On this day, on Dec. 10, 2001, renowned scientist Robert Schwartz was found stabbed to death in a Loudoun County farmhouse, a slaying that grew from a role-playing game orchestrated by his daughter. Clara Schwartz, 21, a James Madison University student, and her boyfriend were obsessed with dragons, vampires and magic. The two engaged in a fantasy game called “Underworld,” in which Clara Schwartz’s character, “Lord Chaos,” asked Kyle Hulbert’s character, a vampire, to assassinate her father. Robert Schwartz was alone in his Leesburg home when Hulbert, 21, attacked him with a 27-inch sword and stabbed him 50 times. An “X” was carved into Schwartz’s neck. Clara Schwartz admitted to complaining about her father, but said she never planned his murder. Hulbert was sentenced to life. Schwartz received 48 years.
-Scott McCabe
