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A.J.'s Story - Newspaper Articles

The following links take you to various articles in AJ's story as it appeared in the South Florida media.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE BEFORE ASKING.

Thank you!

In Loving Memory Of Andrew James "A.J." Schwarz April 24,1983 - May 2,1993 "Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..."
This page contains articles from the Palm Beach Post and The Sun-Sentinel from the year 1995.

If you are interested in reading the FULL DETAILS of this case aside from what is posted here, please purchase "No One Can Hurt Him Anymore" by Carol J.Rothgeb and Scott H. Cupp. Mr. Cupp thinks it's the book that nobody will read...please show your support and show him that you care about AJ, too by ordering his book by clicking on the cover image below.

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Champion of The Children (4/16/95)
1 in 8 Foster Homes Dirty, Crowded (4/17/95)
Not The Brady Bunch Anymore (4/18/95)
Estate of AJ Schwarz Sues HRS (5/2/95)
AJ's Mother Files Lawsuit Over His Death (5/2/95)
Around Town (5/6/95)
Prosecutors in Child Deaths Try To Stay Detatched (5/8/95)
When Children Die (6/2/95)
New Schwarz Trial Sought (6/10/95)

CHAMPION OF THE CHILDREN
Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
April 16, 1995

Scott Cupp turned to the judge, eyes darkening like a thunderhead, and delivered a final blow in Jessica Schwarz's murder trial: ``She despised the boy.''
Assistant State Attorney Cupp had not prepared his closing statement. He relied on his heart. His zealous heart.
At the end, after the judge pronounced Schwarz guilty of killing her 10-year-old stepson, Cupp slumped forward, exhausted, relieved and deeply sad.
For two years he had worked on the case, believing A.J. Schwarz was murdered when few others did. Now everyone knew and Cupp was inconsolable. Even with Schwarz facing life behind bars, there was no justice for A.J.
Hours later Cupp stood in another courtroom, facing another mother on trial for murdering her child.
Again, the verdict came back guilty. Prosecutor Mary Ann Duggan and Cupp succeeded in convincing jurors that Pauline Zile stood by and let her daughter be beaten to death. To many, the felony murder conviction was a surprise.
On a single day, Cupp and homicide prosecutors had won guilty verdicts in two of the most publicized cases in Palm Beach County's recent criminal history.
As the chief prosecutor of crimes against children, Cupp is at the front of the child abuse crusade, leading the charge. In the months ahead, he and homicide prosecutors will try Zile's husband, John, and three other mothers on murder charges.
Cupp's critics see him as a fanatic, turning his unreasonable wrath on the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, drawing on the vulnerability of his victims to carry his cases and make a name.
But to his admirers, he is a champion for children - an Atticus Finch in the frenzied world of child abuse, providing a solid moral foothold and tenacity. Like Harper Lee's southern civil rights lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, Cupp does his lawyering methodically, propelling cases forward that might otherwise collapse in a fury of emotion.
Cupp sees himself as just a prosecutor who uses a lot of common sense and does what he thinks is right.
He knows that most of what he does would be too horrible for others to face: looking at the autopsy photos of children cut open, questioning a mother about drowning her child, comparing bruises and cigarette burns on a child's arm.
But he keeps going because he can't think of anything more important that he could be doing.
``Scott has the feeling. It's hard to explain,'' says his boss, State Attorney Barry Krischer.
``He's obsessed with incompetency. And he perceives there are people whose . . . job it is to protect children, and when he discerns complacency or worse, then he responds. When I get complaints from HRS, the fact is I agree with everything he's done.''
Where many prosecutors burn out trying the wrenching cases of children tortured, raped or murdered, Cupp remains grounded but passionate.
``The problem I've had historically is keeping prosecutors in that position who still maintain the fire in the gut . . . without just becoming real emotional basket cases,'' said Jerry Blair, state attorney for the Third Circuit and Cupp's former boss.
``It's a job that unfortunately attracts zealots and, you know, he has no less commitment than some of those who are more zealous, but he's able to balance that commitment.
``Scott never wavered. Scott is doing what he wants to do.''
`I'm not a perfect father'
Over the fireplace in Cupp's living room, a Christmas wreath still hangs. There are toys scattered in the den, where his two daughters, ages 6 and 4, play a game of restaurant, fighting over who will be maitre d'.
His wife, Susan, apologizes about the clutter, explaining that the past two months have been hectic.
``When he's in trial, you can tell. He's home, but he's in trial. He's always thinking about it,'' she said. ``I remember at one point, Scott couldn't sleep and would be up at 4 a.m. walking the floor and Scotty, (their 9-month-old son) would be up. I thought, `Am I ever going to get any sleep.' ''
In the Cupp household, Susan, 42, is the glue keeping the pieces in place. Her husband's job takes its toll. There are times he is rarely home.
The kids ``can feel it, they can perceive when there's tension. Most children can,'' Susan says. ``Katie (their 6-year-old) is really very interested in the news lately. But we do try to filter and simplify things so she can understand what her daddy does without it being too traumatic.''
When Cupp started working on the Zile case, Katie became upset that he might be breaking up a family.
``She was mad at me because, she said, `If the mommy goes to jail, and the daddy goes to jail, then there's no family.' That's very upsetting and I tried to explain that the mommy and daddy are not good to the little girl and the little girl is not safe.''
Then Cupp called a child psychiatrist to be sure he had said the right thing.
Like most parents, Cupp worries endlessly about his children.
``Believe me, I don't go around second guessing how people raise their kids,'' he says. ``I'm not some expert on raising kids. We struggle with it. We don't have perfect kids. I'm not a perfect father.''
Career led to children
How Cupp came to be an advocate for children is, well, almost boring. There is no dark history of abuse in his family, no single, enlightening case, no middle-of-the-night, cold-sweat awakening. It was simply where his career took him.
Cupp, 38, grew up as the baby in a middle-class family of three in Pittsburgh.
His father was a planning engineer for U.S. Steel. His mother raised the kids. Cupp thinks he came along as an afterthought: His sister is nine years older, his brother seven years. His childhood was bucolic: summer mornings letting the back door slam on his way out. Playing in the woods. Back in time for supper.
After high school, Cupp went to Penn State and promptly flunked out.
``I guess I wasn't ready for prime time,'' he shrugs.
For the next five years, he did odd jobs - driving a cab, working in a steel mill, selling cars and peddling insurance. Then, at 24, he decided to go back to school and enrolled at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. To his father's disappointment, he rejected sciences and majored in English literature. He had already decided to become a lawyer because two close friends were practicing and said they could find him work.
Being a pragmatic steel belter, Cupp was thinking about a job, not a passion.
During his third year at Western New England School of Law in Springfield, Mass., he worked in the criminal law clinic and tried two cases. He had already interned one summer in his friend's small general practice and realized family law was not for him. So, just before graduation, he lined up interviews at three state attorney offices in Florida because it was easier to get a job as a prosecutor here than in Pennsylvania.
At his first interview in Fort Myers he was offered a job. Cupp canceled interviews in Broward and Dade counties and spent the rest of the time on the beach.
For nearly two years, he handled juvenile, misdemeanor and drunken driving cases before moving on to felonies. Then, at a seminar in Fort Lauderdale, Cupp met his wife, who handled public relations for a cable company. Cupp groans at having to repeat how they met.
``It's so terrible,'' he says.
Sitting at Shooter's, one of South Florida's hottest meat-market bars in the mid-1980s, Cupp introduced himself to his future wife. They made plans to have dinner one night, then started dating bi-coastally.
``One of the first things that struck me was his sincerity,'' Susan says. ``He's very, very honest.''
Years later, Krischer also would remember Cupp's honesty when he considered him for the head of his crimes against children unit.
Four months after Cupp met Susan, he proposed. In 1987, he took a job in Palm Beach County so the couple could live on the same coast. In his first year, he helped another assistant state attorney prepare a molestation case against David Allen Lindsey Sr. - a 45-year-old cabinetmaker once seen as a hero for opening his house to troubled boys.
Lindsey was convicted in 1988 - it was Cupp's first big child abuse case and would shape his career.
But the state attorney at the time, David Bludworth, said he wanted Cupp back prosecuting felony cases. Cupp took a pay cut and moved to the rural Third Circuit to prosecute crimes against children in the small towns of northern Florida.
``That was a very big challenge,'' Susan Cupp says. ``It all happened so quickly. We closed on a house (in Coconut Creek in Broward County), Kate was born and eight months later we moved to this rural area. He was always so positive and said, `It'll pay off.' ''
Susan stayed behind trying to sell the house, unable to leave for another nine months.
In and around Suwannee County, Cupp learned what worked and what didn't. Blair remembers that even then, Cupp grew frustrated with the system created to protect children.
``He did not have a great deal of tolerance for HRS in activities regarding children,'' Blair said. ``Most of the individual workers had a good rapport with Scott, but I cannot say that the hierarchy was all that upset when he left.''
Krischer sought advocate
Even before he was elected in 1992, Krischer knew he wanted Cupp to prosecute crimes against children for him. Krischer, once Bludworth's chief assistant, had spent the last nine years in private practice and acting as an attorney for the Child Protection Team. He knew the state attorney should be doing more for children.
Cupp caught his attention during a DUI case about 1988. Krischer's client claimed Palm Beach County deputies beat him. Cupp discovered part of a video tape of the arrest had been erased and told Krischer.
Just after Krischer was sworn in 1993, Cupp took over the unit. Five months later, A.J. Schwarz was found dead, floating naked in his backyard pool.
``At that point, we didn't even know what we had,'' Cupp said. ``There was a pretty strong suspicion something was wrong in that home. That didn't take a rocket scientist.''
Detectives collected evidence and statements with Cupp overseeing legal aspects. Several months later the grand jury charged Jessica Schwarz with witness tampering, child abuse and murder and HRS caseworker Barbara Black with extortion for allegedly threatening a mother who called the abuse hot line about Schwarz. The grand jury also slammed HRS in a scathing report.
Then in late 1994, seven other parents - John and Pauline Zile, Timothy and Paulette Cone, Clover Boykin, Joanne Mejia and Jacqueline Caruncho - were charged in quick succession with murdering children. A grand jury indicted them and again issued a critical report.
Cupp was now seen as launching an attack on HRS.
``The more I got involved in child abuse, the more I realized the importance of emotional abuse,'' he said. ``The physical abuse stands out and people notice it, but it's the emotional toll. It basically destroys their spirit and that's what incenses me.''
Even HRS district administrator Suzanne Turner sees his point.
``I think - and I'm sure it's based on Scott's work in the process - (the jury and judge) have sent a clear message to the parents that they are responsible for the children and this society is not going to tolerate abuse and neglect,'' she said.
Then she said, ``I'm sure there are people all over town who agree or disagree with the State Attorney's Office just as they agree or disagree with HRS. I don't see us having an adversarial role.''
`We make a difference'
Back at his house, Cupp is taking a few days off. His girls are glad to have him home. His son is teething. Cupp's glad to be home.
``When I first started this, we'd just had our first child and I didn't think about it,'' he said. ``Sometimes it helps having kids. They help me. It's nice to come home to kids you know are happy.''
For all his victories at trial, Cupp says he has only once stepped up to a parent outside court.
He and his family were eating dinner when he noticed another father growing more and more angry with his toddler. Suddenly the man grabbed the boy by the arm and marched him outside. A few minutes later the man returned without his son. Cupp walked outside and found the boy locked in a car.
``He was a big guy and I went up and said, `Go get him,' and he did,'' Cupp says, remembering how scared he was.
Every time a child dies mysteriously or gets hit or raped or tortured, his heart sinks. Susan Cupp knows that feeling:
``Scott was at the police station and called about 11:30 p.m. and said he got a confession (from John Zile) and they were searching for the baby. I put a face on that little girl and I felt real pain. You hang on to that glimmer of hope that it's not that bad.''
Cupp is afraid of sounding sappy in explaining why he stays in crimes against children.
``To say it's important is overstating the obvious. I don't know if I could go back and try other cases. If I had to try drug cases, I'd go screaming into the night. I guess it's that sometimes, not all the time, we make a difference.''

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1 IN 8 FOSTER HOMES DIRTY, CROWDED
The Palm Beach Post
April 17, 1995
WILLIAM COOPER JR.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The first in-depth review of Palm Beach County's foster homes by anyone outside the state bureaucracy found one in eight substandard and crowded, state records show.
In a luck-of-the-draw system, some children went to clean, comfortable homes with plenty of toys and strict but loving discipline. Others were crowded into dirty places and left in the care of adults who spanked them.
One home had no running water. One had no food in the refrigerator. In another, children shared living space with a pig.
It wasn't just kids who suf-fered from a system with too-few options. While some foster parents love what they do, a quarter told reviewers they were overworked, angry and ready to quit.
The comprehensive review of the county's 189 foster homes was done last summer by teachers and members of the Foster Parents Association of Palm Beach County, who were paid $19,719 by the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.
``This was above and beyond what we normally we do,'' said James Hart, the deputy District 9 administrator. ``We wanted adults with common sense. As a result of the findings, HRS has closed some foster homes. But the state agency could not say how many closings could be attributed to the reviews. The agency is also using the information to improve oversight and communication with foster parents.
The review showed that foster homes operated by private, non-profit agencies, such as the Children's Home Society, were in better condition than those operating through HRS. The private foster homes had fewer children, more frequent visits from counselors and more money for therapeutic services.
To create such an environment for HRS foster homes would cost ``thousands of dollars,'' Hart said.
Because the visits were unannounced, many foster parents were caught with messy homes. At least 22 foster homes were considered in conditions below basic standards - including filthy rooms, roaches crawling on walls and lack of screening to keep toddlers from slipping into swimming pools or canals, HRS records show.
Some foster homes required emergency attention.
When reviewers arrived at the home of Richard and Marge Sweeney, they found five foster children ``lined up like zombies on the couch.'' Reviewers called the home ``an accident waiting to happen.''
The family had farm animals, including a pig, living in the home, according to Hart.
``How could the health department pass this home?'' a reviewer questioned.
Marge Sweeney told reviewers the house was in disarray because her family was in the process of moving. The family also wanted permission to allow the foster children to sleep in tents until their new home was ready.
The residence at the time of the review had become too crowded, reviewers noted.
Hart said he later visited the Sweeney home to make sure the problems were corrected. The Sweeneys' request for the children to live in tents was denied, he said.
The Sweeneys, still foster parents, have moved into their new home. Hart said their home is ideal for foster children because it has plenty of space.
``It's a very, very adequate home,'' Hart said. ``There's a pond with ducks, and there's no sign of the animals in the house.''
Pig sighting was a shock
Marge Sweeney said last week she is not ashamed of having chickens, ducks and pigs at her home. However, she could understand a visitor's surprise at seeing a pig resting in the living room.
``I'm a kid lover and I'm an animal lover,'' she said.
Edison Ramirez, an HRS counselor who visits the home regularly, didn't think the farm animals posed a threat to the children. Most of them were kept inside a fence.
``The animals are therapeutic for the kids.'' Ramirez said.
Children are placed in foster care after a judge rules that the parents can't adequately care for them. They usually are sent to foster homes near their previous homes.
HRS officials said they try to match foster parents with the kind of children they want. But often, social workers must scramble to place the children in the first available home.
About 20 percent of the foster homes were over their licensed capacity, HRS records show.
Some foster parents - who are paid between $306 and $421 a month per child - acknowledged that constantly caring for unruly children has worn their patience thin.
Take the home of Basilio and Antonia Ramos, where seven foster children typically reside. Antonia Ramos told reviewers that ``sometimes seven kids seems like too many.''
They have also had problems with one foster child who set their home on fire a couple of years ago.
The child, who has been in 13 foster homes in six years, takes medication for his behavior. HRS shows little interest, according to Antonia Ramos, the boy's foster mother since 1991.
An HRS counselor once failed to take the boy to a doctor's appointment. As a result, the doctor now refuses to see the youngster, Ramos said.
Ramos also complained she had no paperwork declaring her and her husband as the child's foster parents. The lack of information kept them from getting school records; it took three months to get the children enrolled.
``No one told them what a tremendous problem this child had,'' reviewers wrote. ``The way Mrs. Ramos has been treated by HRS is a nightmare.''
The absence of background information on foster children was a complaint among 21 percent of the foster parents, HRS records show. Some even complained that when they got the information, it wasn't always accurate.
Many, like the Ramos family, had asked for the information, but HRS officials ignored their requests.
Foster parents speak out
Foster mother Elizabeth Howard told reviewers she had to draw the line.
``She has learned to refuse taking children unless she has the information,'' reviewers wrote.
Although Howard's approach is drastic, it shows the kind of measures foster parents must take to protect themselves and their families.
Shirley Fitzgerald, president of the local Foster Parents Association, said the reviews allowed foster parents to speak candidly about problems they encounter.
The drill helped give HRS decision-makers information that typically doesn't make it to their level. The agency can now determine which homes need fewer children, more training and additional services.
About 25 percent of the foster parents complained that HRS workers failed to visit the foster children at least once a month as required by state policy.
Among those who complained about a lack of visits were Timothy and Paulette Cone, the Lake Worth couple who have been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of their 2-year-old adopted daughter, Pauline.
The toddler, a former foster child, died Nov. 10 when a plywood lid rigged to her crib fell, strangling her. In July, during the inspection, the reviewers noted that Paulette Cone ``needs support for herself and children.''
The Cones, who told reviewers they had 60 foster children over five years, have called Pauline's death an accident.
Although reviewers found the Cone home messy, they said the foster children were ``well-groomed.'' They also concluded that the foster children were ``very responsive to working with parents.''
Last April, HRS Secretary Jim Towey ordered all foster homes in Florida inspected, after a 12-year-old foster child turned up at a Hillsborough County hospital severely neglected.
Locally, however, such inspections should have been under way.
Four months before Towey's edict, Suzanne Turner, the local HRS district administrator, announced inspections in response to charges accusing Jessica Schwarz of killing her 10-year-old stepson while he was under HRS supervision.
But inspections weren't made because HRS had problems organizing the project.
Last May, local HRS officials decided to hire school teachers and representatives from the Foster Parent Association to make the visits.
In teams of two, consisting of a foster parent and teacher, the group went to the homes, armed with a five-page evaluation form. The ``inspectors'' reviewed everything from cleanliness to the foster parents' relationship with the foster children.
About two-thirds of the county's foster homes seemed to be functioning properly. Some foster parents did not cooperate with the reviewers, refusing to even let them into their homes. For some, it took reviewers at least three visits to inspect the home.
Some foster homes were given grades. Of 42 homes that were graded, 35 received a C or better. Seven were rated below average or failing.
Susan Rowe, a foster parent who helped inspect 78 of the homes, later had her own home reviewed by HRS workers. Their report was unfavorable.
The reviewers noted ``all rooms in total disarray,'' and that she had too many children in the home.
``Mom is a caring individual, however, she might be overwhelmed with the number and needs of these special children and a household to run.''
Rowe said her review did not take place until last October, three months after HRS formed the team. She said her home was crowded because HRS called at 2 a.m. one day, asking her to take four siblings.
That pushed the number of children in her home to 12, including four of her own children. In addition, Rowe had pneumonia.
``I was overwhelmed,'' said Rowe, adding that the four additional foster children have since been moved. ``I didn't realize it until they were taken out of the home.''
Some homes were surprisingly unsanitary, said Rowe. However, she said she could understand why some families were caught with dirty homes.
`Held to higher standard'
``We're expected to be cleaner, neater and more respectful of the children's needs,'' Rowe said. ``We're held to a higher standard than the biological parents.''
Lynn Bogner, an HRS foster care analyst, said the state agency is putting a new emphasis on training as a result of the reviews. HRS counselors are attending the same training as the foster parents.
``The foster parents said they didn't know why the counselors were supposed to come to the home,'' Bogner said.
For HRS counselors, the department is stressing the importance of monthly visits, which should go beyond merely observing the foster children.
The social workers also should use the time to share information, ask about the mental health of the foster parents and help meet the family's needs.
Staff Writer Jane Victoria Smith contributed to this report.
RATING THE HOMES
Reviewers judged foster homes on whether they were clean, had activities and toys for the children, whether discipline was administered properly and whether the foster parents and kids had a good relationship. Here are some that stood out:
MAX AND FRANCIS VESLOVSKY
CHILDREN: Two foster children, two biological children.
COMMENTS: The home was ``very nice, serene, calm, quiet, loving. No help from counselors in getting services for the children.''
WILLIE AND VERONICA KING
CHILDREN: Four foster children, two biological.
COMMENTS: Home is `free of dangerous conditions.' Foster children have `nice rooms.' Biological parents appreciate her taking care of their children.
ROBERT AND DORREN HOWELL
CHILDREN: Four foster children
COMMENTS: Cares for children with some handicaps. Home has great toys and play areas. Takes kids swimming, participates in gymnastics. Lots of family activities. `Wonderful home - lots of love - great situation.'
STEPHEN AND BETH ECKMAN
CHILDREN: Two
COMMENTS: ` . . . very nice home, set up for children.' The foster children participate in gymnastics, vacations and church activities.
REGINALD AND MILDREN GORDON
CHILDREN: Seven foster children, one biological child.
COMMENTS: Home was in good condition. Children have their own beds. `Kids happy.' Difficulty getting information on foster children. The family had to `call and beg for it.'
Source: state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, foster care visitor's project.

FOSTER HOME FINDINGS
Teachers and members of the Foster Parent Association visited 189 foster homes last summer. Here are some of their findings:
SOME FOSTER PARENTS admitted spanking children in violation of state policy.
OTHERS USED ODD FORMS OF DISCIPLINE such as making children do hand stands or push ups, putting hot sauce on their finger tips.
MANY LOVE WHAT THEY DO, but a fourth say they are overworked, angry and ready to quit.
ABOUT 20 PERCENT of the foster homes had more than five foster children, the state's license capacity.
SOME 21 PERCENT complained that they had no background information on the children placed in their homes.
A QUARTER OF THE FOSTER PARENTS complained that HRS counselors failed to visit the children once a month as required by the state.

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NOT THE BRADY BUNCH ANYMORE
The Palm Beach Post
April 18, 1995
FRAN HATHAWAY

Why are more parents killing their children?
In our revulsion at the recent spate of child deaths, have we decided such behavior is inexplicable and stopped asking?
Yet there's a reason for everything. And last week, after two Palm Beach County mothers were convicted of murder, a friend called to point out that Jessica Schwarz, who killed 10-year-old A.J., was his stepmother. And though Pauline Zile is culpable for watching while her 7-year-old daughter Christina was beaten to death, it's stepfather John Zile who's charged with the beating.
Stepparents. People trying to fill a caring role for children born in another marriage to someone they love now. It's a much tougher job than most admit. And many people aren't doing it very well.
That's not to offend stepparents who are working hard to blend their families. And it's not my judgment. It comes from stepparents themselves and from family therapists who have watched families split and try to reform for a quarter-century.
Jeannette Lofas runs the Stepfamily Foundation in New York and has written books on stepparenting. After telling her about the local murders, I asked, gingerly, whether stepparenting might be a factor or simply a coincidence. She replied without hesitation.
``Oh, it's a given there's more child abuse and sexual abuse in stepfamilies,'' she says. ``Your cases may be extreme. But lots of stepparents think about killing their kids. And now we live in a culture that says, `Go ahead.' ''
After years of divorce, remarriage and more divorce, half of American families are stepfamilies. That includes unmarried couples with children or whose children visit on weekends. Forty percent of her clients, Ms. Lofas says, don't remarry because they're afraid to commit to another relationship. Men think they were burned financially in their first divorce. Women think they got short shrift in theirs.
Children in such homes are wounded from their parents' divorce. Adults are struggling to find new roles, with each other and new children. Money must be stretched farther. Previous spouses cause jealousy and anger among adults, divided loyalties among kids.
``No matter how hard you try, bonding with a stepchild is difficult,'' my friend says. ``My husband's ex-wife made it harder by telling her daughters never to call me Mom. It's definitely not the Brady Bunch,'' the 1970s sitcom that made blended families look like a bundle of love and laughs.
My friend is doing her best. If anyone has the intelligence, sensitivity and determination to succeed as a stepparent, it's her. But I was astonished to hear her say that if her present marriage ended, which she doesn't expect, she will not marry again. She would not want her own young child to grow up in another stepfamily.
Ms. Lofas understands. Society's present problems reflect how kids are living.
``Children are increasingly unsocialized. Nobody eats dinner together.'' She urges a return to traditional child-raising, to norms and forms, rules and respect. When she counsels teenagers, she shows them an etiquette book and says they're welcome to take it. It's the book that finds its way to their homes most.
Ms. Lofas also does telephone counseling to help parents become better stepparents. The Stepfamily Foundation is at 333 West End Ave., New York, N.Y. 10023; her number is (212) 877-3244.
Palm Beach County's child abuse task force needs to examine the role of stepparenting in abuse and neglect. Have we avoided the issue for fear of invading people's privacy, just as we shy away from discussing a related subject, careless conception?
Come on. A lot of kids are in pain. And some will never feel anything again.
Fran Hathaway is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post.

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ESTATE OF A.J. SCHWARZ SUES HRS
Sun-Sentinel
May 2, 1995
MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

The estate of Andrew "A.J." Schwarz filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the boy's stepmother and his biological father of negligence in his drowning death.
The wrongful death suit, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, seeks more than $15,000 in damages on behalf of the 10-year-old's biological mother, Ilene Soini Schwarz of Fort Lauderdale, his teen-age sister and half-sister, 5.
On May 2, 1993, A.J.'s naked body was pulled from a 4-foot-deep above-ground pool at the Lantana-area home he shared with his stepmother, Jessica Schwarz, and his biological father, David "Bear" Schwarz.
Jessica Schwarz, 40, was convicted last month of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in A.J.'s death.
Jessica Schwarz, already serving 30 years for her convictions last year on four counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of felony child abuse against A.J., faces life in prison when she is sentenced later this month.
Ted Crespi, the attorney representing A.J.'s estate, said the lawsuit was filed because HRS officials failed A.J. when he needed them most.
HRS officials "were warned they had a dangerous situation and they did nothing," Crespi said. "In this case, it's the actions and inactions of HRS workers that caused the death of this child."
HRS spokeswoman Beth Owen said on Monday that officials with her agency could not comment until they review the lawsuit.
A.J.'s biological mother, Soini Schwarz, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
A.J. was placed in the custody of his father and stepmother in 1992 after his biological mother's boyfriend was accused of sexually molesting his teen-age sister.
The lawsuit says HRS officials should have known A.J. "was the victim of violent, abusive, neglectful and hazardous care" while living with David and Jessica Schwarz.
HRS is also accused in the lawsuit of not protecting A.J. by:
-- Failing to report or act upon findings of physical abuse;
-- Failing to complete physical and psychological evaluations on A.J.;
-- Failing to act on abuse and neglect reports filed by A.J.'s neighbors;
-- Placing A.J. in the custody of his father and stepmother, who had criminal records and pyschological problems.
The lawsuit says David Schwarz breached his duty to care for his son by failing to protect A.J. from abuse or neglect, which presented a risk of serious injury or death to the boy.
Jessica Schwarz's negligence was the physical and emotional abuse she put the boy through. The abuse ranged from forcing A.J. to run naked through his neighborhood to making the boy trim the lawn with a pair of scissors, the lawsuit said.

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A.J.'S MOTHER FILES LAWSUIT OVER HIS DEATH
Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
May 2, 1995
JAY CROFT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The biological mother of Andrew ``A.J.'' Schwarz on Monday filed a wrongful death suit against the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the boy's biological father and the stepmother convicted of his abuse and murder.
The suit, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, seeks unspecified damages of at least $115,000.
It names as plaintiff the court-appointed representative of A.J.'s estate, Theresa Pike, but identifies Ilene Lillian Soini Schwarz and A.J.'s two half-sisters as surviving beneficiaries able to make a claim on the estate.
HRS took A.J. from his mother in May 1990 after abuse charges surfaced against his stepfather. A.J. was placed under HRS protective custody in August 1990 and sent to live with his father and stepmother in October 1990.
The 10-year-old boy was found dead in the Lake Worth family's pool in May 1993. His autopsy showed head injuries so severe that they would have killed him if he had not drowned first.
His stepmother, Jessica Schwarz, was convicted in December of abusing A.J. and on April 11 of murdering him.
Besides Jessica Schwarz, the other defendants named in the suit are the state, HRS, HRS Secretary James Towey, ex-Secretary Robert Williams, various HRS supervisors and employees and A.J.'s father, David A. Schwarz.
Barbara Black, the HRS investigator assigned to A.J.'s case before his death, is among the defendants. She was indicted in December 1993 on a charge of extortion by threat for allegedly telling a neighbor she would lose her children if she continued calling HRS about A.J.'s abuse.
A judge in March agreed to privately review a grand jury note explaining why Black was indicted one month after a prosecutor said she would not be charged.

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AROUND TOWN
The Palm Beach Post
May 6, 1995

Show will feature A.J.'s mom
Jessica Schwarz, the first mother convicted in a recent string of parent-child murder cases, will be featured on an upcoming Maury Povich show, publicist Gary Rosen said Friday. Schwarz was convicted of second-degree murder this year in the death of her stepson, A.J. A crew from the show will interview Schwarz at the county stockade Monday, taping a satellite feed to the New York-based show from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The crew also will interview Ileen Schwarz, A.J.'s mother. The 10-year-old boy was found floating in Jessica Schwarz's pool in May 1993. On Monday, Ileen Schwarz filed a wrongful death suit against the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, which took custody of A.J. when he was 8 and placed him with Jessica Schwarz. No date has been set for airing the broadcast, Rosen said. - Jenny Staletovich

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PROSECUTORS IN CHILD DEATHS TRY TO STAY DETACHED
Sun-Sentinel
May 8, 1995
STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

In the hierarchy of the prosecutorial profession, a prosecutor specializing in crimes against children was in the lower rungs, considered something of a social worker with a law degree.
There was little glamour and even less glory in pleading out and putting away child molesters and child beaters day in and day out. The prosecutors who made the headlines and the nightly news were the ones handling major crimes, homicides.
Then came a series of wrenching child killings in Palm Beach County. The little-known Crimes Against Children division was propelled into the spotlight two years ago after the drowning that ended 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz's tortuous short life.
Then the killings came faster and more furious. Christina Holt, Kayla Bassante, Dayton Boykin, Pauline Cone, Tiffany Greenfield and Charles Mejia.
The division's chief, Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp, fields telephone calls from law school students who want to know how they, too, can represent children.
Cupp is quick to correct them.
"I try to keep in mind to the attorneys who do this, we don't represent the children, we represent the State of Florida. I'm not a social worker," Cupp said. "These kids have enough people wringing their hands, feeling sorry for them. We're here to prosecute these cases."
He does not consider himself a champion of children, a social reformer, and he doesn't want such zealots on his staff, Cupp said.
"They want to do social work, they want to get touchy, feely with the kids," he said of the social-worker types. "When the case is over, you're not going to see them again. It's not fair to the kids. Like everything else that's happened to them, you let them down."
Cupp has specialized in crimes against children for six years, almost a record in the field. The work is usually so depressing and emotionally consuming, most prosecutors beg to be transferred out or are rotated out by their bosses within two years.
Cupp maintains both a passion and detachment for the work, his employees and bosses said.
But Cupp's cool, professional demeanor drops when he talks about the Schwarz case. His eyes glisten and his voice nearly chokes.
"It was difficult not to identify with the kid, once you started to see what he went through. I think the hardest part was the constant realization of how trapped he really was," Cupp said.
Andrew J. Schwarz's naked and bruised body was found floating in an above-ground swimming pool. Neighbors testified the boy was literally tortured by his stepmother for years. He was assigned demeaning chores such as cleaning after the dog, forced to eat a cockroach and made to wear a T-shirt that proclaimed he was worthless.
Cupp and co-prosecutor Joseph Marx openly cried when A.J.'s stepmother Jessica Schwarz was convicted in September on six counts of child abuse. In a separate trial, Schwarz was convicted in April of drowning her stepson.
Marx said the case was the most important one in his life.
That Marx was able to go on, to take the case to trial in September, just two and a half months after the killing of his wife was evidence of his commitment.
Karen Starr Marx, 30, was four months pregnant with their first child when she was shot to death on May 27. The killing made headlines because it was during a meeting to take a deposition for a lawsuit in Fort Lauderdale. Karen Marx, a civil lawyer, was at the deposition because a colleague at her Palm Beach law firm couldn't make it.
A disgruntled former employee opened fire on his ex-boss, and the lawyers were caught in the middle. Clarence L. Rudolph, who ran a job placement service for senior citizens, also was killed.
Marx said his wife would have wanted him to follow through with the Schwarz case. His wife helped him prepare the case and write legal briefs.
"She really said to me, `Joe, you better get her.' She hated that woman with a passion. She'd cry about what happened to this boy," Marx said.
Schwarz was Marx's last trial as a prosecutor in the division for crimes against children.
"When my wife died, those cases required so much emotional energy, I just couldn't do it any more," Marx said.
Now he is in the official corruption unit, at his request. His latest big case was the grand jury investigation into the prison escape at Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade.
Marx says he was a touchy-feely kind of prosecutor who took children to McDonald's and tried to solve every problem until it wore him down.
"You're more open to it in there, to burn yourself out," Marx said. "Sometimes you have to be a little cold to it. You have to keep your distance to a certain extent. These people will wear you out if you let them because they want you to fix everything and you want to fix it for them."
He wants to go back to the division, but when he's emotionally ready and maybe a bit more detached.
"It was the most worthwhile thing I've ever done," Marx said.

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WHEN CHILDREN DIE
The Palm Beach Post
June 2, 1995

Pauline Zile's child died in her presence. Zile may go to the electric chair. Paulette and Timothy Cone's child died in their presence. The Cones were convicted of only a misdemeanor.
With a Palm Beach County jury having decided last week - after much debate - that the Cones were not directly response for the death of their 2 1/2-year-old adopted daughter, Pauline, it's a good time to evaluate just how the criminal-justice system is handling the tragically high number of cases in which children died. Three have been decided. Sadly, we're barely halfway. And investigations may turn up more.
First was Jessica Schwarz. She was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of her stepson, A.J., found floating in his backyard pool. Next came Zile, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, 8-year-old Christina Holt, and will be sentenced this month. The Cones were indicted on first-degree murder charges after a plywood lid on Pauline Cone's crib slammed shut and killed her. Prosecutors alleged that the Cones committed aggravated child abuse, which is a felony. Under Florida law, commission of a felony that results in death makes someone eligible for a first-degree murder conviction.
Still to come are:
Clover Boykin. She was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder last year for allegedly strangling her 5-month-old son and a friend's 8-month-old daughter whom she was babysitting.
Joanne Mejia. She is also charged with first-degree murder in the January death of her son, 4-month-old Charles Joe Mejia.
Jacqueline Caruncho. She was indicted on third-degree murder and felony child abuse charges in the December death of 4-month-old Tiffany Greenfield. If convicted, she could get 20 years. Prosecutors believe that both the Mejia and Caruncho cases involve shaken baby syndrome.
All such cases are ``problematic,'' said a spokesman for State Attorney Barry Krischer. That's an understatement. Even the best system will have trouble responding consistently to something as tragic as the deaths of children. It may be tempting, given the Cones' comments about what they had to endure, to say that prosecutors should back off. But the Cones were found guilty of negligence. And jurors said nearly half the 12-member panel had argued for a murder conviction.
Mr. Krischer, who is up for election next year, will be seen as trying to score political points by going after child-killers. But his office has correctly given more attention to all domestic violence than did the previous administration. And the public, which hands up indictments and renders justice, seems able to distinguish not only between criminal parents (such as Zile) and troubled parents (such as the Cones) but between degrees of criminality. Witness the different indictments for Schwarz, Mejia and Caruncho.
It wouldn't hurt Mr. Krischer to remind his prosecutors of the difference between dedication and zealotry. But those prosecutors are speaking up in death for children who had no one to speak up for them in life.

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NEW SCHWARZ TRIAL SOUGHT
Sun-Sentinel
June 10, 1995
Staff Report

Jessica Schwarz, who faces life in prison for killing her 10-year-old stepson, A.J., should get a new trial because she was convicted on circumstantial evidence, her defense attorney argued on Friday.
Defense attorney Rendell Brown argued in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on Friday that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Schwarz drowned A.J. in the family's backyard pool in May 1993.
Brown said the state failed to disprove defense theories that A.J. could have drowned while snorkeling in the nude in the pool or hit his head on the edge while taking a midnight swim.
In addition, Brown said Circuit Judge Karen L. Martin erred when she considered abuse evidence that surfaced during Schwarz's August trial, which resulted in her conviction and a prison sentence of 30 years. The abuse ranged from Schwarz forcing the boy to run nude through his neighborhood to forcing him to eat from a dog bowl on the floor.
But Prosecutor Joe Marx argued that the judge, who presided over Schwarz's non-jury trial, found the testimony and evidence credible enough to convict in the boy's slaying.
Martin, who is scheduled to sentence Schwarz on the second-degree murder conviction on July 28, said on Friday that she will issue a written ruling on the new trial request in the next few weeks.

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