working for Dr. Schwartz, he was making a good living, and that essentially his life stood to get worse with Dr. Schwartz not in the picture. So why would he want to kill Dr. Schwartz?

[A]

I don't necessarily know what his motive was, but I do know that the only physical evidence that was on the scene tied him to being there and having his hands or any other DNA in his pants pockets.

[B]

As for Rebecca's alleged motive, her attorney said there was no evidence to show her husband was planning to leave her. You think their marriage was going to keep going?

[A]

I'm not saying it wasn't rocky, but to just jump to the conclusion that it was on the cusp of a divorce and that's what led to this murder, I think is a big jump.

[B]

Khonsari also said there was a reasonable explanation for Rebecca and her sons moving assets around after the doctor's death. It was to keep them away from her fourth husband, Aaron mashek.

[A]

After Aaron got caught cheating on my mom is when, you know, we decided that we, you know, my brother and I, you know, we all sat down, decided that we should probably protect her. You moved all those assets out of your control into someone else's control to prevent Mr. Mashek from getting him. Prevent for him laying claim to him? Yes, sir.

[B]

The defense called only one witness, A medical salesperson who visited the doctor's office. She testified she saw a loving relationship between Rebekah and her husband. The one witness you did call, why did you feel that testimony was important?

[A]

I felt that the jury needed to hear that there was somebody out there that felt that she was a good person and that she is a good person.

[B]

If there were multiple witnesses on the plaintiff's side who said terrible things about Rebecca's character, why should the jury believe one person who says positive things about her versus the many who lined up to say negative things about her?

[A]

Well, the focus should be on whether she committed the murder or not. I went to great lengths to say, you don't have to like her. Just because she said all these things and potentially did all these bad things doesn't mean that she killed her husband.

[B]

So you were trying to draw a line that even if she is a bad person, not the greatest individual, that doesn't make her a murderer.

[A]

Correct. And juries need to set their feelings aside.

[B]

He also reminded jurors that she was on trial for her husband's killing, not for alleged financial misconduct. Finally, it was in the jury's hands. Unlike a criminal case, in a civil trial, the bar is lower for jurors to find against the defendant. Now the jury has the case. How are you feeling?

[A]

Strong. Good. Yeah. We proved our case.

[B]

After two and a half hours of deliberations, they reached a verdict. She was found liable for likely being involved in the murder, and the family was awarded quite a large sum. The jury found Rebecca Schwartz liable for intentionally killing or participating in her husband's death.

[A]

The court system guarantees you a chance of justice. It doesn't guarantee you justice. Doesn't happen all the time. When it happens, it's glorious.

[B]

As for the amount of money jurors.

[A]

Awarded Carter and his family, they listed out different line items. Well, this is how much we believe you lost in support. This is how much is pain and suffering. This is how much the estate is. And in total, it was just shy of $200 million.

[B]

$200 million is hitting her in the pocketbook. And that has got to be devastating for someone that is so greedy. You hear the verdict, you hear the dollar amount. What did you think?

[A]

They were sure of themselves. We're gonna go get it.

[B]

And they're well on their way. The attorneys know they'll never collect the full $200 million. But so far, Florence says they've frozen about 6 to $10 million in Rebecca's assets, and they're looking for more, including money from a yacht that Aaron Mashek sold in violation of a judge's order. Rebecca now lives back in Florida. Following the advice of her lawyer, she declined our request for an interview. For more than a decade, the crowd criminal investigation into Stephen Schwartz's murder remained open and unsolved. But in May of 2025, two months after the civil verdict, Detective Diebel retired and the Tarpon Springs police officially closed its case. The police chief says it could be reopened if new evidence is discovered. I mean, you've looked at Rebecca any number of possible ways. She's never been arrested, never been charged. Could it be because she's innocent that she didn't do this?

[A]

I don't. I don't think so. I know so. She's involved.

[B]

As for Carter, he's now Dr. Schwartz, a nephrologist, just like his dad. He says while their family is grateful for the civil judgment money, any amount only goes so far.

[A]

Finally, the latest development in getting this verdict at this trial is a step towards justice. But she is still walking around. She is still free. And I would trade every dime to see true justice served. That's all for this edition of Dateline. And check out our talking Dateline podcast. Blaine Alexander and Keith Morrison will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday in the Dateline feed. Wherever you get your podcasts, we'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night. If you could hear love, what would it sound like? Son, can we talk about your drinking? Yeah, Dad, I think we should. Helping those closest to you think about their excessive drinking. Maybe that's what love sounds like. [e-mail] an OHA initiative.