Three charged in biophysicist's 'occult' slaying

LEESBURG, Va. -- Three friends have been charged with murdering a biophysicist with a 2-foot sword in a "planned assassination" that left an "X" carved into the back of his neck, authorities said Friday.

Robert M. Schwartz, 57, was found dead at his isolated farmhouse Monday after he didn't show up for work. Investigators were still trying to figure out details of the crime, including the mysterious "X."

"I have no idea what that means," prosecutor Robert Anderson said.

Police in Maryland arrested Kyle Hulbert, 18, on Tuesday. Michael Pfohl, 21, and Katherine Inglis, 19, were arrested a day later during a traffic stop in Manassas.

The three suspects are acquaintances of the victim's daughter, Clara Schwartz, 19, a James Madison University student, Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen Simpson said.

"We don't know how familiar they were with the father, but we know they knew him," Simpson said. Clara Schwartz has not been implicated in the slaying, authorities said.

At a bond hearing Thursday, Anderson said Inglis and Pfohl had admitted their involvement in the slaying.

"There were statements made that these individuals were involved in the planning, execution and cover-up of this planned assassination," Anderson said.

Schwartz worked at the state's Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon and was nationally known as a leading researcher on DNA sequencing analysis and biometrics.

Authorities did not offer a motive for the slaying.

Hulbert was interested in witchcraft, reading books on the subject, dressing in black and forming a "coven" with friends who also were interested in the occult, said Fran Broomall, who let the teen-ager stay in his Woodbridge home this fall.

Broomall said he never saw any evidence that Hulbert participated in occult rituals. He also said Hulbert had been taking medication for mental problems.

Pfohl and Inglis were ordered held without bond and a preliminary hearing was set for March 7. Hulbert agreed to waive extradition proceedings and return to Virginia.