Doctor, Woman Arrested After Husband Dies From Overdose

A Redondo Beach woman will spend her 75th birthday in jail today, arrested along with a doctor for investigation of murder in the overdose death of her ailing husband, police said.

Mary Seifert was arrested Sunday morning at her Redondo Beach home, where she slept on a cot next to the hospital bed where her 79-year-old husband had died the morning before.

Dr. Richard Schaeffer, 69, Melvin Seifert’s longtime physician, was arrested at his home in Rolling Hills Estates, police said.

Both are being held without bail pending arraignment, expected Tuesday in South Bay District Municipal Court, said Redondo Beach Police Sgt. Gary Wiley. Seifert is at the Redondo Beach Jail and Schaeffer was booked into Los Angeles County Jail because of undisclosed medical problems.

Melvin Seifert died from “an injected overdose of a controlled substance,” Wiley said. Police did not release further details.

The doctor was with Seifert at the time, said George van Liere, one of four siblings, ranging in age from 65 to 80, who had gathered for a planned birthday celebration for Mary Seifert.

In recent years, Seifert had suffered from emphysema, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, Van Liere said, adding: “He’s been kind of wobbly and unsure. He had pretty bad days and a few good days.”

The Seiferts had been married about 25 years, Van Liere said.

Melvin Seifert was “a big fellow, robust and all that,” Van Liere said, until a stroke several years ago.

Seifert grew up in Redondo Beach. A gifted athlete at Redondo Union High School, he went on to teach there and coach football and basketball teams. His son and grandson also have been athletes and coaches at the school. “He’s Mr. Redondo. He’s almost a legend,” said a former colleague, Les Congelliere.

But in recent years, neighbors said, he was incoherent at times and had been seen walking with great difficulty.

Mary Seifert tended to her husband’s needs, “lifting him in and out of that bed, which is not easy when you’re 75,” Van Liere said.

Her relatives were left mystified by the weekend’s events. Friday, Van Liere arrived in town from his Pleasanton home; two sisters came from the Phoenix area. A third sister lives in Lakewood.

Saturday, Van Liere said, Melvin Seifert developed breathing trouble and the doctor was summoned. Then Seifert died.

“It was awful,” Van Liere said. “We all were sad.”

Mary Seifert, Van Liere said, did not shed many tears. “She knew she did all she could for him,” he said.

Sunday, police arrived with a search warrant. When they left, they took Mary Seifert and “a bunch of medication” with them, Van Liere said.

Times staff writer Rob Fernas contributed to this story.