Law&Crime Sidebar - Major Twist in Wife’s Halloween Murder Case

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

David Swift was charged with killing his wife Karen after she attended a Halloween party in 2011. While a jury found Swift not guilty on murder charges, prosecutors re-indicted Swift for voluntary manslaughter. Now the judge has announced a big update in the case. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has the latest.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now! HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Do you all believe that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked with respect to the charge of voluntary manslaughter? I see everybody nod in their head, yes. court will enter up and declare a mistrial with respect to the charge of voluntary manslaughter. A decade-long mystery, a shocking trial, and now a final twist. Charges dismissed. David Swift, accused of killing his wife Karen in 2011, is cleared,

but the truth about what really happened to Karen Swift on that Halloween night so many years ago may never be known. I'm going to break it all down for you right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. We cover cases all the time, unfortunately, where a spouse is accused of killing their significant other. And usually there is a resolution at one trial. Guilty, not guilty, the end, right? This one, not quite so simple.

In fact, it is a twist that may come as a shock. to those who were following this case from the very beginning. You have now had a judge who has dismissed the final criminal charge against David Swift, the man accused of killing his wife Karen Swift over a decade ago. And that decision marks the end of a very long legal saga that has captivated Dyersburg, Tennessee. And it has left lingering questions about what truly happened on that fateful Halloween weekend in 2011. So to understand the gravity of this, this case. To understand how big of a decision this is, we want to rewind to the beginning. October 30th, 2011, so this is just one day before Halloween. Karen Swift, a 44-year-old mother

of four, was reported missing after attending a party at a Dyersburg Country Club. Her disappearance sparked a massive search effort, but tragically, Karen Swift would never return home. But weeks later in December, her partially skeletonized remains were discovered by a caretaker in a cemetery not far from her home. But the discovery raised more questions than answers. Was her death an accident? Was it foul play? Was it a homicide? And for over a decade, authorities struggled to piece together what exactly happened. It wasn't until August of 2022, so nearly 11 years after Karen's death that prosecutors finally brought charges against her husband, David Swift. And when Swift went to trial in June of last year, he faced a slew of charges, including first degree murder,

premeditated murder, attempted first degree murder, second degree murder, attempted second degree murder, and a conviction would mean potentially life in prison. But the trial ended in a mixed verdict. After weeks of testimony, the jury acquitted Swift of all of the murder charges, but they were deadlocked on one count, voluntary manslaughter. So this charge suggested that the jury didn't believe that Swift had acted with premeditation or malice, but he might have killed Karen in a heat of passion, right, adequate provocation. And that deadlock is important because it left the door open for a potential retrial. And two weeks after that first trial, a Dyer County grand jury re-indicted Swift on the voluntary

manslaughter charge. However, this legal maneuver faced a significant hurdle. Tennessee's statute of limitations. According to ABC 24, voluntary manslaughter is classified as a Class B felony in the state. And the statute of limitations for such crimes is eight years from the date of the offense. Murder has no statute of limitations, but manslaughter does. So prosecutors argued that the clock should actually be told or paused due to new evidence and the complexity of the case.

But the judge disagreed, ruling that the statute of limitations had in fact expired and he ultimately dismissed that charge against David Swift. So with this decision, David Swift is now cleared of all criminal charges connected to his wife's death. And the truth about what happened to Karen, that may forever remain a mystery. Hey, everybody, this is a law and crime legal alert. Did you know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?

And the research is potentially linking ultra-processed foods to this. Yeah, well, Morgan and Morgan is stepping in to fight to hold these food companies accountable. And with decades of experience fighting large corporations, they are ready to stand up for families who deserve justice. So if your child under 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, then visit www.4thepeople.com slash food or scan the QR code on screen to learn more. So I want to lay out the timeline of this case and go way back to the beginning so we can understand how we got here. Now, the timeline of Karen's disappearance is honestly as puzzling as the case itself.

Because on the night in question, Karen apparently picked up her daughter, Ashley, from a sleepover. The two reportedly fell asleep together at their Dyersburg home. But by the next morning, Karen was gone. Her SUV was found near the couple's home with a flat tire. Her two phones, one of which she had apparently kept secret from her husband, they were discovered damaged. When remains were found weeks later, the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head. Now, David Swift quickly became a person of interest, though, like we said earlier, it took over a decade before he was charged. In those initial interviews with police, he described his tumultuous 20-year marriage to Karen.

The couple had married in 1989, had two children, they divorced after David had an affair, they remarried, they had two more children, and he claimed Karen was essentially going through a midlife crisis at the time of her death, that she was allegedly drinking more, that she was partying with friends, that she was serving him divorce papers weeks before she vanished. Yet despite what seemed to be a rocky relationship, David Swift insisted he still loved Karen. And despite suspicions of Swift's involvement, authorities struggled to build the case against him. There was no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking him to Karen's death. So investigators, they focused on circumstantial details.

But without concrete evidence, the case basically ran cold. Swift ended up moving to Alabama. He remarried. He remained there. until prosecutors finally brought charges against him in 2022, and he was arrested for Karen's murder. Now, according to Dateline, the COVID-19 pandemic gave prosecutors a chance to review a huge amounts of files connected to the case, which they say helped them build their case against him. And at his trial last year, prosecutors argued that David Swift killed Karen in a fit of rage over her drinking,

her partying, her plans for divorce. They painted a chilling picture of the events that after Karen returned home with their daughter Ashley, Swift allegedly moved Ashley to another room, dragged Karen to the garage, and fatally stomped on her head, causing a skull fracture. Prosecutors claimed he then dumped her body in a nearby cemetery and staged the scene to look like an abduction, like a kidnapping. And the prosecutor's case hinged on painting Swift as a man consumed by anger and jealousy. In fact, in his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Danny Goodman, Jr., laid out the timeline and the motive. Now, in October 29, 2011, that's the day before Karen Swift was missing and murdered.

Karen planned to attend a Halloween party. The farms in Dyersburg is a country club, and a bunch of people had gotten together and they were hosting this party, and it was going to be a costume party. and there were lots of people in Dyersburg and Dyer County that were going to attend this costume party. Well, Karen decided she wanted to go to that party, so she did go. She went along with Kathy and Bill Bonham. Now, the defendant was still trying to prevent a divorce on that date. And he actually asked Ms. Swift if she would not go to the party, but instead go to dinner with him. And let's talk about things.

let's see if we can work things out. She refused to do that, and she basically said, look, David, it's over. You need to accept it. It's over. I'm not going to dinner with you. I'm going to this party. You're going to hear from Janie Ham, once again, the same person who he was in her yard looking through a fence.

You're going to hear that that night that the defendant showed up at the Biersburg Mall, and she was there working in a store that her sister owned and was helping her sister she's going to tell you that the defendant came in and talked to her and that he told her that night that he did ask Karen to go out with him to dinner and she he told her that she refused to go and miss helm was going to testify that the defendant appeared to be furious and he was really really angry that he had been shunned by miss swift Now, Swift's defense team, led by attorney Daniel Taylor, aggressively challenged the prosecution's narrative, emphasizing the lack of physical evidence tying Swift to the crime, and they pointed

out that there was no blood found in the garage or car, and there was no proof that Swift had even left the house that night. In his statement, Taylor argued that the prosecution's case was built on speculation, not solid evidence. Prosecutor said this is grisly murder occurred in her garage, in their garage, while his daughters are in the house, and nobody's heard this. Law enforcement comes down after that this Sunday. Law enforcement comes into the house and looks around that day and in the days after, immediately after. Law enforcement very quickly looks through the house, takes through the house, take it.

pictures as they're going through looking for anything unusual or or anything that possibly might be questionable tb i comes out they're called in they go through and do extensive analysis i submit of the house and for car they have search watch for david's vehicle too and they examine all these things i mean they go into cross space. They look at every bottle or container. They take samples from the garage. They take swabs from the garage to send off, and they send them off for analysis. Prosecutor says there's no scientific proof, and don't concern yourself with it. But extensive things were done to all the things I'm telling you about. The house, all the rooms were looked at, the garage where he

says this grisly thing happened, and her car, and also all the vehicles in the area around his house. They do walk down the road. They do continue searching and do all kinds of things. You're going to say, there's been proof that the cell phones were found behind where Mr. Hogshooter lived. There were issues with the neighbor. They had a problem with. But if her car is on the side of the road down from where you live and it has a flat tire, issues about did you get out? What did she do? Who came up? I don't know. I don't know. But there's no print David Swift left the house during this time frame. So to build their case against David Swift, The prosecution called witnesses to testify about the allegedly volatile interactions they had witnessed between Swift and Karen.

And one of the key witnesses was Karen's friend, Bill Bonna, who played a significant role in her life during the months leading up to her death. Because Bona testified that he helped Karen file for divorce from David Swift, a detail that underscored the strained nature of their marriage. but maybe more intriguing was Bonna's revelation that he had given Karen a secret cell phone. And he explained that he provided her with the phone so she could communicate freely without Swift monitoring her movements or actions, a clear indication of the alleged control and alleged tension within their relationship. And Bono also described how Swift made him, quote, uncomfortable, recounting a specific incident that highlighted Swift's alleged erratic behavior.

One night while Bonn and his wife were hosting a party that Karen attended, Swift showed up uninvited and forced his way into the home. This was the allegation. And Bonner's testimony painted a vivid picture of this alleged encounter. Now, was there another time that individuals were at the house and got into the hot tub that Ms. Swift was there? I'm sure, yes. I mean, what you brought there is at the time, you know, that that that. They were in the lead Brian and Shannon Lee had gone out to dinner with us and they were there. Yes, okay. That's what I'm talking about.

Was Mr. Swift present that night? He wasn't at first and he wasn't invited and he wasn't welcome. But, okay. Why was he not welcome? My wife and I were uncomfortable. We would think, but it was out. That's the best I can tell you. you know, we were not interested in being a friendship.

So, with him. All right. I understand. Tell me what happened that night. We were having conversation and, you know, just regular night, it wasn't really late. I figured me right, we went out and had dinner and came back. And Kathy had gone to bed and retired and gone upstairs to bed.

and, you know, then I was getting along with the sight, and I came in the living room there right off the deck and was about asleep in the chair, you know, and Mr. Swift burst into the door, you know, there and startled me and asked her, you know, asked where Karen was. Did he knock on the door and ask to come in? No, he didn't. How did he come in? He just opened the door and came in, you know, in the last, you know, in the last night. Bowers anything where Karen was.

It kind of startled me, but I said what she's upstairs talking to Kathy? And what was his demeanor at that time? He was agitated, I would say, but I would also say he really caught me off guard. Now, Kathy Bonna, this is Bill Bonna's wife, also took the stand as a key witness for the prosecution. Her testimony was significant for two reasons. First, she described witnessing Swift's alleged volatile behavior, recounting instances where he yelled at Karen and became enraged in public and around others. Those were the allegations there.

And one such alleged incident stood out. Were the times that you did see them argue? Yes. Okay. When they did argue, what usually happened during those arguments? The main one I saw was an incident where he was yelling at her and very angry and enraged with her. Do you know what that was about? That was a time when her car was in the parking lot at Walmart.

That was that instance. Okay. And we'll get to that in a few minutes. Okay. When they argued, what did Ms. Swift typically try to do? She just probably eased it over. When everybody was around, like I said, she wanted to make everybody else still comfortable. And if it was uncomfortable, she'd be like, you know, let's stop doing this in front of people.

Okay. Try to calm the situation down. Yes. But Kathy's testimony went further, challenging another key aspect of Swift's defense. At the time of Karen's death, Swift claimed he had sustained a knee injury and that he was on crutches, so it would make it difficult for him to walk or lift heavy objects, right? He probably couldn't have committed a crime like that. That would be the idea.

And his physical therapist even testified that Swift would have struggled to commit a violent act. However, Kathy contradicted this claim, recalling a night when Swift, appeared fully mobile and active. And I don't guess it was actually a community bonfire. Was it a bonfire at Karen Swift's home? Yes, it was a bonfire at the Swift home. And were there multiple people there? There were, and children and parents, yes.

Okay. Was Mr. Swift there? He was. Are you aware of the fact that Mr. Swift claimed to have re-injured his leg prior to that bonfire? I am. And did you observe Mr. Swift doing any? up doing anything that will make you second guess that knee injury? I did. What was that?

Was driving the four-wheeler around with the children and hopping on and off the four-wheeler all night, driving them around the land? Was he using crutches to do that? I don't remember seeing crutches. Do you appear to be having any problems getting on and off the four-wheeler? He did not. Did he seem to have any problems doing anything with the children that night? No. And then you have another friend of Cairns who testified, Jenny Robertson, and she testified, in a similar fashion to allegedly witnessing rage and controlling behavior. Ma'am, did you see instances or examples of Mr. Swift being controlling over Karen Swift? Yes.

Tell me about those. He told her she wasn't allowed to have a drink. And so the first, probably the first month that we hung out, she would, if I had a glass and wine, she wouldn't touch it. She said he would get really angry. tell me about other examples you saw of his controlling behavior he came over to the house and told her to come home how often did that happen almost every time she came over to the house if it was after dark okay and did she do that no one time one time she did because he I observed him um he yelled at her and

I believe his words were I hate you and he got really angry and there was another person there that looked at him and said y'all need to take your arguments back to the house and she did leave with him okay and that happened more than once that he would come to the house and tell her to come home yes but here's the thing despite the testimony from karen's friends painting a picture of a controlling relationship, David Swift's own account to police, after reporting his wife missing, told a very different story. During his 2011 police interview, Swift appeared candid, detailing the couple's tumultuous 22-year marriage.

He openly admitted to their struggles, including infidelity, a divorce, a remarriage, another impending divorce, and he even acknowledged his own mistakes, such as an affair with a co-worker. But he emphasized that he and Karen had worked through their issues in the past, and despite their rocky history, Swift maintained that he truly loved Karen. We've been married 22 years in a total of 22 years. Oh, it all for us. Well, we were married from 89 to 99, and for seven months we were separated, but we got

remarried. We had the two boys that did the separation. The separation was that we were not, we were having issues, and I screwed up. I personally spoke. What kind of issue was? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I had...

Just to tell you. I had no family. And it was a person at work in the HR department. I was in management, and I screwed up. But I repented of all that. I, you know, got... Actually, her and her husband back together. They had divorced.

Karen and I, you know, we... You know... So you're... relationship we were done from that stop? Yeah, from that point on, we got remarried on our anniversary day. Always really good. You know, I knew I'd failed and then we were married and even since that in 2000, we had Ashley, which is not her now, we had her later and I guess we were married probably six years and Karen had an affair. And Swift also suggested to police that Karen might have been going through a midlife crisis

at the time of her disappearance, that he described her behavior as increasingly erratic, pointing to her apparent drinking, partying, socializing with new friends as signs of her struggle. You think she's going through some midlife crisis? I'm looking so, and I felt that if we could just get over that, but I'm not. I also felt that six years ago when she had an affair at Pocahontas, and she got caught on video down at the gym. And he was quite a bit older than her on the car lot, a small car lot, and his girlfriend called on video.

She was a massage therapist down there, there was a big ordeal. And that finally ended, and I said, listen, Karen, you know, let's move on, I forgive you. I screwed up and you screwed up in this very, I said, let's just move on. And everything was going pretty well. And then we had Keely, our fourth child. She's six now. And so then we moved to, you know, Dyersburg, when I took the job with Tenerys and wanted to move over here as a school system.

Now here's the thing. David Swift, he didn't take the stand during his trial, but his children did. And their testimony became a pivotal part of his defense. Both Dustin and Ashley Swift took the stand with Ashley, who was one of the last people to see Karen alive, offering particularly emotional testimony. Despite acknowledging the rocky relationship between their parents, both children firmly stated they didn't believe their father was capable of killing their mother. Dustin Swift, now an adult, recalled the moment that he learned of his mother's disappearance and the efforts he made to find her.

After your mother went missing, did you do things to look for her or on your own? Absolutely. Would you just tell the jury what you did? When she became missing? Yes, sir. I was obviously in college. I had later classes. I had it to stay up late at night.

So when I came home after getting the phone call, all I would often go out and drive around with my dog and look for her and call for her and I just wanted my mom back Ashley Swift's testimony was even more dramatic now 22 years old Ashley was just nine when her mother disappeared and she broke down almost immediately upon taking the stand her emotions just raw as she recounted the night that her mother Karen vanished. Did you tell everybody your name? Ashley Swift. And are you related to David and Karen Swift? Yes, I'm a new daughter. And how old are you now? I'm 22. I'm sorry. It's all right. We're going to take our time, okay? It'll be okay. Let me just ask you a few questions.

Okay. Would you like some water or something? I'm good, thank you. Okay. You're not used to testifying, so let me just ask you a few things, okay? Okay. Now, you remember when your mother went missing? I do.

How old were you back then? I was nine. And were you close to your mother? I was very close to her. All right. And were you in school at that time? I was. About what grade was that for you?

I think third or fourth grade. And you lived at the house with your mother and father? Yes, sir. Was your sister living there at the time? She was. Is she older or younger than you? She's younger. How much younger can I ask?

About four to five years. She's 18 right now. Now, Ashley's testimony took a significant turn when she recalled the events of the night that Karen disappeared. In a blow to the prosecution's case, Ashley testified that it was her mother, not her father who moved her to another room that night. And that directly contradicted the prosecution's theory that David Swift had moved Ashley before killing Karen. You recall it being your mother that moved you? I know. It was her. It was just instinct to know what your mother feels like and how that felt. Okay. That's your best recollection? Yes, sir. And did you open your eyes and look or

I feel like I briefly, like, foggy, opened in my eyes and just knew that I was being moved into another bedroom with my sister, but I didn't, like, fully wake up. Are you, do you know what your mother, whether she left or not after that? I don't. Now, after you got in bed with your mother and you got moved, you don't know if she went out and did things on the computer or downloaded pictures, do you? I don't know. All right. And I guess just did you wake up sometime the next morning that Sunday morning? I did.

And what did you do? I remember it was a little bit late because I was going to go clean a house with my mom that morning. And I knew that it was a little bit later into the morning and she would normally go do things because she was always up at 6, 7 a.m. going to do things. so I knew it was past time for that. Did you feel like you had missed her? Yes. Were you aware she was going to go somewhere and clean a house?

I was. And were you intended on going with her? I was. Now, was your mother there when you woke up? She was not. And was your father there when you woke up? He was. And I guess after some period of time,

on into the morning and on towards lunch. Is your father at the house with you and your sister? He was. So after weeks of testimony, the jury reached a verdict that brought more questions than answers because Swift was acquitted of all of the murder charges, again, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder. But the jury deadlocked on that charge of voluntary manslaughter. And that led to a mistrial on that count.

Do you all believe that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked with respect to the charge of voluntary manslaughter? I see everybody nod in their head, yes. The court will enter a verdict of not guilty as to the charge of first-degree murder. The court will enter the charge of not guilty as to attempted first-degree premeditated murder. The court will also enter a not-guilty verdict with respect to second-degree murder,

and the court will also enter a not-guilty verdict with respect to attempted second-degree murder. The court believes that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked with respect to the next level of charge, that is, voluntary manslaughter. reason that the court should not declare a mistrial at this time, General? No, you know. Mr. Taylor? No, Your Honor. Court will enter and declare mistrial with respect to the charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Now, officials in Tennessee, they have confirmed that the voluntary manslaughter charge against Swift was dropped. According to WBBJTV, the judge agreed with the defense that the statute, to limitations had run out. And that leaves David Swift cleared of all charges related to Karen's death. And as I've said, it means that her case remains shrouded in mystery. But here's the thing. David Swift, not off the hook. He still faces pending stalking charges in Alabama unrelated to Karen because he is accused of stalking his second wife in Birmingham, Alabama, after she apparently divorced him. According to AL.com, the two married in 2016, separated in 2022. AL.com reports that detectives were able to track Swiss location and see that he was following

his ex-wife and parking outside her home. Interesting development in what is a very interesting legal saga. That is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.