Product Description

This has proved to be a very popular true crime book. It is an extremely accurate account of a child homicide committed by the step-mother of a child supposedly under the custody of the State of Florida. It has been widely acclaimed by those in the fields of law enforcement, prosecution, the courts and the media that cover trials.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13994 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
On Sunday May 2, 1993 in Lantana, Florida, a town in the Palm Beach area, the naked body of ten-year-old Andrew "A. J." Schwarz was found floating facedown in the family's backyard swimming pool. But how could he have drowned when the water level was only four feet deep? And why was his body covered with cuts and bruises from head to toe? Suspicion soon fastened on the dead boy's stepmother, Jessica Schwarz, who boastfully described herself as "loud and crude." She was a brute and a bully - but was she a torturer and child killer? Investigators unearthed a pattern of nightmarish physical and mental abuse that she had inflicted on the boy, one that left even hardened police sleuths sickened. During her trials, Jessica Schwarz was smugly defiant, until convictions for criminal child abuse and second-degree murder wiped the smirk off her face. She is now serving a seventy-year prison term. Carol J. Rothgeb, author of "Hometown Killer", and Scott H. Cupp, the prosecutor who successfully convicted Jessica Schwarz, now tell the riveting inside story of how a brutal killer's reign of terror was finally brought to an end.

From the Author
I want to thank all the readers who slugged their way through this emotionally exhausting account of A.J.'s short life. I am still involved in prosecution and have tried many, many cases, but for many reasons I could not leave A.J. behind. I am not an author and at present have no plans for another book. Please read his story, tell a friend and perhaps if enough people read about what actually happens to children change will happen.

Thanks,
Scott H. Cupp

About the Author
Scott H. Cupp is presently the head of the Hendry/Glades Office in the 20th Circuit State Attorney's Office in Florida. He has been involved in prosecuting crimes against children for nearly 20 years.

In 1992 he was recognized by the Governor and Supreme Court of Florida for his work as the Outstanding Supportive Friend
of the Guardian Ad Litem Program in the State of Florida.