Talking Dateline: The Death of Dr. Schwartz

Dateline NBC

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True Crime, Culture, Social, Society & Culture, News

4.4 • 38K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Blayne Alexander joins Keith Morrison to discuss her episode, “The Death of Dr. Schwartz.” In 2014, Dr. Steven Schwartz was found murdered in his Tarpon Springs, Florida, home. What initially looked like a burglary gone wrong turned out to be something much darker. Investigators uncovered a story of greed, betrayal, and a hidden past that stunned even those closest to the doctor. Blayne shares her experience reporting the case across Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Albania — where she spoke to a man who was convicted in connection to the crime. She also shares her conversation with Detective Lara Scarpatti, one of the first officers on the scene, about the unusual behavior she noticed that night. Later, Blayne is joined by producer Rob Buchanan to answer viewer questions about the episode, including why so many Dateline stories seem to take place in Florida. Have a question for Talking Dateline? DM us @DatelineNBC or leave a voicemail at (212) 413-5252 — your question might be featured in an upcoming episode. Listen to the full episode of “The Death of Dr. Schwartz” on Apple: https://apple.co/4hJ72ps Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1gKv6KixEUIJej1dbPke8s

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Keith Morrison, and I am here today with Blaine Alexander.
0:06.5	Hi, Blaine. How are you?
0:08.0	Hi, Keith. I am great. How are you, my friend?
0:10.4	Well, I'm fine. This is an amazing piece.
0:13.3	Well, thank you.
0:14.6	Anyway, today's episode is the death of Dr. Schwartz.
0:17.6	It begins at Tarpen Springs, Florida, where Dr. Stephen Schwartz was murdered in his own home.
0:23.3	Initially, it looked like a burglary a bit, but the detectives soon figured out that it was one of those that wasn't really a burglary.
0:28.7	It was just meant to look like a burglary. It was of all kinds of suspicions about money and betrayal and family and strange goings on in the home of Dr. Schwartz and also a
0:42.7	past that was just hard to believe. You should watch it. It's right below here on this podcast or you can go
0:48.0	to Peacock anytime and watch it. And when you have watched it, come back because Blaine will have
0:52.4	some things to say about it. And we'll also have an extra clip of her interview with Detective Lara Scarpotty,
0:58.7	one of the responding officers of the crime scene.
1:01.1	And later, Rob Buchanan, who produced this story, will join Blaine and take some of your comments.
1:07.8	So welcome to this program and let's talk Dateline. What's do it? What was it like doing
1:14.6	this story? I see you got all over the place on this one. You know Keith, this one was absolutely
1:22.3	all over the place. And so in addition to, I don't think I've ever traveled this much for a story
1:26.8	period, a Dateline story, any story.
1:29.4	So we went to Albania, of course.
1:31.8	That was the biggest trip.
1:33.4	Took a transatlantic flight over to Albania, stayed there.
1:36.7	I was wondering, by the way, I'm interrupting you here for a moment about Albania.
	...

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