Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello, I'm Keith Morrison, and I am here today with Blaine Alexander. Hi, Blaine. How are you? Hi, Keith. I am great. How are you, my friend? Well, I'm fine. This is an amazing piece. Well, thank you. Anyway, today's episode is The Death of Dr. Schwartz. It begins at Tarpon Springs, Florida, where Dr. Stephen Schwartz's son murdered in his own home.
Initially, it looked like a burglary a bit, but the detectives soon figured out that it was one of those that wasn't really a burglary. It was just meant to look like a burglary. It was a case of all kinds of suspicions about money and betrayal and family and strange goings-on in the home of Dr. Schwartz. And also a past that was just hard to believe. You should watch it.
It's right below here on this podcast, or you can go to Peacock anytime and watch it. And when you have watched it, come back, because Blaine will have some things to say about it. And we'll also have an extra clip of her interview with Detective Laura Scarpotti. one of the responding officers of the crime scene.
And later, Rob Buchanan, who produced this story, will join Blaine and take some of your comments. So welcome to this program and let's talk Dateline. Let's do it. Blaine, what was it like doing this story? I see you got all over the place on this one. You know, Keith, this one was absolutely all over the place.
And so in addition to, I don't think I've ever traveled this much for a story period, a Dateline story, any story. So we went to Albania, of course. That was the biggest trip. Took a transatlantic flight over to Albania, stayed there. I was wondering, by the way, I'm interrupting you here for a moment about Albania. All good. Please. It's a long trip over there. How long were you there?
I'm really glad you asked that. So we spent more time traveling to and from Albania than we actually did on the ground in Albania.
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Chapter 2: What happened in the murder case of Dr. Steven Schwartz?
So left Atlanta Monday night, get to Albania Tuesday night, Albania time after flying, you know, shoot all day Wednesday, started at 8 a.m., went all the way through the end of the day, shot the entire day. Thursday, shot a few other extra elements. And then Friday, we were on a 5 a.m. flight out of there. And so it was a very, very fast trip to Albania.
Got a chance to see the country, though, a place that I never would have thought that I would have traveled outside of being assigned to do a story there. This, frankly, is one of the grand things about working for Dateline or working in the business we're in, is that you get to go places you would never otherwise go.
You know, and it was so interesting because I did not know what to expect, right? When you're preparing to shoot a story like this, you're, you know, interview questions, you're preparing for that, you're getting to know the subject matter, you're getting to know the testimony in and out. You don't really spend a lot of time like Googling, like, what are things to see in Albania?
And so I went over, they're very, I guess, blind, you know, in the sense of people typically preparing for an international trip. Yeah. But it was so interesting. I mean, this was a place that was formerly under communist rule. It was a very, you know, just an interesting place. And so the feel, once I got over there, kind of spoke to that.
Chapter 3: What were the initial suspicions surrounding Dr. Schwartz's death?
And I will say, in addition to Albania, we went to... So that was the longest trip. But we also spent a lot of time in Florida, which is where the crime happened. We went to Texas. We went to Hobbs, New Mexico. So there were several other places that we went in addition to the scene of the crime for this story.
And so there were a lot of just different elements and different places to shoot for this story. Well, as I say, quite a story. And in Albania, you talked to Leo. Leo confessed to a role in this. What was your take on him and the degree of his participation and his believability? Well, I'll say this. I mean, Leo... Joe certainly wanted to tell his side of the story.
He was very adamant in that he wanted to express. I mean, he he feels that Rebecca robbed him of everything. He had a wife. He had a son here in America. You know, that marriage ended. He was deported, had a business, had a home, all of these types of things. And so he has a lot of anger towards her. You heard what he says his role is in this, that basically he was just wrapped up in all of this.
Investigators have a very different picture. Investigators believe that he actually was very much more involved in all of this. But there is a piece of the story that investigators believe that Leah was actually trying to help remove evidence from from Dr. Schwartz, like trying to get the bullet. And so they do believe that he played a larger role in this than he is letting on.
Of course, Leo says that's absolutely not true, that he was just roped into this, that he had nothing to do with what was going on and had no idea what he would find there. But again, you saw it in the episode. I mean, he lied a number of times.
He swore up and down that he had nothing to do with it, that he didn't know about it, and then came back and said, well, okay, I actually was there that day, right? And so there is certainly investigators look at that and say, well, you've lied, you've lied, you've lied. Why should we believe you now? And Leo's telling, I mean, he was a very, he was a very strong, uh, full throated, uh,
Defendant for himself. Really wanting to tell his side of the story and say, you know, all these things that are being said about me are untrue. Here's my truth. You know, whatever Leo did or didn't do, it remains a kind of a fascination even now, I guess. He clearly wanted to talk, listen to him tell his story. He told it with verve and like, you got to believe me. He did. But I don't know.
People change their... You know, people have this... I'm sure you've discovered this through your whole life, but especially in this business.
People develop a way of kind of, not exactly editing, but just sort of becoming comfortable with a story about something they did or didn't do that isn't maybe exactly correct, but they've kind of persuaded themselves it's correct over the years and sort of become more comfortable with the telling of it as the time passes.
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Chapter 4: How did Blayne Alexander gather information for the case?
So that they can sit there in front of you, they can tell you, a thing which is half true, a quarter true, not true at all. And look as if it's, you know, absolutely true and they believe it with their whole heart. And they probably do. It's a funny thing, you know, people. Well, the thing is, you know, I asked Leo.
One of the things that I asked him is, I mean, he swore up and down he had nothing to do with this, that Rebecca roped him into all of this. He sat in jail awaiting trial for a good amount of time, for several years, and then finally pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. And I asked him, if he truly had nothing to do with this, why take a plea deal?
Why say that you, you know, were in fact an accessory after the fact? Why plead to this? And he said because he had been looking at—he had been there for such a long time. And this was an option for him to finally get out of there to avoid what would have been a much harsher sentence had he stood trial and, you know, been convicted.
And so that was what, you know, ultimately led him to take the plea deal. But it was something that he really struggled with because he says that he didn't want to admit to doing something that— He said he had no involvement. I should say, too, that there was a far cry between what he was originally charged with murder and accessory after the fact. Right.
And that was something that we also took to, you know, law enforcement as well, because Leo's thing was they didn't have anything on me. Otherwise, why would they have let me plead to this? So there were certainly a lot of ways to look at, you know, the plea deal that he ultimately took. And police officers will take what they can get. I mean, sometimes you can't prove a thing.
So you take whatever the best thing that is offered. You sat there and you asked him straight out, did you kill the doctor? What did you expect he was going to say? I knew he would say no. I didn't know how he would say it. I didn't know how it would come out. So I did know that, yes, he was going to deny it, of course. I didn't think that I was going to get a...
you know, unexpected confession from him. I wondered what it would look like. I didn't know if he was going to be angry. I didn't know if he was going to, you know, say calmly, absolutely not. I wanted to see how he would react, honestly. I mean, I think, you know, sometimes it's more in the reaction than it is in the yes, no, or the answer of the question, right? Yeah, that's true. That's true.
So talk a bit about this hidden past. How did that come up? And what did you think when you heard about that? Now that was, I mean, in a story full of twists, that had to have been the biggest twist, right?
I mean, there is no way that anyone could look at this beloved doctor, would give money out of his pocket, help patients pay their medical bills, anything like that, and think that 50 years prior, he was a murderer. And there were a number of things about that that just stood out to me.
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Chapter 5: What role did Leo play in the murder case?
Um, however, in speaking with the detective who worked on this for a long time, um, He absolutely believes that she was involved. And speaking with the first detective on the scene, who you heard in the story, he absolutely believed that she was involved.
And speaking with the detective who talked to her that night at the scene, she absolutely believed that, you know, Rebecca Schwartz was involved. She was shot in silhouette because she is, you know, she works undercover now. But she, you know, certainly wanted to speak out. But that's why we only see her in shadow and her hands. And in this clip, she's describing an odd moment that happened.
When you get there, were you one of the first officers on the scene?
I was one of the first to arrive, yeah. Exit my patrol vehicle and make my way over to make contact with the complainant.
Okay. And who was that?
That was Rebecca Schwartz. Rebecca was very bubbly that night, so she immediately approached me, began to tell me that she had arrived home, that she had not been home since earlier that morning. Did she seem nervous? Did she seem upset? In the traditional sense, nervous, no. I mean, of course, some people can react, you know, very differently to stress.
She did not seem, in the traditional sense, nervous.
At some point, there's a call that comes over the radio. What was that call?
While units are searching in the home, they do advise over the main radio channel that there was a deceased person located within the home.
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