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CHAPTER 4

I believe Jessica probably did throw up, but the cause wasn’t remorse—it was the combination of committing murder with her bare hands on a belly full of beer, and then having half of PBSO pouring through her house on a Sunday morning when she’s usually sleeping it off.

—Scott Cupp

After the initial investigation on Sunday morning, the whole Schwarz family—David, Jessica, Lauren, and Jackie—had been asked to come to the sheriff ’s office to be interviewed. While Detective Waites conducted his interview with Jessica, Detective Calloway took Lauren to a room in the Juvenile Unit to wait while he questioned Jackie.

Jackie was two months shy of being five years old and had long, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail that reached past her waist. Calloway gently told her that maybe she could answer some questions for him about what had happened earlier in the day. The little girl told him that she “didn’t know any questions,” and that she “only knew her ABC’s.”

He then spoke briefly with her about telling the truth and telling a lie. It was apparent to him that she knew the difference between the two.

Jackie revealed that A.J. had been grounded the day before his death. So while the rest of the family attended Sunfest, an annual celebration held in nearby West Palm Beach, A.J. spent the day confined to his home. When Calloway quizzed Jackie about why A.J. had been grounded, she said that he had been playing with some green dye or paint near the family’s dryer.

When Jessica found some of the dye on the dryer, Jackie said her mother became “very mad.” Jessica had poured the dye over A.J.’s head, and then she “spanked him with a strap.”

According to Jackie, both her mother and her father spanked A.J. a lot—with a strap and a belt.

Later in the interview, Jackie told the detective that earlier that morning she heard a splash in the swimming pool that woke her up. She went outside to the pool, climbed up the ladder, and saw A.J. in the pool underneath the water. Upon further questioning about this story, it became clear to Calloway that she was not telling the truth. He noticed many inconsistencies in her story, and when he pointed them out to her, she admitted that it wasn’t true. When he asked her why, she replied, “Because I have to lie.” Again he asked her why, and she replied, “Somebody doesn’t get in jail.”

He then asked Jackie to just tell him what really happened. Crying, she told him, “I’m going to get in trouble. I just don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

He tried to soothe her and told her that nobody would get hurt. She said, “Somebody already did get hurt.”

When he asked her who had gotten hurt, she replied, “My brother.”

He learned that Jackie had no idea how A.J. had gotten into the pool, and when he tried to question her further about her brother, she stated, “I’m going to run away.”

From time to time, during the course of the interview, Calloway noticed that Jackie was looking behind him and laughing. When he turned to see what she was laughing at, he heard footsteps running away from the interview room. He got up and looked out the window and saw Lauren running down the hall, back to the waiting room, where he had stationed her prior to his interview with Jackie. Lauren had been watching her little sister as she was being questioned.

He asked Jackie if her mother had told her what to tell him—in reference to the fabricated story she had told him earlier. She said, “Yes.” He asked her exactly what her mother had told her to tell him, and she replied, “The whole story I just told you.”

The detective said, “But that’s not the truth, is it?”

She 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 to go forward never wavered.

On Tuesday, May 4, Detective Calloway returned to the Concept Homes Development to gather additional information about the Schwarz family.

There he interviewed Ida Falk, who told him that she and her family had lived on Triphammer Road for about 2½ years. Her thirteen-year-old daughter, Jamie, had talked to Detective Restivo on Sunday. Ida Falk had seen A.J. early every Thursday morning collecting aluminum cans from the neighborhood recycling bins. She believed Jessica Schwarz had been court ordered to perform community service and that one part of that community service was collecting aluminum cans. A.J. was made to gather them to assist his stepmother, she thought.

She heard Jessica swearing at A.J. on a daily basis. Even though she couldn’t recall the exact words that were used, she said they were “dirty and vulgar.” Also, Jessica was “always” referring to A.J. as stupid.

About a year earlier, she had seen A.J. in the front yard—for an hour or two—with his mouth taped shut. She, too, had seen him edging the lawn with regular household scissors.

Mrs. Falk told the detective that two or three months earlier her husband, Jarrell, had seen A.J. walking to school in the rain. Mr. Falk had slowed down to pick him up, but when he glanced in his rearview mirror, he saw that Jessica was right behind him. Assuming that she would pick the boy up, he continued on down the road. However, Jessica did not pick him up; she just passed him by.

After talking with Mrs. Falk, Detective Calloway spoke with her son, Troy, a fifth-grade student at Indian Pines Elementary School. Troy told the detective that, not long after they moved to Triphammer Road, he started going over to A.J.’s house to see if he could play—but most of the time, he was grounded and wasn’t allowed. On one occasion, he saw A.J. with “brownish” tape over his mouth. Jessica had explained to Troy that A.J. was “being bad.”

More recently—a month or so earlier—he had seen A.J. running down Triphammer Road naked.

At the house next door to the Schwarz home, Ron Pincus Jr. repeated the story to Detective Calloway that he had told Detective Restivo on Sunday: When he arrived home from work—about 1:30 in the morning—he had seen A.J. walking his dog. A.J. had asked him what he doing home so late. Pincus was tired and simply replied, “I have to get to bed.” The boy told him good night and Pincus continued up the walk. He glanced over at the Schwarz house and noticed that the blinds were up in the living room and the lights and television were on.

About two weeks before that, he had seen A.J. edging his yard with scissors. Pincus said he felt sorry for him, so he went over and edged the Schwarz yard with his own edger. While he was there, he heard Jessica tell A.J. that he had a new nickname—“Jeffrey Dahmer.” For the last two weeks of the young boy’s life, that was what his stepmother called him.

He had seen A.J. swim on several occasions, but he was not allowed while the girls were swimming. A.J. was only allowed to go into the pool to clean it—before the girls got in—so they could have a clean pool to swim in.

Jessica had told Pincus a few weeks earlier that she hated A.J.—that she had always hated him. And that she could never bring herself to love him.

After the detective left, Pincus thought about how he had come home from work that previous Saturday night, bone-tired and looking forward to bed, and had been startled when he heard a rustling in the bushes next door. When he saw A.J. holding a leash, he realized that the noise he heard was the dog nosing around in the shrubbery.

A.J. seemed to want to talk, but Pincus was just too tired for chitchat.

Calloway then went to interview another neighbor whom Detective Restivo had talked to on Sunday—Eileen Callahan. She had only lived on Triphammer Road for about a year, but she had seen and heard a lot. She was a stay-at-home mom with three children and lived across the street and one house up from the Schwarzes.

Callahan’s pregnancy with her third child had been a difficult one and she had spent much time resting on her living-room couch. From that location in her home, she couldn’t help but notice the strange and bizarre behavior of her loud and obnoxious neighbor. She also witnessed the special wrath that Jessica seemed to have for her stepson.

Unfortunately for Eileen—and what she wouldn’t find out for quite some time—was that her first name, though spelled differently, was the same as A.J.’s biological mother—Ilene. That fateful coincidence eventually caused her untold anguish, fear, and unwanted attention.

Not long after she and her family moved to Triphammer Road, Callahan had seen A.J.—on his hands and knees in the rain—edging the grass with a pair of scissors.

In October 1992, she had heard Jessica tell A.J. that she was “taking Halloween away from him,” and asked him if he wanted her to take Christmas away too. And—in fact—Callahan had seen him cleaning out the garage on Christmas Day.

She had become so concerned about A.J. not being in school on Thursdays—due to the fact that he was collecting aluminum cans, and then later crushing them in his driveway—that Callahan had called Child Protective Services to report it. She claimed that she was “put off ” and told to call Indian Pines Elementary School—which she did. An employee at the school told her that they were aware of A.J.’s absenteeism.

About a month before his death, A.J. had told Eileen’s husband, Rich, that he had to do chores from the time he woke up in the morning until the time he went to bed. And that his stepmother punished him by not allowing him to go to school.

In January 1993, when she saw A.J.’s black eyes and bruised nose, Eileen had seen enough. She called Florida’s hot line, which had been set up for the public to report children who are known to be—or suspected to be—abused, neglected, or abandoned. As the public-service announcements promised, she called anonymously.

Well, not quite—she gave her first name, Eileen.

HRS protective investigator Barbara Black was assigned to the call and—as per local protocol—she called the sheriff ’s office to have them assign a detective from CAC to accompany her.

She and Chris Calloway went to the house on Triphammer Road and the detective spoke with A.J. The young boy adamantly maintained that he had fallen against the handlebars of his sister’s bicycle as he was walking it into the garage to put it away.

Black detailed A.J.’s denial—and Jessica’s ranting—in her report, including Jessica’s complaint that she had had at least five abuse complaints against her and that she’d “had enough.”

Jessica went on and on to Black about how the neighbors hated her and that Ilene was always calling in complaints against her and harassing her.

Barbara Black closed the investigation the same day she started it. Considering the information she apparently based her decision on, it is impossible to overstate how incredibly tragic her decision turned out to be. She placed a call to Joan Wyllner, A.J.’s protective supervision worker. It was Wyllner’s responsibility to monitor A.J.’s placement in the Schwarz home. One must keep in mind, while reading the report, however, that Eileen Callahan left only her first name when placing the call to the hot line.

“Worker Joan Wyllner said she does not feel [Jessica] would hurt the child and fail to get medical care. She is very attentive to the child’s medical needs. She had asked Broward [County] about closing the case last week. Joan feels natural mom (Ilene) somehow knows that this was asked. She always seems to throw a monkey wrench in when things go smooth.

“Joan saw the child January 4, 1993. No problems noted. (Joan did not wish to accompany this [protective investigator] and detective to the residence.)”

It appeared—even though the phone conversation with Joan Wyllner was put near the end of the narrative—that Black spoke to her prior to going to the scene.

As if that weren’t tragic enough, what Eileen Callahan reported to Calloway left Scott Cupp truly speechless and incredibly sad. As he looked back, the overwhelming sense of hopelessness—of being trapped—that A.J. must have felt became clear to him.

Detective Calloway informed Eileen Callahan that he had been the one who had accompanied the woman from HRS to investigate the incident.

Eileen Callahan told the detective that, the day before the investigation, Jackie had come out of the house and went over to where A.J. was sitting on the driveway. She heard Jackie say, “What did Mommy tell you to say?” A.J. replied, “That I fell and hit my nose on the bicycle.”

The day after the HRS/PBSO investigation was conducted at the Schwarz home, Mrs. Callahan received a phone call from the HRS investigator who had been with Calloway the day before. Unbeknownst to Eileen Callahan, her phone number had been recorded on the report of the complaint she made—which was now in the hands of Barbara Black.

Black told Mrs. Callahan to leave the Schwarzes alone and that she was not to call or make up any stories of abuse, and that if she did in the future—she could be prosecuted.

“She instructed me that she had spoken to me on a prior occasion, which I denied. She told me that if I continued to call, that they would slap a harassment charge on me, and that she would take my children instead. And that A.J. was lucky to be having a roof over his head. And gave me the supervisor’s name and phone number—if I had a problem with the phone call.”

At that time, Eileen Callahan was still unaware that her first name sounded the same as A.J.’s biological mother’s—and she didn’t know Barbara Black’s name.

She was, of course, very upset by the phone call, so she called Joan Wyllner to make a complaint.

“I did tell her it was the woman that showed up at the [Schwarz] house because Barbara Black addressed herself as that. Ms. Wyllner said there was nothing she could do to find out who the person was that called me because there were so many people in that office. That there was ‘no way’ she could track it down. And then she went into great length explaining A.J.’s past.

“She was telling me that they had put him there so that he would be safe. The house that he grew up in or was living in—in Broward County—he was being abused there. Supposedly, he was sexually abused.

“She told me that Palm Beach County was looking into this as a favor to Broward County, that this was not Palm Beach County’s problem. She told me if I wanted to file a complaint, that I could write a letter to H.G. Holley [state offices] complex. But she couldn’t give me an address or a phone number, or her supervisor, or [whose] attention that I should mail the letter to.”

Eileen Callahan told Joan Wyllner that A.J. was “going to end up dead” if HRS didn’t do something about the situation.

There would be no more “harassing” phone calls to the hot line complaining about A.J.’s treatment at the hands of his stepmother—save one last anonymous call, on May 2, in the afternoon, after his body was found.

At eight o’clock on Tuesday evening, May 4, Detectives Restivo and Waites, along with Sergeant Deischer, met with Mary Idrissi—A.J.’s third-grade teacher—at her home. She told them that A.J. was very wanting of attention—constantly wanting to be hugged and shown other signs of bonding. She further stated the he often talked about his home and appeared to be happy and, in fact, often referred to being happy living with his natural father and his two sisters [sic].

Idrissi described A.J. as being open and intelligent and able to cope with problems very well. She related a disturbing incident—which had taken place during the first week of school—involving the child and Jessica, in which Jessica spoke very demeaningly about him and recited his faults to her. Jessica continued to belittle him while he was standing right there beside her.

Idrissi sent weekly progress reports home with A.J. and often received belligerent replies from Jessica. He was not allowed to have school supplies or participate in school field trips, since he was not responsible enough to do so—according to his stepmother. She received these belligerent replies to the progress reports until—roughly—March 1993 when there was a meeting with her, Jessica and David Schwarz, and some representatives of HRS. Idrissi stated that during this meeting she was very positive and reinforced the fact that Andrew was happy being at home, which resulted in Jessica having a change in attitude toward her.

The teacher told the investigators that A.J. was absent from school more than was normal. He had been absent three or four days in January 1993, and when he returned to school, he had two black eyes and his nose was bruised. When she questioned him about what had occurred, A.J. told her that he had hit his nose on his bike and that he did not want his stepmother to be blamed.

Idrissi added that she often saw bruises on him, but they were in areas that would be common for a ten-year-old boy to have them.