MI- Cathy Sue Swartz, 19, sexually assaulted, bludgeoned & stabbed @ home, Three Rivers,1988,* DNA suspect arrested, Robert Waters, 53, 2023*

[dotr]

The Suspect in 1988 Murder of Cathy Swartz is Identified

Michigan State Police and Three Rivers Police Department Team with Othram to Identify the Suspect in the 1988 Murder of Cathy Swartz

dnasolves.com

''Summary​

In December 1988, 19-year-old Cathy Sue Swartz was murdered in the apartment that she shared with her fiancé and daughter on East Hoffman Street in Three Rivers, Michigan. Cathy's fiancé returned home from work to find her brutally murdered on their bedroom floor. Cathy's daughter, who was nine-months-old at the time, was found unharmed in her crib. Investigators determined that it was likely that Swartz had been beaten and then stabbed to death. Investigators also noted that there were signs of attempted rape and self-defense wounds.

Detectives with the Three Rivers Police Department engaged the Michigan State Police to assist in gathering evidence at Cathy's apartment. Fingerprints, blood, and footprints were recovered at the crime scene. Despite the comprehensive analysis of this evidence and the exhaust follow up on leads, the person responsible for Cathy's murder remained a mystery.

Over the years, investigators continued their pursuit to identify the person responsible for Cathy's death. The FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime created a profile for the perpetrator suggesting that the killer might have lived in the general area and may have known the victim. Additionally, the Western Michigan University Cold Case Program, which works with the Michigan State Police on cold cases such as Cathy's, assisted investigators in the case.

In 2022, the Michigan State Police submitted forensic DNA evidence from the crime scene to Othram. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to develop a comprehensive genealogical profile from the DNA of the unknown contributor to the crime scene. Othram's in-house genealogical team used the genealogical profile to produce investigative leads. Othram returned the investigative leads to the Michigan State Police and they worked with the local agency investigators to continue the investigation.

This follow up investigation led to the identification of Robert Waters as the prime suspect in Cathy's brutal attack and murder. Waters is now 53 years-old and from Beaufort County, South Carolina. He was arrested on April 30, 2023 and is pending extradition to Michigan to face charges in the murder of Cathy Sue Swartz.''

 

[DSCrime]

Suspect in 1988 murder of Three Rivers mother arrested

"Last year, Three Rivers police made solving the cold case one of its top priorities and continued working with state police. Analysts were able to use forensic genetic genealogy to narrow investigators' suspect pool to a single family.

Police interviewed and fingerprinted members of the family in addition to testing their DNA. Through the process, they identified Robert Waters as a suspect, officials said.

Detectives traveled to South Carolina to speak with Waters. After their interview, they obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect."

 

[HmmMysterious]

I'm afraid Robert Waters can't be charged anymore. He was found dead in his jail cell today

Man charged in 1988 Michigan murder found dead in South Carolina jail cell, officials say

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

I'm afraid Robert Waters can't be charged anymore. He was found dead in his jail cell today

Man charged in 1988 Michigan murder found dead in South Carolina jail cell, officials say

I hope he lived in fear every day for those 35 years.

moo

 

[watcher9]

Three Rivers Police Department is waiting for the results from the Coroner’s Office before making a statement to the media later this week.

Three Rivers cold case murder suspect dies in South Carolina jail

Robert Odell Waters was found dead in his jail cell inBeaufort County Detention Center, according to the Three Rivers Police Department.Waters was the suspect

wwmt.com

More info on case and aftermath.

Arrest made in cold case murder of woman killed at home while her infant daughter was in the next room

After more than three decades, cops said they found the man responsible for murdering a young mother whose infant daughter was in the next room.

lawandcrime.com

 

[Betty P]

Great work, Othram. So glad they found and arrested him. The article states he was originally from Beaufort, South Carolina. Wonder what he was doing up in Michigan? Such a terrible crime. Cathy was 19, just a kid really. So sad.

 

[sds71]

Police to share new details in Three Rivers 1988 cold case murder

New details are expected to be shared Thursday from the Three Rivers Police Department about a turn in events in a 1988 Cold Case.It's a case that was solved,

wwmt.com

 

[dotr]

Fiance of 1988 murder victim says killer was known to police

The man who found the body of his fiance, Cathy Swartz, in their Three Rivers apartment 35 years ago said he never suspected his childhood friend was the killer, though he said he gave the man&#821…

www.woodtv.com

''THREE RIVERS, Mich. (WOOD) — The man who found the body of his fiance, Cathy Swartz, in their Three Rivers apartment 35 years ago said he never suspected his childhood friend was the killer, though he said he gave the man’s name to police back then.

The fiance, Mike Warner, said he was looking forward to the suspect, Robert Waters, returning to Michigan this week to face a murder charge in the 1988 case before learning over the weekend that the man had died by suicide in a South Carolina jail.''

''Swartz had been beaten, strangled and had her throat cut. The killer wrote, “I was here,” in her blood.
Suspect’s bloody fingerprint found at 1988 murder scene
“It was smeared all over,” Warner said of the blood. “Walls. Everywhere. I mean it was like painted on. That bad, yeah.”
“I’d never seen such a thing. Terrifying. I thought they were still in there maybe. I didn’t know,” he said.''

''In the days after the killing, he said, he gave police the name of his childhood friend, Robert Waters.
They had been friends since elementary school, though they later grew apart, he said.
“He stayed the night here (at Warner’s home) a few times when we were younger,” Warner said, who remembered building forts with Waters.
He said Waters was visiting the Three Rivers area in late 1988 when he ran into him and invited him over to their apartment. He recalled that Waters had already moved to South Carolina.

He said he told police that Waters and his girlfriend spent a few hours at their apartment about a month before the killing.
But, he said, he never suspected Waters.

“I had told the police that he had visited the apartment, you know?” Warner said. “Because back then they wanted to know who all was there. I let them know that he was there.”

 

[dotr]

Very lengthy and interesting 3 part article below, rbbm.

Dec 16, 2023
The killer of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz left behind more than just his victim’s baby, unharmed, in the room down the hall. (Dec. 16, 2023)


MSP Detective Sgt. Todd Petersen with Robert Waters at Waters’ back door. (Courtesy)
by: Ken Kolker: Dec 16, 2023 rbbm

Left in blood: The Cathy Swartz murder

The killer of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz left behind more than just his victim’s baby, unharmed, in the room down the hall.

www.woodtv.com

''THREE RIVERS, Mich. (WOOD) — The killer of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz left behind more than just his victim’s baby, unharmed, in the room down the hall.

There was also a fingerprint and a footprint, both left in blood.

And, what of the cryptic message left on Cathy’s leg?''

“It was probably bloodier than most scenes, other than, I mean where the blood was found,” Laninga told Target 8 in a recent interview. “I mean it was smeared up the railing and against the wall going upstairs.”

The killer left behind a size 9 left bare footprint in blood.

Like fingers, the toes and the balls of the feet have distinct prints.

“Having a footprint, not a shoe print, but a footprint, bare footprint in blood was unusual,” Laninga said. “As a matter of fact, I think that’s the only case that I ever was comparing footprints against in my career there.”
The crime scene quickly went from grizzly to bizarre.''
Out of the darkness, messages glowed an eerie green on the refrigerator door.

“When we hit it with that alternate light source, it said ‘Metallica’ and the name ‘Harley’ on the refrigerator,” Laninga said.

Specifically, “Harley was here.”

They moved the light over Swartz’s body.

“In examining her body looking for hairs and fibers, we found writing on the inside of her thigh,” Laninga said. “And it said, ‘I was here.'”
''One police report suggested that the killer had changed the station on her radio to easy listening, which was not Cathy’s usual music.

Three Rivers Police Detective Kenny Baker was among the first on the scene.

He would later tell cold case detectives that he believed somebody had moved her body, “turned it around 180 degrees, pulled it out to the doorway so she could look at the baby in the baby crib.”

''An FBI criminal profiler described the kind of killer they might be looking for: A male aged 15 to 25 with the mentality of a 15-year-old; someone who lived nearby, connected but not closely to Cathy’s circle of friends, possibly a window peeker, probably a loner, someone not good with women.

“To people who know him,” they wrote, “he may be the last person on earth they would suspect.”

The killer likely was remorseful, with a fear of what might happen if he’s caught.

“He is also likely to blame her for the death because all he wanted was sex from her and she went out of control,” they wrote.''
''Schultze, suggested one last chance to solve the decades-old case.

The state police sent a frozen DNA sample of that bloody fingerprint from Cathy’s pink phone to a fledgling forensics genome sequencing lab known as Othram in suburban Houston, Texas.''

Soon, they were down to one brother: Robert Waters. He was the childhood friend of Swartz’s fiancé. When they were young, they’d spend the night at each other’s homes. They built forts together.

Just a month before the murder, Waters and his girlfriend had visited Swartz and Mike Warner’s apartment.''

''Waters, now 54, was a successful plumber, married with two children and living in a half-million dollar home.''

 

[LadyL]

@dotr thanks for posting that article - very interesting - I will be curious to see if they match him to any other crimes

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Courteney is now 35, and a mother herself. What she knows about her mom and her murder is from her mom’s parents, who raised her, and later, from police reports.

“I remember my whole life just going to the store or anywhere, seeing people, and just wondering, ‘I wonder if that’s who killed my mom?'” she said.

Of all the police officers who responded to her mom’s apartment that day, the team that included veteran Michigan State Police Crime Scene Technician Ken Laninga had the most important job: Find and preserve evidence that could lead them to the killer of Courteney’s mom, and, ultimately, to a conviction.

“It was probably bloodier than most scenes, other than, I mean where the blood was found,” Laninga told Target 8 in a recent interview. “I mean it was smeared up the railing and against the wall going upstairs.”

“That’s the thing that struck you. It appeared as though she was fighting for her life. She was trying to survive. Unfortunately, that was not the case,” he said. “I had small children at the time, not that young. Thinking of that poor little baby in that crib, hearing what’s going on and I’m sure her mother is screaming.”

Left in blood: The Cathy Swartz murder

The killer of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz left behind more than just his victim’s baby, unharmed, in the room down the hall.

www.woodtv.com

 

[dotr]

March 7 2025

Cold cases that once baffled investigators are getting solved with help of cutting-edge DNA technology

A forensic lab in Texas focused solely on cold case investigations is gaining attention for its ability to use powerful DNA testing to help crack unsolvable cases.

abcnews.go.com

''Though Cathy Swartz's killer left behind a fingerprint on a pink phone and a bloody footprint in the bathroom, police ran thousands of prints without finding a match to the prints left at the crime scene.

Similarly, the suspect's DNA left on the phone generated no matches in CODIS, the national criminal offender DNA database. Detectives worked the case for decades without identifying the perpetrator as Cathy Swartz's family waited for answers.

In a new "20/20" episode, "The Code Breakers," airing March 7 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, and streaming the next day on Hulu, David Muir explores the innovative DNA technology Othram used to crack the murder cases of two young women, Catherine Edwards and Cathy Swartz, that haunted their small communities for decades.

"20/20" features Muir's exclusive interviews with Cathy Swartz's daughter, law enforcement, as well as interviews with prosecutors and a prior victim speaking out for the first time on television about her assault by Edwards' killer.''