Dyer says he was somewhat aimless at the time, and Schwartz was clearly in a bad place in his life. In the long run, what happened that terrible day in 1961 may have set both men on a path to a more righteous life. 'That changed my whole life, right there in that point in time,' he says.īut it was not necessarily a change for the worse. And what he described to me- he said, 'I shot the man between the eyes.''ĭyer knew things had gotten out of control by that point. And I look at him, and his eyes are just bloodshot. 'So I run and get in the car,' Dyer says, 'and when I look inside- get a look at his face. 'I didn't think he was really going to go through with it,' he says. In fact, Dyer's close friend had a car, and Schwartz talked him into borrowing it, though Dyer says he was reluctant. What Schwartz needed to commit the robbery was transportation to and from Dr. In the small town of Hobbs, a lot of people knew his habit, including Steven Schwartz. And he'd go to the bank at the end of the week.' Cook would take the money and put it in his pocket. 'In those days you just paid the dentist in cash,' said his former patient James Cecil, still a thriving auctioneer in Hobbs. Victor Cook, who was known to carry large sums of cash on him. The solution was to commit a robbery of a local dentist, Dr. The dark side became very evident when Schwartz told Dyer that he had hit on a solution to his money problems-to get money that would allow him to pay off the gambling debts and to move from New Mexico. He just had this kind of dark side to him that- that was there at that moment.'

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