Fatal Fantasy | 1. Overkill
episodePreviously titled “Fatal Fantasy | 1. OVERKILL” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 5, 2026
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What tragic event occurred involving Dr. Robert Schwartz?
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Every human being fantasizes, daydreams, lies in bed at night, drifts off during the day while at work or school, perhaps envisioning a different version of reality. They might peer into the crystal ball of their future and see themselves hitting the lotto, having children, becoming a professional athlete, getting that girl or guy they've always wanted, or perhaps carrying out a diabolical murder in the most brutal ways imaginable. Fact is, some fantasize about unicorns dancing in fluffy pink clouds, while others imagine that person they despise dying a slow, miserable death. This is the story of both, with the fantasy aspect of it all gone horrifically and fatally wrong.
You know, I can't force anybody to believe what I have to say. I am stating truth. That's it. I don't care how it makes me look. I don't care what it does to my reputation. Dr. Schwartz deserves the truth. He deserves the truth. His family deserves the truth. Dr. Robert Bob Schwartz hasn't shown up for work. It's the 10th of December, 2001. His coworker Terry said it was unlike him to miss a meeting and not come to work. The renowned scientist, a pioneer in DNA research, would have let someone know if he wasn't coming in. Dr. Schwartz is not answering his phone, so his boss, who happens to know one of the neighbors, calls and asks the neighbor to go over and check things out. Schwartz's driveway was under construction.
To get to the house, you had to walk. When the neighbor arrived, he found another neighbor standing outside. He'd asked him if he'd seen Dr. Schwartz. No, the guy said, and he'd been there since 7.30 that morning. So the two men head down the driveway. They see Dr. Schwartz's vehicle parked in its usual spot, over by the stables where he keeps his horses. The house is made of fieldstone and cement, a cross between the Hobbit and a Revolutionary War colonial.
It was a home that was in a very rural area. It was out away from most of the neighbors. The closest neighbor was probably about a quarter of a mile away.
They go around to the back of the house, where there's a door into the kitchen. Inside now, everything has this awfully and eerily quiet vibe to it. The neighbor senses right away that something is off. There's a sour, steely, metallic smell mixed with the feeling of something even more alarming. Death. He takes one step into the kitchen and there is Dr. Schwartz.
And upon his entry, he found a very gruesome and disturbing scene. Dr. Schwartz was located in the kitchen, face down on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood and had numerous wounds that were visible.
Now, Dr. Schwartz's neighbor is no forensic expert, but even to him, it's clear this wasn't some kind of robbery. There's no forced entry. Whoever had murdered Dr. Robert Schwartz walked into the house without resistance, as if someone invited them in. Investigators from the Loudoun County Virginia Sheriff's Office secure the crime scene and begin taking stock of the gruesome attack. Blood is everywhere. On the floor, walls, countertops, smeared along the wooden floor. As a working true crime journalist for over 25 years, I have written about and studied hundreds of crime scenes, and I can tell you that the brutality of this murder went beyond a crime of passion. Schwartz had one arm sticking out, his eyes wide open like a doll, a large pool of blood around his head and torso.
And there are even droplets of cooked blood inside a frying pan on the stove. Here's one of the investigators involved early on, Detective Greg Locke.
Dr. Schwartz suffered over 30 stab wounds Some of the stab wounds penetrated through his body and actually into the hardwood floor, indicating that he had been stabbed numerous times after he had fallen to the floor.
In total, Schwartz was stabbed 31 times.
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