No One Can Hurt Him Anymore. Scott Cupp
a provision (community service) for a probation of some type that was imposed on Jessica Schwarz—but she wasn’t sure what the charges had been.
Another neighbor, Jim Ebenhack, had also seen A.J. collecting cans very early on Thursday mornings and taking them back to his house. He also told Restivo that the stepmother was constantly verbally abusing the child, including—but not limited to—calling him “a useless piece of shit.”
Louis Steinhauer—yet another neighbor—had seen the boy’s black eyes and possibly broken nose. A.J. was in the company of his sister Jackie when Steinhauer asked what had happened. Jackie turned to A.J. and warned, “Remember what Mom told you to say!” A.J. replied, “Yes. I fell off my bike.”
Although the parents drove Lauren to school, Steinhauer stated that A.J. was made to walk. He had actually seen the parents drive away with the girls in the car while A.J. started walking to school.
About two weeks earlier, Jessica had gone to school, taken A.J. out, and brought him home where “she beat him because he forgot to feed the cat.”
The weekend before his death, A.J. was seen walking back and forth, in the front yard of his house, saying, “I’m no good; I’m a liar.” Steinhauer said he could hear the stepmother and father from inside the dwelling, shouting, “Can’t hear you!” And A.J. would then scream the words even louder.
He had also seen the young boy being made to edge the lawn with regular household scissors.
As Detective Restivo was canvassing the neighborhood, a thirteen-year-old girl approached him and asked if she could speak with him. Jamie Falk explained that she was a friend of A.J.’s sister Patsy. She told the detective that Jessica was “always mean to A.J. and would not let him play.” One day when she was over there—a very hot day—Jessica made A.J. go to his room, where there was no air conditioner—with the windows closed. She made him stay there for hours at a time.
That same day, Michael Waites contacted South County Mental Health and verified that the victim, Andrew Schwarz, had indeed been treated there.
At 12:30 that afternoon, Waites, along with Detective Calloway and Sergeant Deischer, met with several members of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Terry Neuenhaus, Sandra Owen, Sandy Warren, Richard Lyles, and Jim Koubla met with the investigators at the PBSO Crimes Against Persons Unit.
On May 19, 1992, the reports indicated that Jessica Schwarz had been the subject of an HRS investigation involving crack cocaine use, sale of crack cocaine, and physical abuse on Andrew Schwarz. The case was closed by HRS without classification. Detective Ole Olsen, of the PBSO, had also investigated the charges, which were determined to be “unfounded.”
On January 25, 1993, Jessica Schwarz was again investigated by HRS and the PBSO because of the injuries Andrew Schwarz had suffered to his nose, which caused both of his eyes to swell. It was feared that Jessica Schwarz had broken the child’s nose. HRS closed the investigation without classification. Detective Chris Calloway had closed the criminal investigation as “unfounded.”
HRS had ordered a psychological evaluation for both Jessica and Andrew Schwarz at the conclusion of their investigation.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, Detectives Waites and Schoenstein were in attendance as Dr. James Benz, the chief medical examiner for Palm Beach County, performed the autopsy on Andrew Schwarz.
On A.J.’s head, Dr. Benz found a large area—about 5 inches long and 1¾ inches wide—covered with “a bluish-green dye containing glitter.” And he found recent mild scratches behind each of his ears and a long recent abrasion on the right side of his nose, mild recent abrasions on the inside of his upper lip, the corner of his mouth, and his face. There were recent abrasions on his right elbow, a recent scratch on his left forearm.
He found multiple old, discolored bruises under his chin, on his torso, on his buttocks, and on his thigh. He also observed brown, yellow, and purple bruises of various sizes and age on almost every part of A.J.’s body.
Dr. Benz’s opinion was that the cause of death for Andrew Schwarz was the result of drowning—the manner of death undetermined.
CHAPTER 3
The next thing I saw was David carrying him out and then I went to the bathroom and threw up.
—Jessica Schwarz
Scott H. Cupp, of the state attorney’s office, chief of the Crimes Against Children Unit, was assigned to oversee the legal aspects during the investigation of Andrew Schwarz’s death. Michael Waites met with him on Tuesday, May 4, to review what they had learned to date and to request subpoenas for various medical records.
Cupp, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the youngest of three children in a middle-class family. His father was a production planning engineer for U.S. Steel and his mother was a housewife. Before deciding, at the age of twenty-four, to go back to school, Cupp drove a cab, worked in a steel mill, sold cars and insurance.
Having already decided he wanted to be a lawyer, he enrolled at Duquesne University and—much to his father’s disappointment—majored in English instead of one of the sciences.
After graduating from Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts, he promptly moved to Florida, where he became a prosecutor with the state attorney’s office in Fort Myers.
Prior to arriving in West Palm Beach in January 1993, Cupp was prosecuting child abuse and adult sex crimes in Florida’s Third Circuit. The Third Circuit consists of seven counties—Suwanee, Columbia, Lafayette, Madison, Hamilton, Dixie, and Taylor. The area is sparsely populated and beautiful. The towns of Live Oak, Lake City, Madison, Jasper, Mayo, Cross City, and Perry are reminiscent of the Old South.
The Third Circuit boasted some of the finest prosecutors that Cupp had ever met. State attorney Jerry Blair and ASA Bob Dekle had tried and convicted Theodore Bundy. And, although Bundy was convicted of other homicides—committed in other jurisdictions—his death warrant was carried out for the Third Circuit conviction for the murder of twelve-year-old Kimberly Leach.
The Third Circuit was where Cupp “cut his teeth,” prosecuting crimes against children, and it was an eye-opening and rewarding 3½-year experience.
Cupp listened to Detective Waites’s audiotaped interview with Jessica Schwarz, conducted in an interrogation room at the sheriff ’s office at 10:50 the previous Sunday morning, May 2—immediately before the detective had questioned David Schwarz.
Cupp would have given anything for a video accompaniment, but he was forced to rely on his imagination. Maybe that was for the best. He listened to the voice—the inflections—the tonality. He pictured her posture—her expressions—her body language.
On the tape, Waites asked her about the previous night. About A.J.’s routine. About his state of mind.
Jessica: He was acting fine. He . . . he ate all his dinner. Ate everything. He was talking. As a matter of fact, he was singing. I don’t remember why. He was fine. Waites: What did he do throughout the evening?
Jessica: Umm . . . he was reading a book and brought it in and asked me what a word was and I told him. He was out in the living room with the girls. They were doing their hair. And that’s about it. I mean, then he . . . everybody . . . the kids went to the bathroom, brushed their teeth, and went to bed.
Waites: Okay, what time would A.J. normally go to bed?
Jessica: On a Saturday, normally between nine and ten, but last night it was closer to nine than ten. They all went to bed at the same time last night.
Waites: Do you remember what A.J. was wearing when he went to bed?
Jessica: Ninja Turtle pants and uh . . . uh, a T-shirt . . . a dark T-shirt.
Waites: Did you see him after he went to bed?