TN TN - Karen Swift, 44, Dyersburg, 30 Oct 2011 - #1

[~n/t~]

Six area rescue squads join in search for evidence in Swift case

As some volunteers searched bodies of water, Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box and other search personnel explored areas of interest on the ground, including the Millsfield area where Swift lived with her husband and children. Box said although Saturday's search did not produce any major evidence it did turn up some results.

"We picked up a couple of items of interest," said Box.
He continued to say the searches are still a part of the process of the investigation and allowing Medling to coordinate them with the sheriff's department will help them out considerably.

"Us, calling in the emergency management director to help with the searches will allow us to direct more of our resources in other areas of the investigation," said Box. "The searches have been beneficial in collecting potential evidence and hopefully all of this will provide some answers soon."

Box added his department is not releasing what type of evidence they have colleted so far in the case, but anticipates having the results back from the TBI's crime lab soon.

more at the link including information on the river search.
http://www.stategazette.com/story/1786419.html

 

[~n/t~]

I don't think the dad had anything to do with this at all . Thier is the older son and he said on NG I think it was that no he was under the impression the divorce wasn't even gonna happen that they were getting along fine. He's gotta be close to 19 20 the son i mean iam sure he is aware of how his own mom and dad got along or if the house was full of tension and he said everything was fine and he is old enough to see if thier were anything else going on .

If he didn't live there, how would he know? I'm not saying the dad is involved but unfortunately, I can't rely on the son's perception of the divorce. Things can escalate pretty quickly. Things may have looked great from the outside but nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. The two younger children would have a better insight than the older kids, imo.

If true about the son not accepting the divorce, I can understand his denial and perhaps some guilt in what may have occurred.

I'm hoping dad has nothing to do with it and like I said in a previous post, hope Karen just needed a break from the pressure but it doesn't look good.

 

[belimom]

If he didn't live there, how would he know? I'm not saying the dad is involved but unfortunately, I can't rely on the son's perception of the divorce. Things can escalate pretty quickly. Things may have looked great from the outside but nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. The two younger children would have a better insight than the older kids, imo.

If true about the son not accepting the divorce, I can understand his denial and perhaps some guilt in what may have occurred.

I'm hoping dad has nothing to do with it and like I said in a previous post, hope Karen just needed a break from the pressure but it doesn't look good.

Very very true. Even children within the same family can have different "takes" on their parents. Plus, I'm assuming that during a divorce, things can escalate pretty quickly. 'The deeper the love, the deeper the hate'. Tempers can flare pretty quickly, unfortunately.

 

[~n/t~]

Very very true. Even children within the same family can have different "takes" on their parents. Plus, I'm assuming that during a divorce, things can escalate pretty quickly. 'The deeper the love, the deeper the hate'. Tempers can flare pretty quickly, unfortunately.

Yes it's a recipe for disaster. There is a reason she filed for divorce. Unfortunately, if things were going well as the son claims, they wouldn't be getting a divorce. I believe the only reason she decided to stay was as here4myfriend said. She had no money, nowhere to go and wanted to get back on her feet to find a place to stay with her 2 girls and/or perhaps the same mistake so many women make in thinking if they leave, they lose the house, the kids, etc. I wonder what the arrangement was after their first divorce?

 

[TxLady2]

I don't think the dad had anything to do with this at all . Thier is the older son and he said on NG I think it was that no he was under the impression the divorce wasn't even gonna happen that they were getting along fine. He's gotta be close to 19 20 the son i mean iam sure he is aware of how his own mom and dad got along or if the house was full of tension and he said everything was fine and he is old enough to see if thier were anything else going on .

I tend to agree, if anyone besides the divorcing couple is most affected, it is the children. They will pick up on any tension, regardless of their age. No matter how hard the couple tries to keep it friendly around the children, they are not that easily fooled. Even small children seem to sense when things are not right between their parents.

 

[TxLady2]

As I've said before, I'm new here. I would never mention minors' names. Edited, as requested. And thank you.


What I've heard is that the youngest, the one she went to bed with, has been to a specialist and answered questions. No, I don't think she's been interviewed by authorities, but I do not know that for sure.

I'm here to help as much as I can as well as hear opinions from others that might help me understand more. I miss my friend and I am so afraid of the unknown.

Goodnight

I thought it was the 9 yr old she picked up from the overnight who was sick, and she laid down with.... not the youngest. Am I just confused??

 

[TxLady2]

Yes it's a recipe for disaster. There is a reason she filed for divorce. Unfortunately, if things were going well as the son claims, they wouldn't be getting a divorce. I believe the only reason she decided to stay was as here4myfriend said. She had no money, nowhere to go and wanted to get back on her feet to find a place to stay with her 2 girls and/or perhaps the same mistake so many women make in thinking if they leave, they lose the house, the kids, etc. I wonder what the arrangement was after their first divorce?

Maybe it was one of those marriages where they went their separate ways for the last few years and avoided each other so as to prevent any fighting around the children. It's possible to care for a spouse but not want to be with them, as in sleeping together, interacting as a couple, etc. I've seen a few friendly divorces over the years where the couple is determined to stay together for the kids' sakes, and then as soon as the last child has finished school and out on their own, they get a divorce, sell the house, split everything 50/50 and it's done. No hard feelings. Rare... but it can happen.

 

[otto]

If we assume that everyone is telling the truth, then it appears that after she left the home, she got a flat tire. Her last cell activity is at 5 AM, but that was to access the internet. Could it be she was looking for a company that could help with the tire? Is there any reason why she wouldn't change the tire herself? If she couldn't change the tire herself and couldn't find anyone to help, then most likely she would have started walking back home - I'm assuming. That would mean that she was a victim of a random attack - in the wrong place at the wrong time - while returning home. However, if she was returning home, why wouldn't she phone her husband and tell him that she had a flat and needed help. If what the son says is true and they cared about each other, then it wouldn't be a stretch for her husband to help with the flat at 5 in the morning.

If she was the victim of spousal homicide, then it's possible that there was an altercation as she was getting ready to leave the house. The house is large, so it does seem possible that the children didn't hear anything. There wouldn't necessarily be any significant evidence of murder in the home. The husband could then have taken her to a remote place, left the car in the location where it was found, caused a flat tire, used her phone at 5 AM to look for a company to help with the tire, turned the phone off, disposed of the phone and walked home.

Are there any links to information about when he placed the call saying she was missing and what prompted that call? If she was simply missing in the morning, that shouldn't have caused any concern.

 

[tarabull]

Lot's of speculating going on....

This article (linked below) quotes Karen's friend...

Not certain if this article (from early on by Huffington Nov 4th) was posted previously - if it's not allowed MOD'S PLEASE DELETE this post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/karen-johnson-swift_n_1076815.html

snipped...

Police have said little about the searches except to report that investigators have found no signs that Swift was a victim of foul play.

Swift's friends, however, are not convinced.

Engelhardt said she doesn't believe her friend would have hitchhiked or accepted a ride from a stranger.

"Karen was an avid runner," she said. "She could have jogged home in two to three minutes. She would not have sat there or gone off with someone."

"None of us think she got up after she went to bed with [her daughter] and decided to go somewhere," Engelhardt added. "So, the question is, who would have taken her or done something to her in the house?"


...Swift's disappearance comes seven months after Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student and cousin of country music star Whitney Duncan, vanished from a one-story ranch-style house in Darden, a small community 80 miles southeast of Dyersburg.

On Oct. 11, Swift filed for divorce from her husband, David Swift, due to irreconcilable differences. Even though they were divorcing, they still lived together.


...But those close to Swift didn't suspect a link, and the circumstances between the two cases significantly differ.

"I do not think that they are linked at all," Engelhardt said.

 

[otto]

Distance: about 1/2 mile

 

[dovebar]

Was she in the habit of going outside at night for any reason, like to have a cigarette?

Would she have gone for a jog at night if she couldn't sleep?

I'm trying to figure out how she might have been outside the house and vulnerable to the neighbor, for instance.

I do think someone moved her car and flattened the tire to make it look like that was what happened.

There is definitely a window between picking up her daughter and everyone waking up, enough time for someone to do something. To me, the question would be, how to get her out of the house without waking the children. Or how to find her outside the house, if it was the neighbor or a random stranger.

But I don't really believe in random. A couple with a bad past, bad enough to divorce prior, and bad enough that she felt she needed to be out of town with the kids when the papers were served, is an OJ situation. Best determinant of the future is the past.

 

[OldSteve]

So much to comment on!

I always think of my niece, whom I mentioned - first things were peach-keen with husband and they were going to live in the same house till it could be sold... then she had to have a lock on her bedroom door, then arguing reached the point whereshe had to move out fast! A knife cut would be most suspicious since car was parked on opposite side of road, where shoulder is wider, as if to fix... Why/how could she stop first then get lashed tire? If nail, pressure sensor should have given warning - why stop when close to home?

It was mentioned that her car had tire pressure sensors so seems she should know if the tire was going flat... but we haven't been told what caused the flat...

Nothing said if dog(s) hit on husband's scent outside the car where it was found.

Key to case is who much the child in the house that night can remember and tell.

Seems there was allot of time between KS dropping her daughter off and when car was found...

 

[katydid23]

Do we know what the 5 am computer searches were searching for?

 

[tarabull]

I am recording Nancy Show tonight regarding Karen Swift. I will upload it to my YouTube Channel and it should be view-able around 9:30 PM EST (as long as YouTube cooperates)

OOPS ... http://www.youtube.com/Sierra1947

Thanks for doing that


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1111/15/ng.01.html
from November 15, 2011

To David Lohr, senior crime reporter HuffingtonPost. All right, I`ve got the timeline. Mommy takes daughter sleepover, 1:45 AM, daughter wants to come home. She goes and gets the 9-year-old. The husband`s living in some other room in the house. He`s there with the children while she goes and picks up the daughter. Then what happens, David?

DAVID LOHR, HUFFINGTONPOST: Well, as you said, it`s 6:00 AM. The daughter wakes up. Mommy`s nowhere to be found. The husband notifies police. About a half a mile down the road, they locate her car, tires flat on the vehicle. She`s nowhere to be found. They do find a neighbor who said he had spotted the car there about 5:30 that morning. He was concerned, pulled up behind it, shined his lights in there, but there was nobody inside.

And we also have reports that her cellphone had been used around 5:00 AM. Authorities have subpoenaed those records. But at this time, they`re not telling us whether that was an outgoing or incoming call. So we don`t know a lot there.

But you know, this mother just basically vanished in the middle of the night. And where she went, we don`t know.

GRACE: Hey, Liz, let`s see that house again. That is some shack! I`m particularly interested in the garage, a carport. Let me get that up as quickly as you can, Liz.

To Matt Zarrell, also -- hold on. Hold on. There you go. Let`s see, what can I see here? I think that the garage is over on the left as we`re looking at it. I bet those two windows are in the garage.

Do we know, Matt Zarrell, did Mommy park in the garage or not?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: No, we don`t know yet. Her car has been taken to the TBI forensic lab for testing. They`re also still trying to figure out, Nancy, the flat tire, whether the flat tire was slashed or whether the air was let out of the tire and how the tire became flat. And then what happened when the tire became flat, who was driving the car. Was it Karen?

++++++++++

Right here waiting for the valuable 411.

 

[Here4myfriend]

I thought it was the 9 yr old she picked up from the overnight who was sick, and she laid down with.... not the youngest. Am I just confused??

No, I'm probably the one confused. I read so many articles everyday that all contradict each other and I get confused at the details easily. Sorry.

I remember the day my mom told me she was missing, Sunday, and I started speculating as everyone else is doing. I asked "who" reported her missing because I thought that would tell me a lot. I read in the first few articles that friends reported her missing. Even detailed enough saying that she was suppose to meet a friend Sunday and didn't show up and that friend got worried, called around then called police. All of the sudden every news article started saying her husband reported her missing. I'm still very confused.

I think her phone records probably hold the most information. I wish we knew more about that.

 

[tarabull]

Do we know what the 5 am computer searches were searching for?

I don't believe that's been said - only that it was google.

++++++++++++++

ETA from NG - November 15th...

GRACE: 5:00 AM, her phone is used reportedly, our sources say, for a Google search. Did she normally go on her phone for Internet purposes?

GURIEN: Karen was always on her phone. She played games on her phone. She was -- she was on the Internet a lot on her phone. She did everything on her phone.

GRACE: Let me ask you, Jenny, have you been told what the Google search was for?


GURIEN: I have not. No, ma`am, I have not.

 

[Claudette]

If she had to run out to get medicine, would she not have told her ex husband? Apparently they did talk that night/early morning so I would think she was comfortable enough to let him know she was going to get medicine.

Or not.

:sigh:

Perhaps he was asleep and she didn't want to wake him, or she told him that she might leave at some point to do so, telling him ahead of time.

 

[katydid23]

I don't believe that's been said - only that it was google.

++++++++++++++

ETA from NG - November 15th...

GRACE: 5:00 AM, her phone is used reportedly, our sources say, for a Google search. Did she normally go on her phone for Internet purposes?

GURIEN: Karen was always on her phone. She played games on her phone. She was -- she was on the Internet a lot on her phone. She did everything on her phone.

GRACE: Let me ask you, Jenny, have you been told what the Google search was for?


GURIEN: I have not. No, ma`am, I have not.

Thank you. I wish we could find out what she was googling via cellphone at 5 am. It must have been rather urgent. Who googles on their cell at sunrise?

 

[tarabull]

Thank you. I wish we could find out what she was googling via cellphone at 5 am. It must have been rather urgent. Who googles on their cell at sunrise?

above bbm

Perhaps someone trying to establish a timeline...

 

[tarabull]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjJ5x3BGyGA