Dateline: Who is Rebecca Schwartz and where is she now? Here’s all you need to know about Dr. Steven’s wife

The popular NBC show Dateline: The Death of Dr. Schwartz takes viewers inside one of Florida’s most unsettling mysteries. The 2014 murder of Dr. Steven Schwartz in Tarpon Springs.

It wasn’t just any crime. This one shook the local community and soon caught national attention. At the center of it all was Steven’s wife, Rebecca Schwartz, the woman many believed had more to do with the murder than she let on.

So‍‌‍‍‌ who is she and where is she now? Breaking it down as per Dateline's reports.

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Dateline: Who is Rebecca Schwartz and where is she now?

The story started back in May 2014. Rebecca Schwartz made an emergency call, obviously very upset. She explained that an intruder had broken into the home that she and her husband shared. The house had been vandalized, she informed the dispatcher. However, when the police got there, the situation escalated to something ‍‌‍‍‌terrifying.

In the garage, they found Steven’s body. That moment flipped everything- what looked like a robbery now became a full-blown murder investigation.

Soon after, police arrested Anton Leo Stragaj, a handyman who had worked at the house many times before. His DNA showed up at the scene, which seemed like a clear lead. But then, Stragaj turned the story upside down. He claimed Rebecca had set him up.

That’s where Dateline really leans in, peeling back every layer of this case, from Rebecca’s troubled past to the accusations that followed.

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A difficult past and a second chance

To understand the story, you have to look at Rebecca’s life before Steven. She didn’t have it easy. Before meeting him in the late ’90s through a dating service, she’d already been through a lot. Two sons, Ben and Eric, a criminal record, and heartbreak that could break anyone.

In the 1980s, her two-year-old son, Christopher, was killed in a drunk driving crash. The loss was very hard for her. In an attempt to make her pain her purpose, she became a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. However, later on, court records revealed that she was convicted for stealing approximately $12,000 from the same organization- money that she used to buy a car and a boat.

She was given probation for five years and was ordered to pay it back. Life, however, still gave her another opportunity when she met ‍‌‍‍‌Steven.

He seemed to offer stability like a reset button. They eventually moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida, where Rebecca began managing his medical office and finances. After years together, they tied the knot in 2012.

Their family became a mix of her two sons and Steven’s three children. But, as anyone who’s tried to blend families knows, it’s rarely smooth sailing. Her son Ben struggled with drug addiction and was arrested in 2011 for stealing jewelry from the Schwartz home. It added more tension to an already complicated household.

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Dateline: The shocking discovery and accusations

Still, to the outside world, things seemed okay until May 28, 2014. That’s the day everything collapsed, according to Dateline.

After Rebecca’s 911 call police rushed to the house. There was total destruction- furniture overturned, drawers emptied. And thus in the garage, Steven’s body, lying in a pool of blood. He had been shot twice, strangled, and stabbed.

DNA evidence led detectives back to Anton “Leo” Stragaj. But once again, Leo pointed fingers at Rebecca. According to him, about six months before the murder, she had asked him to kill her husband and he said no. He even alleged she wanted Steven’s son, Carter, dead too, though he denied being part of that.

Leo also claimed Rebecca was draining Steven’s finances, sending money to her son Ben and helping her other son, Eric, open a Verizon store. Whether true or not, the accusations painted a dark picture.

Dateline dives into the intricate details of the crime scene.

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Dateline’s focus: Not criminally guilty, but found liable

After Steven’s death, Rebecca packed up and left Florida. She sold his medical practice and moved to Winneconne, Wisconsin. However, that wasn’t the end of the tale.

The children of Steven sued her for wrongful death in 2016. Thereafter, the trial got the reputation of a “dramatic mess” because of all the witnesses it had.

Meredith, one of the accusers, claimed that Rebecca wrecked her marriage by seducing her husband who later moved in with her. The situation became so bad that Meredith tried to kill herself. Afterwards, she stated that Rebecca came over and made a very cold and cutting comment right at that moment.

When it was Rebecca’s turn to testify, she stayed quiet — using her constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination. Smart legally, sure. But to the jury, it might not have looked good.

Prosecutors argued Steven had found out about Rebecca’s past embezzlement and was planning to leave her. That, they said, could have been her motive. Her lawyers countered that she was just a grieving widow, unfairly blamed for a tragedy she didn’t cause.

In March 2025, the civil case wrapped up and the verdict was brutal. The court ruled that Rebecca “unlawfully and intentionally killed, or participated in procuring the death” of Steven Schwartz. She was ordered to pay $200 million in damages.

Here’s the key thing, though. Dateline suggests that she has never been found guilty in criminal court. That’s a big deal. The civil ruling doesn’t equal a murder conviction.

Since then, Rebecca has stayed completely out of the public eye. No interviews, no statements. Just silence. Her lawyers still insist she’s innocent.

And honestly, it’s the kind of story Dateline thrives on- complicated people, messy motives, and a truth that never feels fully settled.