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The missing child is Lucia Blix, nine years old. Please, let her come back home safely. Thursdays. The kidnappers plundered meticulously. If money is what it takes to get her back, we're going to pay it. The secrets they hide. You can't talk about this. You can't write about it. Are the clues. The mother's hiding something, I know it. To find her. Tell me where she is. The Stolen Girl. New episodes Thursdays. Stream on Hulu.
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Dr. Brian Stidham was a man who came to Tucson from Texas, who brought his wife and family here. Dr. Stidham was an eye surgeon. The practice and the position that he was offered was going to work very well for him. He was so happy here. He absolutely had found his niche. My name is Andrea Depew, and Brian's my little brother. He had friends, colleagues, people that he really had a great deal of respect for.
He was a great doctor. He was somebody who had compassion and had skill. My name's Joseph Miller. I'm a pediatric ophthalmologist. Brian was a friend of mine. He was extremely well trained. He went to Harvard Medical School, and people loved him. The search is on tonight for a car that belonged to a man found murdered in Midtown. I received the call around 11:00 PM.
I arrived at the scene at midnight and there was a dead man lying in the parking lot over here. I'm Jill Murphy and I was the lead investigator in the Stidham homicide. Dr. Stidham was stabbed 15 times. This was a very violent attack. I cannot comprehend that this could happen to our family. I think we're just your normal middle-class American family. It is shocking to find a doctor lying in a dark parking lot so brutally murdered.
Who would kill Dr. Stidham? I mean, he doesn't have any enemies. Murder requires evil. I did not sense the evil, I didn't feel the evil until Dr. Stidham was murdered. My name is Lourdes Salomon Lopez. I'm a former prosecutor and I'm a witness in this case. There was a feeling of fear among the other doctors. I was scared to death. There's a killer on the loose and I'm next.
I called my family. I got my kid out of school. I was right to be scared. This is a case of hatred that no one can understand, the evil that nobody wants to ever acknowledge, the evil that no one wants to believe is possible in the people that they love. An eye for an eye.
When 37-year-old Dr. Brian Stidham was found murdered in the parking lot outside his office on October 5, 2004, it sent a chill through this desert metropolis. It was very shocking to the Tucson community. For Detective Jill Murphy, the investigation began like any other. First of all, we need to know about the victim. We need to know who the victim is, what kind of lifestyle they led.
any problems that they had with anybody. At first glance, the well-known and respected pediatric eye surgeon appeared to be the victim of a random crime. What I knew was that Dr. Stidham had worked that evening, did not come home. At his regular time, his wife didn't know what had happened to him. And his vehicle, his 1992 Lexus, was missing.
It wasn't far into her investigation that Detective Murphy discovered that Dr. Brian Stidham was adored by the Tucson community. And he helped children. He was a family man. He was just this wonderful human being.
His life was cut short. Today, hundreds of people show up... Two months after Dr. Stidham's death, his sister Andrea says his patients and friends paid tribute to him with a memorial walk in his favorite place, Sabino Canyon. Hundreds and hundreds of people came to the canyon that morning with their children and, you know, came up to me and told me the effect that they had on their children.
Born and raised in Longview, Texas, Brian Stidham was the only son of Joyce and Max Stidham. How would you describe your son? Oh, wonderful. Kind, considerate, always made people around him feel at ease. Very hard worker, hard studier, very unpretentious.
After graduating with honors from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brian Stidham began his career in Dallas, where he met his wife, Daphne. What was the wedding like? It was beautiful. Very elegant. Everything she does was just beautifully done, elegantly elegant. In 2001, Brian Stidham gets an offer to move to the desert. The offer is to work here in Tucson alongside one of the finest eye surgeons in the country. Stidham and his wife visit,
fall in love with the beauty here and decide to take the job. So this was a move he was really looking forward to. - Oh, this was a dream job to him, absolutely.
The dream job was with a practice called Arizona Specialty Eye Care. This is Dr. Stidham, everybody. Hello, everyone at Arizona Specialty Eye Care. Where Brian teamed up with a renowned surgeon named Bradley Schwartz. So, very successful business. Right. And growing. Definitely was growing really well.
Office manager Lori Espinoza says in 2001, Schwartz's practice was pulling in more than a million dollars a year. We were seeing anywhere between 40 to 60 patients a day for one doctor. People were having to wait a month just to have a surgery.
And he finally said, you know what, we're going to have to add another partner. And that was Dr. Stidham. Dr. Stidham's impact was seen immediately. He really connected with some patients, and the patients loved him right away. And they were a great team together. But Lori says the doctors had a different approach. Dr. Schwartz was the type of doctor that came in every morning, bright and early, and he would have his jacket and his tie on.
and Dr. Stidham would come in dressed in just like a golfing outfit. Were they an odd couple in a way? Yes, the odd couple. Completely odd. Nearly a year into the job, Dr. Stidham decided to start his own practice. The only thing he ever said was he and Brad had extremely different personalities. Now sit back. Friend and colleague Dr. Joe Miller remembers when Stidham began seeing patients at his new office.
And he was doing well. He had a good location and patients were coming to see him in droves. As his practice continued to expand, so did his family. Daphne gave birth to a daughter in August of 2003. Family was putting in roots here? Yes. Developing a circle of friends? Sure, yes. He was so happy out here in his marriage with the children. They just had their little girl. They were getting ready to build their dream house. They had bought the acreage.
But those dreams were shattered on a night in October 2004. When the news is broken to Daphne that her husband is dead, how does she react? She, according to the detectives there at the scene, she had already asked them prior to them even telling her that her husband was dead if he had been shot, if he had died. So that was kind of an unusual response.
And this investigation was about to get even more unusual. What was Daphne doing that night? What did your officers learn? She was looking over an estate planning document. Did that make them suspicious? Yes, it did.
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Just hours after the murder of Dr. Brian Stidham, his wife Daphne was ruled out as a suspect after questioning by detectives. But the case took an unexpected twist when they asked Daphne a routine question. Did her husband have any enemies?
She told them that the only person she could think of, the only person that disliked her husband was a man by the name of Dr. Bradley Schwartz. Detective Murphy initially discounted the comments. After all, Schwartz and Stidham hadn't worked together in almost two years. I thought, there's no way. There's no way a doctor is going to hold a grudge for two years and then seemingly out of the blue attack.
Besides, Murphy had already developed a theory of the crime. Stidham had been ambushed in a violent carjacking. I think it was very, very fast. It didn't give him a moment to react. He wasn't able to fight back. The crime scene yielded few clues. Did you find a murder weapon? No. Were there bloody fingerprints about? No.
There's a clue in the mystery surrounding a murder... But in less than 24 hours, there was a break in the case when investigators found Dr. Stidham's Lexus just six miles from the crime scene. There was blood spatter on the exterior of the vehicle. There was blood spatter on the interior of the vehicle as well.
News of the murder generated a slew of tips to police. One of them came from one of Brad Schwartz's ex-girlfriends. She told us that Dr. Schwartz had confided in her that he hated Dr. Stidham and that he wanted to see Dr. Stidham six feet under. But why would Schwartz want Stidham dead?
Murphy's team began an intensive investigation that soon discovered that Bradley Schwartz was having problems long before Brian Stidham arrived. He was having marital issues, he was having affairs. According to office manager Lori Espinoza, Dr. Schwartz, who was married with three children, had developed a wandering eye.
If the patients came in, he would tell our techs, "Here comes a GLM." It's a good-looking mother. And if it was a good-looking mother, we knew to give-- the techs knew to give him extra time. Espinosa believes Dr. Schwartz had affairs with at least 50 different women and sometimes even had sex in his office. I would put my ear to the door and I'd say, "Oh, my gosh, here he goes again."
As her investigation continued, Detective Murphy got a call from yet another woman, Lourdes Lopez, an assistant DA and a single mother who met Dr. Schwartz when her daughter became his patient in December of 2000. There's this guy who looks like Doogie Howser who's about ready to, you know, do major surgery on my daughter. And I thought, I asked him, how old are you? Do you know how to do this? And he laughed.
And from then on, I just thought he was very charming. Did you fall in love with Dr. Schwartz? Yes, I did. But while Lourdes Lopez was falling for Dr. Schwartz, Dr. Schwartz was falling apart. When I would go in the morning, he'd be sound asleep in front of the office. Sound asleep, late for surgery. By 2001, Schwartz claimed to be suffering from chronic back pain and had become secretly addicted to Vicodin.
his chronic pain problems soon became Lori Espinoza's. How often did he have you fill these prescriptions? Probably about 14 times or more. At its height, how many pills a month are we talking about? I would say at least 200 pills or more. Lourdes knew about Schwartz's use of painkillers, but she says she never knew he was addicted. She even let him fill two prescriptions under her name.
Was he getting high off of these pain killers? Not as far as I could tell. As far as I could tell, it was helping him with his chronic root canals and his spinal surgery. In November of 2001, Dr. Schwartz was juggling both his worsening addiction and his booming medical practice. That's when he hired Brian Stidham. Brad was really excited about bringing him on.
But just four weeks after Brian Stidham's arrival, armed agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency raided Schwartz's office. I was afraid for what was going to happen to Brad. So I didn't tell the DEA agents what I knew. Why did you lie? To protect him. He's going to lose his license? Oh my God. And I know better. I'm a prosecutor. I'm a smart girl. They'll find out.
But the lies don't protect anyone. Nine months after the DEA raid, both Dr. Schwartz and Lourdes Lopez are indicted for their roles in the prescription drug scam. Dr. Schwartz has his medical license suspended and is ordered into a drug rehab facility. Lourdes loses her job in the DA's office. Both agree to plea bargains that keep them out of jail.
Why didn't you at that time say, "You've been dishonest with me about these drugs. You've been using me, manipulating me to commit an illegal act. I'm the assistant DA of Pima County. How can you do this to me and walk away from this guy?" Because I was stupid. As simple as that sounds, I was stupid. I believed him. I believed him. I believed in him.
After the Schwartz indictment, Brian Stidham had enough. He gave 30 days notice and made plans to open his own practice. What does Dr. Schwartz think of the fact that his employee, Dr. Stidham, has now made the decision to leave, to start his own practice? How dare he? The only reason this guy has any patience, anybody knows about him, is because I brought him here.
But before Stidham was able to quit, an enraged Brad Schwartz called his office manager, Lori, from rehab. He goes, "Just fire his ass. Fire his ass. I want him fired. I said, "I'm not going to fire him. You fire him."
Schwartz was left to deal with his addiction and legal troubles. Dr. Schwartz was incensed. He was angry. He felt that Dr. Stidham was taking patients. And Dr. Schwartz, he was powerless to do anything about it because he was unable to practice.
By all accounts, Schwartz's life was in turmoil. His wife filed for divorce and he was broke. He's lost his income, he's lost his medical license, he's lost his wife, he's lost his kids. Almost a year would pass before the medical board returned Schwartz's license.
In August of 2003, he said about the slow process of rebuilding his practice. Take your glasses off, let me see them. Dr. Joe Miller says he was taking the steps he needed to take. He was doing, by all reports, reasonably well. Patients were going to see him. He was not using drugs. All along, Lourdes stuck by Schwartz, and in January 2004, the couple became engaged.
But Lourdes says their happiness was marred by his obsession with Brian Stidham. His tone was, I hate that guy. I hate him. So suddenly this case is really gaining momentum. Yes. And it's headed toward one major suspect. And who is that? That was Dr. Bradley Schwartz. But her investigation was about to hit a major roadblock. Dr. Schwartz had an ironclad alibi the night Brian Stidham was murdered.
Dr. Schwartz was with me. You're certain of that? I'm certain. Detective Jill Murphy now had her sights set on a prime suspect, Dr. Bradley Schwartz. And she wasn't the only woman gunning for him. There were quite a few women that called in to tell us that they had information for us about Dr. Schwartz. I don't regret going to the police because it was the right thing to do.
Months before Brian Stidham's murder, Lourdes broke off her engagement with Dr. Schwartz, tired of his cheating and lies. Now, the murder made her think her ex was also a killer. That's it. As far as I'm concerned, my world went from white to black. And Lourdes was not alone in her suspicions. I met Brad Schwartz on an internet dating website.
Lisa Goldberg had gone out with Dr. Schwartz only five times, but by that fifth date, she knew something wasn't right. It was October 5th, 2004, the night of Brian Stidham's murder. We were at dinner at a Thai restaurant. He got a phone call, and he asked if I minded if he had a friend join us for dinner.
The friend was introduced as Bruce, an acquaintance from Schwartz's days in rehab. The first thing he does is ask for a glass of wine, and I found that to be very strange. He looked like he was on drugs. And that's at the moment when things started clicking in my head. Something's wrong here. Yeah. Their date, along with Bruce, continued after dinner. First, they stopped at an ATM.
And then a series of stops in search of a hotel room. Why are you going to hotels? Because Brad is going to give Bruce a room for the evening. It didn't make any sense to Lisa, but she didn't become suspicious until Schwartz called her the next day with the news of Brian Stidham's murder. He said it very matter-of-factly. He said, "Did you hear what happened last night?" And I said, "No." And he said, "My partner was killed."
and my heart sunk. And I can't describe what I went through when I heard that. I confronted him. I asked him if he did it. And he said, "How could I have done it? You're my alibi." And I hung up the phone. That's when Lisa called police. When Detective Murphy heard Lisa's story, a light went on. Some of the witnesses that came forward had told us that Dr. Schwartz
had said that he would not have committed the murder himself, that he would have someone do it for him. Murphy wondered if the man in the restaurant could be the hired killer. They're asking me if I know his name. And the only name I could think of was the first name, Bruce. Murphy subpoenaed Schwartz's cell phone records, hoping that information would lead her to Bruce. Instead, it led her to this convenience store.
What's so significant about this is that this store is across the street and just 400 feet north of the murder scene. - Records show Schwartz called here minutes before the murder. - When we came here, we talked to a woman by the name of Jennifer Dainty. She was a clerk in the store at the time. And she described to us
A man who had come in that night, who was acting very agitated, who was moving very quickly. I was working that night, a gentleman came in wearing scrubs, walked around the store. So when he was walking around the store looking over the things, you watch him and see what they're up to. Plus he used a phone, nobody ever uses a phone. She described this man as wearing light blue scrubs. Like hospital surgical scrubs? Yes. Sounds like a doctor. Yes it does. Did this man look anything like Dr. Bradley Schwartz?
No, he did not. Jennifer Dainty's description of the man in scrubs was a turning point in Murphy's investigation. It linked curiously to something Lisa Goldberg had told the detective, a bizarre question Schwartz had asked Bruce at the dinner. What does he say to him? How did the scrubs work out?
And that particular phrase became a very, very important part of this case. Detective Murphy believed the man in scrubs at the convenience store was the killer. But was he the Bruce who joined Lisa and Dr. Schwartz for dinner? Dr. Schwartz wanted to have an alibi at the time of the murder. Therefore, we wouldn't be able to pin it on him.
So we needed to find Bruce. Detectives look for a connection to Dr. Schwartz and caught a break when one of his employees gave them a name, Ronald Bruce Bigger, a former patient. He had a record and a mugshot detectives could show to store clerk Jennifer Dainty. And she immediately picked him out as being the man in scrubs that was in her store the night of the murder. Bingo. Yes.
We are putting together a case where we're saying a doctor hired a hitman to kill another doctor. Her murder-for-hire theory got a boost when she confirmed Lisa Goldberg's story. Hotel surveillance video captured Schwartz and Bigger looking for a room, which, according to Murphy, was a small part of the payoff. This is the residence inn where Mr. Bigger stayed on the night of the murder.
But Bigger checked out by the time Murphy started looking for him. And now she was worried he might be going after a new target, Lisa. Why are investigators so concerned about you and your safety? Because I'm the only person that can identify Bruce Bigger at this point.
Now, Detective Murphy had to find Bigger. Was he on the run? Would he kill again? So we had a lot of concerns about what is this man capable of? What is he willing to do to get out of this? Ten days after the murder, investigators captured Bruce Bigger just outside of Tucson. Later that night, police slapped the cuffs on Dr. Schwartz. He was found at home in bed
with yet another woman. Dr. Schwartz, do you have anything to say to Stidham's family? Both were charged with murder and conspiracy. They were bringing him into the jail and I thought, my God, that part is over. I don't have to be afraid anymore. Just have a seat. For Lourdes, it was a relief until... I get a phone call and it's Brad. Hey, Lourdes, it's Brad.
And I'm thinking to myself, this is a sick joke. Or am I, have I lost my mind? I mean, am I really, like, not understanding what reality is here? Because they just arrested him. Lourdes, help me. Calling from a cell phone in the interrogation room, Schwartz begs his former lover, turned defense attorney, to be his lawyer. Lourdes recalled that conversation for us. I want you to be my attorney.
I can't be your lawyer. Yes, you can. You're the best. I can't help you. Do it for my children. Help defend me. I can't help you. I can't help you. It can't be me. Lourdes, please don't. Don't say goodbye to me like this. I knew that was going to be the last conversation I was ever going to have with him.
Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kaylin Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror, and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of the darkly curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. ♪
In the weeks after his arrest, Dr. Schwartz's once secret love life became the talk of the town. Are you the black sheep in your family and what did you do to earn that title? Good morning, Kim. Welcome to the program. As I was driving to work one day, I received a phone call from a friend of mine. And she said, are you listening to the radio? They're talking about your case. You need to turn on KRQ. Kim, why are you the black sheep in the family? Well, a week before Bradley Schwartz killed Stidham, I was dating him.
It was the station's Confession Wednesday, and women were burning up the phone lines. Denise, what's your story? Like about a month before I saw him on the news, I dated him as well. I went out with him online. The calls just kept on coming. We've got to pick up another call. Good morning. Good morning. I dated him too, and I fell in love.
As Detective Murphy prepared for trial, she was learning a lot more about Schwartz's past. There was a man by the name of Danny Lopez that Dr. Schwartz had approached. Is Danny Lopez any relation to Lourdes Lopez? Danny Lopez is Lourdes Lopez's ex-husband. Lourdes introduced her ex-husband to Schwartz. Soon, the two began having secret conversations.
Dr. Schwartz gives your ex-husband $5,000. What do you think that money was for? I have no idea. I suspect it was for nothing good. But Detective Murphy couldn't question Danny Lopez because he was dead. Murdered during a drug deal months before Dr. Stidham's murder. But police from that case gave Detective Murphy Lopez's wallet and inside a bombshell.
A picture of Dr. Stidham and Dr. Schwartz's business card. The information in Danny Lopez's wallet told me that he had actually tried to hire somebody else to kill Dr. Stidham previous to October of '04.
Detective Murphy's investigation had unearthed a lethal pattern of deceit and rage that would soon be presented at the separate murder trials of Dr. Schwartz and his alleged hitman, Bruce Biggar. The two men would be up against a woman beyond their control, known for her intimidating style.
You often wear a dagger. I do. Remember, Lady Justice isn't just blind and holding scales. What does she have in the other hand? She has a big sword. Prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty has always had a flair for drama. Here, she's acting in the 1960s television western High Chaparral. Hey, Maria, I didn't like that at all. What about me?
And now, on the first day of Dr. Bradley Schwartz's murder trial, Lafferty once again takes center stage. The defendant was an angry man. His anger turned into a grudge, and his grudge festered into an obsession. Who was to blame for the defendant's fall from grace? And in the defendant's mind, the person to blame was Brian Stitt.
Defense attorney Rick Stortz III says the state's case is weak. I submit to you that once you follow the timeline, once you say, "Show me the money," once you talk about dealing with time of death, you will then make the conclusion that this case is exactly what reasonable doubt is all about. One by one, former patients and lovers of Dr. Schwartz take the stand. Some asked that we not show their faces.
- What did he want your husband to do to Dr. Stitt? - Putting acid in his eyes so that he couldn't see. He thought he'd be happy if he was six feet under. - He said he wanted him dead. - He told me how the office was secluded. He told me that it would be a perfect place to get rid of somebody.
All eyes are now on Lourdes Lopez as she takes the stand, including those of her former fiancé, Dr. Schwartz. I think even at that second, he was hopeful that I was just going to walk away, that I was going to get up and leave and not say anything.
But the former assistant DA was about to use Dr. Schwartz's own words against him. Brad had told me that he wanted Dr. Stidham to die. And excuse me, he said that f***ing guy is going to die. It would be done like a robbery or a carjacking that Brad wouldn't do it himself, that he'd have somebody else do it.
And prosecutors say Bruce Bigger, a drifter with a drug habit, was someone else Schwartz could manipulate. I think he honed in on it like a smart bomb. He had certainly that ability to detect weakness and neediness in others. And I think he certainly did that with Mr. Bigger.
The state believes Bigger killed Dr. Stidham shortly after the doctor set his office alarm at 7:26 p.m. Then Bigger took off in Stidham's car, drove six miles, and dumped the vehicle. What does Bigger do then? Leaves the car, walks across the parking lot into a Denny's restaurant, and from that payphone calls Dr. Schwartz, who's having dinner with a lady friend.
The prosecution presents bank surveillance video from the day after the murder showing Schwartz cashing a $10,000 check. Look closely as Dr. Schwartz makes a call on his cell phone. Prosecutor Richard Platt.
We then got his cell phone records and were able to trace the phone calls that he's making at the bank back to the hotel where he put Mr. Bigger up for the night before. It's one of those great moments because earlier in the day, there'd been three calls from Bigger to Schwartz in the hotel. "Where's my money? Where's my money? Where's my money?" Now this is the call saying, "I've got your money."
And two of Bruce Bigger's drug buddies testify that shortly after the murder, the usually struggling drifter was living large. Did Mr. Bigger have anything that attracted your attention? Lots of cash. It was a lot of money when you rolled it up. It was like the size of almost a softball.
But Brick Stortz argues that Bruce Bigger's sudden windfall of cash has nothing to do with a payoff from Brad Schwartz. There's never anybody that's ever said they saw him give him anything. So there's nothing that connects Dr. Schwartz, any money he got with Mr. Bigger. And Stortz has his own opinion of the state's theory of a man bent on revenge. Hogwash. Hogwash. Just that simple.
because when this homicide happened, Dr. Storch had gotten his license back, his practice was well on the upswing, he had been drug free for over a year and a half to two years. You have the right to remain silent. Storch says the cops got it all wrong. They should have been focusing on this man, Dennis Walsh, a convicted carjacker who had been known to use a knife.
What was interesting about Mr. Walsh is that he was involved committing these crimes in and around the medical complex where Dr. Stidham had his office. Please be seated. But the judge deals a blow to the defense, allowing only limited testimony on Dennis Walsh. Why shouldn't we believe that Dennis Walsh is the man behind this murder? Well, because DNA excludes him, for one thing.
Throughout Dr. Schwartz's murder trial, Dr. Stidham's family sat in disbelief. They had warned us there'd be photos, and I was prepared for that. But when they took his wallet out of the evidence bag, I mean, I'm sure the whole courtroom heard me just gasp. Seeing a tangible thing that was my brother's, that's what got me. Mr. Bigger isn't the killer.
But it's the lack of tangible evidence on Bruce Bigger that Brick Stortz zeroes in on. If Bruce Bigger stabbed Dr. Stidham, why wasn't there any blood on him? Not one drop of blood or any other evidence of any violent crime is seen on Mr. Bigger. A, when he makes the calls from Denny's. B, when he gets into the cab. And C, when he gets to this restaurant.
The state makes its case not on blood evidence, but on a partial DNA sample they say Bigger left on the radio knob of Stidham's stolen Lexus. Had we not found the DNA in the car, this might have been the perfect crime.
These are samples that I retained. The state's expert testifies that the odds of the DNA belonging to someone other than Bruce Biggar are overwhelming. One in 20 million.
But in a dramatic turn of events, a defense expert forces Sylvia Lafferty to concede that the math was wrong. The huge random match probability numbers, they are just wrong. It's a big whoops though, right? It was a big whoops, and it was a disturbing and disheartening moment. If the DNA is now called into question, maybe Bruce Biggar's not involved. Maybe the jury now has reasonable doubt
for a not guilty verdict. Well, that's not exactly how that works out because even the defense expert could not exclude Bruce Biggar. The issue is about numbers. Part of the theory of the state... Stortz then attacks the very heart of the state's case. The timeline that Stidham died shortly after setting his office alarm at 7:26 p.m. His expert says Stidham may have died after 9:00 p.m.
If that's the case, Mr. Bigger couldn't have been the killer because he was with Dr. Swartz with Lisa Goldman. If Dr. Stidham wasn't dead by 9 o'clock, what was he doing? He didn't go back into his office. He made no cell phone calls. Stewart says his client is only guilty of having a big mouth.
And because Dr. Schwartz was a bore and talked about things that he had no business shooting his mouth off about and liked to apparently have quite a stable of female acquaintances, that doesn't make him a murderer. Dr. Bradley Schwartz never takes the stand. This trial has shown you how far a soul can fall.
After nine weeks of trial, closing arguments. Wasn't successful at first, but he kept on trying like a homicidal energizer bunny. He kept going and going and going until he found Danny. And when Danny died, he kept going and going and going until he found Bruce. The state has not met their burden to prove Dr. Bradley Swartz guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The jurors take their time.
They have been deliberating for five days. And if the case was clear cut and defined, then I think we would have to assume there would already be a verdict. Finally, the jury reaches a decision, and it's a surprise for both sides. Ladies and gentlemen, on the verdict form regarding count one, there's an indication that you are deadlocked. The jury is hung on the count of first degree murder.
Some jurors couldn't quite connect how can Schwartz be responsible for the death of Dr. Stidham if he's not the actual killer. But Schwartz is found guilty of conspiring with Bruce Bigger to murder Dr. Brian Stidham.
Four weeks later, Dr. Schwartz, the once prominent doctor who threw it all away because of a misguided sense of revenge, is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. But it's little consolation to Dr. Brian Stidham's family. Planned brutality to someone that kind and that gentle, it was just so unnecessary. Merry Christmas. Goodbye. Goodbye. Bye.
And all who have been touched by this tragedy are haunted by the what-ifs. As an assistant DA, you must have taken some sort of oath in office to enforce the laws to protect the people of Pima County. I sure did. And you didn't do that. I didn't do that. If just one of these women would have called the Sheriff's Department, then we could have potentially prevented Dr. Stidham's murder.
Bruce Biggar was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.