TN TN - Karen Swift, 44, Dyersburg, 30 Oct 2011 - #2

[SmoothOperator]

The cell phone ping and triangulation's a completely seperate and totally unrelated process from gps.. Majority of older phone were and are NOT equipped with the gps feature.. Therefor in the majority of cases we've dealt with on WS(minus the most very recent) the only form of tracking the phones were via the pinging and triangulation of the cell phone towers within which the phone last "pinged".. This gave a very good "area" to judge where the phone"s last known location was(ATLEAST while powered on and batteries intact/charged).. However the gps has ALWAYS BEEN A MUCH MORE ACCURATE AND MORE PRECISE Way to track the phones last known "spot"(within feet literally).. Again last known spot while the phone was powered on and the batteries were intact/charged.. This gps feature as I said is not available on any older phones at all thus why just recently we are just now seeing cases where the gps can be used to better pinpoint a more exact spot/vastly smaller area of where the phone was last at while still powered on..

The gps feature is on the iPhone and I can personally attest to the surprising precise accuracy that the phones gps can at any time be checked from any terminal with Internet capabilities(including checking it via mobile from another cell).. The only way that there would not be a gps location available from Karen's phone is if it was UN-enabled.. I do not believe that Karen would have UN-enabled that gps so the only way that it would have been UN-enabled is by whomever took Karen and her phone.. And it should be noted that this would be quickly and easily discerned as to when was the exact moment that the gps was UN-enabled on the phone.. Meaning they would have an exact time down to the second of when the feature was DISABLED.. AS WELL AS THE EXACT LOCATION THAT THE PHONE WAS IN WHEN THE GPS FEATURE WAS DISABLED..

Further meaning that say, for instance in the theory of it being husband that is responsible.. Say prior to his leaving the home with Karen and her phone(to hide or dispose of both) that David thought of this feature and chose to disable the feature at that time.. LE therefor would know the exact time&place that was done(for example at 2:02am the gps feature was disabled and the location of the phone was 500ft radius from the center of their driveway).. That's just how extremely precise the gps feature is on thes type phones like the iPhone that Karen had..

One other detail that I take some issue with in theorizing that the perp would have disabled the feature is that the perp would have had to have Karen's PASSCODE to have done so(if he even knew how).. Some may say she had no PASSCODE and maybe not but I'd bet dollars to donuts that Karens iPhone was password protected and I'd go even a step further in betting that the STBX would NOT HAVE KNOWN KAREN's PASSWORD..

Now take into consideration that in order to bypass all of the ^above^ mess and trouble gone to in order to disable The gps feature all the perp would have to do was to simply power down/remove batteries from Karen's iPhone.. This would have prohibited any tracking via gps or pings/triangulation.. I believe that many men "IF" were indeed
In such a situation and were deliberate and of enough sound mind to realize it better to not have gps tracking his disposing of the body and phone.. IMOO most likely they would take the safest and also the extremely easiest route in simply removing the battery from the phone.. Done!! Finished!! No tracking!!.. Thus LE would still have the exact minute the phone was powered down and again they would have it's exact location as well..

Also of note should be the fact that the gps feature could have been working up until a certain point.. And for whatever reason(either battery died or suddenly perp remembers to cut it off) this could give them the exact time and location this was done.. That exact spot could however be miles and miles away from where he eventually took Karen and the phone and disposed of them..

You just truly have no way of knowing for sure but it certainly IMO has likely ATLEAST given them something to work with and all in all it is just one of the tiny details of the huge and vast investigation that these officers and agents are tasked with presently..
I pray for the sake of her children that no matter what they have or don't have, know or don't know.. That whatever it may or may not be that it leads to their finding Karen soon and very soon..for the sake of These precious children.. All of them.. The older boys just as much as the younger daughters..

 

[SmoothOperator]

IMOO Of course but I know for me personally the only reason that I believe there to have been divorce related motive for Karen and her daughter's get-away trip the second week of October is strictly due to Karen's own mother making the connection between the two when she publicly spoke on Nancy Grace.. Someone of course can go pull the transcript to have her exact words quoted from the show but I do know she specifically said that Karen took the girls on a week get-away when David was served with the divorce papers.. You can take that any way you'd like.. I personally don't believe there was DV issues in the home(of course I could be wrong but just IMOO) and I feel it's likely more about being around the all over uncomfortableness of seeing her husband, and the children seeing their Father's immediate reaction upon receiving the papers along with I personally feel it's likely that David on many occassions had "talked" or guilted Karen into changing her mind and staying, not divorcing.. But again that's nothing more than jmo..

But I do know for a fact that the connection of the two was not cooked up, nor pulled out of thin air.. But rather were strictly due to Karen's own mother's words correlating the trip with the divorce papers being served.

 

[cluciano63]

I think people can choose when to have their spouse served (at least on TV they can, lol) so she probably made sure to do it when she and the kids would not be there. I would, if I was going to serve my husband, it would just make sense. No one wants to put the wife (or husband as the case may be) at risk by having service without notice to the filing spouse, IMO.

 

[BeachAngel]

I'm just wondering... why would someone (KS) have divorce papers served before moving out of the home? Especially after being together so long... why not draw up a separation agreement just prior to moving out? I do not think that there is anyway on Earth that my husband and I could live together with divorce papers being served to one of us...

Also DS had a torn patella tendon in May that required emergency surgery, and from what I understand that type of injury takes 6 months or more to recover from. Would he have even been able to move KS without further injury to his knee? And wouldn't LE have taken notice if he had been limping?

Another interesting fact that I found was that KS privacy settings on her FB account changed on 11/22/11. I can not imagine that her STBX would have the password for her FB, so who could have changed the settings?

 

[LindaG]

Quote BeachAngel:
"Would he have even been able to move KS without further injury to his knee? And wouldn't LE have taken notice if he had been limping?"

It has been reported recently that Mr. Swift is using crutches to get around. It was suggested that he may have reinjured the patella during the healing process. mo

 

[belimom]

I think people can choose when to have their spouse served (at least on TV they can, lol) so she probably made sure to do it when she and the kids would not be there. I would, if I was going to serve my husband, it would just make sense. No one wants to put the wife (or husband as the case may be) at risk by having service without notice to the filing spouse, IMO.

In small towns, yes, that does often happen. My mom and brother knew the deputy who was serving my dad, and told her when/where to serve him.

 

[Janeumayer]

IMO I think the husband is involved in Karen's disappearance. Why wouldn't he let LE search his property?

 

[otto]

There's something about this case that bothers me ... too many loose ends that don't add up. I can empathize with the husband not wanting to talk to the media and so on, but I find it difficult to believe that Karen went home from the party with her children at 1:30 in the morning and then went out again. Her car 1/4 mile from home, her clothes stuffed in the nearby bushes, the phone pinging at 5 and then nothing ... it's all too disconnected. Are we supposed to believe that she left the house in her pyjamas and a random stranger took her clothes and hid them - what, she had them in the car with her??? Should we believe the random stranger undressed her, hid her clothes near her car and made her completely disappear? That's ridiculous. The obvious answer is she was murdered in her pyjamas and it was an after thought to take her clothes and hide them to match the story that she got up and left in the middle of the night. Time was running out at 5 in the morning so the clothes were stuffed in bushes, near the car when the car was parked, rather than hidden with the body.

 

[Tugela]

The gps feature is on the iPhone and I can personally attest to the surprising precise accuracy that the phones gps can at any time be checked from any terminal with Internet capabilities(including checking it via mobile from another cell).. The only way that there would not be a gps location available from Karen's phone is if it was UN-enabled.. I do not believe that Karen would have UN-enabled that gps so the only way that it would have been UN-enabled is by whomever took Karen and her phone.. And it should be noted that this would be quickly and easily discerned as to when was the exact moment that the gps was UN-enabled on the phone.. Meaning they would have an exact time down to the second of when the feature was DISABLED.. AS WELL AS THE EXACT LOCATION THAT THE PHONE WAS IN WHEN THE GPS FEATURE WAS DISABLED..

Operating the GPS function on your phone consumes power, so most heavy users likely switch it off to conserve their battery charge unless they need to know exactly where they are for a specific reason (which is seldom).

 

[Tugela]

Not necessarily. If she was having a secret relationship with someone, and wanted to meet them without her family knowing about it, leaving in the late at night and meeting up somewhere other than the house would make sense. Especially if there was some sort of conflict with this person going on.

 

[Norwegian]

I feel it's gonna take long until Karen is found and this case is solved. Too little information and too many loose ends, I agree with otto here!

 

[~n/t~]

Is this turning out to be another cold case? Is anyone looking for Karen? I can't find any updates since the Sheriff's update 4 days ago.

 

[Nana46]

Is this turning out to be another cold case? Is anyone looking for Karen? I can't find any updates since the Sheriff's update 4 days ago.

I hope it isn't going cold also. But again referring to Otto's post above, it has not been verified by LE that the clothing found was hers. At least not to my knowledge anyway,IMO.

EDIT: They have only said the Halloween costume that was found was hers.

 

[TxLady2]

Regarding the daughter getting up at 6:00am, I brainstormed as best I could early on a Sunday morning:

1) she was sick and didn't feel well (although, I'm beginning to doubt that she was sick to begin with...)

2) she was awakened by her sister if they normally don't share a bed (e.g., feet poking someone, arm in the face, etc - happens with my kids when they end up in the same bed)

3) the sun started coming up and the light woke her - IF they were not supposed to be there that night, then it's possible that the blinds/curtains weren't closed at the usual bedtime.

4) she heard something that woke her - a door shutting, etc. - although she probably doesn't remember what woke her (or maybe she does and has told LE).

I'm betting on Number 4: her sleep being disturbed by someone/something.

Just curious... why do you doubt the child was really sick? Do you think the child or her brother lied?
She might have woke up at 6:00 BECAUSE she was sick... she might have needed to go to the bathroom or throw up. Doesn't really matter, but I really can't see any reason for anyone to lie about it, IMO.

 

[otto]

Blowing the margins ...apologies ...

The shutters are the wrong color, but how did a woman that lives here end up disappeared with her car 1/4 mile away, a flat tire, her clothes stuffed under a nearby bush and her phone pinging anywhere from the car to the river and home? What was she wearing - the clothes that were stuffed under a bush, and she was leaving the house late at night? On what planet does the bad guy hide the clothes in one location and make the person disappear in another location ... what ... naked, or in her pyjamas and for some reason she also had her clothes with her ... or we have an absurdly irregular and meticulous sex offender that hides victims clothes near vehicles rather than bodies.

 

[otto]

Just curious... why do you doubt the child was really sick? Do you think the child or her brother lied?
She might have woke up at 6:00 BECAUSE she was sick... she might have needed to go to the bathroom or throw up. Doesn't really matter, but I really can't see any reason for anyone to lie about it, IMO.

I don't find it unusual for a child to call home in the middle of the night to come home from a sleepover (that's actually quite common) ... besides ... it was halloween and most likely everyone didn't feel too well. Clearly the child called mom to come home early from the sleepover (there is no information about the child calling dad), but it was late enough that it didn't interfere with mom's party ... nobody lied about that. Karen returned home at 1:30 AM and there are suspicious circumstances from that time until 5 AM, when her car was spotted on the highway with a flat tire and her clothes stuffed under a neaby bush ... but she vanished.

Given that "Karen never missed a day of waking the children at 6 AM" (per Karen's father) I think it's quite understandable that a 9 year old child would wake up at 6 AM even when she is not woken up. That is, I don't think she has to be puking to wake up at 6 AM, per normal schedule.

 

[otto]

Is this turning out to be another cold case? Is anyone looking for Karen? I can't find any updates since the Sheriff's update 4 days ago.

If the last update was four days ago, can it really be considered a cold case?

 

[otto]

I hope it isn't going cold also. But again referring to Otto's post above, it has not been verified by LE that the clothing found was hers. At least not to my knowledge anyway,IMO.

EDIT: They have only said the Halloween costume that was found was hers.

Yes, it has been verified that the clothing was hers ... verified through mitochondrial DNA.

The halloween costume was found in the car. That was assumed to belong to Karen. The clothing in the nearby bush had to be tested to be connected to her and it was.

 

[TxLady2]

There is another more obvious reason to not be there when the papers were served....you might not want to see the dissappointment in their face, especially if it was you who was pulling the plug because life together wasn't going where you wanted it to go. Most people avoid conflict, her not being there may simply be that.

That is why many many relationships end remotely, not face to face.

EXACTLY!! I was trying to make the point that we should not assume that there was a lot of animosity between them or that he was the violent type who would go into a jealous rage and kill her. If there was any violence or abuse in the past, I don't believe she would have stayed in their home, she would have left as soon as she filed the divorce papers, if not before.

Some women who are victims of spousal abuse often stay with the husband out of fear or the belief that they have no choice, or threats of harm if she leaves. This does not appear to be the case here. She was going to divorce him for the 2nd time... doesn't sound to me like she had any reason to be afraid of him, she went to a party without him. Sounds like they had an amicable arrangement to me. For all we know, they may have had an agreed to take turns going out and the other staying home with the girls.

It's fine to have differing opinions but inventing theories and then bolstering them with nothing but speculations is a waste of time, IMO. He may turn out to be an axe murderer but there have been no facts to support that theory that I've seen so far, maybe I've missed something?

 

[otto]

Not necessarily. If she was having a secret relationship with someone, and wanted to meet them without her family knowing about it, leaving in the late at night and meeting up somewhere other than the house would make sense. Especially if there was some sort of conflict with this person going on.

She might have been flying to the moon, but as it stands, there is no evidence that Karen Swift was having a secret affair or flying to the moon between 2 and 5 AM on the night that she vanished.