MARTIN COUNTY — A Stuart eye doctor remains in jail after he was accused of shooting of his ex-wife outside of her condo in Palm Beach County July 15.
Here’s what we know
What happened: On July 15, Palm Beach County deputies found Cynthia Sciarrone, 54, dead outside of her Lake Worth Beach condo. An investigation was conducted and search warrants were executed at her ex-husband Richard Edmund Seith’s, Stuart office and his Jensen Beach home.
Palm Beach County deputies took Seith into custody at his home in the 2000 block of Northwest Windemere Drive with assistance from U.S. Marshals and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
It was quiet on Northwest Windemere Drive on July 21 as residents either didn’t want to comment or did not answer knocks to their doors.
Treasure Coast Eye Specialists at 1441 Southeast Ocean Boulevard, where Seith worked, declined to comment on his employment, but said in a statement that they are going about business as usual and are focused on patient care.
Arrest and what’s next: Seith is charged with first-degree murder with a firearm and is being held on no bond at the Palm Beach County Jail. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 11, records show.
What happened that day?
Police officers found Sciarrone lying on the sidewalk along the west side of Lucerne Lakes Boulevard just before 3:30 a.m. on July 15. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene, sheriff’s detectives said in an arrest report made public July 21.
The Spirit Airlines flight attendant wore her flight attendant uniform, had car keys in her hand and a suitcase near her.
Sciarrone previously reported that Seith had vandalized her car twice, according to the report. They finalized their divorce in May after seven years of marriage.
Investigators arrested him three days later and charged him with first-degree murder with a firearm.
The report said a witness’ home surveillance camera showed that Sciarrone got home around 11:43 p.m. on July 14. A surveillance camera inside her car showed that she was shot minutes after she got home on July 14.
Reached July 21, Seith’s attorney Richard Barlow said he had reviewed the arrest affidavit and insisted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office had incorrect information in the document.
“He couldn’t have killed her because of a basis of trying to not pay her the money, that had already been paid, so that’s totally false,” Barlow said.
The parties resolved their divorce in May, Barlow said, and Seith had paid all the money owed to Sciarrone.
“They had exact figures in (the arrest affidavit) about why he owed her the money,” Barlow said. “If they had actually read the final judgement order of the court and the mediation agreement, they would see that’s not true.”
What was their marriage like?
Cynthia Sciarrone’s death from a single gunshot to her head followed her contentious separation and divorce from Richard Seith, according to the arrest report.
Seith had locked her out of their Jensen Beach home, cut her off financially and stalked her in the year leading up to the divorce becoming complete on May 5. He owed her about $285,000 and the Lucerne Greens condo in front of which she died, the arrest report said. He had refused “to financially support her move into a condo” during the divorce.
They had married in 2018 and even worked together at his Treasure Coast Eye Specialist practice in Stuart, but their relationship soon fell apart. Two witnesses cited “an escalating pattern of emotional and psychologically abusive behavior”; one said Seith wanted her to “swing” with other sexual partners.
According to a witness, one of Seith’s ex-girlfriends told Sciarrone to “run run run” from him. Sciarrone also once confided Seith had confessed to seeking medical help after considering killing his ex-wife from his first divorce, the witness also told investigators.
The “swinging” relations ceased at the end of 2022. Sciarrone also told the witness about an “abusive pattern of violence” that resulted in Seith inflicting physical injury. By early 2023, Sciarrone was living in Houston and working as a flight attendant for Spirit Airlines, and she filed for divorce in January 2024.
Around this time, Seith began frequently driving by the Lucerne Lakes residence and other places where he suspected she might be staying. One Stuart-area home reported a bedroom window shattered by bullets. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office questioned Seith following the shooting but did not find sufficient cause for an arrest, the PBSO report said.
How did the investigation lead to Richard Seith?
Crime scene investigators also found an area in the rear undercarriage of Sciarrone’s car where it appeared a device had been removed. Seith canceled a subscription for a Cube GPS Pro tracking device three hours after her death. Detectives found the Cube Tracker in Seith’s residence.
Cellphone tracking data and license-plate cameras placed Seith’s bright orange Jeep — one brandishing the name “Jack o’ Lantern” — near the Lucerne Lakes condo around the time of the shooting, and a search of the vehicle found a 9mm Glock handgun “that appeared to have been recently cleaned.”
Seith also had purchased a Micro Roni conversion kit that transforms a Glock handgun “into a short-barreled rifle-like platform,” the arrest report said.
On July 16, Seith called PBSO asking if they needed any information from him. He denied being involved with or having any information about Sciarrone’s death. Officers arrested and charged him with first-degree murder with a firearm two days later.
This story was updated to add new information.
Olivia Franklin is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Olivia on X @Livvvvv_5 or reach her by phone at 317-627-8048. E-mail her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com.
Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Martin County eye doctor arrested, charged with first-degree murder: Here’s what we know
Reporting by Olivia Franklin and Maya Washburn, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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