More than a decade after his death, a well-known Florida doctor’s wife was ordered to pay his children $200 million after a civil court found her responsible for his killing inside their Tarpon Springs mansion.
Dr. Steven Schwartz, a 74-year-old kidney specialist, was found dead in May 2014 after being shot twice in his garage.
His wife, Rebecca Schwartz, 64, reportedly called police and said there was a burglary at the home.
While no one has ever been formally charged with the doctor’s murder, a civil court, as part of a wrongful death lawsuit, ruled Rebecca Schwartz “unlawfully and intentionally killed, or participated in procuring the death” of Steven Schwartz, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported.
The court also ordered Rebecca Schwartz to pay the doctor’s three children $200 million, but they will likely only collect $10 to $20 million. Wil Florin, the children’s lawyer, told FOX 13 the motive was always money.
Rebecca Schwartz allegedly embezzled money from her husband for years, giving it to her kids and starting a marijuana grow house with her handyman, Florin said.
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Steven Schwartz reportedly found out about the embezzlement and threatened to divorce her, leaving her with nothing.
“She was caught red-handed, embezzling again by buying a Verizon Wireless store in Wisconsin for one of her sons from a previous marriage, and this time it was enough,” Florin said. “And as he left for work at the hospital to do his rounds, he was going down the stairs and, according to the forensic evidence, was shot twice in the head.”
While Rebecca Schwartz was never charged, the handyman was deported to Albania after pleading guilty to one count of being an accessory to the murder, FOX 13 reported.
The handyman’s DNA was found on Steven Schwartz’s shirt, and cellphone records did not match up with his alibi.
“The handyman that was later convicted of [being] an accessory after the fact was sent to the scene to clean up the mess, take the hard drive of the surveillance system, take a butcher knife and try to retrieve the bullets,” Florin said.
Rebecca Schwartz’s attorney had not responded to the media after the verdict as of Thursday night.
