The wife of a wealthy Florida doctor has found civilly liable for his death and ordered to pay his three adult children $200 million more than a decade after he was killed.
A jury deemed Rebecca Schwartz, now 64, is responsible for the May 2014 murder of Steven Schwartz, who was found dead in his garage with his throat cut and two bullets in his head.
No one has ever been convicted in connection with the 74-year-old’s murder. While Rebecca has not been charged, the Pinellas state attorney said the investigation is still open, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
She has denied killing him, and police were once convinced that Anton Leo Stragaj, who often did repairs on the couple’s Tarpon Springs home, was the killer.
Prosecutors couldn’t get a murder charge to stick to Stragaj, who later pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released in September 2022 and was deported to Albania.
In the absence of a conviction, Schwartz’s three children sued Rebecca in 2016 aiming to expose her allegedly erratic behavior before the murder and to reclaim access to their father’s vast fortune.
They argued that Rebecca killed Schwartz because he finally threatened to leave her after he got sick of her stealing from him and spending his money with abandon.
Wil Florin, the children’s lawyer, said in court that Rebecca spent much of her husband’s $30 million following his death and moved the rest into offshore bank accounts.
Steven Schwartz was found dead in the garage of his home in Tarpon Springs in May 2014. His throat was cut and he had two bullets in his head
His wife, Rebecca Schwartz (pictured on their wedding day in 2011), was found civilly responsible for her husband’s murder this month and was ordered to pay $200 million to his surviving children
Florin said the verdict will allow Schwartz’s kids to get at least some of their rightful inheritance.
‘I don’t expect that there’s $200 million out there to get,’ he said. ‘But I think there’s tens of millions out there. I really do.’
Steven and Rebecca Schwartz met in the early 2000s, testified Dana Nichols, one of the millionaire doctor’s children.
According to her testimony, Rebecca heard from co-workers at the medical practice where she worked that Schwartz was a rich, single doctor.
She allegedly hung around a Walgreens he was known to frequent so she could run into him, Nichols said.
They dated for years before getting married in 2011. But even before they were wed, Rebecca changed her last name to Schwartz so she could begin diverting his money to herself, the plaintiffs claimed.
There were also rumors that Rebecca was embezzling money from his practice, Main Street Medical.
The couple broke up for six months in 2010, Florin claimed, but were married not long after reconciling.
The lawsuit claims that after they were officially married, Rebecca’s alleged financial improprieties ramped up dramatically.
A younger Steve Schwartz is pictured with his son Carter, who would go on to become a doctor just like his dad
Rebecca’s lawyer argued that the accusations from Schwartz’s kids of financial wrongdoing are immaterial to whether or not she killed her husband
Based on a constructive trust created by the court to protect Schwartz’s remaining assets, Rebecca had spent much of his money on a marijuana grow house in Dunedin, a fleet of 49 Pinellas rental homes and a yacht in Fort Lauderdale.
Schwartz’s money also paid for cars and businesses for her sons from previous marriages, Rebecca’s ex-husband testified.
‘This was all purchased with money that rightfully belongs to Dr. Schwartz’s natural children,’ Florin said.
Rebecca’s lawyer, Rohom Khonsari, told jurors in his closing argument that they weren’t here to punish her for supposed financial crimes.
‘She’s not on trial for theft. She’s not on trial for fraud. She’s not on trial for any of that,’ he said. ‘She’s on trial for murder.’
Florin explained that the ‘last straw’ for Schwartz came just days before he was killed, when he found out that his wife bought a Verizon Wireless store for one of her two sons to operate.
The lawsuit states that Schwartz had caught Rebecca stealing from him in the past, but had forgiven her. This time, he threatened divorce, which would have left her penniless, according to Florin.
‘They’re getting divorced, it’s only natural that (after) a 3-and-a-half year marriage, he’s not going to leave her as the beneficiary of his will. But if he dies, she’s the beneficiary of his will,’ Florin said.
‘It’s one of those situations, the classic, he’s worth more to her dead than he is alive. She was about to lose it all.’
Anton Leo Stragaj, who often did repairs on the couple’s Tarpon Springs home, was arrested about a year after Schwartz’s murder
Stragaj was ultimately never charged with murder. He pleaded down to a lesser charge and was later deported back to Albania. The children assert that he helped Rebecca Schwartz hide evidence
On May 28, 2014, Rebecca called police reporting a burglary. When officers arrived they found that several drawers had been rifled through. They also found that money jewelry and watches were gone as well.
A knife was missing from the butcher block from the kitchen as well, which became important when they then found Schwartz dead in the garage with his throat slashed.
About a year later, police arrested Stragaj, the family handyman. Detectives found his DNA on Schwartz’s shirt and his cell phone records didn’t match up with his alibi.
Stragaj later said that Rebecca ‘set him up’ and that she had confessed to him that she was the one who killed her husband.
The handyman, an Albanian citizen, said he considered calling the police but feared if he did, it would endanger his work visa.
According to Florin, Stragaj said in a deposition that Rebecca often carried a ‘Saturday Night Special’ in her purse, a colloquial term in the United States for a small, cheap pistol.
Florin said in his closing argument that Rebecca was one who pulled the trigger and that Stragaj ‘cleaned up’ the crime scene. That theory would explain how Schwartz’s DNA ended up on his shirt.
‘She shot him twice in the back of the head as he was leaving for work,’ Florin told the Tampa Bay Times. ‘He fell down the stairs. He was paralyzed from the neck down and knocked unconscious from the shots. He hadn’t yet died, but he appeared dead.’
Carter Schwartz, the late doctor’s eldest son, is now a practicing kidney doctor in Louisiana
Schwartz’s surviving children are satisfied with the civil suit’s outcome but still want to see their stepmother charged and convicted of their father’s murder
The $200 million verdict for Schwartz’s surviving children would not have been possible if Rebecca’s fourth husband hadn’t reached out to the family, Florin said.
In November 2023, this man revealed to Florin the web of LLCs and offshore accounts he and Rebecca had used to hide Schwartz’s money.
That was when the judge froze all her assets and put them into a constructive trust.
Florin said the doctor’s eldest son, Carter Schwartz, admired his dad and wanted to take over his practice one day.
Carter followed in his father’s footsteps and is now a practicing kidney doctor in Louisiana.
‘Dad was always a role model to me … and what I’ve always told everyone, “If I could be half the physician he was, that would be a successful life,”‘ he told CBS News in 2017.
Schwartz’s surviving children are satisfied with the civil suit’s outcome but still want to see their stepmother charged and convicted of their father’s murder.
