JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The State Attorney’s Office released documents Wednesday shedding new light on the investigation into a retired Jacksonville detective who is charged with murder in the 1999 stabbing death of a business owner.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says Saad Kawaf was stabbed to death in his garage at his Deerwood home. William Baer, a retired detective of the Sheriff’s Office, is charged with second-degree murder and other charges to which he’s pleaded not guilty. Baer’s ex-wife, Melissa Schafer, is also facing charges. The pair were arrested separately in early July.
Discovery material released Wednesday reveal the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI were investigating Kawaf for “structuring deposits to avoid mandatory cash transaction reports.”
Those reports are required for tax purposes when a deposit of $10,000 or more is made in a bank. Documents show the FDLE found dozens of deposits made of just under $10,000 from October 1998 to March 1999 totaling $407,000.
Documents revealed the FBI was preparing to present evidence to a federal grand jury. JSO was also on the case, including Baer. According to investigators, Baer was assigned to do surveillance at the bank where Kawaf was making the deposits, but on the day Baer sat on the bank, Kawaf didn’t appear.
According to investigators, on the day in May 1999 that Kawaf’s body was discovered, the attackers knew Kawaf had not yet made his weekly deposit at the bank and wanted the cash. Eventually, the wife told them where they could find $30,000 in the kitchen cabinets. The wife was duct taped to a chair at the home and Kawaf died of his injuries.
Revealed are photos that were taken by detectives. They appear to show the garage where the crime occurred, a bloody footprint inside the garage, a marking on Kawaf’s wife’s neck and the chair where she was tied up.
Photos released from State Attorney's Office
Additionally, the documents reveal a video showing an interrogation between Baer and detectives from July 1 of this year. Baer sits with his arms folded.
- Baer: “Lets skip all the formalities because I don’t know what’s going on and you need to tell me whats going on. I know what my rights are so just -- ”
Baer is then shown pictures that are redacted from the video.
- Detective: “Do you know this gentleman right here?”
- Baer: “Never saw him.”
- Detective: “Never saw him before?”
The interrogation continues.
UNCUT: Interrogation between William Baer & detectives
- Baer: “Obviously you’re accusing me of something to (inaudible.)
- Detective: “What do you think I’m accusing you of?”
- Baer: “I don’t know, but I want a lawyer. Because obviously you’re accusing me of something, because you’ve got me under arrest.”
- Detective: “Mhmm. I am.”
- Baer: “I think I need a lawyer.”
- Detective: “I think that’s pretty obvious.”
Baer asks the detectives what he’s being charged with.
- Baer: “What are you charging me with?”
- Detective: “Armed robbery.”
- Baer: “Ok.”
- Detective: “And murder.”
- Baer: “That’s interesting.”
- Detective: “It is. It’s been a very interesting case. 21 years and --”
- Baer: “Sounds like a long time.”
- Detective: “Feels good to put it down.”
In the video, detectives told Baer that had the evidence needed for a conviction. Investigators in May said that DNA evidence and genetic testing is what led to Baer and Schafer being arrested.
Baer was with the Sheriff’s Office for 27 years, joining in 1975 and retiring in 2002. At the time of the murder, Baer was actively investigating Kawaf.
Baer and Schafer are being held in the Duval County jail without bond.