Mark Schwebes

**Mark Charles Schwebes** (October 7, 1963 - April 30, 1996) was a 32 year old band teacher who was murdered by a group of his students.

## Events

### Backstory

Mark Schwebes was a New York native born in 1963. He grew up with loving parents and four other siblings, with him being the second youngest. Mark served in the Marines for a while and graduated from Florida State University. The 32-year-old then moved to Fort Myers to teach music in 1995. Mark loved teaching and was a great teacher who maintained a good relationship with his students.

### Murder

On April 30, 1996, Pete Magnotti, Chris Black, Derek Shields, and Kevin Foster ("The Lords of Chaos") decided to vandalize the school’s auditorium by burning it with Molotov cocktails. Once they got to the school, they stole random items, including a fire extinguisher and canned food. Mark, leaving the school at around 9:30 pm, spotted Chris and someone else outside with the stolen goods and confiscated them. He also talked about mentioning the incident to the campus police.

Once there, Derek and Kevin went up to the door, with the former knocking on the door. Mark knew Derek and had always tried to help him out academically. Once the teacher opened the door, Derek took off, and Kevin shot Mark in the face with a shotgun, firing again after he collapsed.

The police were called to Mark’s home in Pine Manor. They arrived around 11:30pm, finding a gruesome scene. Mark had been shot once in the face, and once in his lower back/butt area. The police believe that Mark was killed immediately.

The police also found blood on the wall of Mark’s home, bullet holes in the wall and shell casings on the front porch. They also searched Mark’s car, and found some interesting items. They found a fire extinguisher, canned food and staplers. They also found Mark’s Riverdale High ID (which is how they identified him) and his wallet with $65 dollars inside. They ruled out robbery as the motive.

### Investigation

At first, lead detectives on the case focused on a love triangle they believed Mark Schwebes had been involved in. However, a group of students soon began bragging about the killing.

On May 2, Craig Lesh, a hanger-on of the group, bragged to his ex-girlfriend Julie Schuchard. Craig told Julie that the Lords of Chaos killed Mark Schwebes. He was dragged into the station for questioning and eventually admitted to lying about it but named four others, all teenagers: Pete Magnotti, Chris Black, Derek Shields, and Kevin Foster. The four were part of a local gang called the Lords of Chaos, known for vandalism and other criminal acts.

The four were soon arrested, along with a few others who were part of the gang, with Kevin being their leader. While he didn’t talk to the police, others quickly cooperated, providing the authorities with a complete story about what happened.

### Aftermath

In March 1997, Paul Magnotti pleaded guilty to first degree murder, and was sentenced to 32 years in prison. He also agreed to testify.

Derek Shields and Chris Black also pleaded guilty, they were sentenced to life in prison.

Kevin Foster refused to plead guilty and went on trial. His trial began on March 3, 1998. On March 11, he was found guilty. On June 17, 1998, Kevin Foster was sentenced to death.

## News

*For news articles on Mark Schwebes, see here.*

## External links

* Mark Charles Schwebes • Find a Grave
* Murder of Mark Schwebes • Wikipedia

## In popular media

### Literature

* *Someone Has to Die Tonight* – Jim Greenhill (1 March 2006)

### Television

* 1990s: The Deadliest Decade – *Lords of Chaos* (26 November 2018)