Doctoring the Truth
Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.
Doctoring the Truth
The Dark Web of Bradley and Bruce's Secret Pact
Did you ever wonder how a simple bathroom break could lead to a podcast mishap? Join us as we share the hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from our international listeners in Australia, the UK, Canada, and France. Promising better audio quality, we’re diving into alternating episode formats and tackling the nuances of regional accents, with a special nod to our friend Amy for enlightening us about the band Little Texas."
"As our conversation shifts gears, we unravel the twisted saga of Bradley Schwartz and Bruce Bigger. Bradley’s obsession ignites a dark alliance with Bruce, a character whose life is marred by tragedy and crime. From a shocking murder plot to bizarre encounters involving a man in scrubs, this chapter is riddled with suspense and intrigue as we piece together the chilling events that unfolded."
"Finally, brace yourself for the dramatic case of Dr. Catherine Roxanne Growe, whose reckless social media escapades cost her a medical license. We scrutinize the ethical boundaries violated, and the unsettling implications for patient safety. Concluding with Brad Schwartz's gripping trial, we dissect the courtroom drama, DNA evidence, and the relentless appeal efforts that could rewrite the narrative of this intense legal battle.
Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruth and email us your story ideas at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Don't forget to download, rate and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!
Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all is a delicate thing!
hello, hello amanda how are you doing? I'm doing so good. How are you good?
Speaker 1:wow, can I just say wow, wow, like the biggest. Wow you guys our listeners the best the best.
Speaker 2:You guys are so sweet. We've been so overwhelmed with people reaching out to us, texting, calling socials. Did you guys know you could text us on our website? People are texting us on there.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome, that's great. And guess what, amanda? We have people from multiple countries. We are international after one episode.
Speaker 2:We're international after one episode.
Speaker 1:We're international baby. Okay, so can I say goodbye to our listeners in Australia, cheerio and ta to our listeners in the UK.
Speaker 1:We have listeners in Canada, eh, and France, Bonjour, oh that's so exciting and you guys have given us such excellent comments and helpful, uh, feedback. We know we had a dumpster fire of audio issues at the end and I will say somebody I'm not saying who, oh, I will not say who somebody had to pee and, uh, we had to hit pause and then, okay, it was me and, um, so I couldn't figure out how to align the tracks after the pause for the pee, and so you know what?
Speaker 2:guys, there was, there was re-recordings, there was, it was a, it was a whole thing. So for everyone who told me that I should talk more on the podcast, I guess enjoy episode one, because usually I actually talk too much. Fun fact actually. I'll share a little bit about me. My classmates will remember this story, but I had to. In one class my teacher pulled my desk up to the chalkboard because he thought I talked too much in class, so I had to do class from the chalkboard while everyone else got to sit by each other.
Speaker 1:So anyway, well that teacher be so proud. But listen, it's not going to be all about me talking and Amanda having to swallow her comments. Um, some of that was because of the pee, but also we are trading off episodes, so the intention was to each have a case every other week, but then, you know, I went long, so we're doing two in a row because I couldn't figure out how to cut. But you know, typically you're going to from amanda one week and and myself the next and sometimes you'll get a two pota, okay, a two pota all of a sudden.
Speaker 2:We're from boston, I know I love I love throwing a boston accent and I was talking to my friend brie about this last weekend because I had told you after recording last time. Like how do people in boston say brad? Because the r obviously you have to say, and so her and I have deduced this to they say an r, and please correct us if I'm wrong, if it's towards the beginning but not at the end of the word okay.
Speaker 1:So it's okay, brad, but if it was bard, it would be bad yeah I mean, I don't know for sure, but it made sense to us in the parking lot yeah, we had a potty at the potty. Hey, we love east coast guys. Yeah, I love it, um don't stop.
Speaker 2:I just have one shout out before we begin. I don't want to make this part too long, but in the first episode we were talking about a band called Little Texas. Right, little Texas, little Texas. And I was all I don't know, I've never heard of them. Okay, and I said, well, my friend is from Texas and I'm going to ask her. And I said, amy, do you know who Little Texas is? And she said yeah, duh. Well, not quite. But she was like, oh, I used to jam out to achy, breaky heart and, um, god bless Texas. I started reading these titles when she messaged me back. I'm like, wow, I'm an idiot. I know all these songs, so I am someone who knows the lyrics, but I didn't know who the uh artist was, unless you're taylor swift. So sorry.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go. Shout out to who was your friend, amy amy, amy, amy. Thanks for listening, and you know reading amanda the duh act. So yeah, um, that's awesome. We're so excited to bring you part two of the episode Sins of the Stethoscope. But let's have a quick recap.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about the brutal and senseless murder of Dr Brian Stidham, a beloved father, husband and pediatric ophthalmology surgeon. On the night of October 5, 2004, brian was found stabbed 15 to 17 times, lying on the pavement in front of his office building with a piece of pizza next to him. We learned Dr Stidham responded to an advertisement to take over the pediatric patients at a thriving ophthalmology practice in Tucson, arizona. He'd only been working with the owner of the practice, fellow ophthalmology surgeon Dr Bradley Schwartz, for a month Only a month when, in December 2001, the DEA raided the office. Schwartz was then indicted by a federal grand jury on 77 counts of illegally obtaining prescription medicine. He went off to rehab for four months, leaving Brian Stidham, no, brian, no, leaving Brian to pick up the pieces.
Speaker 1:Yeah, brian Stidham, sorry. All of a sudden I got a little weird. Like am I mixing up? There's so many bees in this episode. Okay, brian stood him to pick up the pieces. Brian got busy creating his own practice which enraged bradley and seemed to consume bradley's every waking moment with thoughts of revenge. We talked about multiple women, lovers and people with whom bradley came into contact and how obsessed he was with getting even to the point that he asked about hitmen and even proposed framing Brian by having someone plant child pornography in Brian's office, proposing that he could take naked naked photos of his own son, by the way.
Speaker 2:Disgusting creature named Brad, absolutely disgusting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nobody took him seriously, nobody took the bait, until a man named Bruce Bigger came along. I mean, with a name like that. He sounds like a Disney villain, doesn't he? Yeah, he sure does.
Speaker 2:I can picture the long face already.
Speaker 1:Right On September 4th 2004, tucson Medical Center sent a patient to see Brad for an injury to his right eye. Brad performed surgery on him on September 15th 2004. That was the beginning of that twisted relationship, which we're going to learn more about later. But let me give you a little background on Bruce first, ronald later. But let me give you a little background on bruce first, ronald bruce bigger is the only child of david and mary sued bigger. When bruce was four years old, his father, david, was injured after a train collided with his car. I can't believe he's injured and not, yeah, wiped out, but uh, eventually he died from his injuries. After his death it was was discovered that David had been embezzling money from the bank that he worked for. Bruce often told his friends that he suspected his father was being chased by someone who caused him to drive in front of the train.
Speaker 1:Mary Sue was a patrol officer for the LaPorte County Police Department. Two years after Bruce's father's death, she met and married a man who was physically and emotionally abusive towards Bruce. Five years later she divorced him. Bruce attended Catholic schools and was an average student. He was described as talkative, athletic, he dressed well and he liked to read about sports. His mother eventually married again, although the marriage only lasted three years.
Speaker 1:Bruce went to college at age 18 on a partial football scholarship. At 20 years old, in 1997, he transferred to Ball State University, but his football career ended when he suffered injuries from a car accident. By that time he was heavily involved in alcohol and the drug scene, and he was addicted to alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. Although he eventually dropped out of university, he often told people he had advanced finance degrees. Bruce moved to Chicago and got various jobs, primarily excelling in sales. He was terrible with money. His mother often had to bail him out of his financial predicaments, and his life took a turn for the worst when his great grandmother and great aunt died around the same time in 1998, and he began incurring DUI citations. Bruce was arrested in 2004 for forging his grandmother's signature on a check from her account. Bruce took off for Arizona during his probation and entered the drug scene living on the streets. Yeah, hard times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he definitely had a lot going for him. But it's a shame what money issues can do.
Speaker 1:It's a shame what money issues can do. On September 4, 2004,. Police were called at 4.30 pm to reports of an assault at the Circle K convenience store. A 19-year-old man, David, reported that he and his girlfriend Yuna were walking into the store when a man confronted him and punched him in the head several times. She is I can't imagine. When David fell to the ground, the man began kicking him in the ribs. Una ran into the store and yelled for the cashier to call 911. The cashier ordered the assailant to leave the store and David was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Speaker 1:The suspect left in a white SUV. Since the cashier wrote down the license plate and number of the SUV clever cashier police were able to locate him. Police records, trace his identity and then issued a stop and arrest order for Bruce on two counts of assault, and he was arrested two days later. Bruce claimed that David started the assault and that he was mad that bruce was defending himself and was able to beat him up. Okay, on 99 2004, police responded to a call for a domestic incident. When they arrived at the apartment, they found bruce bleeding from the face and sitting on a couch. He said that two black men came into the apartment and began hitting him, accusing him of assaulting their sister. This was when he was admitted to the hospital in Tucson and met Brad for an eye exam due to his injuries. Oh, it's a meat cute.
Speaker 2:Oh, I hate to see it cute, oh hate to see it.
Speaker 1:Twelve days later he was arrested for driving with a suspended license and found to have drug paraphernalia in his car, including a crack pipe Casual. So back to the murder. On October 5th after 4pm Lisa Goldberg arrived at Brad's office in Tucson with her overnight bag, her dog and some study materials that she had on hand as she was scheduled to take her real estate license exam the next day. She was going to spend the weekend with Brad and they planned to have dinner together. Brad introduced her to Julie Harrington, an office esthetician, and said that Julie would show her around while he finished his patients for the day. So Julie took Lisa to a local coffee shop and warned her that you know, as a good friend does that.
Speaker 1:Brad was not faithful and this was news to Lisa. They returned to the office around 530 and Lisa followed Brad to his home where she let her dog inside. Jason Lee, a medical student, arrived at the complex just before 6 pm to attend Dr Stidham's medical lecture. A man in scrubs approached him in the parking lot asking if he needed help. Jason asked him where Dr Stidham's office was and the man pointed him to an office stating that he'd seen pizza being delivered there recently. Meanwhile, a few blocks from the complex, a woman named Jennifer Dainty how cute of a name is that, Jennifer Dainty was working at QuickSmart when a man in scrubs entered the store and asked to use the phone. He said he locked his keys in his car. She said he used the phone five times and appeared highly agitated. A few minutes after the man left the store, she received a phone call asking if anyone had been trying to reach him. Jennifer told him that the man had gone.
Speaker 1:Brad arrived at his apartment at 7.30 and he and Lisa changed clothes for dinner. Brad said he was going to take her to the best Thai restaurant in Tucson. Lisa asked him if he was seeing other women and he got angry and denied it. Brad kept getting on his phone. Once they were seated at the restaurant, though, he told Lisa that a friend from rehab was having trouble with his car and would join them as Brad needed to help him out.
Speaker 1:A cabbie picked up a man outside an all-nude strip club called the Bunny Ranch. Where he picked up a man outside an all-nude strip club called the bunny ranch. Where where he picked up a man who appeared to have just crossed the street and was out of breath. The man said he needed to go to a thai restaurant near the corner of campbell avenue and grant road, but he didn't know the restaurant's name. He asked to borrow the cabbie's phone and got more specific direction directions to the restaurant. Brad saw the cab pull up to the restaurant and asked Lisa for cash to pay for the cab. Oh, I see you, he's so gross Brad right.
Speaker 2:You're on a date. Also, you're the surgeon. You're asking me for cash.
Speaker 1:Right, but they're on a date and he's like to his date. Can you pay for this unwanted visitors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cab, and also you just been sitting on your phone the whole time after I accuse you of talking to other women, and now we have this guy joining us, okay red flags abound, okay, so, brad, she did that.
Speaker 1:um, brad brought the man into the restaurant and introduced him to l. This is Bruce, bruce, lisa Goldberg. Bruce then ordered a beer, which Lisa thought was strange because Brad had told her he was his friend from rehab. So that didn't work. Brad and Lisa had almost finished their meals when Bruce arrives, so Brad gave Bruce his leftovers to fish through Gross Classy. Brad paid for the meals, at least, and then they left in his SUV. Hey, how did those scrubs work out for you? Brad asked Bruce. Just great. Bruce replied. Then he explained to Lisa that he wanted to go horseback riding, but he didn't have anything to wear. So what do you wear when you want to go horseback riding? I mean, obviously, scrubs, obviously hopefully you have a saddle and brad loaned him a scrubsuit.
Speaker 1:Um. So then the threesome went to various hotels and it took a while before they found one that had a vacancy. And finally brad checked br Bruce into a room before taking Lisa back to his home. The day after the murder, police located Brian's Lexus at an apartment complex six miles away from the office park. Brian's blood was found on the interior driver's side door and it was concluded that he was killed in the vehicle and then dragged into the parking lot to make it appear as if it was a carjacking. So back to the murder. So police have discovered that he's murdered.
Speaker 1:They went to give Daphne, his wife, the devastating news, but they had trouble getting her to answer the door. They rang the doorbell multiple times and they tried calling, but they got a busy signal. They tried the door handle, which was open, but a security chain had stopped it. So they got permission from law enforcement to enter the premises and entered it through an unlocked garage door. The car in the garage was not Brian's Lexus but was registered to both Brian and Daphne. Police entered the master bedroom and saw a woman lying on her side in bed. They shone a flashlight and called her name. Daphne immediately sat up and blurted is my husband okay? Is he shot? What? When the investigator asked why, she would ask that she explained well, because he's missing. He didn't come home, okay.
Speaker 2:I suppose this is before like cell phone era, so we have to remember that too but is that your first thought when your husband doesn't come home? Well, I mean, that wouldn't be the first thought about mine, but I wouldn't have guessed that for brian either, that she'd be worried that he's getting shot yeah.
Speaker 1:Daphne then asked permission to put pajama pants on and asked investigators was he shot? Even though nobody said anything about why they were there, her husband, his condition or his whereabouts, she continued to ask about whether he was shot throughout the investigation. Detectives asked why her phones weren't working. So yeah, remember, cell phones weren't a thing, so the landlines weren't working. Daphne said they hadn't worked since Monday. The detective asked if the phone wasn't working because it was off the hook, which they had seen. The phone was off the hook. She explained that cordless phones would turn one another off and the kids would play with them by pushing the buttons, and they just didn't use them.
Speaker 1:The detectives point blank asked Daphne because she wasn't able to wake up and the phones were off the hook if she had anything to do with her husband's death. She explained that she took sleeping pills and she was disoriented and denied having anything to do with her husband's death. Curiously though, I should mention, the investigators saw the living will and trust paperwork, um, on her bedside table. So they asked her about it. I mean his will and paperwork which is sitting on her bedside table while she was sleeping. Uh, they asked her how much life insurance was was on brian and she said she didn't know but she guessed it was about 500 000 or a million dollars. I mean, you know one or the other oh yeah so similar.
Speaker 1:When they asked her if there was a life insurance policy on her on herself she said no, and when they talked about it, she said they had talked about it and that she told brian that, well, I just stay at home looking after our children, so it wasn't worth it. Eventually, though, daphne was taken off the suspect list. Her strange responses were chalked up to her being medicated and in shock. Next we're going to learn about the investigation, the trial, the verdict and updates on the status of the people convicted of the crime, but first it's time for our chart note segment. Welcome to chart note segment, where we learn about what's happening in medicine and healthcare.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I came across an article that shocked me this week. I had no idea that this was even a thing, and it happened in 2003, so I'm a little bit behind the times, but according to this medscape article, the state medical board of ohio revoked the license of a plastic surgeon after she live streamed surgical procedures on tiktok, potentially endangering patients. Her name name is Catherine Roxanne Groh MD. She was a plastic surgeon who practiced in the wealthy Columbus suburb of Powell, ohio. Among other misconduct accusations, the board stated that quote during some videos live streams. You engage in dialogue to respond to viewers' online questions, while the surgical procedure remains actively ongoing. End quote. One patient needed emergency treatment following liposuction and was diagnosed with a perforated bowel and severe bacterial infection.
Speaker 1:Oh my god sorry just by lico's liposuction being a blind surgery that requires awareness of the tip of the cannula to avoid injury, your attention to the camera meant at those moments you were not looking at the patient or palpating the location of the tip of the cannula. The medical board said Grau, known as Dr Roxy, has a popular TikTok account, which is now set to private, with 841,600 followers and 14.6 million likes. She has another 123,000 followers on her Instagram account, which is also now private. The dispatch reported that growl had previously been warned to protect patient privacy on social media, so it wasn't that she just was going into it blind, like she was warned. According to Columbus TV station WSYX, she said in a TikTok video we show our surgeries every single day on Snapchat. Patients get to decide if they want to be a part of it and if you do, you can watch your own surgery.
Speaker 1:The TV station quoted former patients who described surgical complications, and one said I went to her because I thought from all of her social media that she uplifted women, that she helped women empower themselves, but she didn't about social media best practices and has 430,000 followers on Instagram. Said in an interview that many surgeons have been reprimanded by state medical boards for being distracted by social media during procedures. Quote. It's best not to do live streaming unless it's an educational event to demonstrate techniques and technology with full informed consent of the patient. It should be a very well rehearsed event for education. End quote. He said I mean I just have to take a breath here, can you? I mean you know there's those tiktok videos where the guys in the restaurant are doing the eggs and the omelets and you know the camera's set up by the fry station and it's like super cute. You can see like oh my god, look at those hash browns look amazing and everybody's coordinated and working together. Can you imagine a surgery?
Speaker 2:No, my, my jaw went to the floor again. I was like, wait, what I was like how does?
Speaker 1:first of all, yeah, I can't imagine getting past patient privacy, but also like, absolutely you're distracted well, yeah, the specifically with the live streaming and answering questions, like, concentrate on what you're doing, like even if you stop what you're doing to answer a question and you're not actively perforating a bowel while you're doing to answer a question and you're not actively perforating a bowel while you're answering a question, let's assume that you stop your surgery and you turn around to answer a question. How is that fair Now that patient's under anesthesia for longer, potentially more fluid or blood loss like I don't understand how this is ever okay, ever. I found it shocking and this is like two-year-old news, but anyway, hopefully some of our listeners will be shocked as well and apparently nurses have also been disciplined for inappropriate posts on social media. Not too long ago, an Atlanta hospital announced that four nurses were no longer on the job after they appeared in a TikTok video in scrubs and revealed their icks regarding obstetric care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did see, though I saw those videos.
Speaker 1:That's my worst nightmare. Can you imagine You're so vulnerable and like how, how dare you, how, how dare you? Uh, okay. So the University of Michigan plastic surgeon, christian Verkler, who studied social media guidelines for surgeons, said in an interview that plastic surgery content on TikTok has blown up in recent years. Five years or so ago, it was Snapchat where I saw a lot of inappropriate things posted by surgeons. Verkler told Medscape that may still be happening on Snapchat, but I actually don't ever use that platform anymore. So, okay, all right, dude, okay Snapchat's old news.
Speaker 1:Well, thank God, because I never figured out how to use it in the first place. But Verkler cautioned colleagues to consider their motivations for live streaming surgery and to think about whether they can fully focus on the patient. There's so many potential distractions in the OR. We get pages, phone calls, nurses asking questions, anesthesiologists trying to talk to us. Social media is just one more thing competing for the surgeon's attention. He said Every surgeon should strive to eliminate unnecessary or unavoidable distractions. So the question becomes who is best being served by me focusing my attention on recording this operation on someone's phone so that we can post it on social media? Is it the patient? Verkler added there are many, many plastic surgeons using social media as a powerful platform to build their brands, connect with patients and educate the public about what they do. I believe that most are doing this in a way that's respectful of the patients and doesn't exploit them for the surgeon's benefit. But unfortunately, he concluded, there are some who do see patients as merely instruments by which they can achieve fame, notoriety and wealth.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean, I agree with that. I feel like most of the ones I've seen are not leaking patient information.
Speaker 1:It's not a privacy issue. I've not come across a live of someone doing surgery, but I guess maybe my for you page is a little different. Mine's usually Taylor Swift videos. Yeah, I just didn't even know that would be a possibility with HIPAA and everything else. So, okay, eye-opening. Speaking of eyes, let's go back to our ophthalmology murderer story. Nice segue, did you like that?
Speaker 2:I did Look at what you did there I saw it All right.
Speaker 1:So the investigation. I don't know why it took so long, but it took the medical examiner six hours to get to the scene of the murder. So it took them six hours to get there, examine the area and then transport the body for an autopsy. Luckily this occurred before the offices opened in the morning, but the fire department was busy washing the blood off the pavement when the employees arrived.
Speaker 2:Happy Tuesday.
Speaker 1:That's just awful. Brian's staff already knew that he was murdered because police had to contact all of them to try and get the access code to enter the building at 2 in the morning because detectives wanted to investigate the office for potential clues. That night Tucson police officer DE Martinez was patrolling a neighborhood in the Midtown area and he came across Brian's missing Lexus. A bolo had gone out with vehicle description and the license plate number. So Martinez called the Pima County Sheriff's Department, who dispatched unmarked units to surveil the car in case the murderer came back to it. But nobody came. So the next morning they called up the surveillance and searched the car. They found that the key was still in the ignition and there was blood on the driver's side of the car and inside the Lexus as well. They could also see a cell phone. In plain view Whoever killed Brian had done it while he'd been getting into his car and then dragged him out of the car and onto the pavement. They then drove Brian's car to an apartment complex and ditched it. Police questioned residents of the apartment complex where the car was located and they didn't come up with anything helpful, except one woman who lived next to the complex who said she'd seen the Lexus before and that the driver was a man in his 50s with gray hair, mustache and glasses.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, brad calls Lisa Goldberg to tell her Brian's been murdered. Lisa was shocked and later remarked how calm and matter-of-fact Brad sounded when he gave her the news. Oh my god, what happened? She asked he was killed. Brad said on Tuesday night. Remember Tuesday? That was the night we went out to dinner at Karuna's. No, no, it can't be. She exclaimed, bursting into tears. Brad, everything you've said about Brian, brad, brad, did you have anything to do with Brian's death, lisa? Brad said calmly I have nothing to gain from Brian's death and remember, you're my alibi. Okay. Lisa hung up the phone on Brad and refused to answer his calls, although he kept calling and leaving her messages. That night she mustered enough courage to call the Pima County Sheriff's Department. She told the officer, sergeant Faust, that she was worried Brad might have had Brian killed. She told Faust all about their strange date and that creepy guy, bruce.
Speaker 2:She described Bruce as Italian in his 40s and having what she described as a fake.
Speaker 1:New York accent, new York, new York baby and a fake New York accent. He told me he was from the midwest. Lisa said I didn't trust him and I don't think he was using his real name. Lisa told the officer about the number of the hotels that they'd visited that night to try and find a room for bruce. So investigators followed up on that and investigated hotels in the area, getting lists of occupants who checked in that night. And bingo, bruce Bigger's name was on the registration list for the residence and, having checked in at 10 52 pm on October 5th, the manager also gave detectives a copy of the receipt for the hotel room and a list of phone calls made from the room. Police interviewed a staff member on duty the night bruce checked in. She said he checked into his room and came out 10 minutes later asking where to get food. She pointed to the snack bar in the lobby oh, brad scraps weren't enough.
Speaker 1:Huh, bruce just licking his plate clean wasn't good enough. I get it. I get it, dude, uh. So she pointed to the snack bar and, uh, he asked her if she wanted anything, because I can pay for it he said big stud. There were many bags. Yeah, she said he bought a boatload of food and was very chatty with her. I'm having a bad day, he said to her and the other hotel staff. My rental car caught on fire. I'm trying to do like a bad movie.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:My rental car caught on fire. Do you have any water? He then got a call for his room from a woman and he went to his room. A while later he again pitched up at the front desk with a woman that staff described as white, 5'8" and dark blonde hair. Actually, can I just be honest with everybody? They didn't say dark blonde hair, they said dirty blonde. And I just hate that, can we not? I just hate that description. Okay, anyway, someone with dirty blonde hair is objecting as a know uh, as as a holder of dirty blonde hair.
Speaker 1:Anyway, the employee said that bruce had creeped her out and that she had asked security hang out with her whenever he was around. I mean, there was some red flags there. So that night bruce visited two friends of his, chris corley and chris carney, at their apartment. He flashed a large wad of cash and said he wanted a rental car to go to Las Vegas and party. Where'd you get so much money? Chris asked Ah, you know, I got connections to the mafia. Bruce posted my uncle. He owns this high class restaurant here.
Speaker 2:Totally.
Speaker 1:I'm getting more and more New york. Um meanwhile, lisa goldberg contacted investigators because she was concerned that a black suv was following her. Investigators told the state, told her to stay at a friend's house and contact them.
Speaker 2:Uh, when she arrived, safely um quick shout out to lisa for calling the police in the first place.
Speaker 1:Shout out, lisa yeah, girl, you got to make sure you're safe. Um, red flags need to be attended to, so good for her. Uh, two nights after the murder, the moida lord is finally sorry I have to do that finally had enough battling her conscience and arguing with brad who kept calling her about whether or not she was. He was involved in the murder and lord has called the public information officer for pima county sheriff's department. The woman's name was don barkman. Lord has trusted her because they worked together in the past and lord has asked don to meet her in person and when they met up she told her everything she knew.
Speaker 2:Spill them beans girl.
Speaker 1:Go girl. On October 15th Detective Anderson was assigned to talk to Chris Corley and Chris Carney to trace Bruce Bigger's step. Following the murder, anderson was told Bigger had come to their apartment with a lot of money and wanted to party in Vegas, but didn't have transportation. Eventually Bruce took off with a mutual friend, teresa Morales. The Volvo was later found to belong to someone else.
Speaker 1:Police went to the area where Teresa was said to be living and found her lying on a dirt road with the Volvo stuck nearby, having unsuccessfully cleared a water main. I know she got up when she saw the patrol cars and police found Bruce Bigger in the vehicle. Both of them were taken into custody. Police noticed a cut under Bruce's left eye and asked him what happened. Bruce said Teresa was drinking, got a little crazy. Of course always the girl's fault. He declined to press charges. Meanwhile Teresa had a welt below her right eye and scrapes about two to three inches long across her left shoulder. But she also declined to press charges With a suspected hitman in custody. The police focused on the mastermind. They showed up at Brad's home and surrounded it. He surrendered without incident but he made sure to let the deputy know that he recently had shoulder surgery, so his shoulder was sore so the deputy used two interlocking handcuffs to restrain him no, brad, he's been through a lot I know shameys.
Speaker 1:Uh, before the patrol car carrying brad to the sheriff's headquarters left the complex, the arresting sheriff made sure that the daily newspapers and all three tv news rooms were notified that the man suspected of ordering brian's death was in custody and that anyone wanting to photograph him should be aware.
Speaker 2:It's like the um, uh, like pre-tmz or yeah, is that what it is, tmz?
Speaker 1:Absolutely a TMZ move. Every local news outlet then caught Brad Schwartz in his perp walk. I mean, he was led into a small interrogation room in the sheriff's office where he started whinging on about how he wanted his cuffs taken off because his scrub shirt was on backwards. They didn't search him, uh. So I mean I assume they didn't search him because he started calling lordis whenever um the investigators would leave the room and he'd start. He was just begging her to be his lawyer. I mean, poor lordis, she was terrified. She didn't want him to find out that she went to the police because, like I, I mean this kind of murder.
Speaker 2:I can't be your lawyer. I went to the police, friend, I know Conflict of interest.
Speaker 1:Exactly. By the way, you're an arse and there's no way I'm going to represent you. So she was nicer about it. She told him that under no circumstances would she represent him, but that didn't stop him from calling her back repeatedly, harassing her and begging her and trying to manipulate her into helping him. When the police discovered him on his phone, asked him what he was doing, he said I'm just calling my lawyer, okay, brad didn't want to wait for that one phone call, I got my own phone guy.
Speaker 1:That's fine yeah, like just take the phone away from him.
Speaker 2:I was thinking like maybe they were being sneaky, and like watching from the two-way mirror situation and like we're going to let him think that he's doing something sneaky, but we're just eavesdropping.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think they were just ducking out for donuts, honestly. But okay, maybe, but maybe. Anyway, brad's bail was set at a million dollars, all right, so Brad ended up retaining a lawyer, mike Picoretta, who had represented Brad in federal court for his drug charges. Picoretta attempted to move the trial to a different county based on all the media attention in the area, but the judge refused. Out of 450 prospective jurors, 379, or 84% of them, had read about or viewed something related to this case. So when the jury was finally whittled down to 29 people, 24 of those people, or 83%, knew about the case, including the type of weapon used, details aboutis's involvement with brad and brad's previous uh criminal activities and trial outcomes. Bruce and brad were scheduled to be tried jointly, but bruce's defense attorney, jill thorpe, announced that bruce's defense was that brad killed brian. So bruce needed to have his own trial and it was. It was granted brad's court appointed uh, brad had a court appointed attorney, brick stortz, the third um. His strategy was that the state couldn't prove that bruce had the time to kill brian and if bruce didn't do it, then brad was innocent.
Speaker 1:Opening statements were delivered on march 7th and broadcast live on Court TV's website on 48 Hours and Dateline. Pima County Deputy Attorney Sylvia Lafferty told jurors that Brad was an angry man obsessed with revenge because of what Brian had done to him After failing to recruit people to damage Brian's reputation. She maintained that he recruited Lourdes' ex-husband, danny Lopez, to kill Brian, but Danny died before he could do so. Evidence provided was a photo of Brian found in Danny's wallet. Brad turned to Bruce to carry out the plan instead. Dna evidence from Brian's stolen Lexus will link Bruce Bigger to the crime. Lafferty told jurors. The morning after the murder, brad took $10,000 in cash from his bank account. Bruce Bigger, who was so broke he couldn't afford the cab fare and had to eat sloppy seconds from Brad's plate the night of the murder, then took two friends on a spending spree in Vegas.
Speaker 1:Stortz countered that Bruce didn't commit the crime, so Brad was innocent. Bruce would have had to stab Brian 15 times, find the keys to take the Lexus, dispose of his bloodstained clothes, drive the Lexus to the apartment complex six miles away, walk to a restaurant, use the phone all in the time span of 16 to 19 minutes. Stortz said that the jury would hear testimony from a medical examiner that the time of death was actually closer to the time when Brian's body was actually discovered, which would eliminate Brad and Bruce as suspects, since they had an alibi. They were both with Lisa Goldberg at that time. At dinner Stortz explained that Brad's practice was doing well at the time of Brian's death, making about $250,000. Why then would he wait until his success was on the rise and everything was going back into place for him to go out now and act on this man that he hated, to find someone to kill him? Stortz asked Witness testimony included Dr Jason Lee, who testified that he told the detective in December that the man he saw in the scrubs at the medical complex on the night of the murder was not Brad or Bruce.
Speaker 1:Jennifer Dainty, the convenience store cashier, testified about a man in scrubs who came into her store on October 5th. Lafferty showed Dainty a light blue scrub top taken from Brad's apartment and Dainty said it looked similar to the top that the man wore in the store that night. She said she picked Bruce's photo out of a lineup, but other witnesses also saw a man in scrubs at the store who said they didn't recognize Bruce's photo. The cab driver testified that he picked up a man in his cab that night to drive him from the Bunny Ranch to the Thai restaurant. But he also couldn't identify Bruce Bigger as the man in the cab. Lisa Goldberg struck an immunity deal with prosecutors in exchange for her testimony and she testified against him.
Speaker 1:Lourdes' testimony was pretty damning. She told the court Brad was upset because Dr Stidham left him when he needed him the most. Brad told me he wanted Dr Stidham to die. He said this fucking guy is going to die, end quote. But Lourdes also said she never took his threat seriously. He is a doctor. He's been given a gift. He's supposed to preserve life. He took an oath to do that. He's a very good father and he has everything to live for. He would never throw everything away because of anger. No, I just had to chuckle quick at that.
Speaker 2:He's such a good father and while, like, I can't say he's not, but you wanted to offer up naked pictures of your child, sir yeah, I can't get over that, right.
Speaker 1:uh, crime scene reconstructionist tim bright, who was hired to do a study for the defense, testified for the state that he could make the trip from Brian's medical complex to the apartment complex where his car was found in 13 minutes. Then there was a lot of back and forth about DNA evidence. The core question was whether a small amount of DNA found on a console knob in Brian's Lexus was Bruce's. Curtis Reinhold, a DNA analyst for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, testified that one in 20 billion whites have the same DNA type found on the knob. The defense then called a DNA expert hired by the state, robin Cotton of Selmer Labs, to testify about the blood found in Brian's Lexus. She corroborated that the blood was mostly Brian's but said she saw some DNA that was linked to Daphne Stidham and that Bruce Biggers' DNA was excluded. Then Brian Raxall was called to the stand. He was a noted DNA expert and said that the DNA was more common than previously stated. He said that one in 1,363 could have been a match, not one in 20 million. I mean that's a huge difference. Therefore, bruce could not be excluded from contributing the DNA.
Speaker 1:Okay, so on april 20th 2006, lafferty and stortz delivered their closing arguments. Lafferty reminded jurors about the women who said brad threatened to have brian killed and the evidence that indicated danny lopez had been hired to kill brian. When brian was killed, brad was deeply in debt and when bruce came into brad's life they conspired to kill him. Stortz said that the first question that jurors should ask themselves is whether the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Brian died between 7.26 and 8.46 pm. If the state hasn't proven that to you beyond a reasonable doubt, then Dr Schwartz is not guilty of either first-degree murder or conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. We can talk about a whole lot of things, but that's the real issue right here. If Dr Stidham wasn't killed in that period of time roughly 19 minutes and 23 seconds by Mr Bigger, then this case is over.
Speaker 1:The jury deliberated for five days before delivering a verdict. Guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, they were deadlocked. On the first-degree murder charge, brad was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. After deliberating for approximately 17 hours over four days, the jury found Bruce Bigger guilty of conspiring to kill Stidham and carrying out the attack on the pediatric eye surgeon. The jury found Bigger guilty of both conspiracies to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder itself. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Updates on Bruce His attorneys are requesting a retrial because new technology can conduct a deeper dive into DNA analysis now.
Speaker 1:So the tiny amount of DNA that prosecuted prosecutors said showed bigger's presence at the crime scene is crucial to the case. It's the only evidence that puts Bruce bigger at the scene, said David Eukener. Appellate appellate probably probably appellate and not appellate appellate unit supervisor and resource council of the Pima County Public Defender's Office. Now we see the evidence is just as exclusionary as it is inclusionary, he said at the conclusion of a three-day hearing that ended on April 12th of 2024. There's your reasonable doubt right there. There's not one shred of physical evidence that the underlying data has changed since 2007, said Thomas McDermott of the Pima County Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case. So the defense must prove that evidence discovered after Bigger's trial could probably change the verdict. Mcdermott said At the time of the trials one speck of DNA evidence on the console known as LX39, contained DNA other than Stidham's.
Speaker 1:While it wasn't clear cut, experts for the state contended it was similar enough to Bigger's DNA to claim it was probably his. Eukener said Bigger's trial attorneys weren't wrong to present the evidence that they did in countering the state's evidence, but the witnesses they used, who were top experts in the field, didn't know what experts know now. What we've been talking about in this hearing over three days is nothing like what was talked about 17 years ago during Mr Bigger's trial, eupner said. At the time of the trials, lead prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty asked the Arizona Department of Public Safety analysts to lower the threshold for detecting DNA, which then showed two people contributed to the DNA in LX39. Everything below the threshold was not considered. But in 2014, seven years after Bigger's trial, software that better defines DNA at lower thresholds was developed. With newer software, the DNA in LX39 shows that another person was a contributor, which makes the chances of one of the other contributors much less likely to be bigger. The third contributor is thought to be from Daphne Stidham, stidham's widow. The defense isn't saying that Daphne had anything to do with her husband's murder, but as his wife, it would be natural for her DNA to be in his car. Mcdermott said Eukner should have filed his appeal 10 years ago when the software was developed. Yeah right, good point, but Eukner said knowledge of the software development wasn't made public until 2018. He learned about it through articles, including one written by Dr Michael Kobel, who testified for the state during the three-day hearing. Euchner and co-counsel Timothy Eckstein filed a request for a new hearing, but the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the request down and their progress is unknown as of my research this week.
Speaker 1:Okay, so to update on Brad Schwartz. On September 27th 2024, schwartz left a creative writing class. Isn't that nice he's doing creative writing. He left a creative writing class in the Rincon unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson and he was attacked on his way to the bathroom, said his criminal defense attorney stortz. He spent a few days in the intensive care unit and underwent two plastic surgeries once the swelling subsided the form, I mean it must have been serious. The former doctor was released from the hospital after 10 days and is now housed in a Florence prison unit. And in the irony, to end all ironies, his if you look up a picture of Brad Schwartz his right eyelid is drooping over his eye and he has vision problems in that eye. So he's going to have to undergo some more surgery.
Speaker 1:He needs a blast he needs himself to. Yeah, apparently he's been attacked four times. In two of the incidences it was the same inmate. He sustained neck and shoulder injuries and minor injuries in September. Prison officials have been asked to place him in protective custody. I think he's a target not only because he was a doctor, but because of the case and the fact that inmates probably assume he comes from a family of means, said stortz. His lawyer, brian, has a lawsuit pending which seats seeks compensatory damages for pain and suffering and medical expenses. And that is a wrap.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, great job on all of your research. Well thank you.
Speaker 2:I uh Wow, brad, do you think that Bruce is gonna? I mean that that's gonna go anywhere? Because, so what I was thinking is yes, I mean that that's going to go anywhere, because. So what I was thinking is yes, the DNA testing has come a long way, got it Good. It should it needed to. But like you were a suspect for a reason, my dude, I mean, you know what I mean. Yeah, I wouldn't have been picked off the street and someone was like you must have had something to do with this and you fall under this umbrella, so it must have been you like yeah, I mean, I think there's enough um sort of evidence and there's the motive, there's the, the likelihood, the, the.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it does go back to court, they're going to have to prove um beyond a reasonable doubt, um, but like, what are the odds? You're looking someone's I know this is circumstantial evidence, but like you're on the threads of your genes and you're licking someone's leftover plate and then the next day you've got a wad of cash and you're taking people to after the murder, yeah, and you're reasoning for all this all the sudden having all this money because your friends know you don't have money and you're like, oh I got ties to the mafia.
Speaker 1:My uncle, da da da, it's like no, yeah, I mean they were. They were filmed together, um, filmed there. There is video footage of the two of them entering multiple hotels. They had dinner together. There were multiple witnesses that they were obviously a thing. So here's this patient of Brad's Sorry, this patient of Brad's. And I mean, what reason? What reason do they have to affiliate with one another? Was that that Brad used people?
Speaker 2:And Brad was asking everyone over again hey, you know anyone that can do something for me? So who's to say he didn't start asking his patients that?
Speaker 1:So there's the motive, there's the the suspicious like. I mean, bruce was not above, uh, assaulting people or or, you know, getting paid for criminal activity, as his record shows. So I just think it would be hard. Um, I don't even know if they need that spot of blood in the car. They have um video footage of the two of them together on the evening, evidence of him having all of a sudden a bunch of money the next day. I don't know, I don't know what it would take. What would you think if you were on the jury and there wasn't a blood spot? Would you still think Bruce was proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
Speaker 2:I think so, but I'm like, am I? Biased just because we just listened to this whole story. Yeah, Because if it's not you who else is it? Yeah, yeah. I guess the only person that can probably really tell us is Brad. And do we think he's going to be noble? Probably not.
Speaker 1:No, probably not. I mean, maybe Brad did it or his wife had some pretty sketchy reactions to the whole thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was really bizarre.
Speaker 1:I think that was a red herring, but it was really weird that she wouldn't answer the door. Yeah, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see. Um, we'll give you updates if anything you know in the future, if anything comes out of this to prove us wrong.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, well, great job, that's fascinating. Yeah, thank you so, amanda, yes.
Speaker 1:What can our listeners expect to hear next?
Speaker 2:week next week, we are going to be uncovering a juicy story of one of the biggest fraudsters in us history oh, my goodness, I can't wait to hear.
Speaker 1:Will Will you give us a hint? Uh, no, okay, we just have to stay tuned, uh yeah, yeah, yeah, stay tuned, Stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Um, I was kind of like, oh, I don't know, do I want to do fraud? Is that boring? And then I started researching and I was like, oh my gosh, so it's fascinating.
Speaker 1:It's a good one.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right. So, friends, dear friends, don't miss a beat. Subscribe or follow Doctoring the Truth wherever you enjoy your podcasts for stories that shock, intrigue and educate. Trust, after all, is a delicate thing. We'd love to hear more from you. Send us a text on our website at doctoringthetruthbuzzsproutcom. Email us your story ideas on doctoringthetruth at gmailcom. Find and follow us on Instagram at doctoringthetruth. We'll be back next week. Stay safe and stay tuned. Bye, bye, did it hit it?
