In 2004, pediatric eye surgeon, Dr. Brian Stidham, was found dead in an Arizona parking lot. He had been stabbed 15 times and his car was missing. Police learned that the victim had a deeply contentious relationship with his partner, Dr. Bradley Schwartz. Was the murder a result of a fatal carjacking or something even more sinister? “48 Hours" Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 10/27/2007. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was Dr. Brian Stidham and what was his background?
Dr. Brian Stidham was a man who came to Tucson from Texas, who brought his wife and family here. Dr. Stidham was an eye surgeon.
The practice and the position that he was offered was going to work very well for him. He was so happy here. He absolutely had found his niche. My name is Andrea Depew, and Brian's my little brother. He had friends, colleagues, people that he really had a great deal of respect for.
He was a great doctor. He was somebody who had compassion and had skill. My name's Joseph Miller. I'm a pediatric ophthalmologist. Brian was a friend of mine. He was extremely well trained. He went to Harvard Medical School, and people loved him.
Chapter 2: What were the circumstances surrounding Dr. Stidham's murder?
The search is on tonight for a car that belonged to a man found murdered in Midtown.
I received the call around 11 PM. I arrived at the scene at midnight, and there was a dead man lying in the parking lot over here. I'm Jill Murphy, and I was the lead investigator in the Stidham homicide. Dr. Stidham was stabbed 15 times. This was a very violent attack.
I cannot comprehend that this could happen to our family. I think we're just your normal middle class American family.
It is shocking to find a doctor lying in a dark parking lot so brutally murdered.
Who would kill Dr. Stidham? I mean, he doesn't have any enemies. Murder requires evil. I did not sense the evil. I didn't feel the evil until Dr. Stidham was murdered. My name is Lourdes Salomon Lopez. I'm a former prosecutor and I'm a witness in this case.
There was a feeling of fear among the other doctors.
I was scared to death. There's a killer on the loose, and I'm next. I called my family. I got my kid out of school. I was right to be scared.
This is a case of hatred that no one can understand, the evil that nobody wants to ever acknowledge, the evil that no one wants to believe is possible in the people that they love.
An eye for an eye.
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Chapter 3: What was the relationship between Dr. Stidham and Dr. Bradley Schwartz?
Definitely was growing really well.
Office manager Lori Espinoza says in 2001, Schwartz's practice was pulling in more than a million dollars a year.
We were seeing anywhere between 40 to 60 patients a day for one doctor. People were having to wait a month just to have a surgery. And he finally said, you know what, we're going to have to add another partner. And that was Dr. Stidham.
Dr. Stidham's impact was seen immediately.
He really connected with some patients, and the patients loved him right away. And they were a great team together.
But Laurie says the doctors had a different approach.
Dr. Schwartz was the type of doctor that came in every morning, bright and early, and he would have his jacket and his tie on. And Dr. Stidham would come in dressed in just like a golfing outfit. Were they an odd couple in a way? Yes, the odd couple. Completely odd.
Nearly a year into the job, Dr. Stidham decided to start his own practice.
The only thing he ever said was he and Brad had extremely different personalities. Now sit back.
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Chapter 4: How did Dr. Bradley Schwartz's personal and professional troubles unfold?
But why would Schwartz want Stidham dead? Murphy's team began an intensive investigation that soon discovered that Bradley Schwartz was having problems long before Brian Stidham arrived.
He was having marital issues. He was having affairs.
According to office manager Lori Espinoza, Dr. Schwartz, who was married with three children, had developed a wandering eye.
If the patients came in, he would tell our techs, here comes a GLM, a good-looking mother. And if it was a good-looking mother, the techs knew to give him extra time.
Espinoza believes Dr. Schwartz had affairs with at least 50 different women and sometimes even had sex in his office.
I would put my ear to the door and I'd say, oh my gosh, here he goes again.
As her investigation continued, Detective Murphy got a call from yet another woman, Lourdes Lopez, an assistant DA and a single mother who met Dr. Schwartz when her daughter became his patient in December of 2000.
there's this guy who looks like Doogie Howser, who's about ready to do major surgery on my daughter. And I thought, I asked him, how old are you? Do you know how to do this? And he laughed. And from then on, I just thought he was very charming.
Did you fall in love with Dr. Schwartz?
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Chapter 5: What evidence did investigators find that pointed to Dr. Schwartz?
Why did you lie?
To protect him. He's gonna lose his license? Oh my God. And I know better. I'm a prosecutor. I'm a smart girl. They'll find out.
But the lies don't protect anyone. Nine months after the DEA raid, both Dr. Schwartz and Lourdes Lopez are indicted for their roles in the prescription drug scam. Dr. Schwartz has his medical license suspended and is ordered into a drug rehab facility. Lourdes loses her job in the DA's office. Both agree to plea bargains that keep them out of jail.
Why didn't you at that time say, you've been dishonest with me about these drugs. You've been using me, manipulating me to commit an illegal act. I'm the assistant DA of Pima County. How can you do this to me and walk away from this guy?
Because I was stupid. As simple as that sounds, I was stupid. I believed him. I believed him. I believed in him.
After the Schwartz indictment, Brian Stidham had enough. He gave 30 days notice and made plans to open his own practice. What does Dr. Schwartz think of the fact that his employee, Dr. Stidham, has now made the decision to leave, to start his own practice?
How dare he? The only reason this guy has any patience, anybody knows about him, is because I brought him here.
But before Stidham was able to quit, an enraged Brad Schwartz called his office manager, Lori, from rehab.
He goes, just fire his ass. Fire his ass. I want him fired. I said, I'm not going to fire him. You fire him.
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Chapter 6: Who is Bruce and what role did he play in the investigation?
Take your glasses off, let me see them.
Dr. Joe Miller says he was taking the steps he needed to take.
He was doing, by all reports, reasonably well. Patients were going to see him. He was not using drugs.
All along, Lourdes stuck by Schwartz, and in January 2004, the couple became engaged. But Lourdes says their happiness was marred by his obsession with Brian Stidham.
His tone was, I hate that guy. I hate him.
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of the convenience store near the crime scene?
So suddenly this case is really gaining momentum.
Yes.
And it's headed toward one major suspect, and who is that?
That was Dr. Bradley Schwartz.
But her investigation was about to hit a major roadblock. Dr. Schwartz had an ironclad alibi the night Brian Stidham was murdered.
Dr. Schwartz was with me.
You're certain of that?
I'm certain.
Detective Jill Murphy now had her sights set on a prime suspect, Dr. Bradley Schwartz. And she wasn't the only woman gunning for him.
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