Elderly man fatally stabs wife after fight over pancakes, officials say

An elderly Washington, D.C., man was arrested Thursday and charged with killing his wife after an argument over pancakes, federal prosecutors said.

Steven Schwartz, 85, is accused of fatally stabbing his wife, Sharron Schwartz, 81, at their home Sunday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.

Steven Schwartz “did not want to eat the pancakes she made and stabbed her in the back,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement announcing the arrest.

Police responded to a report of a stabbing at 3:40 p.m and found Sharron Schwartz with injuries and Steven Schwartz with self-inflicted injuries, according to the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington and court documents.

Both were taken to a hospital, where Sharron Schwartz died.

According to a police affidavit filed in the district criminal case, Steven Schwartz said that he has an aversion to food, his wife was trying to make him eat and there was an argument.

He said in the presence of police that he has a condition of eating diversion and depression. He also said that his wife did not deserve to die and that he wished he had died, according to the police affidavit.

In a later interview, he told investigators that he and his wife were married for 40 years, that he loved her and he had prayed the killing was a delusion, according to another police document filed with the court. He said he had been recovering from a stroke at the time, according to the document.

Steven Schwartz is charged with second-degree murder while armed, the U.S. attorney’s office said. A Superior Court judge ordered Schwartz held without bail Thursday, it said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 2.

An attorney listed as representing Schwartz did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.