No One Can Hurt Him Anymore. Scott Cupp
said, “Yes.”
It was obvious to Calloway that the child was confused as to what exactly she was supposed to tell him in reference to the questions he was asking her regarding A.J. He asked her if she was afraid of something and she said yes. When he asked what she was afraid of, she replied, “A.J. died.”
After he concluded his interview with Jackie, Calloway attempted to question ten-year-old Lauren. It was quite apparent that she did not want to speak to him about A.J.’s death. She did admit, however, that her mother poured green dye over A.J.’s head, the day before he died, because he had been playing with the dye around the dryer.
She refused to answer any of the other questions that he asked.
When Detective Waites finished questioning Jessica, she was allowed to join the girls until his interview with David Schwarz was completed. Detective Calloway watched the reunion from the television room located directly across the hall from the interview room. He turned the television set on and it activated the camera located in the room where Jessica and her two daughters were waiting.
Jessica sat in a hardback chair in the center of the room, with her sunglasses propped gingerly on top of her head. Lauren, pouting and irritable, was seated off camera during most of the tape.
Jackie was anxious and clearly confused. She paced. Her mother wanted to know what they had told the police. It was obvious that Jackie knew she was in trouble—even before she told her mom that she had told the police about A.J. being grounded and the green dye and the spanking.
As she listened, Jessica became furious. She jumped out of her chair, grabbed Jackie roughly by the shoulders, and lifted her off the ground. She held her face-to-face with her and snapped, “Do you want Mommy to go to jail?”
Shaking, Jackie said, “No.”
Jessica was livid. “If you tell these people anything, Mama’s gonna go to jail. Now, what did you tell them?”
Tears welled up in Jackie’s eyes. Jessica shook her, and said, “I’ll never see you again.”
Upon hearing that, Jackie started sobbing.
Referring to the green dye and the spanking, Jessica asked, “Why did you tell them that?”
Jackie didn’t answer.
Jessica insisted, “You can’t tell these people anything. Okay?”
Through her tears, Jackie replied, “I’m not going to say anything else.”
Jessica’s face was only inches away from her daughter’s: “Just say, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’”
Finally Jessica released her daughter and returned to the chair. She said impatiently, “Jackie, they can throw me in jail.”
Jackie exclaimed, “I don’t want you to go to jail!”
Jessica, playing on the child’s fears, asked, “Do you want me to go to jail?”
Jackie paced nervously. “No. I just don’t want A.J. to die.”
Jessica, as cold as ice, answered, “Well, he did.”
A few minutes later, Jackie told her mother, “I had to tell him a lie.”
Jessica responded, “Oh, God, my own daughter’s going to put me in jail!”
Lauren told her mother that she had been standing on the other side of the window while the detective was interviewing Jackie, and that she had heard Jackie telling him things.
Jessica said to Jackie, “You got a big mouth. You don’t talk to anybody anymore. You just say, ‘I don’t know.’ ”
Lauren added, “I was telling him lies, and he said, ‘Your sister has a whole different story.’ ”
Jessica replied flippantly, “So? She’s four—you’re ten.”
Investigators would later learn that Jessica Schwarz had been fired from her job—as a day care worker—the previous March. Her employer had been so intimidated by Jessica’s temper that she had called the sheriff’s office to have a deputy present while she gave Jessica the news.
Scott Cupp’s initial involvement with A.J.’s death came with an impromptu meeting at the PBSO with Detectives Waites and Deischer, along with their lieutenant Steve Newell. Waites reported to them that Dr. Benz expressed reluctance—during the postmortem—to classify A.J.’s death as a homicide. They decided there should be a meeting with Benz at the medical examiner’s office.
The purpose was to find out what questions he needed answered and to find out what they needed to do—from an investigative standpoint—in order to make him comfortable classifying A.J.’s death as a homicide.
It was decided that Scott Cupp, Lieutenant Newell, and Detectives Waites, Deischer, Calloway, and Restivo would meet with the medical examiner. Additionally, Cupp suggested that they have Dr. Philip Colaizzo there. He was the medical director of the Child Protection Team (CPT). CPT was an entity established by Florida law to assist the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in carrying out their responsibilities in investigating reported cases of child abuse and neglect.
The team included a medical director who performed examinations on children who had been physically and sexually battered and rendered opinions in court. A psychologist conducted interviews and evaluations of children and their caregivers. There was a host of others with specialized training who conducted forensic interviews with children. The interviews were videotaped. The purpose of the interview was to document and record exactly what had happened to a child. The information was then available for law enforcement, HRS, the state attorney, and, ultimately, a criminal and/or dependency court proceeding.
Having Dr. Colaizzo present turned out to be disastrous. Dr. Benz seemed to be offended by his mere presence. Their purpose, in gathering all these people together, was to show Benz that they were willing to do whatever he suggested needed to be done as to follow-up, and also to show him respect. But he apparently decided he was being pressured and second-guessed.
Dr. Colaizzo asked him a few medical questions, which was the beginning of the end. Benz’s responses to Colaizzo’s questions were—at the very least—condescending.
The net result of the meeting was that Benz—clearly—was going to be headstrong in his decision to classify A.J.’s manner of death as “undetermined.”
To say that Cupp was disheartened would be an understatement, but it quickly gave way to an overwhelming sense of determination.
Attempting to prosecute someone for homicide, without first having a medical examiner’s opinion that there was one, is next to impossible. Benz was highly qualified as the chief medical examiner in Palm Beach County and was held in high esteem among his peers throughout North America. Cupp was well aware of situations in which prosecutors had obtained second opinions from other medical examiners in difficult cases—but it was always to confirm the initial findings.
Cupp was faced with the task of finding someone to perform a full second autopsy and hope the result would be different. He knew that it would be next to impossible. Even if it could be accomplished—in order to convict Jessica Schwarz of killing A.J.—he would have to cross-examine Dr. Benz, who would surely be the defense’s star witness.
A.J.’s death occurred just four months after Cupp’s boss, Barry Krischer, took office for his first term as state attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida—in and for Palm Beach County. Krischer hired Cupp to come in with him in January when he took office, specifically to run the Crimes Against Children (CAC) Unit.
There were those outside the state attorney’s office that questioned the wisdom of pursuing the case. That was not surprising. What was startling was that many within the office thought the case was political suicide for those prosecutors naive enough to go against Benz.
But Cupp never questioned going forward. He was scared at times—many times—but his resolve