Wife of slain Tarpon Springs doctor ordered to pay nearly $200 million to his children
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The wife of a Tarpon Springs doctor who was found murdered in his mansion in 2014 has been ordered to pay his children almost $200 million.
A civil court found that Rebecca Schwartz “unlawfully and intentionally killed, or participated in procuring the death” of Steven Schwartz, a kidney specialist practicing in Dunedin.
Schwartz was found dead in his Tarpon Springs home in May 2014, having been shot and stabbed.
His wife arrived home and called the police, saying she suspected they had been robbed and police found the body of the 74-year-old doctor shortly after arriving on the scene.
No one was ever formally charged with his murder, though a long-time employee of the house and contractor, Anton Leo Stragaj, pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact.
Stragaj has adamantly denied killing Schwartz, instead pointing the finger at Rebecca Schwartz.
After serving an eight-year sentence, Stragaj was released from prison in September 2022 and deported to his home country, Albania.
In 2016, Schwartz’s children filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their stepmother, Rebecca Schwartz, alleging that she and Stragaj conspired to kill the wealthy doctor.
The lawsuit also claimed she was embezzling money from Schwartz prior to his death and coerced him into changing his will to be more beneficial to her than his three children.
The jury in the civil case against her awarded the plaintiffs around $199 million in damages, citing a Florida statute that says “a surviving person who unlawfully and intentionally kills or participates in procuring the death of the decedent is not entitled to any benefits under the will or under the Florida Probate Code, and the estate of the decedent passes as if the killer had predeceased the decedent.”
Rebecca Schwartz has not been criminally charged with his death, but the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office say the homicide investigation is still open.
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