TUCSON, Ariz. — From 2000 to 2004 the life of Dr. Bradley Schwartz, a children's eye specialist, seemed to be in free fall. He was battling an addiction to prescription drugs, he was under federal investigation for illegally prescribing drugs, his employees noticed erratic behavior, and his marriage was falling apart.

In early 2003, while he was in rehab for his addiction to Vicodin and Ritalin and with a 77-count federal indictment hanging over his head, Schwartz's medical license was suspended indefinitely.

Eventually, the Arizona medical board lifted the suspension, and Schwartz began to see patients again later that year. But as court and police records show, there was one person whom Schwartz obsessively blamed for all his troubles, and it certainly wasn't himself.

He focused his anger at Dr. Brian Stidham, a Harvard-educated Texan who worked briefly at Schwartz's clinic and later opened a competing practice in another area of Tucson.

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To his patients, girlfriends and even employees at a urine analysis center where he was required to submit samples while on probation, Schwartz was not quiet about his hatred of Stidham. He even spoke about harming him.

"He said that he wanted [Stidham] hurt, injured his eyeballs or his fingers broke or his eyeballs taken out or him six feet under," Lilliana Bibb, who dated Schwartz in 2004, told a police investigator.

Bibb said Schwartz complained that Stidham stole patients from him while he was in rehab, and that there was one way to get those patients back.

"He said that once ... Dr. Stidham's gone, they'll have to send the patients to him," Bibb said, according to police.

Bruce Bigger is also accused of murdering Dr. Brian Stidham.

Stidham's lifeless body was discovered in the parking lot outside his practice on the night of Oct. 5, 2004. Still in his medical scrubs, the 37-year-old father of two was stabbed 15 times, his skull was fractured and his 1992 Lexus was found miles away from the lot.

Though no one alerted authorities about Schwartz's threats before Stidham's murder, several of his former patients and love interests came forward to tell police about the troubled doctor's statements after news of the slaying shocked Tucson.

Based on these witness reports, Schwartz, 41, and Ronald "Bruce" Bigger, a petty criminal and patient of Schwartz, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder 10 days after Stidham's death.

Now, more than a year after the brutal slaying, opening statements in Schwartz's murder trial are set to begin Tuesday in Tucson. Bigger will be tried later this year.

Murder threats

Prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on the statements of Schwartz's former lovers and patients, evidence of a conspiracy between him and Bigger, and forensic evidence linking Bigger to the murder.

In court filings, Schwartz's lawyers indicated they plan on presenting evidence that police failed to investigate either a convicted felon named Dennis Duane Walsh or Stidham's widow, Daphne, for the murder.

The state's key witness most likely will be Lourdes Lopez, Schwartz's one-time fiancé. Lopez, a former prosecutor with the Pima County district attorney's office went to police immediately after Stidham's murder.

Lopez, who was estranged from Schwartz at the time of the killing, told detectives that the slaying sounded suspiciously like a scenario her former lover spoke about.

"I don't believe that Brad Schwartz actually killed Dr. Stidham. I believe that Dr. Schwartz had somebody or a couple of people kill him. I have to be really careful about my words. I don't want to mislead you," Lopez told a detective three days after Stidham's death.

"And Brad told me that he was going to kill him in his office," she said. "It was going to be like a robbery or a carjacking, that there would be more than one person, and that he would be dead."

Lopez was indicted along with Schwartz on charges related to the federal drug investigation. Schwartz was writing prescriptions — sometimes for almost 1,000 pills of Ritalin and Vicodin a month — for Lopez and an employee at his practice, who would fill them and give the drugs to Schwartz.

Lopez resigned from her position with the district attorney's office before she was charged with the crimes.

Ironically, Schwartz sought to have Lopez represent him even as she was cooperating with police to put him behind bars. A transcript of a police interview with Schwartz right after he was arrested shows him pleading with Lopez on the phone to be his lawyer.

Other key witnesses could include Rosalie Humo, a former patient who said Schwartz called her in to his office under the guise of a job interview. Schwartz questioned her about gang tattoos she has, then asked her if she knew anyone who could either plant drugs or child pornography in Stidham's office, or even kill the doctor.

Another witness, Carmen Fernandez, met Schwartz at the laboratory where she worked, and where Schwartz was required to submit urine samples as part of his drug probation. She told police that they began dating and saw each other for about six months, according to court filings by prosecutors.

"[Fernandez] stated that the defendant asked her to find a hit man constantly during the relationship," according to prosecutors.

The trial is expected to last six to seven weeks and Court TV Extra will stream it live on the Web.