Ronald Bruce Bigger Is on trial in eye doctor's murder

Other articles by Kim Smith:

Woman pleads to attempted forgery Accused's kin jubilant until 2nd verdict is read Driver in home-invasion spree, murder draws life plus 34 years Last Panda Express defendants sentenced to time served, freed 10.5 years for man who fatally shot girlfriend in head Man to get 4 years in prison for drug-related homicide Mom gets 5 years; failed to protect tot from abuse Man burned during arrest gets probation 1.5 years for thefts from her boss Ex-Nogales cop guilty of raping one teen and abusing another

General
GROUNDS CONTROL
LANDCAPE FOREMAN & LABORERS Education
Yavapai College
Teachers General
Prestige Maintenance USA
Area Manager Health Care
SOUTHERN ARIZONA ENDODONTICS I
NSURANCE PROCESSOR Health Care
Freedom Manor
Caregivers Dental
Apache Dental
Porcelain Techs Health Care
Carondelet Foothills Surgery
Pre-Op Nurse

A newly discovered witness in the Dr. David Brian Stidham murder case has opened the door to a new theory about who might have killed the doctor in October 2004.

The witness, identified only as Kodi in court documents, has said a former co-worker — the husband of one of Dr. Bradley Schwartz's lovers — once asked her if she would kill someone for money, and was later seen washing off, then discarding a "dirty" knife, but was unable to be too specific about when.

Prosecutors believe Schwartz paid Ronald Bruce Bigger $10,000 to kill Stidham, his former business associate. Schwartz is serving a life sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Aisha Henry testified last year at Schwartz's trial that she accepted $1,500 from Schwartz with the understanding her husband would kill Stidham, although she also testified she never intended to have her husband carry out the murder.

Kodi's existence was revealed Wednesday during a hearing for Bigger. She contacted the Sheriff's Department the weekend of April 7-8 because certain things about the husband had been "gnawing" at her.

Bigger's defense attorneys filed a secret motion last week asking Pima County Superior Court Judge Nanette Warner for a "substantial delay" in Bigger's trial so authorities could check on the woman's claims.

Warner withheld making a decision last week, but she gave jurors an unexpected two-day break while Pima County sheriff's detectives investigated the matter. The jury was not in court to hear the discussion about Kodi.

Following an update on the investigation Wednesday, Warner denied the motion for a delay, but she did order prosecutors to provide the defense attorneys certain pieces of evidence by Tuesday.

Kodi said she worked with the husband at a Sonic restaurant on First Avenue between 2003 and 2005. Sometime during that period Kodi said the husband and a woman named "Griselda" cleaned and disposed of a "dirty" knife that did not belong to Sonic at the restaurant.

She also said sometime before the knife incident the husband asked her if she would ever kill someone for money.

When Kodi's mother was interviewed, she told detectives that Kodi told her about the incident, but described the knife as being "bloody."

Another co-worker of Kodi's corroborated some parts of her story and placed the incident in the latter half of 2004.

Warner was told Wednesday that since Kodi came forward, Detective Jill Murphy has been busy investigating the claims and the Henrys.

Murphy traveled to Arkansas to interview the Henrys, she obtained fingerprint and DNA samples from the husband, she obtained some employment records, and she interviewed other potential witnesses.

Warner was also told Henry's husband and Griselda both deny the knife incident.

Murphy was able to establish through work records that the husband worked at the Sonic at 8000 E. Golf Links Road at 5 p.m. on the day Stidham was murdered — 2 1/2 hours before authorities believe Stidham died. She is in the process of obtaining work records for the other Sonic employees, along with other background information about the husband.

The husband's DNA was compared with that taken from an air-conditioning knob in Stidham's car and he was excluded as a potential source. However, defense attorney Harold Higgins wants the husband's DNA compared with other samples found inside Stidham's car, and his fingerprints compared with an unidentified fingerprint found on the Lexus' door handle.

During Schwartz's trial last year, Aisha Henry testified that she met Schwartz in October 2002 while both were at Cottonwood de Tucson, a drug-rehabilitation center. They remained friends after they were released and eventually became intimate, she said.

Henry said Schwartz was persistent for a long time about enlisting her husband to get even with Stidham, who set up his own practice after Schwartz was arrested and forced into drug rehab.

But one day Schwartz said he didn't need her help anymore, Henry said. "He said that he had it under control."

Henry said Schwartz later offered her between $3,000 and $3,500 if she could persuade her husband to hurt Stidham.

"Specifically, he wanted him to crush his hands in some way where he couldn't work and put acid in his eyes so he couldn't see," Henry said. "Basically, put him out of his career." Schwartz even offered to give her husband gloves and scrubs to wear during the assault, Henry said.

At least one witness says she saw Bigger in scrubs the night of the slaying.

Henry said she took $1,500 from Schwartz as a down payment because she was financially strapped. But she said she had no intention of persuading her husband to hurt Stidham.

After she told Schwartz she and her husband had changed their minds, he called her repeatedly to ask for the money back or to try to persuade them to follow through, Henry said.

Henry didn't return Schwartz's money or go to the police. "I was scared," she said. "It would just be my word against his, and he's a doctor."

Under cross-examination, Henry said it was she who suggested that her husband could hurt Stidham. She said she did it just for the money.

The trial is expected to resume today.